Andrea Barendregt is stepping into a new chapter after leaving her previous job. Andrea is embracing entrepreneurship and creativity on her own terms. It’s a bold move, but if there’s one thing she has proven time and time again, it’s that living unapologetically is more than a brand. It’s a way of life.

Andrea, please tell me a little about yourself.

I was born and raised in small-town Ontario, but always pushed by my parents to get an education and make something of my life.  I went to Wilfrid Laurier University and completed a degree in Communications with the intent of working in marketing.

How did you get into financial services? 

I kind of fell into it completely unintentionally.  I started working for a Credit Union marketing agency, and my career progressed and evolved into what it is today.  I wouldn’t say I am very “financially minded,” but perhaps my ability to take complex concepts and break them down into more “everyday” terms is what has helped me to be successful in marketing various products and services to the average investor who does not have a finance degree.

Tell me a little bit about your family?

I am married to the love of my life Rick, we have been married for over 2 years now and have a 2-year-old son, Joseph.  Joseph was a big surprise as I was told I would never conceive.  We found out early in my pregnancy that Joseph has Down Syndrome and had congestive heart failure.  At 5 months of age, he had surgery to repair his heart.  We’ve never looked back.  Today, he is a happy, healthy, and very active little boy who keeps Rick and me on our toes.  We both are advocates within the Down Syndrome community.

As a working mother, how do you balance family, food, finance, and faith?

Balance is something that every working mom has struggled with at some point.  I’m blessed that I have a good career and can provide for my family and that my husband is such a great cook.  He’s also an amazing dad who is very active in our son’s life and we complement each other as best as we can where schedules and meals are concerned. Both Rick and I grew up in church-going families and we are doing our best to make sure our son will also have a church family that will embrace him and his unique needs. 

How has motherhood changed your life and you as a person?

Oh yeah!  I often wonder what I used to do with all the time I had on my hands!  Now, every moment at home is centered around my son and what we can be doing with him and for him to nurture his special needs.  It’s also made me much more patient than I used to be.  I no longer live for myself, I always have him and my husband in mind.

Give me some tips on how you keep fun in your marriage?

Remember why you married your spouse — for me, I had fun with Rick no matter what we did.  It’s important to keep that spark and even in the mundane tasks, I try to have fun and keep things light.  Life has a way of making things always seem so serious, keeping a light-hearted approach to everyday things makes it more fun.

Is eating healthy important to you as a working mother? 

Yes, especially now that I have a little boy that I want to be around, for a long time.  Of course, perfection is impossible but I try to keep my diet full of foods that fuel and provide nourishment.

You are a successful executive, give me some tips on how to manage a successful career in the 21st century?

I just saw a quote that Warren Buffet said – do things your way.  I’m so blessed to work for a company that gives me leeway to do things my way and make suggestions.  Success is defined differently by everyone but for me, it’s about being happy at the end of the day and feeling like I moved the puck up the ice.  If I can be myself and use my experience and expertise to make a difference, I feel that I’ve been successful.

Name me some of your favorite restaurants in Toronto?

I don’t go out in Toronto a lot, but I do enjoy the Cactus Club and a great little breakfast spot called Over Easy on Yonge.  

What is the favorite thing you do with the two men in your life?

One of our favorite things right now with our small son is to spend Sunday mornings in bed snuggling, playing, and reading.  That’s our time with Joseph where nothing else is distracting us.  When the weather is nice, we love to get out on the boat in the lake and catch some fish :).

The post A Working Mother appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Life as a writer has its high and low moments.

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ is a figure of speech penned in 1839 by Edward Bullwer-Lytton a well-known writer. The focus was that the written language or the press should be independent and was a better alternative to violence. Ahiqar the Assyrian sage based in the 7th century BC stated that ‘The word is mightier than the sword’.  Euripides the Greek playwright and writer in his wisdom posited that ‘The tongue is mightier than the blade’. The Book of Hebrews talks about ‘The word….is sharper than any two-edged sword’. Finally, the maestro Shakespeare in his sarcastic wit talks about ‘Many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequills’.

Anna Politkovskaya, Hugo Bettauer, Giordano Bruno, Isaac Babel, and Daphne Caruana refused to be people pleasers and paid the price with their lives for their words as writers.

I love talking to writers. There are lots of ideas and concepts that are shared. The challenge is also to be sensitive and at the same time talk about what is happening during our times. I talk to Sarah, about her life as a writer.

Sarah, a pleasure to have you on my blog. Tell me a little about you?

