Leading up to our book’s release date of February 6th, I have decided to dedicate a miniseries of The Embrace Family Recovery Podcast to introducing you to a few of the 44 women authors who penned ‘Voices of the 21st Century Women Empowered Through Passion and Purpose.’
Today, I am honored to introduce you to three more of my magnificent co-authors.
Dr. Teresa Barnes is a psychotherapist whose private practice, Restorative Place, is a safe space for physicians, healthcare professionals, teachers, therapists, and pastors to find healing.
Marsha Lake, the principal of Marsha Lake Secretarial Services, is a visual presentation and transcription expert with forty-one years of experience operating a successful secretarial and administrative business in Sydney, Australia.
Glendoria Boyd is an author, poet, and motivational speaker with powerful words to set your heart ablaze.
Glendoria, an experienced author, has penned four books and numerous blogs before being an Author in Voices of the 21st Century Women Empowered Through Passion and Purpose.
Please meet Teresa, Marsha, and Glendoria.
#embracefamilyrecovery #WSA #womenspeakersassociation #gailwatson#voicesofthe21stcentury #passionandpurpose #wsapublishing #womenauthors #womentransformingtheworld #womenempowered #familyrecovery #familyrecoverycoach #familyrecoverycoaching #womenpodcaster #podcast #yourstorymatters
See full transcript below.
Margaret 00:14
Hello everyone, Margaret Swift Thompson of Embrace Family Recovery, here with you today to share this special series that I’m putting out on the Embrace Family Recovery Podcast.
So, I have done something that I have dreamed about, I have been suggested to do and I have been fearful of through much of my career. And that is right part of my story.
I am excited to announce that I am in a collaboration created by Women Speaker Association, a book entitled, Voices of the 21st Century Women Empowered Through Passion and Purpose. I along with 44 other remarkable women from around the world, have chosen to write a chapter each, based on the stories of our lives, our experiences, about passion and purpose.
And so, I am thrilled during this series to introduce you to some of my co-authors. And in the next month leading up to the book launch on February 6, I am honored and thrilled to share space on this platform with my co-authors.
So, buckle up and meet some of the women who have been experiencing this journey with over the last year leading up to the launch of our book, ‘Voices of the 21st Century, Women Empowered Through Passion and Purpose.
Margaret: So, we continue this journey of getting an opportunity to meet some of the fellow authors of this incredible book that we’re all a part of. And it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Teresa, who I will encourage to introduce you how you would like to introduce yourself because I always find that even more interesting than trying to read your accolades off for you.
Dr. Teresa Barnes 02:23
No worries, I am Dr. Teresa Barnes, I am a licensed clinical social worker, I’ve been in the field of mental health for almost thirty years, I’ve worked a variety of settings, schools, hospitals, agencies, private practice. Right now, I own a private practice approved private practice in Colorado and Illinois. And I’m actually also working alongside medical residents as a behavioral health core faculty at a neighborhood local hospital, Mercy Health. And I’ve learned a lot about how important it is to focus on healing for healers. I think a lot of people forget that we’re human. So, my whole treatment approach and my target population is other healers, and providers and providing a space for them to feel held in their work.
Margaret 03:09
So important, as a fellow healer and provider, I resonate greatly with how vital it is to have our support networks and have our resources to help us be the best we can be. So, Dr. Barnes, when it comes to being a part of this incredible book, the Voices of the 21st Century women empowered through passion and purpose. What made you want to be a part of this?
Dr. Teresa Barnes 03:35
Well, it took me a little bit of time to be transparent, because I had met another author, and this is her fourth time, being part of Voices of the 21st Century. And she told me she was part of this book, I felt a little intimidated because I was like, oh my gosh, you know, what entail? I know that I’ve tried to write and publish in the past, and it felt very daunting. And I slowly start realizing that strength is a numbers. And so, it was nice to kind of collaborate and be among other women. So as I became more and more involved in WSA Women Speakers Association, I started to feel more of a sense of community. So, it made it more safer for me to put my words on paper. So, I decided I will do it this time. And everyone had that I’ve known who’ve been part of it told me that how much they’ve gotten from it. So.
