b'Matters Dear Daughterheart of thematterFeaturing Local People, Places and Thingsthat Matter Since 1990A note to MadelineBY ELLEN DONKERPUBLISHER& EDITOR IN CHIEFEllen DonkerASSOCIATE EDITORCheryl SilverADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Ifeeling like a chameleon lately. In this Rene Conlon have been H. Leslie Gilman issue were featuring 51 women in business. Ive in-Adrienne MacWhannell terviewed each one of them for her advice to her COPY EDITORS youngerselfandhaveidentifiedwitheverysage Nick Humez word. Like most of these smart women, I can look Tia Swanson at my career from the vantage point of many years spent in the trenches. Thats how you learn lessons CONTRIBUTORS and gain courage.Adrianna Donat, Elaine Durbach, I thought it was only fair to turn the question on myself Ellen Kahaner, Jamie Meier, Patriciaand pretend I was giving advice to my daughter. Settling Sanchez, Abby Sher, Karen Tedesco on one thought was not easy, but I decided Id tell her to trust the journey. I say that as someone who graduated from college with a good idea of what I wanted to do. I had a career path more or lessto pursue direct mar-keting. I had goalsone of which was to own my own company. What I didnt have, though, is a five or ten-year plan. Life, to me, was not that controllable and I didnt believe I could mastermind it. By holding myself to a plan I was afraid Id miss opportunities or be unable to adjust to lifes stages. I let life come as it would.Certainly, I worked hard, trying to become as accom-Please address all correspondence to:Visual Impact Advertising, Inc. plished as possible in my field of marketing and advertis-P.O Box 198 ing. My career was very important to meI loved learning Maplewood, NJ 07040 and improvingbut later when I had my children I put it 973-763-4900 in second place, behind my family. This was an agreement mattersmagazine.comthat my husband, Rob, and I worked out. We wanted toPhoto by Jamie Meierinfo@mattersmagazine.com have a home life that was manageable. I was fortunate to Matters Magazine is owned and publishedhave choices and that Rob and I were on the same page.by Visual Impact Advertising, Inc., P.O.This meant staying out of the work force for a time and Box 198 Maplewood, NJ 07040. Matterslater working part time. I found it hard, though, to put my Magazine is free, with editions direct mailedcareer aspirations on the back burner. With work Im an all seven times a year to the residents of Maple-wood and South Orange and distributed toor nothing person and the in-between zone was not verymake with the many people who let me in on their stories businesses and surrounding communitiesinspiring. Those are the trade-offs you make depending on(such as the women I interviewed for this issue). I love con-totaling 16,000. Subscriptions are available to non-residents for $30 (U.S.) $40 (Foreign)lifes stages. There are times when you cant have it all, andnecting the dots of their experiences to find meaning and annually. No part of the publication may bethats okay. Raising my children made it all worthwhile. to be able to represent it on the page. That, for me, is joy. reprinted or otherwise reproduced withoutBy the time my kids were in high school and I hadSo, daughter, trust that the steps you take in a career will writtenpermissionfromVisualImpact Advertising, Inc. more time to devote to a job, ownership of Matters Maga- add up to something beautiful and, perhaps, unanticipated. zine presented itself. I had never considered owning a mag- Dont expect to have your professional life mapped out (or CIRCULATION VERIFIED BYU.S. POSTAL RECEIPTS. azine, but it was a business that captured my imaginationyour personal one, for that matter), but look for oppor-and was well suited to my skill set, with plenty of roomtunities that will package the experiences and skills youve READ & RECYCLE for learning. And I found I really like working for myself.developed to add up to work that matters, and work that But mostly, I found that I thrive on the friendships Iyou love. 10/ matters magazine / fall 2019'