Here at Glacier Media, our internal agency ecosystem is made up of 150+ folks.

Another week, another Team GMD Q&A. It’s kind of like Vogue’s 73 Questions. Instead, it’s in blog form and there are less than 10 questions – because you’re busy and we respect your time.

On this week of Meet Team GMD, we have Lara Graham, Publisher of The Burnaby Now and The New West Record. Want to know Lara’s secret to maintaining her work-life balance? Continue reading here:

Expertise: Remaining calm under pressure

Hobbies: Just started weight training and shopping of course!

Hidden talent: Gourmet cook – Indian food is my speciality!

Personal kryptonite: Tall Vodka Soda paired with Miss Vickie’s sea salt and malt vinegar chips.

Office habit: cleaning – constantly purging and removing clutter from around the office.

Morning rituals: Up early, check social media, clear emails, protein shake to go and getting the teenagers out of the house in under 60 minutes!

What are some of the challenges you face as a young female publisher of colour?

My family immigrated to Canada from Africa in 1976 and at that time it was difficult for women of colour to get ahead in media, it was a challenge I saw my mother face often during her career. Now in 2018, we are beyond that. Regardless of race, gender or age, we need to constantly push our own boundaries, challenge ourselves, be tenacious and let success be our noise.

How do you maintain your work-life balance?

It’s easy, my work becomes my life and life becomes my work. My customers become my friends and the networking events and galas are just a part of our social life. It also helps when you love what you do.

What inspires you?

My family, change in our industry, my team and of course a great outfit!

As a publisher with a background in sales, how do you strike the right balance between advertising and editorial?

I grew up in a newspaper family, my father was the editor at a daily and my mother was an advertising manager. After many heated discussions at the dinner table, I quickly learned that one would not exist without the other. I’m a great hybrid of both worlds!

Next vacation destination: We just returned from Paris and a safari in Kenya this past January. Summer will be weekends at our families cabin in Harrison Hot Springs spending time waterskiing on the lake. In the Fall, Disneyworld then an Eastern Caribbean Cruise.

It’s 11 AM on a Saturday morning. What are you doing? Hiking the trails with our Chihuahua (follow her on insta @iampepperthechihuahua) and chocolate lab.

TeamGMD