Graphic Artist turned Cookbook Author: Cindy Bertram’s Journey of Creativity and Reinvention in Media | Ep #175

In this episode of Second Act Success, host Shannon Russell interviews Cindy Bertram, a former graphic artist turned television producer and writer who has crafted content for HGTV, Dr. Phil, and TV Guide Network. Cindy shares her fascinating career pivot story, from graphic artist to TV producer, and her latest endeavor as a cookbook author. 

Discover how Cindy’s diverse skill set and willingness to embrace new challenges have fueled her second act, including creating a business, publishing a cookbook, and mentoring others.

Learn how lessons like "learning every job in the room" can apply to any industry, and hear Cindy’s advice for anyone contemplating a career change or starting a new venture. 

This inspiring conversation is packed with actionable insights and motivation for embracing your passions, overcoming fear, and building a fulfilling second act.

3 Key Takeaways for Listeners:

1. Embrace Unexpected Opportunities
2. Leverage Your Skills Across Industries
3. Take the Leap Without Fear

SHOW NOTES:
https://secondactsuccess.co/175

Connect with Cindy Bertram:
Book - California Fork & Spoon
Instagram

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - Graphic Artist turned Cookbook Author: Cindy Bertram’s Journey of Creativity and Reinvention in Media | Ep #175
Episode - #175
Host: Shannon Russell
Guest: Cindy Bertram
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)



[00:00:00] Shannon Russell: Hello. And welcome back to the second act success career podcast. I am your host, Shannon Russell. 

Before we get into the episode, I just wanted to take a second. to than you. You thank you for leaving reviews for leaving your comments? Giving me feedback on the show. It really means the world to me. 

I'm going to read a recent review that was left on apple podcast. 

It is from SamBGuia. 

It reads such an inspirational show. I love that each episode is packed with actionable advice and Shannon's guests offer such diverse perspectives 

and the personal development tips are on point. Thank you. No, thank you so much for taking the time to leave this review I truly appreciate it. And if you are listening, if you have been with me for any amount of time and you are getting value from the podcast, I would love it. 

If you could head over to apple podcasts. Leaver review and let me know what you think. It really means a lot. Okay. [00:01:00] Now let's shift gears and get into this episode. Today, we were talking about career changes. And again, that thread that can lead you from one career into the other, 

and if you follow your passions, you really can find. Work that lights you up. Today in studio. I have my friend, Cindy Bertram. She and I are former colleagues. We worked together many years ago in the television industry. 

Cindy began her career as a graphic artist in television. She went on to become a television writer, a producer, she has crafted thousands of hours of content. On shows for HGTV, Dr. Phil hard-copy the TV guide network 

And she has just launched her very first cookbook.

Let me introduce you to Cindy so she can share her second act success story with us. 

Here's my friend, Cindy Bertram.

Mhm.

[00:01:53] Shannon Russell: Cindy Bertram, welcome to 

the podcast. It's so great to see you.

[00:01:59] Cindy Bertram: Great to see you, [00:02:00] too. 

Cindy and I worked together at the TV Guide Network many years ago. And she's just done so many incredible things so let's get into it. Where did your career begin?

Well, I do think it's funny that neither of us are doing what we did at TV Guide, but

[00:02:15] Shannon Russell: So true.

[00:02:16] Cindy Bertram: my career began in a roundabout way because originally wanted to be a graphic artist and went to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena as a high school student. They had this really cool program called Saturday High where you could go every Saturday during your high school career and get college credit. So, by the time I became eligible to be a college student, I already had credit at one of the most prestigious design schools, not thinking about the fact that it was very expensive and you couldn't have a job while you're going there. So it ended up not being for me, but what I did do was major in journalism and English at Cal State Northridge. And then went into [00:03:00] graphic design. roundabout way,

to be a TV producer and I got my first job at Paramount Pictures after taking a typing test, in the secretarial pool back in the nineties got a job as the assistant to the executive in charge of production for Hard Copy,

was

to be a writer, I was working for the person in charge of the show, and one day, two months after I started, the director came running upstairs from where they were taping the show, pointed at me and said, you know how to type, come downstairs. He had fired the girl who was doing the graphics. And they put me on the spot sitting at a keyboard to type all of the names that would come up during the show of who was

[00:03:54] Shannon Russell: [00:04:00] Okay. Uh,

[00:04:08] Cindy Bertram: to join the union.

