MY STORY
HELLO, WORLD!
Born in Stockholm and a few short years later,
- Will never forget when the judge looked down at me as my dad was getting sworn in to be a Canadian citizen and said, “welcome to Canada”
- Although I’m a Canadian I still have my military issue Swedish dog tags that give me a place in a bomb shelter (in Sweden so that makes it really convenient to get to)
WELCOME TO CANADA!
THE LITTLE TRAVELER
- Fairly normal happy childhood which was filled with travel and where I was surrounded by artists of all kinds.
- Summers either involved lots of overseas travel: Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Gibraltar, Morocco or local travel within Ontario and the Eastern provinces or USA. I visited over 9 countries (some twice) before my first day of high school.
- Theater & Writing was in my blood. In between seeing the world we were surrounded by my parent’s artist friends. I wrote and directed plays non-stop, experimenting and creating stories. A famous Polish director told me that a director has to know a little bit about everything. I’ve never forgotten that piece of advice.
“MERDE!”
- Attended a culturally diverse French high school where my love of writing, theater, film and dance developed and grew. I stood up to the AV teacher when we didn’t agree on how a movie should start and that gave me the confidence to pursue my love of writing and film.
LEARNING & GROWING
Attended York University aka. Stay Away From Exposition or “Show Me Don’t Tell Me”
- Film school obtained a BFA in screenwriting
- Wrote and directed a short film
- Script doctored a screenplay that won international awards
POST UNIVERSITY aka. FIGURING OUT WHO I AM
I danced professionally and put my writing on hold but also:
- worked as a rock climbing instructor
- sold very expensive chocolates that shipped every 10 days from Switzerland
- managed a high end accessories boutique
- learned to make gobos
MY FIRST BIG MOVE & FIRST BUSINESS VENTURE
Several years later I moved cross-country to Vancouver and started a new life. I had the opportunity to perform again and started my big foray into fitness by building up a Pilates program and becoming a personal trainer.
- I opened Definition Studio, a Pilates studio and trained A-list celebrities as well as NHL athletes and everyone in between
MY DISCOVERY PHASE (continued)
- I spent some time selling insurance
- I spent some time selling aftermarket car upgrades
- I spent some time buying, selling and flipping houses
- I spent some time working with two big real estate developers
Blown away by the Social Media Revolution and the opportunities it’s creating (and I missed writing), one course later, STYLE ON THE SIDE WAS BORN
THE SECOND BIG MOVE
I decided that it would be a fun experience to move to Europe and try something new, ended up in Warsaw, Poland….Because why not…….
- I joined a start-up as a full-time writer and kept on writing after the start-up wound down
- Wrote my first book: FITWISE & my second book Tell Me What You See
- Started dancing again
About Me Now
My book credits include, Tell Me What You See visual writing prompts for the wandering writer & FitWise: straight talk about being fit & healthy. I have written articles for Huffington Post Canada, was the Beauty Editor for British MODE Magazine and Jane Friedman’s blog. My writing career also includes professional copy writing for a well-funded online start-up and real estate development websites. You can find me on Instagram & Twitter as @styleontheside
Now I’m back in Canada and working on my second book while working as a book coach & social media coach. I regularly publish bite sized writer chats on my YouTube Channel, Write They Said. I am an Author Accelerator certified book coach, and I am the co-founder KWwritersalliance and Mountain Ash Press.