Margaret 04:25
I can relate to that, too. I’ve heard so many people say the benefits of this, not only just being able to take that step and go through the process of publishing, but to take this journey on with other women has been wonderful.
Dr. Teresa Barnes: Yes. Yes.
Margaret: Is there a special piece to what you’ve written that you would want to share? Is there something about your chapter of the book that you would like to read or share with the audience?
Dr. Teresa Barnes 04:52
Well, it’s a lot related to my recent shift and my treatment focus. 2020 which we all I can say 2020 dot dot dot, right COVID brought in so many different aspects of suffering, but also enlightenment. And what part of the enlightenment for me was that as a healer, that I needed to feel held as well. I was going through a lot of parallel experiences with my clients. And I didn’t really know what to tell them. I mean, no one who’s alive today look to the pandemic, I was having the same stresses with elearning with my child and trying to figure out how to manage work and all the anxiety around my, my health and my family, that it was just it was becoming an issue where I would meet with other therapists, and they’re like, man, you know, we need help, we need support, and what do we tell our patients that you know?
And so, my whole passion about healing other healers, how can I feel held as a healer, kind of the chapter came from that of how did my mother my own mind here, because especially being a mom, and a care provider. That intersectionality of holding, holding the reality and pain for so many other people, not only in my professional life, in my personal life, I mean, needing to mother, these other parts of myself, as well as I’m mothering others, that’s where a lot of that came from, for my chapter, as me getting in that conversation with my child parts, those parts of me that come alongside, and I’m hoping that by having other healers read this, they’d be like, 0h, it’s okay to feel held while I’m holding, it doesn’t it’s not a sign of weakness, it’s not a sign of in competency for me to check back in to that child and Teresa, and say, Hey, how you doing? Or, when she’s feeling threatened to be able to attend to her, like I would do my own living child outside of my body. So that’s where a lot of that came from.
Margaret: Was it difficult to write?
Dr. Teresa Barnes: It was difficult to get started, which is really weird, because I always consider myself a writer, a prolific writer, actually, I had wrote another book. It’s just unpublished it was more so my memoir. And I’ve written like, which we call mock greeting cars for people I’ve already no problem I can write. But somehow when I sat down, I was like, oh, my gosh, what do I write about? I think it was more of a challenge that it was we were limited by the space because if as a right as long as you want. It would have been quicker, but they’re like, we’re gonna stick to this parameter. And then I was like, oh, what can I write that’s going to be a power pack, impactful in this kind of short piece.
Margaret: Yeah.
Dr. Teresa Barnes: So, I thought about what I’ve been going through a lot emotionally, a lot of it is kind of sitting with these child parts of myself, because they’ve been more alive than ever. And I think we’re most of us they have I think COVID has really let the kind of lid off in terms of all our insecurities, all our uncertainties, and what part of our life do we feel the most insecure that we need the most holding. Psychically, developmentally was always childhood, right? It’s like, needing someone to kind of hold us and be able to say, Okay, it’s gonna be okay, that I think all of that got triggered after COVID, because the rug has been slipped up under us. And we need that, we need to be able to feel like things are contained and held.
Margaret 08:12
The thing that is interesting in talking to our fellow sister authors, is there was a level of vulnerability to write, that’s different than speaking if you’re a speaker.
Dr. Teresa Barnes: Yes.
Margaret: And I want to put out there that as a professional trained in the mental health world, when I was trained, we were blank slates. We weren’t showing our vulnerabilities that was not accepted are encouraged. Yes, supervision was recommended on all those good things. But I wonder if that was at all a struggle for you with your training or your professional training, coming to a point of saying, you know what, I’m going to, I’m going to put it out there, I’m going to put my truth on the paper.
Dr. Teresa Barnes 08:50
I think it’s so funny, I often will talk to my fellow healers about this. I said, you know, I’m really am focused on bringing my humanity back or fighting for my humanity. Because then your personal life, I think people forget that. Like, I just j off the side note, I got together with a friend I hadn’t seen in many, many years. And I was visiting her town because I was there for conference. And she was like, hey, let’s meet for dinner. I’m like, oh, this is fantastic. I can kind of unwind, talk. The whole time was about her stuff, like talking and then she stopped herself. And said oh, I probably I’m acting like you’re my therapist. And then she said, oh, but you’re used to it. Cause you do this for a living and then she kept on talking. So, I remember leaving that encounter, feeling so drained. I wanted to relax. I wanted to be able to connect and show some of my insides and not have to be the one to hold it all, even when I’m off, in my downtime.
