We recently connected with Catalina Margulis and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Catalina, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I suppose I was always called to a creative path. At first, I wanted to be a film director, but I chickened out of auditioning for film school. I didn’t want to be a starving artist and I figured, there’s only one Steven Spielberg, right?
Everyone told me I was a writer, so when it came time to choose my direction for college and university, I knew I had to do something with words. At the time, I was looking at choosing between book publishing and journalism. I heard that book publishing didn’t pay well. So I went into journalism, and had a brilliant career as a magazine editor.
Then when I turned 40 I decided to finally start writing my book. I had success with that, and people started asking me for advice on writing their book, and that led to me becoming a book coach!
I’ve coached hundreds of people on writing, publishing and marketing books, and my own book AGAIN, ONLY MORE LIKE YOU, launched in April 2025. So I ended up in book publishing after all!

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.

Today, I help authors write, FINISH, publish and market their book. I mostly help experts, speakers, coaches and consultants, but I’ve also worked with plenty of fiction writers as well along the way.
My favourite part of the job is creative collaboration with my clients. It’s like we’re in a band making music together, riffing off each other. I’ll make a suggestion or ask a question, and that will take us to new places they’ve never thought of before. It’s exciting to bring value and see it light them up immediately.
There’s a lot of business strategy in what I do, which I also love. I want my books to perform for my clients and bring them closer to making their life-long business dreams and goals come true, and building out that book publishing and marketing strategy with great intention and purpose is key.
So it’s a creative pursuit, but also practical, which is important to me. The best part is knowing that by helping one person, one author, I can help so many other people through their books. It’s exponential impact.

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

My career has been a real roller coaster ride. From journalist to magazine editor, content strategist to book coach. I’ve been restructured, laid off. My entire industry (journalism and magazines) has been hit hard ever since the digital wave hit. Through it all, I’ve always managed to land on my feet and find new opportunities, learn and grow. So much so that now, people come to me wanting to know the secrets to my reinvention and resilience.
I think the answer is two-fold: 1) Focusing on transferable skills. Even though my jobs and roles have changed over the years, I’ve always been a writer and editor. And that can take many forms. Knowing I have a skill, that I continue to learn and master, and leveraging that skill across many different job opportunities and industries, has helped me become resilient and stay positive through all the ups and downs. 2) I know I just said this, but it bears repeating: Seeing challenges, detours, pivots not as stumbling blocks but learning opportunities. Your industry might get hit, or your job may get cut, so maybe you decide to become an entrepreneur. And maybe that forces you to learn sales, and now you know how to do that too. It was born out of crisis, perhaps, but those breakdowns can make for wonderful breakthroughs. And you can continue to acquire new skills, expertise and talents as you ride the wave of change, which will only make your more versatile and valuable.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I went into personal development and leadership training late in life–in my 40s. In hindsight, I would start that journey earlier. Not only did I make a whole bunch of friends along the way, but it introduced me to coaching and coaches, business trainings, leadership trainings, mentorship. Those things seemed so out of reach to me when I was younger, but since going through those programs, I see the opportunities everywhere. I would 100% encourage my kids to find coaches, mentors to study and train under, or learn from. The more, the merrier. Wherever there’s a skill gap for me today, my first response will be to find an expert I can hire to teach me or show me the way. Whether that’s someone who is an expert in online courses, memberships, user experience design, whatever. I have zero reluctance to find the right people who can shorten the journey for me, teach me what they know, without me having to figure it all out for myself, the long and hard way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.catmargulis.com
• Instagram: @catmargulis
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catalina-margulis-628bb851/

Image Credits

All photos except me in a sweatshirt: Andrea Gibson
Me in a sweatshirt (selfie)
Book cover by Miss Nat Mack, https://www.missnatmack.com/