The Website of Author Hilary Beard

My Background

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Spirituality / Follow Your Passion / Career Change

Hilary Beard grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the eldest of three children born to parents who raised her to mind her manners, get good grades, and always save her money. She attended Shaker Heights High School and then Princeton University, where she graduated with honors. She then embarked upon a business career, progressing through increasingly responsible sales, marketing and general management positions with Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Pepsi.

Just as Hilary started working, her parents began to have health problems. When she was a college senior, Hilary’s father suffered a debilitating stroke. Two years later, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. For the next 15 years Hilary experienced first-hand the impact that chronic diseases have on their sufferers and families. She tried to help her parents by educating herself about heart disease and cancer and interfacing with their doctors. As she did so, Hilary observed the marvels of the American medical system as well as its shortcomings and limitations. At the same time she made herself the guinea pig for every complementary and alternative treatment she could uncover: acupuncture, breath work, Chinese medicine, colonics, herbs, hypnosis, massage, meditation, reiki, shiatsu. She’d investigate and try each healing modality, then recommend them to her parents -- or not. Through this trial by fire, she became interested in health and wellness.

In 1997, following her mother’s death, Hilary left her graduate program at the University of Pennsylvania and changed her career. Two years later, she obtained her first job in publishing when she became managing editor of HealthQuest, a nationally distributed wellness magazine based in Philadelphia. While at the helm, the publication won the National Health Information Award and the Congressional Black Caucus's Beacon of Light Award. In 2001, Hilary left HealthQuest to become a freelance writer, editor and editorial consultant.

Hilary’s work focuses on health and wellness, self-help and personal empowerment. As the author of several memoirs, she documents the lives of people of high achievement in hopes that their stories will inspire others. Hilary is the managing editor of Healthy Living, the consumer health publication of the National Medical Association; former executive editor of Real Health, a quarterly health and wellness magazine for African American readers, published by Smart + Strong; and former contributing health writer for NiaOnline.com, a website for Black women.

She has authored several books on health. She co-authored New York Times best seller 21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha’s Vineyard Diet/Detox with Roni Deluz, R.N., N.D., Ph.D.; and Lighten Up: The HealthQuest 30-Day Weight Loss Program (HarperCollins, 2001). She co-edited What Your Mother Never Told You About S-e-x (Penguin, 2002), by Hilda Hutcherson, M.D. She has also authored several other books. She has written for such publications as American Legacy Woman, Doctor/Patient, Dr. Phil, Essence, Health and Plum. Her clients have included American Express Publishing, Meredith Integrated Marketing and Penton Media custom-publishing companies; the American Diabetes Association and the Black AIDS Institute; Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations; the Office of National Drug Control Policy; and Johnson & Johnson/Merck.

Hilary is also an experienced workshop facilitator and public speaker. Her public-speaking engagements include facilitating a workshop on women and HIV at the 2006 World AIDS Day conference sponsored by the Foreign Mission Board of the Philadelphia regional chapter of the National Baptist Convention; participating on health panels at the annual conventions of the National Association of 100 Black Women and The Links, Inc; being a keynote speaker at It’s All About MEE!: The Mobilization, Education & Empowerment Conference, where 400 black women leaders and opinion shapers nationwide strategized about fighting HIV/AIDS; and several Congressional press conferences on HIV/AIDS. She also appears as an expert in the documentary film SoulMate, which explores the social and cultural consequences of the demographic gender imbalance that exists among African Americans.

Hilary lives in Philadelphia, where she works out and volunteers with the Morris Estates Girls' AAU Track Team, cuddles babies at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, is active at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, and is a member of Philadelphia chapter of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations and her graduating class's Memorial Scholarship Fund, which provides academic grants to Princeton undergraduates.

Book Author / Book Collaboration Specialist / Memoir Author

Hilary Beard grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the eldest of three children born to parents who raised her to mind her manners, get good grades, and always save her money. She attended Princeton University, where she graduated with honors. But instead of following her dream of becoming a writer, she began a career in business, which seemed a lot more practical. Hilary progressed through increasingly responsible sales, marketing and general management positions with Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Pepsi. She also attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and took classes at Penn's Aresty Institute of Executive Education and the Center for Creative Leadership.

