FROM PLAYGIRL TO PULPIT
Back in the days... her editor shot for Playgirl Magazine.
Her expertise in capturing the essence of women’s attitudes toward love, romance, dating and men in the early ninties led her to being hired as the Editor-in-Chief of Playgirl. But how did a one time Playgirl editor find herself on the path to becoming a minister?
Her father’s illness and subsequent death in 1997 was the difficult experience that gifted her with a new –and quite unexpected – career. Due to complex family issues, she became his health proxy during a serious illness and the person responsible for his burial when he died. “Because of tricky family dynamics and the fact that he was not a religious man, I ended up organizing his funeral myself,” she recalls. “Two special friends helped arrange a healing ritual for my family and I wrote and delivered his Eulogy. We did it right at the graveside. I played Danny Boy and asked everyone to share a story. My uncle brought a minister with him to the funeral, but I wouldn’t let him say anything until the very end.” “After the funeral the minister, Rev. Hector, called me over. I thought he was going to scold me for doing something sacrilegious. Instead, he said: ‘Have you every thought of becoming a minister?’” “I hadn’t … but in doing my father’s funeral I was reminded that in his younger days he was a healer. I wanted to take on his healing mantle, but did not quite know how." "Suddenly, it seemed reasonable. It was a matter of hearing the right words at the right time.” That is how I "got the call" to ministry. I consider it my father's parting gift to me. |
Biography
Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway’s first career was in journalism.
She began as advice columnist, crime reporter and features editor for Brooklyn Paper Publications (now an award winning chain of newspapers) and went on to become a widely published journalist, with thousands of her articles in newspapers and magazine around the world. Prior to her ordination as an interfaith minister in 1999, she spent two decades investigating, experiencing and reporting on a wide range of “women's issues” and for a long time specialized in writing about romance, sexuality, self-esteem, relationship dynamics, health and spirituality. In her very colorful career in media she was Editor-in-Chief of two national magazines -- Playgirl as well as Single Living Magazine. For 15 years she served as Manhattan Bureau Chief and then Managing Editor of Women’s News. She was founder and editor of Star Reporter News Service, through which she syndicated her stories to top dailies around the country. Her articles have appeared hundreds of newspapers and magazines, including: NY Daily News, Newsday, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, Denver Post, Chicago Sun-Times and many other major dailies. She also wrote for New Woman, Ladies’ Home Journal, Woman’s World, Bridal Guide, Young Miss, Child, Family Fun, Success and, yes, Star Magazine. Prior to the Internet, her work was also syndicated internationally via Reuters and London features. She wrote her first article for the Humanist Magazine at Fiorello LaGuardia College, where she went on to become Editor-in-Chief of her school newspaper, Fiorello's Flute, for two years. As a student intern, she worked for a literary agent, National Lampoon Magazine and for the brand new Brooklyn Paper, where she later got her first newspaper job. That was where she discovered her passion for being a reporter. Her very first assignment was to try to get an exclusive with a madam in a "cat house." It was always her dream to also write books. She taught herself how to do that by editing saucy novels for a small publishing company, and then penning a few of her own. In 1991, her first book, a novel, was published, on the same day her son was born. The book has been out of print for years. The son is AWESOME and already training in journalism and broadcast. She has since edited and ghostwritten about 35 books. working with doctors and experts to help put their ideas on paper. She has also published about 13 her own books including: The Couples Guide To Great Sex Over 40 (Masquerade Books, 1996); Network Your Way To Endless Romance: Secrets To Help You Meet The Mate of Your Dreams(with Bog Burg, Samark, 1997); How to Seduce a Man (Citadel, 1997); Release the Seductress Within (Gramercy/Random House 2004). She began to gently shift her writing to a more spiritual focus in 1997 –writing more about true love, soul mates, spirituality, the goddess within, and weddings. Her more recent books include: • Your Interfaith Wedding: A Guide to Blending Faiths, Cultures and Personal Values into One Beautiful Ceremony(Praeger, September 2010) • The Goddess Pages: A Divine Guide to Love and Happiness (Llewellyn, November 2008) • Pet Prayers and Blessings: Ceremonies and Celebrations to Share with the Pets You Love (co-authored with husband Victor Fuhrman, Sterling, August 5, 2008) • Wedding Goddess: A Divine Guide to Transforming Wedding Stress to Wedding Bliss (Penguin Books, May 2005) • A Goddess Is A Girl's Best Friend: A Divine Guide to Finding Love, Success and Happiness (Penguin Books, 2002) • Find Your Spiritual Soulmate: Transform You Romantic Destiny with a Romantic Resume (Self Healing Expressions, 2001) FROM MAGAZINES TO MINISTRY
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