FIRST (magazine) Interview

I got an email just before Thanksgiving time asking if I would be interested in doing an interview for a national magazine, First for Women. With my husband's blessing, I agreed.

I was contacted by Lisa Maxbauer, an independent writer who contracts for the column, "Private Confidence". We scheduled a preliminary interview so that Lisa could pitch my story to the editors over at FIRST. The interview lasted over 60 minutes. I told my husband that having to share something so personal was more challenging than I thought that it would be. We had several follow up emails fine tuning a few things. Lisa called me a few weeks later to let me know that the editors liked my story. Lisa and I talked at "the real" interview that lasted over 90 minutes. We continued to email. I really had to think hard about my private thoughts and motivations.

I accepted that being open to 76 million people about my journey might raise a few eyebrows, especially to those closest to me. After a few more hours and 20 some odd emails, I began to get worried. I had no idea about the kind of work that goes into magazine articles. My thoughts were: “All this for 2 or 3 columns?”

In March, a woman from First's photography department, Judy Ramiraz, called me to schedule a photo shoot. I was told that Justin Grant, a local and well known photographer would be doing the photo shots. Judy asked me to set aside 4-5 hours for the shoot. Again, I had no clue that so much work went into 1 picture for a small article in the back of a magazine. April 1st arrived and we met with Justin Grant. Justin is easy going and we had a lot of fun. (There was plenty of kissing and teasing going on from my husband). When the photo shoot was over, things were quiet. In May I was emailed and told that the article would be in the July 17th issue.

There is always more to a story than an article has room for. I am thankful to First magazine for the opportunity that I had to share some of my story with so many. Hopefully, readers found hope and learned that there is always room for personal growth.

Thank you to First magazine, Lisa Maxbauer, Judy Rimaraz, and Justin Grant Photography.
A special thanks to Laura M. Brotherson for taking her own journey and writing her book, And They Were Not Ashamed, which helped sparked this journey.