Meet Alumni Mark McGuckin and Calum MacLeod: Creators of the television show, Road Hockey Rumble
How did two UBC film grads get their own television series after graduation? By doing what they love most: filming and playing road hockey. Mark McGuckin (BA ’04 Film Production) and Calum MacLeod (BA ’03 Film and TV Studies) — co-hosts, writers, and creative producers of “Road Hockey Rumble” — take their love of the game across Canada.
Meet romance novelist Nancy Warren (BA ’81)
As a leading novelist for Harlequin, the world’s top publisher of romance novels, it is the job of Nancy Warren (BA ’81) to keep readers guessing.
And in an industry that in 2005 alone produced nearly 6,000 titles, that’s not an easy task. Far more than passion, desire, and racy cover art, romance novels are a culmination of a writer’s ingenuity. For Warren, they are a finely honed craft, full of precision.
“Everybody knows the hero and heroine are going to fall in love, so it’s not a big surprise how the book is going to end,” explains Warren, the author of more than 30 novels and novellas. “There has to be a point where readers think, ‘I don’t know how they’re going to pull this off.’
“And that’s really my job — to keep the readers turning the pages even though they know these two will end up together.”
She credits Hamlet for giving her the tools to launch her career.
“Studying Hamlet may not really have a lot to do with Speed Dating (Harlequin: 2007), or The Trouble With Twins (Harlequin: 2006), but it’s surprising how it played a big part in learning how to write and create.”
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, Warren launched herself into a career of professional writing as a reporter with The North Shore News community newspaper. She later took on corporate communications, public relations, and freelance writing — her professional assignments included authoring the engineering newsletters for UBC.
Following a stint in Ottawa, Warren returned to Vancouver in 1996 and considered something entirely different. “I thought to myself, you see those romance novels all the time on the shelves. How hard can it be?” she recalls.
“And so I thought I’d just try one and it took me four years to be able to sell one,” she adds. “It’s much more difficult than you think.”
After submitting her first two novels to Harlequin — one for Duets, a romantic comedy series, and the other for Temptation, the publisher’s steamiest line at the time — Warren recalls feeling discouraged when she did not hear back from editors.
“When you’re first starting out, it’s a dreadful, grim, and soul-destroying process,” she adds. “If you think about it, this is you on the page. It’s much harder than sending a piece of journalism and someone saying that it doesn’t fit their requirements.”
Warren found that editors did not have time to read new material — their priority was to work with existing authors. With romance sales making up 40 per cent of all popular fiction books sold — more than mystery, suspense, and detective novels combined — the genre is the most popular type of fiction in America.
To break into the industry, Warren joined writing groups, worked closely with an editor, and entered contests. She eventually got her break, winning the contest that launched Harlequin’s hottest and sexiest line, Blaze, a series of erotic romance novels.
After knocking on doors for years, seeking comments and feedback from editors, Warren believes she has learned to create and tell the perfect story — one that requires entertaining characters and an intricate plot.
“Every time I start a romance novel, I have somebody that has a problem, whether they really want something, or are running away from something,” Warren says of her characters’ personal issues, evident in the opening chapters of her books.
“If it’s a question of vulnerability or an inability to commit, those elements are going to somehow come through even in the intimate scenes.”
From writing about Shakespeare’s canon to reporting news stories, Warren accumulated a set of skills she believes is “incredibly applicable.”
“For example, interviewing somebody and getting to the heart of the story really helped me in writing romance,” says Warren of her five years as a reporter.
“You get really good at [romance] dialogue because you’re so used to writing down what people are saying. You get used to the rhythms of natural speech rather than a very formal writing style that we come out of university with.
“You have to kind of understand the rules and then break them.”
In penning her often explicit love scenes, Warren enjoys the creative process of delving into her imagination and making up every word.
“I love writing love scenes because they can be really fun,” Warren says, adding she focuses on bringing out the personal connection between each set of different characters.
“And think about it: that’s when you’re completely vulnerable, you’re completely letting go, you’re completely intimate, and so I think that’s the most revealing of who we really are.”
Warren says she equally enjoys the process of what she calls “sparking ideas.”
“Stories and ideas are everywhere,” she says. “Everybody has a story. And I spend a lot of time when I’m out just chatting with people.”
As a novelist with a dedicated readership, Warren has reduced the amount of writing she produces, currently averaging three to four books a year. Along with the flexibility of writing from home, she says she enjoys a yearly publication schedule that is based on her needs.
“I’m very entrepreneurial,” Warren says. “This is my own business. And I’m my own boss.”