A pleasure to be on your blog. I’m a writer and an aspiring author of young adult science fiction and fantasy who dreams of traveling the world and dabbles in a little art when I’m not completely distracted by books or writing. And I’m not the artist who draws, but the artist who makes things I will later wonder what to do with, like a clay sculpture that won 2nd place in a statewide high school competition or retractable wings with an eleven-foot wingspan. Basically, I’m very ambitious and I stubbornly pursue my dreams.

You are a digital archivist by day and a writer by night. Please explain?

I work in the Special Collections department at the Brigham Young University library where I scan and photograph old and rare books and documents then upload them to the Digital Archive. It’s amazing how much history goes through that library. I’ve had the opportunity to hold a few Oscars and even a prayer journal that Queen Victoria gave to her grandson, so it’s hands down the best job I’ve ever had. Too bad I’ll have to find another job when I graduate this December. I’m a little late in finishing my undergrad degree, but that’s life.
At the end of the day, I write. Or I edit what I’ve written. But you could say I’m a bit obsessive with my writing and I treat it like a part-time job. Hopefully, it will become a full-time job one of these days. I’m not published yet, but hopefully soon.

Talk to me about your book? What is it about? Why should we read it?

My current work in progress is part of a young adult science fiction series that will go out to literary agents once again after extensive revisions. Here’s the pitch I have so far, and you can decide if it’s something you want to read.

High school senior Jenna Waters never expected a boating accident would land her on a foreign planet. Now all she wants is to go home. While the World Council is perfectly capable of sending her back to Earth, they won’t. There’s a spy in their midst and her unexplained arrival just made her their top suspect.

Jenna tries to gain their trust, but she has a secret. She is a listener who can eavesdrop on private telepathic conversations. Listeners make the best spies and her staying in a World Council member’s home complicates things. If her ability doesn’t land her in prison, she may end up drafted into a war she wants nothing to do with.

However, when the dictator Kael asks Jenna to join him, she finds she may not have a choice.

How did you come up with the idea for the book?

I came up with the idea during a summer break in high school. My friends were on vacation with their families and I was out of books to read. That’s when I pictured a girl standing on a dock, looking down into the lake below her feet. Only, instead of seeing her reflection in that lake, she sees another world. So I asked myself, what would happen if she fell into that lake? Would she go to that world? And with each question, the world in my mind grew until it became what it is today. However, the first draft of that book is long gone. I lost it when I forgot my flash drive to one of the computers at school. I never saw it again and didn’t consistently work on the story again until several years later.

I find writing cathartic. What does it do for you as a writer?

Writing is my escape from the world. I didn’t realize it until much later, but it is also how I combat depression and anxiety.

Talk to me about the city you live in? What is the food scene and tell me about some good restaurants?

I currently live in Provo, Utah as a student at Brigham Young University. I actually grew up in Georgia, but since I’m currently in Utah, I’ll talk about some of the things I discovered while living here. My first discovery was fry sauce. Seriously, I can’t understand why this isn’t a thing in other states. I’ll never put ketchup on my fries again. Also, a local favorite is a restaurant called Sodalicious. Basically, instead of serving liquor, it serves a wide variety of sodas. Another popular restaurant in town is called JDawgs. It’s pretty good, and the JDawgs sauce is amazing. I just wish they had more options. And my personal favorite is CupBop, which started out as a food truck selling Korean BBQ and has expanded into several restaurants throughout the state.

Help me understand what women empowerment means to you as a writer?

I’ve found with a lot of today’s movements and views that women are more and more pressured to be just as capable as any man. But I find that a bit ironic. Why should we try to be more like men? We aren’t men and I feel like women should be proud to be who they are no matter if they are mothers or career women or both. I find the best empowerment you can give to a woman is respect. Don’t underestimate her or talk down to her or assume she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Listen to her and don’t try to change or fix her. And if she decides to chop her hair off, don’t ask if it’s because she recently broke up with a guy or assume she’s rebelling. Maybe she just wants short hair. Give her the freedom to become whatever she desires. She may surprise you with what she can do.

Name me some authors that have influenced your style of writing?

Every author I’ve read has influenced my writing. The author that inspired me to read was J.K. Rowling and I guess I’d have to say my writing style has been heavily influenced by Suzanne Collins and Brandon Sanderson. At first, I didn’t really like Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games, but her writing style drew me in and I ended up loving the book the second time I read it. Brandon Sanderson is another major influence. I’ve taken his lecture class multiple times and managed to get into his fifteen-student writing critique class. After taking his classes and reading his books, I can say the man is a genius.

What is your idea of romance?