In 1992, however, Hilary experienced a turning point: encouraged by the successes of African-American writers Terry McMillan, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, whose novels perched atop the New York Times best sellers list, she started taking creative writing classes, attending writing workshops and began dreaming of becoming a writer. She left corporate America in 1997, obtaining her first job in publishing two years later when she became managing editor of HealthQuest, a nationally distributed wellness magazine based in Philadelphia. While she was at the helm, the publication won the National Health Information Award and the Congressional Black Caucus's Beacon of Light Award.

In 2001, Hilary left HealthQuest to become a freelance writer, editor and editorial consultant. Her work focuses on health and wellness, personal empowerment and self-actualization. She also documents the lives of people of high achievement in hopes that their stories will inspire others.

A portion of this work includes collaborating on books about health, that are inspirational and/or that document excellence. She has co-authored several books including Friends: A Love Story (Kimani, 2007), the parallel memoir of real-life married actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance, which reached #22 on the New York Times best sellers list; 21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha’s Vineyard Diet/Detox (HarperCollins, 2007) with healer Roni Deluz, R.N., N.D., Ph.D., a New York Times self-help best seller; Venus and Serena: Serving from the Hip: 10 Lessons on Living, Loving and Winning (Houghton Mifflin, 2005), a book on values for teens and tweens with tennis’s Williams sisters; and Success Never Smelled So Sweet: How I Followed My Nose and Found My Passion, the follow-your-heart memoir of Lisa Price, CEO of bath- and body-care company Carol’s Daughter (Random House, 2003); and Lighten Up: The HealthQuest 30-Day Weight Loss Program (HarperCollins, 2001). She also co-edited What Your Mother Never Told You About S-e-x (Penguin, 2002), by Columbia University med-school professor and ob/gyn Hilda Hutcherson, M.D.

Hilary is the managing editor of Healthy Living, the consumer health publication of the National Medical Association; former executive editor of Real Health, a quarterly health and wellness magazine for African American readers, published by Smart + Strong; and former contributing health writer for NiaOnline.com, a website for Black women.

She also writes for various periodicals, including American Legacy Woman, Doctor/Patient, Dr. Phil, Essence, Health and Plum. Her clients have included American Express Publishing, Meredith Integrated Marketing and Penton Media custom-publishing companies; the American Diabetes Association and the Black AIDS Institute; Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations; the Office of National Drug Control Policy; and Johnson & Johnson/Merck.

Hilary lives in Philadelphia, where she works out and volunteers with the Morris Estates Girls' AAU Track Team, cuddles babies at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, is active at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, and is a member of Philadelphia chapter of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations and her class Memorial Fund, which provides grants for academic work to Princeton undergraduates.

Spirituality / Follow Your Passion / Career Change

Hilary Beard grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the eldest of three children born to parents who raised her to mind her manners, get good grades, and always save her money. She attended Princeton University, where she graduated with honors. But rather than following her dream of becoming a novelist, which seemed too dreamy and farfetched, she embarked upon a business career, pursuing increasingly responsible sales, marketing and general management positions with Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Pepsi. While there, she attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and took classes at Penn's Aresty Institute of Executive Education and the Center for Creative Leadership.

But in 1992, when novels by Black, female writers Terry McMillan, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and perched there for months, Hilary experienced a turning point. As these authors pried the doors of the publishing industry open to Black writers, Hilary began to envision herself as a novelist. During the evenings, she began to take non-credit creative-writing classes in Temple University's adult education program, engaged in a course of spiritual study to help her identify her Purpose, and strengthened her faith to help her find the courage to change her life.

In 1997, Hilary left the corporate world. She didn’t have another job lined up or even a plan to move to New York and enter the publishing industry. Yet she was becoming clear about her Purpose: to help people live healthier, more fulfilling lives. And she was gaining confidence that if she used her gifts and talents, God would make a way for them.

