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The Author's Story
In 2008 I lived in this cargo van as I traveled from Ontario Canada, to Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. Much of the time people treated me as though I were a lazy, irresponsible, homeless ne're-do-well who had no money, education, or intelligence. None of those were true.
Actually, I have a double Bachelor of Science degree in Fashion and Marketing, educated at Hiram College (Ohio), Kent State University (Ohio), Edinboro University (Pennsylvania), Ryerson University (Toronto), University of Toronto (OISE), and University of Oxford (England).
I'm a US citizen who emigrated to Canada and eventually launched a Personal Public Relations Consulting firm with clients in England, Egypt, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and US. Some of my corporate clients, like Coca-Cola and Campbell Soup, had me on annual retainers. I was often interviewed by the business press (Time, Success, Canadian Business, Financial Post, Globe and Mail) and appeared as a guest expert on national television and radio (CBC, CTV, Global). I was interviewed by British journalist, Sir David Frost, who was famous for The Nixon Interviews, and who interviewed mostly heads of state. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_interviews)
I had just sold my condo in St. Catharines Ontario, so I had a little cash from the sale to cover my travel and living expenses but not enough for monthly rent or mortgage payments.
Intelligence? According to intelligence tests: I'm somewhere in the gifted range. I guess that's why I'm a lateral thinker, and choose to be an entrepreneur rather than an employee.
Andrea Reynolds knows what it's like to be broke and alone. In 1998 she closed down and walked away from her thriving Author's Bed and Breakfast in Toronto when police informed her that the landlord who had been terrorizing her after a home invasion – in which she had helped identify the intruder – was indeed dangerous and she needed to "disappear" in order to stay safe because police could do nothing until he actually harmed her. The intruder was in jail with her landlord and both saw her on TV and decided to put Andrea on their hit list.
At police urging she fled to the United States. Alone in what felt like a "foreign" country after living so many years in Canada, and suffering from "shell-shock" (PTSD) she regained her physical health over several years and began to rebuild her life. No longer able to travel or appear in public – out of fear of being shot or of others near her being harmed – she lost the two ways she had attracted clients: appearing as a frequent guest expert on national TV and by speaking professionally. She started rebuilding her marketing consulting firm from the bottom, and re-established a speaker agency that she had dismantled 7 years before.
Andrea had previously spent 18 months immersed in full-time research on a book on the "invisible homeless". She gained the confidence of countless men and women and teens who, despite being homeless, were somehow able to avoid sleeping on park benches. Their personal accounts suggested the gift ideas in her booklet, Be an Angel (previously titled Crisis Gifts). Ironically, after starting work on this booklet, Andrea, herself, became homeless on May 30, 2008.
The reason? The homeowner's association and property manager of her condo insisted she had to take down her book publishing web site from which she derived 100% of her income. She endured two years of being bullied and terrorized by residents of the building because she was one of very few residents who worked to earn income. She incurred massive credit card debt in order to pay her $1,100 mortgage and $400 condo fees without income for 17 months. She finally sold the condo at a loss and lived in her van with her cat, off and on, while she acted as her elderly father's Patient Advocate and Financial Manager. He passed away in April 2011 after battling cancer and dementia. Her mother passed away 50 days later in Dallas Texas. She then became Executor for both estates at the same time.
In 2017 she began moving to Florida, sold her home at a $40,000 loss, and gave away most of her possessions. The man for whom she gave up her home, business, and income decided he loved someone else. Unsinkable, she currently writes, publishes short books containing her unconventional – and some say brilliant – tips and ideas. At 75 she is rebuilding her life and rebuilding her publishing company one short book at a time. She hopes to raise funds for legal counsel to fight the HOA who denied her the fundamental rights and freedoms granted under Canada's constitution.