As far as I can tell, the stuff you get in books and movies is mostly fake or overly dramatic. It also sets up a lot of impossible expectations in teens. When I see it in a book or movie, I have to roll my eyes about 80% of the time because the romance is only skin deep. Give me a relationship where the couple has to work together and overcome their differences. Give me a relationship that is the purest form of friendship. I think that’s why my favorite movie couple is Carl and Ellie from the movie Up.

Give yourself some advice when you were 15 and 25 (I’m 28)?

This is a fun question. When I was little, I often had imaginary interviews with my adult self. I asked myself where I was, what I was doing, what I looked like, and if I was happy. Now that I’m an adult, I’ve continued my interviews, just with both my younger and older self. I still ask my older self what I’m doing and if I’m happy with the way things have turned out. And when I think of my younger self, I just want to give her a hug and tell her to never stop dreaming. I’d tell her that life comes with its ups and downs and to not be afraid of the future. Yes, it’s hard and comes with responsibilities. Growth is never easy, but it’s always worth it.

The post Life as a Writer appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Nicki Egan is an award-winning journalist and former People magazine senior writer who was the first reporter in the country to dig deeply into the Bill Cosby scandal in 2005 when other reporters shied away. Starting from scratch, she was able to quickly become sourced and began breaking exclusive stories. When the scandal bubbled up again in October 2014, she was able to quickly reconnect with those victims and sources and began breaking exclusive stories once again, including the news of Cosby’s arrest on Dec. 30, 2015. She continues to get interviews with accusers who have never spoken and develops leads on new angles.

Nicole Egan’s refusal to back down on the Cosby story is not surprising. She has a 28-year record of going up against the nation’s most powerful people to expose wrongdoing. When she was a political reporter in Washington, D.C., first for States News Service, then as the Washington correspondent for the Philadelphia Daily News, she dug into connections between the congressional delegations she covered and how they spent their campaign money, as well as who was contributing to their campaigns and what they got in exchange for those contributions. She broke several national stories, including an exclusive interview with Teresa Heinz about why she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate seat of her late husband, John, and former Chrysler Corporation Chairman Lee Iacocca’s rejection of an offer to serve as the interim senator after Sen. Heinz died in a plane crash.​

Egan’s extraordinary work on the Cosby story in 2005 caught the eye of People magazine, which signed her up as a freelancer and later hired her. During her 12 years at People, where she rose to be a senior writer, Egan honed her reputation for obtaining exclusive interviews on some of the nation’s most high-profile crime, human-interest, and medical stories.

I feel like I have known Nicole Egan all my life, yet I have never met her. One of my favorite things to do when I visited the chiropractor, physiotherapist, or my family doctor was to read People Magazine. Nicole wrote some of the most fascinating stories for People.

Here is what I admire about her. On Instagram, I sent her a message that I wanted to interview her. She replied right away. I have to be honest. I was trembling with fear, as I was framing questions for one of the best interviewers and writers of our generations. She was humble and answered all my questions right away. Nicki recently published her first book, Chasing Cosby, and is working on her second book while freelancing and pursuing books, movies, and TV opportunities.

Nicki, I consider it an honor, pleasure, and privilege to have you on board. In all my years going to the dentist’s office, chiropractor, massage therapist, and the family doctor, I must say I have read every episode of the People magazine and all of your articles. Talk to me about your passion for chasing stories that define our time and culture?

Hi there. I’ve always loved chasing the stories no one else is-either by reporting on a big news story and getting an interview no one else could yet or digging into an injustice I found through regular beat reporting and exposing it to readers. My stories at the Philadelphia Daily News freed several innocent men and also led to new laws being enacted. My Cosby coverage of 2005, alas, led to absolutely nothing because of Cosby’s power and influence. He was able to get the rest of the media to back off the story and the DA, for whatever reason, never did a full investigation of the case back then, even though there were 14 women accusing him in 2005.

You are one of the top investigative journalists in the US. People just trust you. They open up to you. What do you bring to the table that has that effect on people?

I work hard to gain the trust of the people I interview and I will not betray that trust for anyone – not even my editors. I also have a lot of empathy and, since I tend to cover very tragic stories, I think that comes through when I’m interviewing people.

What advice do you have for women who want to become journalists?

Go for it! The industry has more challenges than ever but if it’s your passion, you should do it. Just have a backup plan or save your money in case you’re laid off, which happens to even the best, hardest-working journalists these days.

Help me understand what does women’s empowerment means to you?

Women’s empowerment means the freedom to make your own choices – about your career, your marital status, and whether you want to have children.

You have a new book coming out next year. Talk to me about it?

