SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Amherst High grad redesigns her life
by PATRICK J. NAGY

Siobhan Hardy

Siobhan Hardy's success in the magazine world doesn't compare to her physical and mental recovery from a near-death experience while rock climbing.

Hardy, an Amherst Central High graduate who has worked for numerous magazines, including Marie Claire, Instyle, and Food & Wine and is currently creative director for Every Day with Rachael Ray, fell 60 feet from a sea cliff on the French Rivera while returning from a climb eight years ago.

Her list of injuries included a fractured skull and shattered upper right arm, which has been operated on three times and rebuilt with screws and pieces of her hipbone, as well as a broken right leg and left wrist, and a severed gluteus muscle from her back which gives her no feeling in her upper leg and thigh.

"I lost a tremendous amount of blood," she added. "In fact, I almost bled to death. In the ambulance, I stopped breathing. It's usually when you have a traumatic head injury or severe blood loss where you run the risk of going into trauma arrest."

Hardy spent almost two months in a French hospital before she was moved on a stretcher to a rehabilitation hospital in New York City. She stayed there for a month and learned how to walk again.

"They even had me in classes with stroke victims because I was having trouble with speech and word recall," she said. "It was a long, painful process."

Not satisfied with her physical therapy, Hardy turned to Pilates teacher Lisa Love, who specializes in motor re-education and learning. Hardy still goes to Love for "maintenance."

"If I don't go to her for a couple weeks, I hurt," said Hardy. I literally feel it."

Several years after the accident, Hardy took part in her first athletic event, an eight-day Outward Bound kayaking trip in the Everglades on assignment for Marie Claire. She didn't start climbing outdoors again until two years ago. Hardy said she was ready physically but not emotionally.

"The first climb of any day really choked me up," she said. "There was a lot of commotion in my head. Part of me was saying 'What are you doing?' and another part was going 'Shut up! I love doing this.' There were some phantom fears ... I had a tremendous amount of support from peers and the climbing community."

Hardy said the accident forced her to be honest with herself.

"I feel like I've been so stubborn all of my life," she said. "Having the accident forced me to ask for help. Needing other people and admitting I can't do some things created some really beautiful relationships and helped give myself a break. It also gave me a tremendous amount of confidence.

"It also made me communicate more," she said. "I have this unconditional support of family and friends. People were constantly telling me how much I mean to them. That meant so much. Eight years later, I'm constantly communicating with family and friends and telling them how much I love them."

Hardy is writing a book about the accident and recovery.

After graduating from Amherst High, Hardy enrolled at Parsons School of Design in New York City and received a bachelor's degree in communication design. She has been working for magazines since 1992 and joined the staff of Rachael Ray's magazine as creative director in August 2005.

Hardy said when she applied for the position, Ray didn't even want to look at her portfolio.

"She said, 'Oh you're cool; I love the way you're dressed.' I said, 'You should look at my portfolio,' and she did and liked it," Hardy said.

As creative director, Hardy coordinates the art direction photography and oversees the magazine's overall design. Hardy single-handedly designed the premiere issue, which Barnes & Nobles called "the strongest launch of any food magazine." Last week Ad-Age named the magazine "2006 Launch of the Year." The honor is for a magazine's success in its first year of publishing.

Hardy is also co-founder with Amherst High alum Michelle Richter of Quadrata Design, a design and printing company, in Florence, Italy. Hardy said she and Richter have collaborated on international projects such as the first material ever designed for the La Scala Opera House in Milan, and the Degas and the Dance art exhibit that toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musé d'Orsay.

Besides rock climbing, Hardy took up running two years ago and is training for the Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 10. She also became engaged to Francois Royer on Oct. 13 at her mother's house in Amherst.