What Do You Do?

I had brunch today with several old friends. Two of them had never met before and one asked the other, “what do you do?” There was a long pause until my friend said, “I don’t know how to answer that.” We all knew what she meant. Being of a “certain age,” we have all had multiple careers. It’s now hard for any of us to give a simple clear answer to the question “what do you do?” In the 1970’s I could have answered student, paralegal, press agent to race-car drivers or event coordinator, depending upon the year and the job of the moment. In the 1980’s the answer was still easy – “I’m in public relations.” Short, sweet, to the point. By the mid-1990’s my titles expanded. I was known as an author, literary agent, and book publicist. Today there is no simple description for “what I do.” It’s often easiest to refer people to the signature section of my emails which list the breadth of my current career choices – PR & marketing for The Spiritual Cinema Circle, three websites and internet products, raising money for http://www.justlikemychild.org, campaigner for Barack Obama, radio show host, occasional consultant to authors but no longer doing book PR or agenting.
What I enjoy doing most is “making things happen” and my playground is wide and diverse. And, at this point in my life, I feel limited by identifying myself by my career. I am many, many things; soul mate to Brian, global traveler, spiritual seeker, a lover of life. I don’t think there is a name for all of that, but there is a word – happy ☺