And it's this many thousands of dollars, but I guess I have to pay it. long story short, my two month producing Aspirations went into 15 years of doing live graphics for television. So

never know where things are going to lead you.

[00:04:26] Shannon Russell: Seriously.

[00:04:27] Cindy Bertram: graphics for the first, first 15 years of my career

[00:04:31] Shannon Russell: Were you excited about this opportunity like paycheck aside? Did you find it interesting or were you just running with it?

[00:04:39] Cindy Bertram: because I had the fascination of the graphic side of things to begin with, but also the journalism side of things. And although it was, know, one of those like gossip shows, it's still followed the news as it happened. And we got, you know, like OJ Simpson happened during this time. And the Menendez brothers happened [00:05:00] during this time and Michael Jackson and like all these big news events. during this time. And so it fed the journalism bug, it fed the graphics bug, and it also fed the TV producing bug, because one of the things I'll never forget My boss said, learn every job in the room and you'll never be out of work. And while I was sitting behind this keyboard, I was sitting behind the

[00:05:27] Shannon Russell: Okay.

[00:05:38] Cindy Bertram: all of these positions that were happening around me. Were things that I watched every day for 15 years. So

[00:05:44] Shannon Russell: [00:06:00] Um,

[00:06:08] Cindy Bertram: which was writing and producing and that wouldn't have happened had I not had that first career So yes, and the money was great

[00:06:20] Shannon Russell: Mm. Mm.

[00:06:24] Cindy Bertram: the learn every job in the room was probably the best lesson I ever got because I went into a writing and producing career that television timed in seconds And so I could write a script to time and no other writer could do that because I've been sitting in live TV for 15 years. So it gave me all these and also speed that I don't think a lot of other producers had. So definitely worth it.

[00:06:55] Shannon Russell: That lesson can be brought into many other industries because you're [00:07:00] often in a boardroom or in a cubicle with other job titles, so you can do the same thing. You can learn what people around you do because you never know when you can use those skills. That's such a great opportunity that you had that you were able to jump on and really dive in and learn.

And See maybe what you liked and what you didn't like from the other aspects of television.

[00:07:25] Cindy Bertram: There are a few things notably that I think were invaluable. One was, um, I was young. I was 21 years old, just out of college, working in a room full of men who screamed and, you know, television, you know, as well as I do becomes very kind of heated and that whole like broadcast news movie that everybody is a joke really isn't.

It's a high pressure thing. People raise voices. People scream at you They forget it at the minute after the show airs, but teaches you to [00:08:00] have a thick skin. It teaches you to really focus on the moment and then kind of brush things off, which maybe you shouldn't always. I was able to grow and mature in a situation with adults that You know, 21 years of age, you don't really expect to be in that high pressure of a situation when you kind of expect to grow in your career. And to say, I was thrown into the deep end. I definitely was, but it prepared me and gave me the strength to do. Anything that came after that and to

[00:08:33] Shannon Russell: Okay.

[00:08:49] Cindy Bertram: all of the things that typically in the boardroom or behind the camera is usually this man's world that I think women are really, really good at because we're [00:09:00] very quick on our feet and very quick to adapt.

So all of those things. Really added up to having the wherewithal to do anything. I wanted from that moment on.

[00:09:11] Shannon Russell: that quick thinking for for the listeners who are listening and may not know how graphic design is used in television. Anything graphically on that screen is something that you were creating and making happen live a lot of times.

[00:09:26] Cindy Bertram: At the beginning of my career, it was mainly a keyboard that put names on a bar.

Like you're watching the news and the person who's talking or the reporters talking to their name pops up. Also, I ran, uh, still generator, which was photos that would pop up over the anchors shoulder and show who we were talking about. But all of those things, you kind of had to anticipate. And follow what the anchor is saying. And

case

[00:09:56] Shannon Russell: [00:10:00] Okay.

[00:10:08] Cindy Bertram: And I might call for this at any time. And I might call for this. And you just kind of had to say, okay, I'll be there. And you really had to pay close attention.

Because you have to then envelop all of it together. And so that's, I think, what got me ready for my second act.

[00:10:26] Shannon Russell: Yes. you had your career, Dr. Phil, you and I worked together at TV Guide Network on various shows. And so when did you make a shift from, working in this capacity to trying other things and really getting into more of the producing and writing aspect?

[00:10:42] Cindy Bertram: I was a writer by hobby at that point I had a column in the Los Angeles Times That was a little Carrie Bradshaw part of my life where I got to write about my dating life, which was fun

And luckily a friend of mine had taken a job at HGTV [00:11:00] and sent me a script one day, almost 20 years ago now, and said, Can you polish this?

