Friend a Day – Sharon Stiteler

Photo by Bill Stiteler

I’ve known Sharon for about five years now.  We aren’t super close friends but I enjoy what time I spend with her because she is ceaselessly interesting.

Sharon is well known as a birder.  Heck, she’s written books and stuff.  However, most of my experience with her is in comedy shows and I find her about as intimidating as they come.  She is one of those folks who is effortlessly funny.  When I’m on stage with her, all I think about is how much funnier she will be than me (and everyone else on stage).  She makes it look easy. It never feels like she’s trying at all.

Confidence is one of her best qualities.  It really feels like she knows what she is doing all the time.  She believes in her own capability to do it right.

When it comes to birding, I think that she enjoys the process of sharing that passion with others.  She writes, she blogs, she podcasts, and she gets together with other birders.  Yes, it is her career so she needs to do those things.  But I have to think that she gains a lot of pleasure from sharing her knowledge and experience.

She can talk for a long time on just about any topic because she knows a lot about them all.  I admire smart people and she is one of the smartest.  I don’t think that I would ever want to get into an argument with her because I’d probably be wrong and she would sound far more interesting than me even if I was right.

Sharon is a great communicator, as evidenced by all of her writing to be sure.  She organizes her thoughts well and she organizes them rapidly.  She doesn’t try to be interesting, she simply is interesting.

While being around Sharon may intimidate me a little, it’s well worth the effort to get over it.  I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to know her a bit better.

You can read her blog over at birdchick.com.