Vicki Larson is a multi platform blogger and journalist dedicated to sharing the inconsistencies and triumphs of co-parenting and life after divorce. Her views on marriage, love and parenting can be described as intellectually jarring yet comforting as she attempts to educate and inspire people who need answers to the important questions about relationships and love.
I reached out to Vicki after reading her blog, OMGChronicles and I wanted to know how she has developed such a prolific career centered around a topic that many would be embarrassed to discuss. It is my pleasure to share her story with you as I introduce My Savvy Sister of the Week, Vicki Larson.
Vicki Larson
“I didn’t start out to be a journalist although I always liked to write,” Vicki shares. “I wanted to be an ecologist and save the world. After a year in the environmental studies program at the University of Vermont, I got discouraged and dropped out. I followed a boyfriend to Colorado, got married, and worked a number of odd jobs. When we moved back to New York City, where I’m from, I started working in book publishing, sadly in credit and collections and not book editing, which attracted me.”
Although she followed her boyfriend to Colorado and they moved back to New York as a married couple it took their subsequent divorce to allow her to focus on improving her own life. Vicki went back to school and took a basic course in mass communications. It was then that she was inspired by her journalism professor to pursue journalism.
“My first job was as editor of a small weekly, and boy did I make a lot of mistakes. But, I also learned how to do everything, from editing to managing to reporting to photography to layout to paste-up. I was a news reporter for a daily after that, and worked as a part-time news copy editor when my kids were young, but I’m really a lifestyles gal — I love discovering people who are doing cool things and talking to them about their lives, their passions, what drives them.”
Vicki flourished as a reporter and editor eventually landing her current job in publishing in her hometown of Marin County, California. Although newspaper publishing has changed significantly over the years, she has managed to remain a part of the loop by educating herself on social trends and jumping on the bandwagon with social media technology.
As a blogger for the Huffington Post and the work she does on OMGChronicles where she writes about life after divorce, Vicki has multiple platforms to share her love for sociology and psychology. “I’m an observer of people and am fascinated by our inconsistencies and irrationality,” she says. “I devour books on those topics, and read research studies. So it’s fun to blog about that. Our lives are full of relationships, not just romantic ones but relationships with our families, friends, educators, coworkers and community. Relationships are essential to our happiness and growth; they’re what really matter.”
Officially a pro blogger Vicki has turned a perceived relationship failure into a catalyst for hope for others. “I started blogging about parenting and divorce because as a mom of two and someone who’s been divorced twice, I guess I have a lot to say,” she remarks. “When I started writing for Mommy Tracked, I narrowed my focus to addressing working mother issues through the lens of a divorced co-parenting mom. Then when the Huffington Post started the divorce section, I began focusing even more on issues surrounding divorce. With so many divorced people, I knew that what I had experienced would resonate with others.”
It has. Vicki reports receiving emails from readers who are moved by the stories she shares. Instead of being fearful about sharing what many would call her failures, she overcame that by learning to be vulnerable and allowing that vulnerability to inspire the hearts of other women traveling the same life path.
“It’s easy to let fear paralyze you. Don’t,” Vicki warns. “It’s important to accept the fact that there are few certainties in life and there’s much we can’t control. Few things in life work out just as we planned and imagine how boring it would be if they did. But, the juiciest parts of life are in the gray areas. We have to take risks to grow and discover new possibilities. You don’t have to know which step is ‘right’ — you just need to make informed choices, be honest with yourself and others, keep your sense of humor, acknowledge and appreciate all the things that you are doing right every day and have compassion for yourself when you mess up.”
To learn more about Vicki Larson please visit her blog OMGChronicles.
