Todd Tavolazzi

Todd grew up in San Diego, California where he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1991. He served in the Marine Corps Reserve as an Infantry Scout and Light Armored Vehicle Crewman at Camp Pendleton, California, before he attended the U.S. Naval Academy (Class of 1998) where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in History. After graduation, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy and served as a Surface Warfare Officer onboard a supply ship stationed in Bremerton, Washington, before he was granted a transfer into Naval Aviation. He earned his Navy "Wings of Gold" in 2002 and flew both the MH-53E Sea Dragon and MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Diplomacy from Norwich University where he studied Europe and the Middle East extensively. He also served with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in Naples, Italy (2011-2014), where he spent time studying international relations, global strategy, and regional conflicts throughout Europe and the Middle East. It was on this tour of duty that Todd saw the horrific toll the Syrian conflict was taking on innocent civilians, particularly, Syrian children. His research drove him to write his debut novel, LOOKING INTO THE SUN, to raise awareness and garner support for Syrian children. He and his publisher are donating a percentage of proceeds to Save the Children. He then adapted his novel for film and had the screenplay, THE LAST RESCUE, optioned and is now in development with Sleeperwave Films. Todd lives in Virginia with his wife, Bonnie, and their two children and is hard at work on his next screenplay.