A Career out of Changing Careers

"I started out in the New York financial markets in 1970, working as an economist and a banker. By 1985, I’d exceeded my wildest expectations in terms of promotions and compensation, but I actually hated my job. After some – but not too much deliberation -- my then-husband and I abandoned our successful careers to embark on the five-year, round-the-world sailing voyage that is the subject of my memoir, Sailing Down the Moonbeam. When the journey came to an unexpected end, I returned to the financial markets as a consultant to multinational corporations, working first in New Zealand, and then Australia, Central America, Europe, and ultimately back in New York. A decade later, I dropped out again, this time to oversee a turnaround of a nonprofit that provided housing and support services to the mentally ill in New York City. In 2000, I returned to high finance as SVP of the Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines. Two years later, I dropped out of high finance for the final time. Since then, my 'careers' have included a multi-year stint as a non-profit consultant, a decade as author of a memoir and a novel, free-lance journalism, and editing non-fiction articles and books. Throughout my two decades in Des Moines, I have served on a variety of non-profit boards.

“Many people think of me as a risk-taker. Not so. From a very early age, I hated repetition and routine and have been in more-or-less constant search for growth and change. To me, staying put is often a far bigger risk than trying something new.”

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