At the upcoming G8 Summit Canada will champion a worthwhile initiative to improve maternal and child health in developing nat...read more...
Reinvention is the name of the game
I'm a professional writer and owner of Peacock Ink Writing Services. As the masthead proclaims, the company provides "compelling copy for business and personal applications." I hold an undergraduate degree in Law and Justice from Laurentian University, which was acquired at the ripe age of 50; this followed a long career as a General Manager in the hospitality industry and time living and volunteering in Central America and Mexico.
I originally left the corporate world to volunteer in developing countries and to work on a degree. Both efforts changed my life profoundly. The desire to go back to university came about when I asked, "What regrets do I have?" around the time of my 50th birthday. My single regret was that I hadn’t become a lawyer as planned. I still haven't, but completing the degree was an exercise in realizing at least a portion of a long-held dream. Once it was achieved, I moved on. It's the story of my life.
In the two years following my departure from corporate life, I wrote a novel. The manuscript now sits high on a shelf where I wait and hope that one day it will take charge and get itself published. I wrote a weekly humour column called The View Askew for 10 years. When the winds of change blew through that publication, my column flew over to this site. I edited a monthly business publication for a few years and I'm a long-time contributor to Muskoka Magazine. Most recently, I've become a 'stringer' for People Magazine, which is a story in itself. I've been published in national publications and my letters to the editor have had widespread coverage. It's all writing and I love it - most of the time.
Volunteerism had been a big part of my life. I built houses in Guatemala with Habitat for Humanity; mentored young businesswomen through various community college programs; volunteered with troubled youth and taught adult literacy.
I'm a past president of the Huntsville Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Huntsville Lake of Bays ; past Chair of Muskoka Tourism; past Chair of Resorts Ontario. I sat on the Premier’s Tourism Advisory Committee and was instrumental in bringing the World Triathlon Championships to Huntsville – a legacy that survives to this day. Likewise I sat on the Board of the very first Festival of the Arts, which also has thrived to the present. I sat on the first board of directors for the Chrysalis Women’s Shelter.
In volunteersim - as in other things - I've moved on. For the moment, I'm favouring political activism through writing as a means to make a difference... however small.
Six months of the year I live outside the country with my husband Jim Hajas. We've lived in southern Mexico, Arizona and Florida where we recently bought a second home near Tampa.
After years of raising children, volunteering and working, we preface everything we do with the question..."Do I really want to do that?" If the answer is not an unequivocal "yes" we don't do it. I like that.