We were lucky to catch up with Suzanne Boothby recently and have shared our conversation below.

Suzanne, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Creative careers are full of risks, and I think so many early choices in my life helped create a foundation where I became more comfortable with uncertainty and betting on my ability to take a risk and have it pay off.

One of my earliest risks was traveling to New Zealand for a year in my early 20s. I had been working for a magazine in Chicago, and it was a great, steady job. But I had wanderlust and really wanted to see the world before I became too settled into a routine. I became interested in New Zealand, as it was a place known for gorgeous landscapes, organic agriculture, and a rich indigenous culture. I also had a kiwi editor when I worked at Mother Jones magazine, who was always telling me stories about NZ.

I found a way to travel through WWoofing (at the time known as willing workers on organic farms), where you swap farm work for room and board, so I was able to stretch my tiny savings account and also secure a working visa for the year so I could also make some money along the way. I’ll never forget how I had whole body nerves (shaking and nausea) at the Los Angeles airport before my 13-hour flight to Auckland. I had all my belonging in a backpack, and while I had traveled a little bit outside of the country with friends, I had never traveled alone and to a place so far away. I kept telling myself, “If I hate it, I can always change my ticket and come home early.”

Thankfully, I did stay the year, and I learned so much about myself during that adventure. I learned to trust my instincts, and that sometimes the scariest choice is probably the best one because it helped me grow and learn. I made friends and even wrote for a NZ magazine, along with learning a lot about farming and the local culture.

When I came back from that trip, I continued to take risks, such as working for a political campaign, moving across the country (and back again), and pursuing a holistic nutrition coaching program, so that I could focus my writing career on health and wellness. Taking that trip showed me that life is what you make it, and you have to take chances to get more of what you want. When I decided to take the leap to be a freelance writer back in 2010, I told myself, “I can always get a job, if it doesn’t work out.” Here I am almost 15 years later, still enjoying a freelance career.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My bio has gone through many revisions over the years. Fact Checker. Writer. Magazine Editor. Health Coach. Book Coach. Cook for a music video. Author. Content Strategist. Assistant Producer for a documentary. Retreat Leader. Ghost Writer. Board President.

I have been researching and writing about health, wellness, and environmental issues since 2000, starting as a fact checker for the award-winning investigative magazine Mother Jones and have gone on to cover everything from foraging green juice ingredients to the hidden costs of conventional agriculture.

I wrote content for the world’s largest holistic nutrition school, The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and worked with documentary filmmaker Joe Cross (Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead) as both a writer and a health coach for his events. I spent seven years as the wellness writer for Omega Institute, interviewing many top health experts.

I have helped pen many successful non-fiction books including The After Cancer Diet and co-authoring Superman’s Not Coming with consumer advocate Erin Brockovich. I am now the executive editor/staff writer of The Brockovich Report, a Substack newsletter covering toxic water, communities dealing with pollution, and environmental policy. I also write articles and newsletters for Nama, a brand that makes juicers, blenders, and nut milk makers.

I’m working on my first novel.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Other writers are one of the best resources you can cultivate in a writing career. It might seem counterintuitive, as they could be seen as your competition for work, but many of my best clients and writing gigs have come through the recommendation of other writer friends. Don’t be afraid to make friends with other creatives! Believe that there is enough work and ideas for all of us. I’ve been so lucky throughout my career to have supportive friends and family, and that has truly kept me going even when there are what I would call work “valleys.” Creative friends are also great to share new work, project rates, or just to keep you in the know about the industry. I consider myself so lucky to have friends that I can complain to and celebrate with equal amounts of jubilance.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal is to keep going.

It’s so easy to say that you are only as good as your last project, but life is a long time. I want to keep exploring topics that interest me, find ways to bring out the voices of others who are not getting the attention they deserve, and I always want to feel challenged by my work. I don’t want to coast on the easy stuff, and I don’t want to be so overwhelmed that I give up entirely.

When it comes to writing, I’m still terrified of a blank page, but there’s always a way in. I just have to find it. Some days, I’ll spend half a day trying to write a paragraph and other days pages and pages flow out of me. The way to maintain a professional writing career is to keep going. When you get stuck, know that’s part of the process.

Right now, I’m working on a novel, waiting for a non-fiction book to get published, and looking for some new freelance opportunities, while writing a weekly newsletter and working for a long-time client. It’s not a linear path, and I have to keep making new connections and seeking out new opportunities to keep my career going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.suzanneboothby.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-boothby-writer
• Twitter: https://x.com/SuzanneWriting
• Other: https://www.thebrockovichreport.com