The doyennes of divorce: How these women used their divorces to become experts in the field

Although Fairway’s approach is distinctive, Stewart’s business is part of a growing trend and a new breed of divorce professionals attempting to remedy some of the problems.

Take Toronto’s Deborah Moskovitch, 51, whose book, The Smart Divorce, was published in 2007 after her own disastrous seven-year-long divorce. While writing the book, she began to get phone calls from friends, relatives, even strangers asking her for advice. “That’s when I realized there was a need for people to understand the divorce process itself,” she says.

In response, the mother of three launched a divorce consulting business in 2006. In addition to word-of-mouth referrals, her main marketing tools have been a website and strategically cultivated media contacts. Before long, she’d become a go-to girl on divorce for the media (she has appeared in the Globe and Mail, on the television program Money Maze and on more.ca, to name a few). That high profile has provided her with a steady stream of clients. 

Guiding people through divorce

Moskovitch isn’t a marriage counsellor or a lawyer; her background is in marketing. But her seminars and consulting sessions aim to guide people through the tough choices — from deciding on a process and a lawyer to staying sane and handling parenting. Moskovitch keeps a roster of mental health professionals, parenting experts and lawyers so she can offer referrals as needed. But mainly she guides her clients, keeping their bottom line in mind. Among her pearls of wisdom: “You have to recognize you’re not going to get revenge in court — you’re going to get legal bills.”

Moskovitch has recently hooked up with large companies and government organizations to offer divorce workshops and private consultations to employees. Her book is now in its second printing — in part because the experts she interviewed for it often buy it in bulk and sell or give it to clients — and she has two more in the works. “Am I really rich? No,” says Moskovitch. “But it’s evolving. I’ve recently realized my dream to have a radio talk show about helping people deal with a life reconfigured by divorce.”