She adds: “Writers write. The bottom line is — if you’re not writing, you’re not a writer.”
By Michelle Keong, an English and Classical Studies major. She is in the Arts co-op program.
Three UBC Arts alumni collaborate on film – A Shine of Rainbows
It’s a small world after all: Editor Alison Grace (BA ’71 Film) ,Screenwriter Dennis Foon (MFA ’75 Creative Writing), and Associate Producer John Bolton (BA ’99 Hon. English) collaborated on the recently released and award winning film A Shine of Rainbows. A UBC Arts degree can connect you with talented peers for years after you graduate and take you around the world; in this case, a film set in Ireland.
Meet Robyn Laughlin: Using Psychology and Family Studies in her Ministry of Health co-op job
Through the Arts Co-op Program, Robyn Laughlin spent her summer in 2007 working as a research analyst for the Ministry of Health in Victoria. She says she was able to test all the skills she picked up during her three previous work placements.
Meet Susanne Biro: Learn how this BA Pyschology ’95 grad became a professional life coach
Susie thought that a BA would only ever be stepping stone to more education – a Master’s degree or Law school – so she never expected that her BA alone would land her a great job.
Susie graduated from UBC with a BA in Psychology in 1995 with a wide variety of interests in life, but with no specific idea of what she wanted to do with her degree.
During her four years at university, she worked as a barber apprentice at her mother’s barbershop and joined Phrateries (a club for women), which provided her with a stronger sense of community.
After graduating, she considered applying to a law or counseling program because she thought that a degree in psychology would be a good springboard for either career. After conducting several informational interviews with professionals in both fields, she realized that they were not as appealing as she had imagined.
Instead, she decided to take time off and travel to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Both her barbershop and travelling experiences helped her to clarify her career goals and get to know herself better.
When she returned from abroad, she completed a Diploma of Technology program in Marketing and Communications at BCIT, which launched her into a career as an Advertising Account Executive.
Despite the perks that this job offered, ultimately she found it to be unfulfilling work. After hiring a coach to help further clarify what she really wanted out of life and work, Susie finally found work that was meaningful to her.
She experienced such incredible personal and professional value from her coach that she decided she wanted to provide such a service for others. She is now a Certified Professional Coach working with people to discover and achieve what they really want in life.
If you are interested in this line of work, she suggests researching it, hiring your own coach, and reading everything you can get your hands on!
What is your current job title?
Certified Professional Coach
What were your job titles leading up to this one?
Licensed Barber, Advertising Account Executive
How did you find and land your current job?
While I was in advertising I began feeling that my job really didn’t matter in the big picture of life, in spite of being promoted three times and making pretty good money.
I found it all pretty empty and unfulfilling. So I hired myself a professional coach to help me pinpoint what it was I really wanted, and that’s how I discovered coaching as a meaningful profession.
I had started at the ad agency in 1998 and left in 2001, although I actually started coaching clients in 2000 part-time. Actually, it was my coach who challenged me to ask the CEO of my ad agency to pay for an introductory coaching course, which I did. He surprised me by saying ‘yes’, so I was fortunate enough to explore the training without having to invest my own money, and I loved it.
At that point, I thought I’d continue the training more to develop myself as a person – I wasn’t looking at it as a business thing, so I paid for all the remaining courses myself. Eventually it became my full-time occupation and I’m now the sole proprietor of a company of one.
Can you give me an overview of your job description?
I help people:
- Get clear on what it is they really want;
- Uncover the obstacles and self-imposed limitations that stand in their way to achieving what it is they really want and feeling the way they really want to feel, and;
- Get into action to start to create the results they are seeking.
Essentially, coaching is about helping people get out of their own way to get what they most want: achievement, fulfillment, and peace of mind.
Can you give me an overview of the day-to-day tasks that you do?
I answer email, change my phone message, get organized for client sessions, (which are usually between one and five per day – I typically spend half an hour on the phone with each client or if it’s a new client it will be two hours in person), marketing and networking activities, reading, educating myself, and administrative work such as invoicing and maintaining my website information.
In a nutshell, it’s two main things: work with clients and self-educate.
What aspects of your job are most important and satisfying to you?
The one-on-one work with people; expanding human potential is my passion. I love talking, connecting, and helping people to get what they really want out of life.
What aspects are least satisfying to you?
Marketing myself/ self-promoting. I dislike having to get clients, although I can sell anything that isn’t the point – a client’s got to really want to change and be prepared to do the work it takes to change.
Some people mistakenly believe coaching is cheerleading. Currently there are many people out there who are now calling themselves coaches, which is creating some misunderstandings in the market place.
