About
My name is Cortney Malinowski.
I'm a Chicago-land-area native residing just ten minutes from beautiful Lake Michigan. Until recently, I lived with my 8 year old black lab, Bane, who I raised from a puppy and who loved to take hikes and go on trips to the dog-beach.
I graduated from Millikin University in 2007 with a BA in Human Services and minors in Sociology and Psychology. I have been serving seniors in the Senior Living end of Healthcare for the last fifteen years.
In addition to writing, I love to cook and am learning to bake - most recently mastering a Swiss-Meringue Buttercream! I've traveled through half of the continental US, as well as about a dozen other countries - including a particularly memorable trip to the Ecuadorian Amazon, which featured run-ins with both piranha and tarantula.
I love a good non-fiction read and am a life-long behavioral science nerd. This summer, I'm taking sailing classes and enjoying the growing pains of being a first-time home-owner. (Mechanical repairs, be damned!)
I love being in a profession where I get to coach, mentor, and generally "help" people for a living. I also find human nature endlessly fascinating. I am constantly compelled to study and develop my understanding of it and myself. I love to learn, explore, and keep myself challenged. And, I look forward to sharing some of my journey through this website!
My
Story
When I was ten, someone I love discouraged me away from writing. "It's too wordy," she said. "I can barely read it." The feedback, issued with venom as she hurled the pages aside, crushed me. Slowly, quietly, I gave up writing for leisure and didn't return to it until mid-life.
In my twenties, I graduated college with a degree in social work and began working my way up the leadership ranks in the Senior Living end of Healthcare. There, I've spent the last fifteen years running communities, building and leading teams, and caring for the parents and grandparents of a few thousand strangers.
Then, in my late thirties, while in the throes of recovery from a particularly volatile romantic relationship and identity crisis, inspiration to write finally returned to me. Not doing something I enjoy because ONE person wasn't a fan of it, decades ago, is silly, I thought. I've made myself good at plenty of other things by just practicing and working hard. Why should this be any different? I'm not Jane Austin, but I do have stories!
I sat down at my computer and began writing for the first time in decades. What came out were stories from my life - moments and memories that have impacted me, or the people I care about. Years spent taking care of seniors have been filled with a surprising amount of heartwarming and even hilarious moments, and have also been tempered by the expected sadness and loss experienced not only in death, but in the slow deterioration brought by dementia and disease. In my personal life, the road to self-actualization has been paved with struggle, sometimes through very dark places, and also tempered by moments of incredible beauty and persistent hope.
I write my experiences with candor and share because it's powerful and healing to realize you're not alone. I'm grateful for the voices that have contributed volume to that message when I've need it. This is my way of giving homage to the people and experiences that have helped shape the person I'm so deeply proud to be.