Now
A couple of years ago we moved to Italy full time. We
live in the town of Neive, which is in the
Barbaresco wine growing
area
of the
Piemonte Region.
2005 was a year of good-byes, we sold Johns studio
and our loft in Portland, Oregon and we are seeing
if we are cut out to be expatriates. We moved to an
area that has incredible beauty, great friends, and
wonderful food and wine, which makes staying here
easy.
I write essays and travel stories and am working on a couple of book projects and I run a specialty tour business called TourPiedmont.com.
mail@donnamacdonald.com
I write essays and travel stories and am working on a couple of book projects and I run a specialty tour business called TourPiedmont.com.
mail@donnamacdonald.com
Before Now
I moved to Portland, Oregon and met a great guy,
John Anthony
Rizzo.
He was and is an accomplished advertising, editorial
and culinary photographer which has opened many
doors. I discovered the culinary riches of the
Willamette Valley as well as the wonderful people
that dedicate their lives to growing and preparing
incredible food and making great wine.
I spent many years helping John grow his photography business into a nationally recognized photography brand for sophisticated and interesting photography. I also helped produce his photo shoots, which meant wearing many hats and holding many hands. I do not miss the high expectations and tight budgets. I do miss the great people, adrenaline rushes and solving the unsolvable.
At the same time I was a freelance business consultant and had the opportunity to work with some smart and talented people who from time to time needed help during growth phases or with special projects.
I have also been asked to speak on a range of topics including Sales, Marketing, Copyright, Negotiation, Business Management and Portfolio Presentations for Creative Professionals.
I spent many years helping John grow his photography business into a nationally recognized photography brand for sophisticated and interesting photography. I also helped produce his photo shoots, which meant wearing many hats and holding many hands. I do not miss the high expectations and tight budgets. I do miss the great people, adrenaline rushes and solving the unsolvable.
At the same time I was a freelance business consultant and had the opportunity to work with some smart and talented people who from time to time needed help during growth phases or with special projects.
I have also been asked to speak on a range of topics including Sales, Marketing, Copyright, Negotiation, Business Management and Portfolio Presentations for Creative Professionals.
The Middle
I spent some time in Los Angeles where I designed
software and wrote technical documentation for Fortune
500 companies, high-tech start-ups, manufacturing firms
and universities. The most interesting client I worked
for was a film distributor that specialized in G rated
children's cartoons and XXX rated porn films. They
asked me to design a system to keep their inventory
straight (the stories I could tell).
I got tired of spending my days with a computer screen so I took the position of Manager of Education for a software development firm. My most dubious accomplishment was teaching a room full of people how to use the software they had already paid a considerable sum of money for, but didn't exist. I decided that if I was going to intentionally mislead people for the sole purpose of getting their money, I should be well compensated for it. So I went into sales at a time when there were few sales positions available to women. The most questionable compliment I ever received was from my boss who wrote in the company newsletter when I achieved top sales honors "I hope that the rest of you will be embarrassed by the fact that you just got beat by a girl and go out there and do something about it!"
I got tired of spending my days with a computer screen so I took the position of Manager of Education for a software development firm. My most dubious accomplishment was teaching a room full of people how to use the software they had already paid a considerable sum of money for, but didn't exist. I decided that if I was going to intentionally mislead people for the sole purpose of getting their money, I should be well compensated for it. So I went into sales at a time when there were few sales positions available to women. The most questionable compliment I ever received was from my boss who wrote in the company newsletter when I achieved top sales honors "I hope that the rest of you will be embarrassed by the fact that you just got beat by a girl and go out there and do something about it!"
The Actress Phase
Like many girls in their 20's living in Los Angeles, I mistakenly thought I might make it big as an actress. I studied acting and writing. I also studied and taught classical jazz dance long before it became popular again. While I enjoyed myself a great deal working on student films and low budget stage productions, I knew I was not cut out for the life of an actress when a "casting agent" informed me that the character I was auditioning for would now "require nudity, and we need to see what you got". I declined and decided to go back to my corporate career.
The Beginning
I spent my first 20 years in Virginia, the youngest of
four kids with great parents who were high school
sweethearts and are still married today. Being a
capitalist from a young age I went to work while going
to school. I lasted fifteen years in a very traditional
corporate life working for a law book publisher as well
as high tech companies when computers were very big -
literally. Lucky for me I left the corporate world for
the freelance world just before the ugly phase of
downsizing, when friends would report trying to log on
to the system before taking their coats off in the
morning, just in case their password didn't work and
they could head home and back to bed before getting the
news.