I co-authored it with Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn, the subjects of the book. After Denise was kidnapped from his home and Aaron reported it to the police, they questioned him for 17 hours, convinced he’d actually murdered her. Meanwhile, Denise was being held by one of the kidnappers and raped. Twice. And when the kidnapper let her go, the police didn’t believe her either and believed they made the whole story up and even said so in a press conference they held that night. The story is so outrageous on so many levels but Denise and Aaron are true heroes and they prevailed in the end. One of the kidnappers was caught three months later after trying to do the same thing to another couple. Denise and Aaron sued the police for defamation and won but the FBI, which took over the kidnapping case, to this day refuses to acknowledge there were other people involved in the kidnapping and home invasion.

I want to know what you want to be remembered for? What is your legacy?

I believe my legacy is always keeping an open mind on every story I cover, doing all of the research I can do for every story I cover and exposing wronging when I see it, no matter who’s behind it. I was a Bill Cosby fan when the story first broke in 2005. I didn’t want to believe he’d do such a thing but I had to put my personal feelings aside and get to what the truth is. I’ve done that with other stories as well, in some cases where I think the media just flat-out got it wrong – like with the Jeffrey MacDonald case, the Green Beret surgeon who was convicted of murdering his wife and two children in 1970 at Fort Bragg, NC but to this day says he’s innocent. There’s a lot of evidence pointing to intruders being the culprit and a lot of misconduct by prosecutors but because there was a bestselling book (Fatal Vision) about it that painted him as a monster, it’s a hard thing to overcome in the court of public opinion. People are rabid about their beliefs when it comes to this case. And I have to say I, too, believed Jeffrey MacDonald was guilty when I first started reporting on the story in 2012 but after years of doing my own research and reporting, I’m not so sure anymore. But just try to convince those in the media that is possible. I remember going back and forth with my editor at PEOPLE about it and I finally said, ‘Well, no one believed Bill Cosby was a rapist in 2005 either.’ It’s so frustrating. It’s one thing if someone has done their own research and digging and comes to that conclusion. It’s another if they’re basing it on a very, very flawed book that was written before a lot of new evidence became available.

Your stories have won so many awards and the story on Maynard’s death got 16 million hits. Is there a story in the last 2000 years you would have liked to have covered and why?

Nope. I have never enjoyed covering tragedies-it was just my job to cover them- so there is no news story out there I wish I’d covered. I wish I’d had more time throughout my career to just do investigative journalism but I always had to juggle doing it with doing a lot of other stories at the same time.

As a society, we are fascinated with cultural icons. What is it about us that never want to question them, their crime, or motives?

America has a celebrity worshiping culture and interviews with them sell magazines and newspapers and attract viewers. So the public never truly get to see who these people are because these celebrities put all sorts of conditions on their interviews with the media and if you ask a question they don’t like, you and your publication (or network) will never interview that celebrity again. And, since many celebrities are represented by the same agents, it spills over into access to other celebrities as well.

It’s one of the reasons Bill Cosby was able to maintain his squeaky-clean image for decades, even though his first known victim dates back to 1965.

As a journalist, you have eaten on the go a lot. What is your favorite food and why?

Chicken fried rice. The food at the Sky Asian Bistro at the Philly airport is just amazing and I love it when I fly in or out of the terminal where it is.

You have led a busy life. How did you balance food, faith, finance, and family?

It’s tough! My PEOPLE job was 24/7 for 12 years with a lot of last-minute trips to cover horrific breaking news events so it was tough to plan anything because you had to be available to go at a moment’s notice. And since I left there I’ve been very busy on multiple projects so I’m just now catching my breath a little and trying to figure out how to do that!

Photo Credit: Steven Goldblatt

The post Nicole Egan appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Margaret Bourne is a marketing and PR professional, with over 10-plus years of experience in blogging and over 15+ years in PR, digital marketing, and content generation.  Margaret shares adventures, recipes, beauty trends, parenting stories, and blogging tips on her lifestyle blog Suburban Tourist.

Margaret Bourne has included FourColumnsofaBalancedlife in her list of Top Up-And-Coming Canadian Lifestyle Blogs to Follow in 2020.

Margaret comments that “These Canadian lifestyle blogs haven’t been overly pitched, with every blog post being sponsored content. Therefore, they are much more appealing to readers who want authenticity and real insights than a brand push behind it. A fine line! They have fresh ideas and content and they are eager to share their stories and ideas with their readers. Furthermore, they want to be seen and heard. Therefore, getting a boost from others is always welcome.”

I want to thank Margaret for appreciating the authenticity and real insights that I try to bring to the lifestyle landscape.

The post Top up and coming Canadian lifestyle blogs to follow in 2020 appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.