After writing on any type of paper that could be written on as a child, and having my nose almost constantly poked between the pages of a book, there really was no other career choice for me than journalism.

I'd have taken any job that accepted me back in 1993 when I graduated, but the world I soon found myself in was that of trade magazines. And there I've stayed, working for three years in London, England, then a hop across to New York, where I honed my journalistic talents for over 10 years on magazines including Foodservice Director, Supermarket News and Drug Store News.

Building on that experience, I now specialize in food, retail and health topics. 

Trade magazines are fun; you become an expert in your subject matter, but there has always been the urge in me to travel, and another one to meet crazy people. So it was in 2001 that I began seeking both of these out, and began a freelance life that added much-needed color to the business world I'd been in. England's Independent on Sunday gave me my first consumer clips, followed by others including The Toronto Star, The Scotsman, The Daily Telegraph, Australia's Courier-Mail and Everybody magazine.

A year ago, following a name change from Amanda Chater to Amanda Baltazar, and switch to the world of full-time freelancing, I moved from New York to a small island in the Puget Sound in Washington state. I continue to write for trade magazines, among them those above, QSR, Northwest Business Monthly, Photo District News, Beverage World, Book Business, the National Association of Convenience Stores magazine and Nutraceuticals World, as well as custom publishers Dowden Health Media and The Pohly Co.

And I've also reached my goal of writing regularly for consumer publications, among them Northwest Woman, here in the Pacific Northwest and Sunday Life, a glossy magazine that's distributed with two Australian Sunday newspapers, The Age and the Sun-Herald. And trust me when I say: There will be more.