For over two decades, I have managed the literary estate of Madeleine L’Engle, one of the most enduring bodies of work in American literature. In that time, I have worked closely with publishers, literary agents, translators, film and theater producers, educators, libraries, archives, nonprofits, and licensing partners, overseeing contracts, publishing programs, permissions, adaptations, and long-term strategic planning.

That work taught me something that shapes everything I do now: decisions about intellectual property are never just legal questions. They’re also about relationships, values, trust, and choices that need to hold up over decades, not just quarters.

I founded Tesser Well Consulting to bring that experience to others facing similar questions: authors, literary estates, publishers, nonprofits, libraries, and creative organizations thinking about the long-term future of their work. My role is to help clients ask better questions, understand their options, see the risks clearly, and build consensus among the people involved. That’s not the same as handing someone a single right answer. Few of these decisions have one. However, it can make the choices clearer and the reasoning behind them easier to explain and revisit.

I hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and am completing a Master’s in Publishing at George Washington University. Earlier in my career, I worked in nonprofit communications and development, and I have extensive training in mediation across civil, criminal, elder, and organizational conflict resolution. I am not an attorney or financial advisor. What I offer is the thinking, experience, and facilitation that can make the legal, financial, and creative work go more smoothly, especially when the people involved don’t all see things the same way.

Often, the value is simply that I have seen a version of the situation before. Not the same situation, but one close enough to recognize some of the choices, tradeoffs, and relationships involved.

The name comes from Madeleine L’Engle, who often signed copies of A Wrinkle in Time “Tesser well,” an invitation to travel through space and time trusting in your own gifts and in the generosity and creativity of the universe. It felt like the right name for work that is, more often than not, about finding a way forward through uncertainty.

The work shows up in a few other places too: in writing and talks, in practical tools you can use yourself, and on stage.

Essays and talks drawn from two decades stewarding the Madeleine L’Engle estate, looking at the questions creative legacies raise, seen up close.