Written by contributor Courtney Blanton
Q: I checked out an excerpt from your upcoming book and it seems to highlight a lot of different individuals’ struggles and how they rose above them. How did you come with that as the topic of your book?
A: Truly, it started with a little bit of inspiration from my own life. I have this very professional background and I’m a lobbyist today. Before I started working as a lobbyist, I had never met one; I hadn’t been in a state capital before but I was able to learn skills and things I needed to become a lobbyist just on the fly. The more I thought about it, the more I realized you don’t need a pedigree to become a changemaker!
So I tell that story about myself and then turn to ten changemakers who have either amplified a movement, supported a movement, or built a movement and asked them if I could share their stories; I then breakdown how did they do it, I share their fears, their failures, but also the things that went well and follow up with four simple things that each person could do to start their very own commitment for social good.
Q: How long did it take you to interview all these people and kind of put all their stories together for this book?
A: I have to tell you when I first started (and I work fast!) I’ve always been an overachiever, I thought I’d have this book completed within 3-6 months and that was a year ago! There’s so much that happens within a span of a year; we don’t account for life, right? Sometimes we just set goals; you have a plan, but the universe changes it. During that time, I had an accident and I really couldn’t do a lot of work and I was ready to launch this book in March and then the pandemic happened and then the time was not right.
But I’m one of those people that believes you have to trust the universe. There’s always a plan for you. And when we look at the obstacles in front of us today and the issues that everyone faces, now is the time! We need people to step up and find their fire so that they could create a movement for social good and help us get back to the life that we had or the vision of the things that we want for our future.
Q: For the cover, which I’m just now seeing, how did that design come about?
A: I love this so much! I decided to self-publish; there were so many incredible people that I was able to bring to my team because I decided to self-publish. You get to interview people for your team and if they don’t have a shared mission and values or your same spirit you know? I wanted people that I could just be myself with, so Jen Duran(IG: @pacecreative) she did this! It’s everything that Jen knew I would want; they’re real brush strokes and real pieces of fire and so I love it so very much! It’s truly so much of me; I always say that I have “firecracker of the brain,” I always have so many ideas that generate at once and so when I look at that I feel like it’s the same.
Q: You said you decided to go with self-publishing, did you reach out to some publishers before deciding to go that route?
A: I actually didn’t reach out to any traditional publishers, but I did take the conversation very seriously. If you’re going to invest your head and your heart and your time and your money, you need to be all in and be very confident with the decision that you’re going to make. So I interviewed women who had taken both routes and sometimes it takes up to a year to find a publisher by going the traditional route; I just didn’t feel like this was a story I wanted to sit on the shelf for 2-3 years and was something that was inside of me that felt like that time was now. That was more of the reason I wanted to go the self-published route; I knew that I could have more control and that you can have as many or as little people you want and that it’s truly a reflection of what’s inside of you.
Q: So the book was released yesterday, have you seen any feedback from those that have read an early copy?
A: Yes! I’ve heard from some people and if they’re reading: THANK YOU! They help fuel my passion and give me my own fire along the journey. I think that you will find yourself in one of the people in the stories, so people tend to just align themselves with that moment and it gives them the booster shot that they need. I hear from a lot of people thanking me for showing that life is not perfect; we can have our bowl of cherries on top of our ice creams sometimes and not just the bowl of cherries. We’re not always honest about our journey and our struggles and we don’t often share because we’re scared of being judged; I tell everyone that some people say that they’re cheesy, but I’m ham and cheese: I’m going to be myself the whole time!
Q: Do you think there could be a sequel to this book?
A: I said that I would live and breathe this baby for a little while, but I do think there’s another round of stories to be told of people who found their fires. I can tell you that there will be a series of salon events for this book and I hope to have some fireside chats where I have some of the people from the book.
