Having majored in psychology in college, I fully intended to become a therapist, but the need to earn some money for graduate school led to a job at a travel magazine. Being paid to write about exotic places I could never afford to visit turned out to be a lot of fun. And I was a pretty good writer/editor, so I stuck with it, moving into the women’s magazine world, then to a food magazine (I love to cook), and eventually, to a dream job: Editor-in-Chief of Parents magazine. My daughter, Madeleine, was a year old, so I experienced the wonderful gift of having my life and my work come together. During my 10-year tenure at Parents, I had access to the best and the brightest among child development experts, researchers, pediatricians, child advocates, and educators. But the most gratifying aspect of my work by far was the opportunity it afforded me to meet parents from all across the county. This was long before parents had instant access to communities of moms and dads on the web. Time and again, I witnessed their passion, determination, strength, energy, empathy, humor, wisdom and courage revealed in mundane and monumental ways.
While at Parents, I edited a couple of books - It Worked for Me, which featured advice and tips from our readers, and The Parents Answer Book, an 800-age reference on children’s health and development. But I wanted to write my own book and with two young children and a very busy husband, the idea of doing so on the weekends didn’t really compute. So I made the tough and, at times, terrifying decision to leave the magazine to write my first book The 7 Stages of Motherhood: Loving Your Life Without Losing Your Mind.
As luck would have it, Good Morning America was looking for a parenting contributor to add to their amazing "family" of experts. I had appeared on the show fairly regularly and loved the team there, so I happily agreed to take the job. It’s hard to believe I have been with GMA for a decade. I also have my own show Parenting with Annie Pleshette Murphy, which airs on ABC News Now. ABC’s digital cable network, available on cable, broadband, and mobile devices.
I continue to write. My second book, The Secret of Play: How to Raise Smart, Healthy, Caring Kids from Birth to Age 12 was published in November, ‘08. And I’ve written parenting columns for Parents, Family Circle and USAWeekend magazines.
One of my most gratifying endeavors has been my nonprofit work. For 15 years I served on the board of the Greyston Foundation, which provides housing and social services for formerly homeless families in Yonkers, New York. And I currently serve on the board of Zero to Three, a national nonprofit that informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.
Most important, I’m the mother of two wonderful kids. Maddie is 22 and hoping to become a landscape architect and Nick, 19, is a freshman in college. My husband of 30 years, Steven Pleshette Murphy, is CEO of Rodale Publishing.
