About Maura
Maura4u’s professional resume and background can be viewed at: www.linkedin.com/in/maura4u
What do you say about yourself when you’re on the other side of 50?
Grew up in New Jersey – northern, that is. Exit 16W to be exact. Long before Snookie, spent a number of happy summers at the Jersey Shore. At 15, I worked on the Pt. Pleasant Beach Boardwalk as a Penny Candy girl. At 16, I waited tables at the nearby Pancake House. At 17, worked women’s retail at the foot of the Boardwalk. Had a brief stint on Rt. 35 at the little-known and long-forgotten establishment known as Your Father’s Mustache where I sang, played piano and strummed my guitar to melodies like Carole King’s It’s Too Late, Paul McCartney’s Yesterday and James Taylor’s You’ve Got a Friend.
Spent four years in New England attending Boston College with a semester in Madrid, Spain.
OMG . . . you’ll be totally bored by paragraph 4! (I’m already bored myself.)
What you really want to know is this: I’ve had a LIFETIME of experiences, and then some.
Married since 1981 (happily, I might add:). Moved to Florida in ’83. Spent 9 years in the Telecom industry opening and managing a number of branches in the Southeast till I became a burnout case and finally became pregnant. Produced one child,a daughter, who I home educated till I ran out of things to teach her when she arrived at the 6th grade.
What else? Performed a sub-par job as my husband’s secretary but handled myself far more admirably in sales with our manufacturer’s rep business to the computer industry. Conducted public relations, advocacy and communications work for a national women’s organization till I realized the founders didn’t believe in what they were professing. Cooked, cleaned, and entertained out-of-town and international guests until I didn’t want to do it any more. (It was, however, lots of fun while it lasted!) Loved, cared for and doted upon my two canine buddies: Buster, a 75 lb. Boxer plagued by separation anxiety and gifted with escape artist talents rivalled only by the great Harry Houdini, and Lily, an English Mastiff weighing in at 200 lbs who feared rain, garbage bins, and anything that stood over 6 inches tall.
Travelled a lot to places like Cuba (without a passport), Thailand (and its now submergent Phi Phi Islands), and Uganda (where I slept for a week in a self-pitched tent on a remote island that should have appeared in National Geographic . . . if only they could find it).
Suffice it to say I’ve racked up lots of mileage over the past 50 years and counting.
Today, I’m still happily married. Our daughter’s completed college studies and is currently circling the globe doing things like canyoning in Dominica and sleeping in hammocks on the Amazon. My husband and I closed that computer repping business a few years ago and got rid of nearly everything we owned. The dogs are dead, RIP, enjoying greener pastures in Doggie Heaven.
For the past few years, along with my husband, have pioneered an entirely new path in the Brave New World of Digital Entertainment Media. I’ve published and promoted an adorable series of preschool children’s books and music under the Inky Winky Spider name which received 10 5-star customer ratings through its airings on Home Shopping Network. I fully expect Inky’s Birthday Party Song to become a major musical hit and that, within time, his rhyming series will rival other children’s classic literature.
I’m learning lots these days, like how to sync my LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter accounts; utilize the Droid as a mini-computer; and blend images and artwork through Photoshop. I’ve made new contacts, like the Twitter Queen, the world’s first microblogger, and QVC’s largest vendor. I’ve attended sports, media and journalism and entertainment conferences as local as Miami, Florida and as distant as Bologna, Italy. I’ve even video conferenced with agents, consultants and media execs from Brazil, Singapore and the Netherlands. I arranged a private meeting with one of the most powerful sporting executives in the world and ticked off a top media exec at Madison Square Garden.
And why, you may ask, am I doing all this on the other side of 50?
Aside from the fact that when my husband and I closed our last business and had no back-up plan, I wanted something to keep me busy between now and the end of my odometer. Plus, I really do want World Peace! Ah, sorry. I think that was Sandra Bullock’s line from Miss Congeniality. But wasn’t she from Jersey, too???
Here’s my personal answer to the Million Dollar Question. I’m doing it all because I could either grow old and die a slow death or create a new life for myself in this New Millennium. The latter option proved less boring and far more appealing.
Personally, I’m taking most everything I’ve learned and experienced and turning it into a cottage industry known as . . . . drumroll, please . . . Maura4u.com
My passion for people, my belief in the beautiful, and my expectation that everyone’s story possesses an eternally happy ending prompts me to promote my thoughts your way. After 34 years of listening to my seemingly endless chatter, my husband pulled out a camera one day, trained it upon me and said, “Tell it to YouTube and start writing a book. I’m uploading it and calling it Maura4u.”
What a generous guy! Willing to share me with the rest of the world! Well, that and the fact that he likes to say, “Maura4u means Lessa4Me.”
Hope you Enjoy.
Hope you’re Encouraged.
Hope you Laugh.
Hope you feel the Love.
May you find yourself and the heart of your passions renewed as you read, follow and engage them.
Maura Sweeney
Publisher
New Vision Entertainment LLC
