Sheila Grether Marion is the author of Otto and the Big Yellow Seed. She graduated from Occidental College in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and Drama.

Earlier in her career, she wrote grant applications, press releases, and articles for nonprofit organizations between 1976 and 1986. Her career was as a professional fundraiser for theaters, libraries, and scientific endeavors.

From 1987 through her retirement in 2014, she worked as a Senior Vice President, Investments, for Merrill Lynch and Company, a division of Bank of America.

In 2023, Sheila wrote the story for Otto and the Big Yellow Seed to accompany the original illustrations created by her mother, Elsa Behr Grether. The illustrations had been created many years earlier for a children’s book that was never published.

Through this project, Sheila brought her mother’s artwork to life and created her first published book.