Can you make it sound better? More conversational and more fun and more you because my column in the times was really Tongue in cheek and very light and very witty and and so I did and unbeknownst to me He turned it in as spec for me to become their new writer kind of ran, had run its course by then and I knew it wasn't me emotionally and you know, it was definitely fulfilling my bank account.

But. That's not everything and

Okay.

I then flew to [00:12:00] Knoxville, Tennessee and wrote White House Christmas, in 2007. while I was there, managed the rooms as well because that was what I was used to.

So they suddenly had this writer who knew how to get a show to time, who knew how to edit notes ready, who knew how to do all this backside technical things that writers don't normally do. And they went, Oh, we can get like three for the price of one.

Okay. You

So they then me if I wanted to sign on for all of their specials, which I did.

[00:12:59] Shannon Russell: [00:13:00] Silence. Silence.

[00:13:23] Cindy Bertram: of entertainment and their producer for their specials and then kind of became over the next 10 years show doctor who would just kind of sweep in if there was a problem, it. , there was never a moment of Am I going to work ? Even though, technically, I wasn't employed there. I was a freelance person. So, now all these years later, the joke is I'm the longest running unemployed person at HGTV.

[00:13:53] Shannon Russell: that is so true. You left a union position to go freelance, which is [00:14:00] unheard of for a lot of us in the industry, but it worked out. It worked out for a long time for you.

[00:14:06] Cindy Bertram: worked out for a really long time and, and I did have, you know, I did have my father who said, when are you going to get a real job? And then still thinks I didn't all these years later, but you leave, you leave stability, you leave a union, you leave a base pay that you're guaranteed. Biggest thing you leave. Guaranteed benefits. And that for me was the hardest because I do, I take health care very seriously. I come from a family of, health care workers and educators and it was very like anti tradition to go and take this risk. And so I started an LLC when I was, 30 years old and I created my own business and came up with a name and came up with a website and, you know, kind of at a time when it wasn't really being done and when it [00:15:00] wasn't being done by women specifically and got companies to hire me as a corporation instead of, you know, A 1099 employee, because that would benefit me, you know, on the expense side it gave me a legitimacy that I think maybe I wouldn't have had if I was just this like, Oh, hire Cindy, it was hire Cindy's company, you know, and I think you understand that as well, because when you are a woman business owner, you have something behind your name.

[00:15:31] Shannon Russell: Silence. Silence. Yeah.

[00:15:49] Cindy Bertram: break yet, you know, and I, it became really important to me to mentor students at different schools and, different younger people in my life.

And anyone to this day who [00:16:00] still says. know, I, I'm not sure what I want to do. I'm kind of interested in TV. I'll drop everything and talk to them because I think it's really important. Not gotten that job at 21, I wouldn't be where I am. So it's,

you know, it works differently. And I think that it leads you down a path. That no one could have predicted.

[00:16:21] Shannon Russell: You got those lessons at a young age for sure. And I never would have thought and looking back as a business owner now, I wish I had incorporated myself and started an LLC when I was freelancing all those years because it almost shows you as more of a business owner. A value as well. Like for you, you could say, well, I can do all of these things and where all of these hats, so put me where you want me, put me where you need to fill that gap and I can do it.

And I think you're right. It shows just an added professionalism maybe. but It ended up setting you up for success for all of your projects to [00:17:00] come as well. And you could be more choosy at that point in your career about what you wanted to do.

[00:17:06] Cindy Bertram: Yeah. And I mean, and I'm my, you know, we're our harshest critics, right? So I, we'll always criticize my trajectory or think, Oh, I could have done this differently, or I could do this because could have taken, you know, a role that I would have been in for 30 years now and, you know, and maybe had a lot more stability, but I definitely look back on my path and feel proud. I don't think I'm done. 

And for example, I just wrote a cookbook for someone. What am I doing writing cookbook? But, you know, I had, I had pitched a television show for this amazing person who owns restaurants. 

Basically, California State Parks gave her the opportunity to transform old, like, hamburger shacks that are sitting on the sand and come up with a concept [00:18:00] for something that had never been done. And she already had a couple of brick and mortar restaurants in Huntington beach. One was called Sea Legs and one was called Sea Salt very well known and they were great restaurants.

