Mrs. Hughes is president of a technical and marketing writing firm, Wordwright Associates, but has been very active in the conservation field as well, both in non-profit efforts and governmental work. She has served on the boards of the National Audubon Society, Audubon Texas, Audubon Council of Texas, and Bexar Audubon Society. In seeing the connection between bird populations and habitat that would feed and shelter these birds, Mrs. Hughes was also a co-founder of Natural Initiatives, a San Antonio program that promoted wildscaping and became the basis of the Master Naturalist program.