If there’s anything you could change about your job, what would it be?
I’d like to continually have clients; be more stable, more consistent. It’s a slow process – people will hire me when they believe that what I do will bring substantial value to their businesses and lives.
Therefore my number one job right now is to build my reputation so that it precedes me and so my "brand" stands for trust, integrity, and providing outstanding client value.
Before you started did you know what the job what it would be like?
Yes. As a result of having worked with a coach for approx. 1.5 years prior to becoming one, as well as through my courses and formal training, I knew what was basically involved in this career choice.
I was familiar also with being my own boss, because in my advertising job I didn’t have anyone watching me or telling me what to do each day. I am pretty self-motivated and actually prefer to run my own show.
How did you do your research?
The Coaches Training Institute set me up pretty well to not expect an overnight ‘business boom’ – as with any business, it generally takes between three to five years to get established.
From my previous experience of working with a coach, I knew about the lifestyle, and from my background in advertising I knew the importance of having a website and effective promotion. In other words, I knew what needed to be done, which is entrepreneurship.
For me, it’s always been apparent what I need to do to make something work once I’m clear on what I want. I believe that’s true for everyone – the clearer we are, the more successful we are, because we can then effectively harness our time and energy.
What salary range could most BA graduates expect in this field?
That totally depends on what you put into it. The rates range form $50.00 per hour to $350.00 + per hour, but again, it depends on how hard you work, your target niche, and whether your client base is corporate/senior management or private individuals and students.
Also, it depends on your reputation, how people find out about you, and your networking contacts and affiliates. The range can really be anywhere from $20,000 to $300,000 per year.
What would you recommend that students interested in this field do while they’re in school to better their chances of finding work in this field?
Research it and hire your own coach because there’s nothing like direct experience to find out where you want to go.
Also, don’t do it just for money – do it because you love human nature and believe in the potential of people. Read everything you can get your hands on. For a list of books I highly recommend, visit the resource section of my website.
Also, check out the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) community. It meets the third Thursday of every month at the Centre for Peace in Vancouver. Also, the International Coaches Federation (ICF), which is our regulatory body, meets the last Thursday of every month and we bring in speakers, talk about obstacles, our work with clients, and so on.
Why did you choose UBC?
Because of the prestige and recognition a degree from UBC afforded career-opportunity-wise. UBC is a reputable university that I thought would help me to springboard into the next career/educational step.
I also wanted to stay in Vancouver because I had a good job working with my mom in her barbershop in West Vancouver and I needed to work while I was studying.
When did you start your post-secondary education?
I entered UBC’s Faculty of Arts directly after finishing high school in 1991.
When did you graduate from UBC?
1995. I went straight through, taking the summers off to work so that I could pay for school. I also spent one summer on exchange at Laval University in Quebec to learn French.
Did you ever change your mind about your major?
Yes, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. In first and second year I took anything I was interested in: biology, political science, philosophy, psychology.
I spoke to a counselor at UBC at one point too, who suggested I do a General BA because my interests were so broad and I wanted to maximize my opportunities.
However, because psychology and the study of human nature was the only subject that really held my interest, I decided in third year to major in it.
Did you have an idea of what to do career-wise after graduation?
I thought I’d apply to go into law or counseling. I thought that a BA in psychology would be useful as a springboard into law, especially as I had taken more general courses in history and political science as well. And, it would also allow me the option of pursuing a master’s in counseling.
What were your non-academic interests in high school and university?
I danced for years until Grade 11. I even went to a special school in Grade 10 that allowed me to attend school from 8:00 to 11:00 am so that I spent the rest of the day dancing, but I realized that I didn’t want to pursue it further into a career.
Otherwise, working, going to the gym/exercising, and spending time with family and friends were what I did when I wasn’t studying.
My mom trained me as a barber apprentice while I was still in Grade 12. It saved me from having to get student loans as I had a job to work at every Saturday during the school year and then each summer for the entire four months.
Working in my mom’s barbershop was where I learned a lot about business; effective communication skills as well as what is required to create and maintain great relationships with people.
I believe that I learned more about business and building great relationships from the time I spent working in my mom’s barbershop than I did in all my years of schooling.
What extracurricular activities were you involved in while at UBC?
For my first and second year I had no feeling of community at UBC, so I joined Phrateries, which is a club for women, for my third and fourth year.
I had been feeling lonely and like I was missing out on university life, so I took the steps to change this by getting involved with this club. We focused on event planning and raising money, which I enjoyed. And of course, we partied, which I really enjoyed!
