by Betsy Aaron
Short Story: I was born in Cleveland, raised on Long Island, and attended Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin where I earned a BA in Eng. Lit. I moved to NYC at 22.
Work Story: I started my professional career as an editorial assistant at The National Lampoon where I worked for P.J. O’Rourke until he fired me because I couldn’t type fast enough. But that was fine because I wanted to work with images that moved. I knocked on doors at The Film Center on 9th Ave. and worked as a production assistant for a documentary, Isaac Stern in China, which won an Oscar. Then I went to work for two independent film producers who beat each other with foam bats every afternoon at four–so I jumped at the chance to interview for a job at Showtime. I was sent home with a writing test and that night I wrote fictitious ad campaigns for print, radio and TV. I delivered my work the next morning and I was hired. I worked in Broadcast Advertising as a copywriter and learned on the job how to produce radio and TV spots. As soon as I had a decent demo reel, I quit. I worked as a freelance writer/producer, primarily for cable networks like Nickelodeon, Nick-At-Nite, HBO, Lifetime and VH-1 until I was hired to launch HA!, which later became Comedy Central. Next came a stint in London where I worked on the re-branding of a children’s cable channel. Then I was hired to execute the on-air launch of M2, now MTV2. I was also fortunate to work in Milan as creative consultant for the on-air launch of Disney Channel Italia. Next, I was retained as Head Writer/Editorial Consultant for WE: Women’s Entertainment, a position I held for four years.
Back Story: I needed more of a creative challenge. I’d started writing fiction when I was working at MTV and in 1999 I went to graduate school.
Life Story : After graduating with an MFA in Writing from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, I received The New York Foundation for the Arts Award in fiction-and at the same time, a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, stage 3C. I learned that, more specifically,what I actually had was fallopian tube cancer, a rare disease with survival rates well below discouraging. When I recovered, I was awarded a writing residency at Sanskriti Kendra in India. Then, in what I now view as being symptomatic of post-traumatic stress disorder, I moved to Seattle. I didn’t kick ass to survive in order to live in such a miserable place! I did get to hole up and produce a body of fiction, something I’d always wanted to do. And I was able to teach creative writing to all kinds of people from at-risk high school kids to cancer patients to the growing demo identified by marketers as lifelong learners. During this period, everything in media started changing. I was well-rested, creatively stretched and toned, I wanted to be part of things again. If it weren’t for YouTube, I might still be hiding out in Seattle.
Success Story: Art (I do what I want) + Commerce (I do what you want) = Happiness.
Heroes: Jimmy Carter, Lance Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Louise Bourgeois, Agnes Martin
Sports: Dog-walking, Wining + Dining, Yoga, Puttering
Storytellers: E.B. White, Maurice Sendak, Paul Bowles, Lydia Davis, Alice Munro, Wes Anderson
Pets: Esme, my blue roan English Cocker Spaniel 
Pet Peeve: Closed minds
Inspiration: Visual art
Aspiration: I want to live to be 100
Bios + Memoirs I recommend:
Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
Writings, Agnes Martin
Borrowed Finery, Paula Fox
Destruction of the Father/Reconstruction of the Father, Writing and Interviews 1923-1997, Louise Bourgeois
The Life of Isamu Noguchi, Journey Without Borders by Masayo Duus
Chronicles, Volume One, Bob Dylan
de Kooning, Mark Stevens + Annalynn Swan
Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy
That Bowling Alley on the Tiber, Michelangelo Antonioni
I plan to read Frank’s big fat bio of Dostoevsky (being an Eng. Lit. major marks you forever.) I’ll let you know.
