An Interview with Mandy Garner

Editor of Working Mums website

As editor of flexible working website WorkingMums.co.uk, Mandy Garner is usually on the asking rather than the receiving end of interview questions. Here we get to turn the tables as Mandy talks about her early influences, and her busy life as an editor and a press officer.

As if doing two jobs and raising 3 children wasn't enough, Mandy is also an honest and entertaining blogger.

The Basics

1.    Name

Mandy Garner

2.    Web/Blog address

Website:  http://www.workingmums.co.uk/

Blog:  http://www.workingmums.co.uk/working-mums-magazine/blog/mum-on-the-run/

3.    Where do you live?

a.    Are you from there originally?

b.    Where else have you lived?

I live in deepest Essex. I moved two years ago from Walthamstow in London. I have lived in lots of different places, I'm afraid, as I am very, very old. As a child, my family moved every two years or so. I lived in Scotland (several different houses, but mainly around Perth), Sheffield, Surrey, St Albans and the Bahamas (two different islands). It sounds very glamorous, but half of the moves were because my stepfather was a bit of a conman and was running away from people. He eventually ended up in prison after running away from us. It's a long, long story. I have also lived in Spain and my partner is Spanish.

4.    What is your living situation?

a.    Partner?

b.    Kids?

I live with my lovely partner and have lived with him since 1993 and we have three children, aged 9, 6 and 4.

5.    Job?

a.    How long?

b.    What other jobs have you had?

I do two different jobs - I am editor of Workingmums.co.uk and I also work as a press officer for a higher education institution. I have done both jobs for around two years. I have had A LOT of jobs! From temping jobs during university (my favourite was working for the frozen curry firm Chic a roll where one manager was called Basil Bresh. I, unfortunately, got him confused with the TV fox when announcing a call for him over the tannoy and then proceeded to make it worse by giggling and this echoed throughout the entire building), to driving cars for Wimbledon, to six years spent researching human rights abuses for the writers' organization International PEN, to working for a local newspaper, to working for BBC News Online and then being features editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement. I am missing a few jobs out here too.

The Tough Ones

1.    Summarize your entire life in 10 words or less.

 Bit of a dodgy start, but kind of plateauing out now.

2.    Tell us what your typical day is like currently.

There is no typical day as it depends a) on whether the kids are well or not b) what job I am doing c) if I have slept in the night, etc, etc. On Monday-Wednesday I work from home so I do the whole getting everyone up and ready (including cleaning out the guinea pigs - have just got guinea pigs and am already thinking it was a bad idea) and rushing to school thing, then there are six or so hours of mad working, punctuated by burnt cheese on toast, then the last minute dash to school (am always late as someone invariably rings about work at the last minute) and ballet, after school activities, etc, and lots of non-stop making of food while simultaneously checking e-mails, then bedtime and dinner (plus brief mumble to partner) followed by several hours on the computer catching up on work.

3.    Tell us about the person that has had the most profound impact on your life:

a.    During the last five years

b.    From the very beginning

a.  Probably one of my ex-work colleagues who I had a bad time with. I have put it down as a big learning experience. One not to be repeated.

b.  My mum. She has been through a lot, but we all managed to escape virtually unharmed (though we went through some bad teenage years), mainly because of her.                                                 

4.    What is the greatest trauma you have ever experienced in your life and how did that impact you?

It was when my stepfather left and took my two stepbrothers with him and we lost contact for many years. I found one stepbrother on Facebook recently. The other died in a car crash. They didn't have a great adolescence or early adulthood. My stepfather died earlier this year. I had not seen him since he left when I was 14 and I can't say I am that sad about that, but I am intrigued about all that he was up to. I have Googled some of his contacts that I know of and they were not nice people. I guess the impact was that I mistrusted a lot of people, but I also tried to keep contact with my stepbrothers and I think understood from an early age the value of people. We moved so much I did not have many good friends, but I was close to my stepbrothers, particularly the youngest one who was my age. I don't think when they left I could actually accept it, and my mum had to in order to move on, while my brother didn't feel so strongly about it as he was not so close to them. So basically we all dealt with it separately.

5.    What is the greatest joy or achievement you have ever experienced in your life and how did that impact you?

The birth of each and every one of my daughters. They are tremendous people. Very interesting and very individual. I would say that, of course. The first birth was a bit traumatic and both my daughter and I almost died, but the other two were fairly straightforward. I think it is difficult to remember after you have had children for a few years what your life was like before. Mainly because you don't have time and you are too tired to think!  It can be hard (and sometimes dull) work, but the good bits are fantastic.

6.    Let's pretend your life is a blank slate for 1 year - no partner, kids, job, baggage of any sort. You can reinvent yourself completely and take a year to do exactly what you want without any consequence to your current life. How would you spend that year?

I would travel and write a book. Are we saying I would have a guaranteed income too? I would definitely visit my brother and family in Argentina, as I will not be able to do this in the near future and I have always wanted to write more creative stuff. I spend my life hammering out short articles about higher education or the like.

7.    What (if anything) are you able to do better now than at any other time in your life?

Everything, particularly multi-tasking. I think I was designed for multi-tasking. An early school report said I was bright, but tended to do things too quickly. Perfect for multi-tasking!

Rapid Fire

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