And admittedly I chased her for about 10 years because I knew there was something about her. She was a very successful woman owned. in Orange County, and there was just something about her and her energy that I knew she needed a podcast or a show or a book or something, and I watched her create these beach clubs that were all different themes, all different menus, music. Everything. And I mean, it's like that, you know, the magic wand where you hit the like dilapidated concrete beach shack that was a hamburger stand. And she turned it into this music venue where people come and drink and dance and eat, and the food is like at this high level, she has the only alcohol license on the sand and in orange County. she's turned these into these [00:19:00] magic locations. So I pitched a show. Two years ago to food network she wanted to find somebody to run one of her clubs and the prize was going to be they get the club they get to run the club and make it their own, get a six figure salary and it was this really cool concept and it would be a culinary competition that people would come from all over the country.

You get to work on the sand, beautiful Southern California surf city, USA. And Food Network passed

Pretty far, but it didn't go and she said, I really want to write a cookbook. Would you be interested in writing a cookbook? Okay, because why not? What would have benefited if I had said, well, I've never written a cookbook. So no, because then now I can say, I've written a cookbook.

Did you want me to write yours?

[00:19:47] Shannon Russell: And you wrote television, so you are a writer, it's just a different aspect of writing.

[00:19:53] Cindy Bertram: I've written a, I've written medical journals. I've written different newspaper articles. I've written [00:20:00] magazine articles. There's a little box on my desk that said writers right and that's it You just write and it doesn't matter what you write It just matters that you write 

Everyone nod to all of these clubs and all of their different food and, and the guests and the clientele. And she said, would you want to do it for me? And I said, sure. 

[00:20:39] Shannon Russell: Transcription by CastingWords

[00:20:54] Cindy Bertram: all of the clubs, all of the dishes, things that were her favorite things that [00:21:00] were, you know, customer favorites and why, and the history of the dishes, because they all kind of needed to tell a story.

[00:21:07] Shannon Russell: Okay.

[00:21:35] Cindy Bertram: it. Starting in June my husband had a great summer. I made all 65 recipes in the book in my kitchen, probably about four or five times each. And, know, I'd call her, I'd send her pictures or she'd come over and I'd say, is this right? Do you think this is right? And I recipe tested all summer while I wove this story together of this crazy entrepreneur [00:22:00] and dreams. And it was just this really cool adventure to be on. then the TV side of me got it done because it had to be formatted, then it had to be designed, then it had to be, you know, laid in graphically, and I had to find a printer, and I had to find a book bindery, and like all of these pieces that I then became a book publisher,

[00:22:25] Shannon Russell: Mm hmm.

[00:22:26] Cindy Bertram: Because I didn't know how to do it, but it goes along with the learn every job in the room. She didn't know how to do it either. And she's running eight clubs. So who's going to do it?

[00:22:36] Shannon Russell: Yep.

[00:22:37] Cindy Bertram: So the book is going to be in our hands in, know, a couple of weeks. Here's the press copy.

[00:22:46] Shannon Russell: Beautiful. 

The book is called California Fork and Spoon, 

, oh,

[00:22:52] Cindy Bertram: is the, person on the cover and the creator of this entire cover. Empire [00:23:00] and she gave me the chance of a lifetime and I'll never forget it.

Pre orders out and we're doing a book signing at one of her clubs on the 21st then I think I have barnes and noble lined up for january And we're gonna get a couple of bookstores to carry it In the Orange County area and then California State Parks, who is her partner, they're going to carry it in all of their headquarters, which is so cool.

[00:23:26] Shannon Russell: That's so cool because people all over the world want to try California cuisine and you can only get it in California and now they'll be able to make it at home and the pictures look beautiful. 

And so you've got this project, you're still working in TV. You've got, your hand in a bunch of different creative projects. And how do you feel with your career at this point in the second act of yours, which has exploded, 

[00:23:51] Cindy Bertram: you have a couple of like pinnacles, like one of mine really, really was to sell my own show and be the executive producer of my own [00:24:00] show. And last year I was lucky enough to, executive produce Lincoln log masters on Roku, which I pitched to Hasbro to, borrow their IP of that little childhood game that we all loved, and I found, , well, a casting team

[00:24:19] Shannon Russell: Um,

[00:24:48] Cindy Bertram: to pitch a show. And so it just, it was a really huge accomplishment. That was that great box to be checked. So that was one. , I still have the unfinished novel that all writers. [00:25:00] Have fitting somewhere. So finishing that I'll be next on the list.

