Balcony View Is Best : Ann Gray, 39, Los Angeles

My career change was fairly dramatic. I had been working in architecture for 20 years, the last eight as studio architect for Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. During my time there, it was a wild ride. We built several sound stages, major office buildings and parking structures. Then Viacom bought Paramount and all but eliminated capital spending. It had been so much fun that it was hard to imagine going in and not having the continuing challenge of major projects.

I had been squirreling away savings the whole time I was at Paramount. I knew I wanted to go into publishing. I have a list of five to 10 fantasy occupations and that was one of them. It got picked because my husband is a printer, so I can work with him on the manufacturing end of things.

So in 1994 I made the leap and invested my savings, forming Balcony Press, an arts and architecture book publisher. I sent news releases to different architectural publications and universities, saying I was looking for manuscripts. And I got a fabulous manuscript right off the bat. It was called “Los Angeles, the End of the Rainbow,” and it’s a history of Los Angeles housing styles.

We have four books out now and are ahead of schedule on annual releases. The books, widely praised for their quality and design, are distributed throughout the United States and Europe.

I run the business out of my Silver Lake house and recently expanded into the garage. I freelance everything; it’s a sort of virtual corporation. This is actually the perfect life.