Anna Hertel

intersection of trauma, identity, and the healing potential of embodied experience. A two-time Ironman finisher with forty-five triathlons behind her, Anna once believed discipline could outrun pain. Instead, it led her back to herself.

Bon in Germany and raised in the United States, Anna grew up between cultures, continually seeking belonging. The long echo of relational abuse shaped how she moved through the world, distorting her sense of safety and how she learned to navigate closeness long before it was recognized. Her experiences, including a misdiagnosis of postpartum depression later clarified through undiagnosed ADHD, unfolded within this lens. She writes to give voice to what remained unnamed, building language for what it takes to feel whole.

Anna holds an MFA in creative nonfiction and is currently completing her masters in clinical counseling. She integrates narrative therapy, somatic awareness, and existential depth into her evolving therapeutic practice. Her memoir, "Brick by Brick", is a meditation on endurance, motherhood, and the quiet work of coming home to one's body.

She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her young daughter, where she continues to rebuild, reflect, and write, brick by brick.