Brereton, who has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University, has also produced publications for clients such as Northern Trust, KeyBank and American Music Group — and edited books, articles and other items for CBS, Johns Hopkins University, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Kaplan and MARS Wrigley. 

In addition to teaching writing courses at Mediabistro.com and Columbia College, Brereton has written five nonfiction books and created marketing materials for organizations ranging from the Cartoon Network and McDonald's to Baker Tilly, Wolters Kluwer and Nielsen.

Articles she has written have appeared in SPIN magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Discovery, Green Building & Design, Wealth, Interest.com, Profile, Life & Style Weekly and dozens of other publications.

Her previous roles include associate publisher at a custom publishing company, overseeing  financial and other publications; senior editor at a women's magazine — and the marketing and communications director at a legal industry association.

In 2001, Brereton created the concept for and launched mary-kateandashley, the Olsen twins' tween lifestyle magazine, which had a circulation of 1 million.