Two years later Hilary obtained her first job in publishing, when she became managing editor of HealthQuest, a wellness magazine based in Philadelphia. While she was at the helm, the publication won the National Health Information Award and the Congressional Black Caucus's Beacon of Light Award. In 2001, Hilary decided to freelance -- but not before her work at HealthQuest had brought her in contact with HarperCollins editor Manie Barron, who would become her first agent. Armed only with her faith, her backbone, one 80-word writing sample and a promise from her mentor, health writer and editor Linda Villarosa, that she would help her find work, Hilary took the plunge. Her first gig was as a senior channel producer for NiaOnline.com, a website for Black women. Hilary interpreted this job offer as a sign she was on the right track, since nia means "purpose" in Swahili. She later became NiaOnline's contributing health writer.

During the fall of 2001, Hilary’s agent introduced her to Lisa Price, CEO of body- and spirit-care company Carol’s Daughter, with whom she would co-author Success Never Smelled So Sweet: How I Followed My Nose and Found My Passion. Newly self-employed -- and during the days following September 11th when Hilary questioned the intelligence of stepping out on her own -- she sat at Lisa’s feet, soaking up wisdom and learning how Lisa tamed her fears and allowed Spirit to guide her in business and life. Over time, Hilary has developed her spiritual "muscles" and has come to understand the ways in which God “speaks” to and guides her. Although she does not recommend that anyone try this at home, she has not sent out a resume, pitched an editor (well, one… she got a rejection letter), attended a business-networking event or applied for one job since she started working for herself. Instead, she asks our Creator to send her projects that empower, inspire and help people heal. When they show up -- as they always do -- she completes the work.

Consider this seeming impossible series of events: While working with Lisa, Hilary discovered that she loves collaborating and that through collaborating she could help inspiring information from highly accomplished experts reach a public seeking to feel empowered. She asked God to bring her this type of work, even mentioning specifically that she’d love to work with tennis phenoms Venus and Serena Williams. Hilary couldn’t figure out how to close the six degrees of separation between herself and the pair -- but God could. One month later, Houghton Mifflin publisher Andrea Pinkney, a woman whom Hilary had never met, called to invite her to help the pair pen a book on values for teens, Venus and Serena: Serving from the Hip: 10 Lessons on Living, Loving and Winning.

A year later Hilary’s agent presented Success Never Smelled So Sweet to real-life married actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance, whom he had suggested write their love story/memoir. Though she had received no response from the couple, after six months of hoping and waiting Hilary decided to “name and claim” the project: After visiting the shop of a Bangkok, Thailand, tailor with a friend, she asked the clothier to sew her the suit she would wear to meet the award-winning duo. Courtney eventually read and enjoyed Success, and the couple invited her to meet them. Though it was a cold and rainy December day, Hilary proudly sported her light-weight, Thai silk, “Angela Bassett suit” to her interview -- and aced it! Subsequently, she co-authored Friends: A Love Story, the couple’s parallel autobiography, which became a New York Times best seller, reaching #22 on the extended list.

While completing Friends , Hilary asked God to guide her on a health matter. Three days later James Hester, a man who had randomly picked her byline out of an Essence magazine he picked up on the newsstand, offered her the opportunity to co-author 21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha’s Vineyard Diet/Detox (HarperCollins; April, 2007), with Martha's Vineyard holistic healer Roni DeLuz, R.N., N.D., Ph.D., which became a New York Times self-help best seller. While writing the book she completed the 21-day nutritional-detoxification program, improving her health concern.

Hilary lives in Philadelphia, where she works out and volunteers with the Morris Estates Girls' AAU Track Team, cuddles babies at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, is active at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, and is a member of Philadelphia chapter of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations and her class Memorial Fund, which provides grants for academic work to Princeton undergraduates.

She continues to honor God, her parents and her ancestors by helping people improve the quality of their lives. She still is not a novelist. But don't give up on her. Hilary is currently working on several new books and is looking forward to whatever Spirit has in store for her next.