I’ve absolutely loved my career, which has been purpose-driven nearly from the start. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa with Honors and Distinction with a BA and MS in psychology from Stanford University, I wasn’t sure what to do with my life. So I gratefully accepted a position as a Business Analyst with the prestigious management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

I had a spectacular office, amazing salary and fantastic colleagues, but two months in, I knew it was not the path I would continue to travel because my heart wasn’t in it. I did not want to spend my career making rich, powerful companies richer and more powerful. When the 2-year program ended, I left.

Lost again, I networked with a bunch of friends and contacts. An acquaintance who had an MD/ PhD said he wanted to write a book about health and wellness. Did I want to coauthor it with him? I had always loved to read and write since I was young, so I said yes.

I went to the bookstore, bought a book called “How to Write a Book Proposal,” and wrote one for our book, titled “Sexual Fitness.” Then I sent an email to everyone I knew asking if anyone knew anyone in publishing who might offer me some feedback. A friend said her friend was very junior at Penguin Putnam — she’d take a look.

Two weeks later, she emailed to say, “I never do this, but we’re buying your book!”

Out of that, I got my first book deal, a mentor who was the senior editor at Riverhead books, and a literary agent.
I spent the next 25 years ghostwriting and coauthoring nonfiction books in health, spirituality, psychology and memoir.

I have met extraordinary people. I have been able to do deep dives into subjects that fascinate me. And, of great importance to me, I’ve been able to choose to work only on books that have meaning and make the world a better place.

I also started writing my own articles for magazines and websites including a regular column in Huffington Post and, for the past 8 years, FORBES.

Furthermore, I’ve been able to live wherever I want and work whenever I want. I worked from home long before it was trendy. I can go to a yoga class in the middle of the day. I’ve lived in Paris, Singapore, Costa Rica, and spent over a year traveling the world.

The only problem is, my career was not scalable. I could only work with one or two clients at a time. I could only earn so much income per year. That was fine when I was younger and carefree, but once I got married, had kids, bought a house and had more expenses, I began to feel a burning desire to reach more clients at once.

This and the million questions I get asked about publishing and writing every week is what inspired me to design an online course. “Your Bestselling Book” takes people through a proven step-by-step program to author and publish a nonfiction book or memoir. It takes place over 6 weeks, with a weekly Masterclass as a well as a small group Workshop where you get to share your material. In addition, I offer open office hours and have uploaded interviews with numerous publishing professionals on such topics as traditional publishing, self-publishing, audio books and author PR.

The first cohort of 20 outstanding humans started early September and will end on Oct 29. We’ll begin another cohort in late January 2024.

It is truly my life purpose to help people birth their books into the world in order to share their stories, make a positive impact, and also build their brand, attract customers, get paid speaking engagements, and inspire others. I feel so blessed to have started teaching this course.

Now that I’m deep in it, meeting with amazing people and working in a group setting, I only wish that I had started this online course sooner. It seems like such an obvious oversight. I feel I was born to be a teacher, I love serving people on their book journeys, and I am having such fun!

I believe what stopped me was lack of confidence. Since I was a young woman, I have struggled with imposter syndrome. I always wondered, “Who am I to teach a course like this? Who am I to sell myself as an expert?”
But I realized only in this past year that I should have been asking myself the inverse question: “Who am I NOT to teach this course? Who am I NOT to offer my expertise to people with a burning desire to share their stories?”