We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Beka Shane Denter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Beka, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

For me, and for everyone, I imagine, success is defined differently. It’s such a personal value and one that I came to early in life. I was fortunate enough to have a mother who believed that if one follows one heart, at work, in life, in relationships, success will present itself in various forms.

Success has never (could never, really) be defined in terms of money earned. As a writer, and before that, as a high school English teacher, I followed my heart, and pursued two professions that filled me up. At the end of each day, no matter, how exhausted, exasperated or defeated I felt, my heart was full. When I am in the classroom, or writing or interviewing someone, I am my most authentic self. And that for me, is success.

In addition to listening to that gut instinct (for me it was moving away from writing about fashion and focusing instead on people and profiles) it’s important to always stay open. And learning. I don’t think I will ever feel like, “yeah I’ve totally made it. I’m a success!’ Because there’s always so much more to learn and be open to. Especially as a writer. Life, people, all of it, The beautiful mess that is life is what inspires me and my work.

After my mom died in December of 2017, I stopped writing. For many months I couldn’t think of anything or be moved to put any words on the page. I was frozen in grief. And then I met an incredible woman who moved me to feel inspired about life again. We worked on a profile of her for a local publication and that was when the seed was planted – the shift occurred – and I switched from fashion writing to focusing on people and their stories. I was desperate for connection, community and had a strong desire to uplift others and share their stories. That was the gift that grief gifted me.

And after a couple years of writing profiles, the pandemic hit. A new shift occurred and I found myself taking my wish list of inspiring women/non-binary/transgender creatives and entrepreneurs and beginning work on the Bloom book series. This was summer of 2020. The first book was published in 2022 and the second in the series, in 2024.

This was for me, the definition of success. Seeing my vision come to life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a writer and author who came to this profession kind of out of desperation. I was previously working as a high school English teacher in various parts of the world. My vision of being rooted in a small beach town, teaching at the local school evaporated the moment I fell in love with my now husband. When we met in 2005, he was preparing to move to Tokyo for his first assignment as a diplomat with Global Affairs Canada.

As someone who loved to travel (I had up until then lived in Canada, the US, Mexico, Australia, Bali, Thailand and the Caribbean) I was up for this challenge. Teaching was a portable career – or so I believed. Turned out, not so much. I was lucky to sign on for a few contracts during our time in Japan and later in Boston. But then when I became pregnant with our first daughter, Cali, I put in my resignation at the high school in Boston after completing a six-month position.

A Boston-based blog (this was still the early days;) was hiring fashion writers so I signed up. It didn’t pay a cent, however, being pregnant, I wanted to do something with my mind and I always enjoyed writing. And I love fashion. I’ve had a subscription to multiple editions of Vogue magazine for over twenty years. It seemed like a great opportunity. One assignment after another and I found myself thoroughly enjoying the process of putting together questions, doing an interview and putting together a story. I do not, however, recommend working for free. But I don’t regret it as this experience launched me into a new career. What was to be a “break” from teaching has turned into 15 years and a strong and varied portfolio of work of which I am very proud.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A few years into writing profiles for a local publication, I was totally caught off guard, when a story idea I had pitched and developed was stolen from me.

It had taken me a few months to convince the then editor to run this story and when she finally agreed to do so I was thrilled because the interviewee was a wonderful inspiration in the community.

I was on holiday with my family and received an email from my editor enquiring about changing up the format of the feature -adding a few things etc. I was happy to do so, upon my return. She said sounds good.

And then radio silence. And then the interviewee reached out to me via email saying some other writer had shown up at her home to do an interview. She was confused. As was I.

When the issue finally went to print I saw that they had slapped my interviewee on the front page with another author being credited for the interview with a few points from my original interview placed in a sidebar on the feature.

I was furious. And I quickly realized that my anger wasn’t going to serve me. But that the strength lay in walking away from working with that editor and publication.

As a freelance writer for many years, ,I would often see my pitch ideas printed in publications after being rejected for writing them. This was a hard but solid lesson in letting go.

When the pandemic hit, shortly after the above incident occurred, it was then that I switched my focus to writing books.

I no longer wanted to expand the energy, hope and experience feelings of rejection (well I still do to some extent as an author;) on that scale. Although in the moment it was a painstakingly awful experience, I feel I handled it with grace and it allowed me to look at other options in my field.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Yes, it feels like I am often having to pivot (with moving every 3-4 years for my husband’s work;) And though this is one of the most challenging aspects of being a creative for me, it also teaches me to be open to new experiences.

For example, when I moved to Denmark in 2023, my second book, Bloom Across Canada was scheduled for a Fall 2024 release. I was feeling frustrated with not being physically present in Canada, and in my mind, available for in-person promotional events etc.

But thankfully technology allowed me to pivot on this mindset and I’ve managed to coordinate and connect with many wonderful people and platforms to share about this journey. I am especially grateful to some of the incredible people featured in the Bloom books who happily join me on some of these platforms to talk about their experience in being part of the series.

This pivot also extended to me writing a third and final edition in the series, Bloom Around the World, which speaks to my lived experience of being a citizen of the world. And then when I wrapped up work on this last Bloom book, I decided it was now time to tell my story. In March I began work on a memoir, the first of two. Totally new territory for me. But I am enjoying the challenge and opportunity to to dig deep and connect with a new group of readers.

Pivots can feel paralyzing at times, but with age and experience, I’m seeing how they’ve opened up new opportunities for growth, both on a personal and professional level.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bekashanedenter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beka_shane_denter

Image Credits

Author photo: Christian Denter

Other photos are self-portraits or person has rights to use that photo.