Mary Elaine Friend is a freelance travel writer and a real estate broker based in the Philippines. Writing and travelling are her passions. She finished a freelance travel writing and photography course with the Australian College of Journalism in 1998. Her published article "Overseas Filipino Workers: Australian Style" won the Australian Ambassador's Choice Award in the Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ANZCHAM) Journalism Awards in 1999. In 2001, her published article "Living and Studying in NZ" won the New Zealand Award in the ANZCHAM Philippines Journalism Awards in 2001. In 2004, she took up a course on writing for children and teenagers with the Institute… of Children's Literature in Connecticut, USA.