Holly Cardoza
JRN 100
Profile Story- Final
Former CEO of
Taunton Credit Union, Diane Kozak is not your typical businesswoman. On the
verge of being on an episode of “Hoarders”, Kozak’s office is covered with
memorabilia of old forgotten TV shows and cartoon characters that have made
their home aligning the walls on shelves, cabinets and tables.
Shows like “I
Dream of Jeannie”, “I Love Lucy” and cartoons like Popeye, and Tom & Jerry
have found a new home in Kozak’s office. Pictures of family, friends and her two
beagles plaster the bulletin board that hangs behind her desk chair.
But
what is most peculiar about her office is that there’s no trace of anything
related to banking or finance, because she doesn’t need anything like that
anymore. Kozak had the courage to retire from the credit union in 2007 to
pursue her and dream of becoming a writer.
Now five years
later, after about one hundred festivals and book signings, and starting her
own publishing company called Beagle Books Publishing, Kozak is incredibly
happy with her choice. It has proven to be very rewarding and she has made many
people proud. “So it’s not like she’s sitting at home eating bon-bons, she’s
done a lot of good,” said Kozak’s close friend, Lisa Cardoza.
At first, her
ambitions surprised some of the people closest to her, such as her husband, CEO
of Pawtucket Credit Union, Karl Kozak. “At first, all I could think was ‘Wow,’”
said Mr. Kozak.
Others hadn’t even
thought of Kozak becoming a writer. “I knew she was writing a book, but I
didn’t know how important it was to her,” said Cardoza. But despite initial
thoughts and hesitations, it has certainly proven to be extremely important to
her. “She’s really made a second career for herself,” said Cardoza.
The
writing bug caught Kozak at a very young age, in the sleepy old town of
Acushnet, Mass. Not having a TV forced her and her three siblings to read just about anything
they could get their hands on. “We used to read everything,” said Kozak.
Her
first writing success came at the young age of 8, when she won a contest put on
by the Acushnet Historical Society where she wrote a historical piece about her
hometown. “It was my first writing success and I’ve never forgotten that,” she
said.
But
choosing the right time to become a writer was difficult. “It was something
that I always wanted to do, but I knew I wouldn’t make enough money doing it,”
said Kozak, who is the only one out of three siblings to not become an engineer.
She decided to take the practical route of becoming a banker instead and
quickly rose up to become the CEO.
While
profitable, it proved to be quite stressful. “Yes I made a lot of money. Yes I had
a lot of power, but I had a lot of people depending on me for their
livelihood…and that weighs on you,” said Kozak.
“Diane’s
a Type A personality. She’s pours everything into her work,” said Mr. Kozak.
The amount of hours Kozak had to invest in activities not in her job
description, was enough to make anybody want to run and hide. Not only did
Kozak have to manage an entire credit union, but she had to be a member of the
United Way, and the Chamber of Commerce, all for business. “You didn’t have any
freedom,” said Kozak.
The
turning point in her journey came at the height of her banking career but the lowest
in her personal life. After the death of both her parents in the span of a
year, Kozak decided that she wasn’t going to pass her dream by, and decided to become
a writer, a promise she had made to her ailing mother.
“One of the things that she taught me was,
don’t allow yourself to die with wishing you had done something different with
your life,” said Kozak.
With those words in
mind, Kozak dove head first into the writing business. After taking a couple of
online courses on writing, reading a step by step guide to writing and
consulting a writing coach, Kozak was ready to begin her first book, called Full Circle 911, which was published in
2008. “It was scary at first, but I really dove right into the book,” said
Kozak.
The
transition from CEO of a bank to a new, work-at-home author proved to be quite
an interesting one. “It took me about a
year to wind down,” said Kozak. “You’re used to the power, you’re used to the
money…not having to perform every day.”
But
it proved to be the best decision for Kozak, who describes herself as a
workaholic. A typical day for Kozak now, is drastically different than one she
had five years ago.
Five
years ago, she was getting up early in the morning, getting dressed up and
commuting to Taunton from her home in Westport. Now, her day is much more relaxed. “I always
laugh because I say my commute is through my laundry room to my office,” said
Kozak. “My office is a mixture of work and home…but when it’s time to write,
you just turn everything off and write.”
This
routine seemed to work and Kozak is now working on her final installment of a
trilogy that started with Full Circle 911.
The series deals with terrorist attacks, conspiracy theories and climate
change, all surrounding a Muslim family living in a small town in
Massachusetts. One theme that Kozak emphasizes with this trilogy is that “We’re
all from different backgrounds but we stick together no matter what.”
“I
wrote the book to remind people that we’re all Americans and we’re all from
different backgrounds,” said Kozak.
Heroes
are an important topic in Kozak’s life and the idea of what a hero is discussed
in her trilogy. The main characters are young heroes themselves. They are your
average teenagers growing up in a small town in Massachusetts who end up having
a huge impact on thousands of people. “Just normal people, doing the right
thing,” said Kozak.
Any
further ideas for books, Kozak keeps hidden in one of her file cabinets, “I
think fiction writers have more ideas than they have time for.”
And
as she leans back in her chair with a smile on her face and her slipper-covered
feet wriggling, she said, “The best part is the freedom.”
No comments:
Post a Comment