Freelance journalist Nora Isaacs ’94 strives to write about things that matter deeply to her.
“I want to help people become smarter about their health and live more enjoyable lives,” she says. “I also want to keep my own life balanced between my work, home, and leisure.”
The balance is so important to Isaacs that she recently wrote a book about it, Women in Overdrive: Overcome Burnout and Find Balance at Any Age.
The book takes a comprehensive look at our busy culture and examines how women arenot encouraged to relax or take time for themselves. Isaacs identifies ways in which women can avoid common roads to burnout. She attempts to show them how to take care of themselves so they can remain active and take advantage of the body’s natural resources, no matter what their age.
”My inspiration was my mother,” she says. “She and her generation are aging well, but not slowing down at all. I started talking to women of all ages and found this was a pervasive issue.”
Isaacs, an English graduate, went on to Columbia Graduate School of Journalism before settling in San Francisco as a freelance writer for health and wellness magazines.
“I write for magazines like Natural Health, Alternative Medicine, Yoga Journal, Salon.com, and others,” she explains. “I start out with an idea, pitch it to an editor and, if they like it, I do the reporting and writing, and file the story. I also teach writing classes and coach writers who are just starting out.”
Making her way as a writer has taught Isaacs much about the roles of confidence and perseverance.
“There are a lot of people who want to become writers,” she says. “But if you really believe that you can do it, you will. And if you need to act more confident than you really feel inside sometimes, that’s okay too. I’ve also learned the importance of doing nothing to stimulate creativity. It’s easy to always be running around and productive, but there needs to be time to relax and rejuvenate. When you are in this relaxed space, ideas flow more freely.”
Her interest in many of the issues she writes about unfolded while she was at Lafayette.
“I had a lot of professors who touched me in ways both big and small. My freshman year, I took a woman’s studies course with Deborah Byrd, [associate professor of English and head of women’s studies] which really opened my eyes. I’ve been interested in women’s issues ever since. I specifically remember reading a book called The Second Shift, about how women are expected to have high-powered jobs and then come home and run the household. The ideas I learned in Debbie’s class have stayed with me for all of these years, and made me interested in exploring some of them more in depth. What I learned back then has a lot to do with this book coming to fruition today.”
Isaacs, who has hosted Lafayette students in externships, recalls other aspects of her time at Lafayette fondly as well.
“Beyond what I learned in specific classes, Lafayette gave me a real sense of confidence and helped me understand that it’s important to follow your inner voice,” she says. “I loved being in an academic environment: the creaky wooden chairs in my history class, sitting in front of a stack of books at the library, talking with an artist-in-residence after a performance. These things stay with me. I’ve been back to visit a few times, but the thing that really connects me to Lafayette after all these years is the people. Some of my closest friends I met at Lafayette, and in San Francisco it seems like I’m always bumping into Lafayette grads.”
Isaacs looks forward to continuing to write in her chosen field, but more importantly, to maintaining the life balance she advocates in her upcoming book.
“I’m really proud of my book, my business, and the stories I write that help people,” she says. “But on a more emotional level, I feel like the most important accomplishment is that I’ve created a life that I’m really satisfied with. I have work that I enjoy, a happy marriage, lots of love around me from friends and family, and more than I need materially. I don’t feel caught up in the game of ‘success’ in the traditional sense, and it works for me.”