Did your involvement help you to gain experience or skills transferable to your current job?
Yes, but I wish I had gotten more involved. Networking and getting to know people is the basis of business.
I still run into some of the people I met at Phrateries. I wish I had gotten to know more people while I was at UBC.
Were you ever worried or afraid about what kind of work was available after graduating with a BA?
Yes, definitely. I worked in my mom’s barbershop after I completed my degree, as I was still unsure of what I was meant to do with my life.
However, at the same time, I knew that a BA would only ever be a stepping stone to more education, a Master’s degree or Law school, so I never expected that my BA alone would land me a great job.
What steps brought you to your current career?
In my fourth year I spoke to several female lawyers, most of whom were not practicing for various reasons, and also to counselors and realized that I did not want to do this profession.
As I mentioned previously, I worked in my mom’s barbershop throughout my university degree and continued for a year after graduation to save money to travel.
I ended up going to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. But prior to leaving on my trip, I had applied to BCIT to enroll in the Diploma of Technology program in Marketing and Communications.
Both the barbershop experience and the travelling helped me to know myself and to focus on some more specific career directions.
Did you plan to be where you are now career-wise?
No, not at all. When I returned home from traveling I wanted to work for an advertising agency because I thought it sounded "cool" and so that’s what I did after I finished my diploma in marketing at BCIT.
I felt I had a natural eye for what works and what doesn’t work in advertising, and I liked the idea of working in a fast paced environment with young people, so it seemed like a good fit.
After being in it for a while, I realized it wasn’t ultimately rewarding, and that realization helped me get to the career I’m in now.
How important were your grades in terms of landing your current job?
Not important. I had around a C+ or a B average. BCIT was really competitive, but I didn’t really care about competing for A’s. I focused more on how to market myself and land the internship I wanted and that paid off much better for me.
What is the worst thing a student could do with respect to working in this field?
Go in it solely to make lots of money.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently while at UBC?
I would definitely have gotten more involved, been more social, taken it easy, relaxed, not been so hard on myself, enjoyed the experience, and definitely not worried so much about ‘having it all figured out.’
Any advice to current students?
Spend time really getting to know yourself; read; take courses you’re interested in, both academic and non-academic; find out what you’re most passionate about, what you most care about in this world, or what you believe matters at the end of the day … and let the rest fall away.
Choose to do what you love, find out what you really care about and go for it: For example, if you really love playing video games, ask yourself "Why do I love video games so much?" and break it down into the finer points. Is it the excitement, the colours, the solitude, the adrenaline, the drive to win, to beat your last record, and/or the focus it takes? Whatever it is, there’s a job for you that fits what you most love. And if you can’t find a job that does, create it for yourself!
Design your life, don’t follow or settle for what you think you can get or from only the options you currently see in front of you. Also, rather than thinking in terms of ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’ – rather, think in terms of "what do I want to do next?" And most of all, have fun! You are young and the world is yours!
Alumni Advice: Climbing the ladder – 3 steps at a time
Kelsey Dundon (BA’04) never thought she would be creating advertising campaigns and branding businesses for some of BC’s leading companies.
But as head copywriter for one of Vancouver’s top communication and advertising firms, Dundon creates what she calls personalities for her clients.
“Nike, for example, has a very different personality they’d be putting forth than something like IBM. And it’s very much done through their communications,” says Dundon, who graduated with a degree in English literature.
Working on the award-winning Metropolis at Metrotown campaign to promote the newly expanded shopping complex and White Spot’s Triple-O campaign baffles this recent graduate. “I never ever thought I’d actually be where I am, because I’m 24 and I’m doing this and I love it,” Dundon says.
Dundon works at Traction Creative, a Vancouver firm that specializes in branding, where she does anything from naming a company, to writing their advertisements, websites, radio, or TV scripts.
She shared her educational experiences and career path at last year’s Arts Career Expo as part of the “Media and Communications” panel. “We’ve got some clients in retail that would need a very different voice from clients that are selling multi-million dollar condos,” she adds. “So the audience that we’re reaching require very different voices, and so I have to be very responsive to what it is that our clients need to say.”
Dundon says the focus on research and writing, plus the feedback she received from her professors at UBC, helped her prepare for the communications industry. Learning to be critical of her writing allowed Dundon to reach a variety of audiences whether they are teens going out, or retired people looking for a vacation home. “People are going to respond to it — they’re going to interact with it whether it’s online, or listening to it on the radio, or reading a print ad,” she says. “Through my English training, I have learned to be critical of my work before putting it out there.”