And I'm just really enjoying being in the executive producing side of things and more of the conceptual side of things, because you get to be more creative 

I know I'm definitely not done, 

You go through life and you have, you have these goals and they're not necessarily the goals you thought you would have. Certainly. I thought I maybe would have a family and I maybe would, know, be at a different point in life. I love the journey and I think I'm where I'm meant to be. And I can't wait to see what's next.

[00:25:38] Shannon Russell: Not done yet. Let me ask you, Cindy, what is a piece of advice that you would give to someone who is about to change careers, start a business, write a book, just start that second act, what advice would you give them?

[00:25:52] Cindy Bertram: Try not to be terrified. Contemplating that second act, which ironically, I think a lot of women in [00:26:00] television are right now, a lot of people in general, because TV is going through a really weird phase, but I think the biggest, the biggest Advice I would give to anyone who is contemplating really changing their entire career is what do you have to lose? If it doesn't work, you can always go back to what you were doing. are it will work, and especially if you're passionate about it. So, go for it. And maybe try not to burn bridges along the way, because you

[00:26:33] Shannon Russell: Okay.

[00:26:49] Cindy Bertram: a common goal, and it may not be the path you thought you would take, but. You'll get there eventually. So the biggest thing would be to just for it and not be [00:27:00] afraid.

[00:27:01] Shannon Russell: That's the best advice. You're proof of that because you thought that you would potentially maybe try to sell a show and you did it. And you check the box. You never thought that you would write a cookbook and you're doing that and you can check that box. So I think we can surprise ourselves by stepping out of our comfort zone and facing that fear and just taking that leap to see what we can accomplish.

And there's nothing cooler than being able to say. I did it. And you know what? If it doesn't work, then you can just say, okay, I tried and now I'll know. But you don't want to have that regret for, for having that dream and not even trying to seek it out. Um,

[00:27:56] Cindy Bertram: And I think that you don't want to look back [00:28:00] and have any regrets. You want to be able to say, well, I tried and I don't think that anyone fails. I think that timing is big anything and it may just not be the right time. But you'll never know unless you try and, you know, and I, I'm doing this other random thing now that kind of appeals to my other creative side, which is doing a little side hustle as a professional organizer, it's a little fill in. Salary, it satisfies my severe need to be neat and orderly. And it also this really weird, emotional fulfillment because the people who I'm doing it for are not, they're not necessarily hoarders. They're not They have very busy professional lives and their home or their office is the last thing that gets attention. So if I can go in in my free time. [00:29:00] And help get them some order. life changing for them

that

[00:29:05] Shannon Russell: Um,

[00:29:30] Cindy Bertram: all the time. It's gorgeously and you open every closet and drawer and it is complete chaos. And she has said, I travel for shows I host all these shows and I don't want to come home because it is stressful.

My home is stressful. It looks beautiful, but it's completely stressful. when she was out of town, I went to her house for a week, organized the entire thing. And. To this day. And it's been now five months. And she just [00:30:00] said, you have given me calm in my own home, which is

have. So that's this weird, emotional fulfillment now that I'm getting that a normal, like a TV job or a writing job or something doesn't give you. It's this physical accomplishment that is. Really helping someone else. And so all of these boxes to check and, you know, who knows, maybe that's my future,

[00:30:26] Shannon Russell: Another creative challenge to see if you can make this into something and take all that HGTV experience, all that creativity. I just love that. It's all kind of wound up and you have all of these roads in front of you. And you get to choose which lane you're going to be in and what you're going to follow.

And as your friend and someone who's known you for so long, that's so exciting to me to see. And

just so proud of you really for everything.

[00:30:53] Cindy Bertram: you. I am proud of you too. I'm proud of us. I think, you know, that's, you know, that's another thing is to hold each [00:31:00] other up and to really be the biggest cheerleader for each other. And I can't do something. I always make sure that someone I care about gets the job always. And that's really, really important to me.

[00:31:17] Shannon Russell: Oh, well, Cindy, thank you so much for being here and sharing your journey. Yeah. It's been so much fun. I'll link to all the ways that our listeners can connect with you in the show notes, along with the book link as well. And I wish you the best for the book and everything.

[00:31:33] Cindy Bertram: Thank you so much, Shannon. I appreciate it. And so great talking to you. I'm so proud of you.

[00:31:40] Shannon Russell: Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to Second Act Success. To view show notes from this episode, visit secondactsuccess.co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews [00:32:00] only take a few moments and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell and this is Second Act Success.