I’ve spent more than 25 years as an advertising copywriter, connecting people to brands. Now I’m working as a mediator, connecting people to other people.

What I liked most about my staff jobs in advertising was working with others to identify a problem and develop creative solutions. What I disliked were the interpersonal conflicts that often simmered and went unchecked until reaching a boiling point. By then, the damage was done and people departed for other teams or even other agencies. A lot of energy was spent on conflicts, but not in a constructive way.

I found freedom in freelancing because it provided me with space from agency politics. I would swoop in, do the work, and not get bogged down with the drama. I loved it.

Eventually I left NYC for a small town in the Berkshires. Eager to get involved in my new community, I joined various town committees only to find myself immersed in the types of conflict I had managed to avoid professionally.

Discovering mediation

In an attempt to figure out how to be more effective as a committee chair, I signed up for a mediation class. It was life-changing. I realized that conflict is pervasive, from everyday family squabbles to full-blown global wars. But conflict doesn’t have to be destructive, it has to be handled in a constructive way.

but I also saw that saw how I had made me see that conflict is pervasive and destructive when left unchecked. realized that conflict was universal—from squabbles in families to global wars. Coping with it in a constructive way was

In my personal life, I did irreparable damage to an important relationship because I saw no way forward except to end it.