At nineteen, SJ began her life in experimental theater as a performance artist, directed by Robert Wilson and Ilya Kabakov (BAM), Vanessa Beecroft (Dietch Project), appearing with Bread & Puppet Theater (The Public) and adapting the work of Richard Foreman (Todo Con Nada). As a back-up singer, she performed with CityKids at Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and The Paramount with artists Gloria Estefan, Herbie Hancock, Phoebe Snow, and DeeLite. 

She went on to earn her MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and the year after graduating, five of her plays received regional and Off-Bway productions, were published and awarded, notably, OLD WOMAN FLYING, which debuted at the O’Neill before its world premiere at Mill Mountain. During that time, she was named a MacDowell Colony resident, a Jerome Fellow, received an NEA grant, a MN State Arts Grant, a WV State Arts Grant, The Pilgrim Project Grant, and was a Fulbright nominee. In 2008, her play, HOW CISSY GREW (directed by Casey Stangl), won the LA Weekly Theater Award.

After the success of that play, SJ became a staff writer on NBC’s THE PLAYER, then served as Executive Producer/Showrunner for Seasons 2 & 3 of Awesomeness TV/Hulu’s GUIDANCE. She was the sole female winner of the 2013 Humanitas New Voices in TV Award, and in 2018, she developed an original pilot, DAMAGED GOODS, for CBS TV Studios.

Following her husband’s death in 2019, SJ left the entertainment industry to focus on her young daughter’s grief and her own healing. Her studies in meditation, ceramics, yoga, trauma recovery, plant medicine, and energy alignment took her around the world from New York to Peru to Thailand to Bali and back to O’ahu, where she lived for six years, teaching yin yoga to the Marines. The travel blog that follows her spiritual journey, UNEVEN GROUND, was published as a memoir in 2024.

She currently lives in Frogtown with her teenage daughter and their sweet cat, Happy. She is a proud member of WGA West and is currently developing a metaphysical YA drama for Reclaim Entertainment and Kung Fu Monkey Productions.

Find SJ at: uneven-ground.com

Instagram: @sjhodges_writer

Facebook: The Beach Writer