Dundon has recently contributed to the Metropolis at Metrotown campaign. An earlier version of the campaign featured mannequins making their way to the mall by various means, including transit and hitchhiking. That earned Traction Creative the MAXI Merit International Award for global excellence in marketing. The spontaneity of bouncing ideas off co-workers is one of the things Dundon enjoys most. “It’s funny how we’re sometimes sitting around in the boardroom and we’re joking around and we’ll come up with the punch line to a radio script. That’s the process I love.”
Initially an aspiring journalist, Dundon researched and wrote for the Faculty of Arts website and research magazine, UBC artsBeat; she also freelanced for The Georgia Straight, Vancouver news and entertainment weekly magazine, and The Tyee, the award-winning online journal, amassing a hefty-sized portfolio early on. While still a UBC student, Dundon interned in the Global TV newsroom as a news researcher. She says the adrenaline rush of constantly working towards the six o’clock news prepared her for the deadline-based communications industry. “It’s interesting to see how experiences that may not directly relate actually end up relating,” she says.
Now writing for various clients, Dundon started off part-time, managing client accounts at Traction Creative, until one of her articles for The Tyee fell into the hands of the firm’s president, Larry Donen. Recognizing her talent, Donen explored whether Dundon could turn her writing into copywriting. “She turned out to be exceptional,” he says. “So we quickly moved her from the account component to the creative side. Now she’s our head writer.” Not bad for a girl who started off organizing company logos. “I’ve had a very interesting journey to get here,” she says. “And so it’s fascinating to me how every step has helped me.”
“I’ve always said that no matter what comes my way, I will try and take it on without compromising anything, except maybe my social life,” Dundon says, laughing.
So what’s next on this promising writer’s career path?
“Eventually I would love to be involved in running a company very much like this one because the clients are so diverse, and the people I’m working with are so bright and creative.”
By Michelle Keong, an English and Classical Studies major. She is in the Arts co-op program.
Asha Padmanabhan: Teaching Math with a BA
Asha Padmanabhan enrolled in the Bachelor of Education program at UBC after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in math. Today, she teaches math and calculus at a Richmond high school. “I got my dream job pretty fast,” she says.
Alumni Stan Persky wins Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence
Born in Chicago, Persky immigrated to Vancouver in the 1966. UBC BA’69 (Anthropology) MA ’79 (Sociology), Persky has been a media commentator for CBC and literary columnist for the Vancouver Sun, the Globe and Mail, This Magazine, Saturday Night and The Tyee. Persky also regularly contributes articles and reviews to Dooneys Cafe and his personal website, splitting his time between Vancouver and Berlin.
Persky is a Philosophy instructor at Capilano University and author of 20 books, including Fantasy Government: Bill Vander Zalm and the Future of Social Credit, The Short Version, At The Lenin Shipyard: Poland and the Rise of the Solidarity Trade Union and Buddy’s: Meditations on Desire. He co-founded the Georgia Straight Writing Supplements which led to the establishment of the Vancouver publishing house New Star Books.
“We have chosen Stan Persky as the recipient of the 2010 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence because of the intellectual and moral integrity he brings to his work as a writer who engages with some of the most difficult questions facing society, and because of the great contributions he has made to the literary canon of Canada and British Columbia.
His numerous books and his trail-blazing efforts in creating literary journals and a forum for public engagement – not least New Star Books and the Georgia Straight – have helped develop British Columbia’s literary community into what it is today. His grace as an essayist, his curiosity and independence of thought as a critic and newspaper columnist, and his exuberance as a civil rights activist and a leading voice of the gay community have enriched us all.
Stan Persky is our Socrates. British Columbians can rightly boast that he is truly one of ours. ”
-Terry Glavin, 2009 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence.
The $5,000 award is given annually to a B.C. writer who has contributed to the growth of literary excellence in the province. Persky was presented with the award by the Honourable Steven Point on April 24th. He commented in an email to Capilano University Newsroom that “I received the lieutenant-governor’s letter informing me of the reward April 1, so I immediately assumed it was an April Fool’s joke. Once I persuaded myself that it wasn’t a seasonal hoax or a quirky display of the L-G’s sense of humour, I immediately thought of the names of about 20 other writers in B.C. who are probably more deserving of receiving this honour than I am.”
Other UBC finalists for the BC Book Prizes include alumna (Sociology) and Assistant Professor Larissa Lai, whose book of poetry Automaton Biographies was short listed for the Dorothy Livesay award and alumna (Creative Writing) and Adjunct Instructor Annabel Lyon whose novel The Golden Mean was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.
[Photo courtesy BC Book Prizes]