The fall of 1990 brought me into the worst year of my life. I had a very successful PR firm in Beverly Hills, representing the top hotels, art galleries, and real estate firms. I was earning gobs of money and had a staff of 8, along with 4,000 square feet of Wilshire Blvd office space, a hot sports car, a beautiful luxury hi-rise condo, and an enviable lifestyle attending galas, screenings, and Hollywood parties. And then, in the span of 6 weeks, I lost 90% of my clients to a “recession.” I began receiving calls that essentially said, “We love you, you are the best at what you do, and we can’t afford you right now. We’ll be back when the economy recovers.” I had no idea what a recession was, but I quickly discovered that I couldn’t fix it. I had to lay off all of my staff except for one half-time assistant. At the same time, I was diagnosed with Epstein Barr, and my boyfriend and I had a messy breakup. I was traumatized on every level and fearful that I might have to file for bankruptcy at some point. Now that I suddenly had a ton of free time, when I was thinking about how to rebuild my business, I began to realize that I didn’t really like most of my clients and that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I went to astrologers, psychics, and even paid a “life coach” $500 for one useless hour (that’s $1200 in today’s money) hoping someone would tell me my future.

Alas, these folks couldn’t and didn’t help me, and I was simply very depressed, fatigued, and feeling hopeless.

One day, about nine months into this miserable state, I saw the cover of a magazine featuring a photo of planet Earth taken from the moon. That image sparked something deep inside me, and in that moment, I decided that if I chose to stay in PR, in the future, I would only represent people, places, and products that were uplifting the planet. The day after I made this decision, I had lunch with a friend who asked me, “If you could represent anyone on the planet, who would it be?” I immediately said to him, “There is a man you probably have never heard of named Deepak Chopra (this was around 1991), and I think he’s the best-kept secret in America.” My friend instantly said, “I know who he is, and my friend Penny works for him.” Penny called me that same day and told me Dr. Chopra was looking for a publicist, and a week later, he became my client for 12 years. It soon became clear to me that this was my new career direction, and I was representing all of my favorite mind/body/soul authors of the time.

Ultimately, the worst year of my life turned into the best career pivot I had ever made, and I am beyond grateful it happened even though at the time it was extremely painful.

As the president of The Ford Group, I was widely recognized as America’s foremost book publicist and was instrumental in launching the careers of many NY Times bestselling self-help authors, including Deepak Chopra (Ageless Body Timeless Mind, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success & many others), Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul series), Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations with God), Debbie Ford (The Dark Side of the Light Chasers), David Bach (Smart Women Finish Rich), Jorge Cruise (8 Minutes in The Morning), Marianne Williamson (A Woman’s Worth), and many others. Additionally, I was the publicist for dozens of other top-selling authors such as Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, Gary Zukav, Dean Ornish, Joan Borysenko, Lynne Twist, Brian Tracey, and don Miguel Ruiz. I retired from PR & marketing in 2005. I am also the author of twelve books, including the international bestseller, THE SOULMATE SECRET: Manifest The Love of Your Life With The Law of Attraction (published in 21 languages and 40 countries).

I have also written many groundbreaking books, including Turn Your Mate Into Your Soulmate: A Practical Guide To Happily Ever After and Wabi Sabi Love: The Ancient Art of Finding Perfect Love in Imperfect Relationships. In 2023, I published my debut novel, The Love Thief.

In 2004, I created an internet product on how to manifest a soulmate based on my personal experience of manifesting the man of my dreams in 1997. The product was picked up by a major publisher and turned into an internationally bestselling book, The Soulmate Secret. I began receiving requests to teach at major retreat centers such as Omega Institute, Esalen, The Chopra Center, and others. This led to creating and teaching workshops and lecturing. I went from spending years behind the scenes to being onstage and in front of the camera, and eventually, it turned into a full-time career as a “love expert,” appearing on The Today Show, CNN, and other national TV shows, as well as coverage in The New York Times, USA Today, and many other well-known outlets. Today, I am getting ready for another pivot out of that realm into something that hasn’t totally defined itself yet but is definitely in the domain of being “pro-aging” and life as a Queenager!

I have only worked with clients with books and projects I was extremely enthusiastic about. This has always propelled my creativity to work hard to make their dreams come true, which then made me happy, satisfied, and content. It helps that I am very optimistic and extremely persistent. The word NO doesn’t scare me. It just means “no, not right now,” or it’s time to try another angle. Back in my days of PR, all media pitching was done by phone (this is before email or texting and barely after we had fax machines). I gave “great phone” and would project fun, and friendliness, with unusual and irresistible story ideas. All of this helped to get big results, which grew my reputation. I remember one day I was pitching a Business Editor at one of the country’s largest daily papers. I told him that I once had a friend with the same name as his (which wasn’t true) and that I went to Hollywood Hills High School (in South Florida). He said he grew up on Long Island but that his parents now lived in Hallandale, Florida. Within 5 minutes, we were having a deep conversation about the condo his parents lived in because I had guessed where they lived, and it turned out my cousins lived next door to his parents. I got the story!