So, part of my motivation is that we know we need healing too. And I want to fight for that humanity piece that yes, I could be a professional be trained and still be clueless on how to mother a strong willed child. Which by the way, I’m waiting for someone to write me a quick book on how to do that. Because I am sometimes I feel like I’m in 19 with my daughter she’s different than me. But yet, I can be so astute and understand what I’m doing when it comes to my clients. So that living in those dualities is very humbling. But I’ve embraced it because I really think that it’s some way for people to see our humanity because they do forget that we heard it can’t be strong. We can’t hold it all. Yeah, all the time.
Margaret 10:25
Here, here, I love that. It’ss that permission to nurture yourself to be vulnerable, to allow people to step in those gaps for us, which is hard, when we are the ones who’ve been the fixer or the caretaker or the person seen in that light. And with that strong willed daughter man channeling that in the right direction, she will so do well.
Dr. Teresa Barnes 10:48
She will. I tell people, you will hear from her, you are going to hear from her, her name is going to be in lights. Because those kinds of kids are revolutionaries, they are not going to go by the beat of everybody else’s drum, they’re gonna dig their heels in. So, when she finds her ride or die, I’m just gonna be back in the corner, tearing up for another, different reason tough to get through it, but I’m gonna read tear it off from joy. Be Amazing.
Margaret 11:13
That is amazing. And it’s so important to remember because in those times where it feels like a battle of those, yeah. Why a book with other women? I know why I did it. What was your reasoning for being on a board with all women authors?
Dr. Teresa Barnes 11:29
Oh well, I think the sense of community which I did state a lot in my chapter was something that I’ve always craved. And I always felt like it was elusive to me having a true sense of community where I can feel seen and held in that, other than saying, people see you, but sometimes through judgment or through where you need to be like this and all that and always feeling like needing that just that village to kind of come alongside me. So, when the opportunity came up, like hey, this is gonna be a village where you really can be who you are. Of course, I kind of like, oh, I don’t know, I don’t know. Because obviously what relational trauma teaches us is not to go there again, right, where you can welcome closeness and openness, right? But then it was a bigger part of me was like, Oh, my gosh, this is what you wanted is people who can come alongside you, who don’t expect you to have all the answers, who don’t expect you to fix it or be the smartest one in the world, but just to kind of be able to bear witness to your own story. And always still striving to find that real sense of community, or me because to me, I think when you have that felt sense of community, challenges, adversities traumas, they take on a different tone, when you feel like someone can come alongside you and say, hey, that really sucks. Or some of them come alongside us like, yeah, me too. You know, I’ve been through this something about the collective communal experience. I think the trauma recovery, I mean, research actually supports that. The prognosis is so much better. So. So yeah, the sense of community for me.
Margaret 13:01
And I think one of the things I’d like to ask all our authors is, what would be a slam dunk? If you think about what you wrote this for? What you hoped or intended for your dream about it was? Well, it’d be a slam dunk, if someone was reading it, what would you want that to feel or look like?
Dr. Teresa Barnes 13:21
I would want people to be more sensitive to healers, mainly. To be more sensitive to yes, my child part he or she comes alongside me. And what is he or she trying to tell me now? What are they trying to show? They don’t show up because they go oh I’m bored. They show up either during times where psychically, there’s a trigger, like, oh, I’ve been here before. So, then those parts come back up. Or maybe it’s a good thing where they come up, they kind of come alongside you as celebratory things, but it tends to be when there’s kind of an undercurrent of trauma, undercurrent of stressors, and then there’s a perfect storm that’s happening in our adulthood that’s bringing all that out.
So, I just would love for people as a takeaway to be like, okay, wait, the vulnerability, the shame. That’s not just the feeling is representative of a psychic part of me. There’s a part of me that held that, and felt bad, who felt all alone. So how can I then mother and father that part, what would I say if it was my own child feeling the shame, feeling of a vulnerability because often we try to hide it. Like, okay, let me make enough money. Let me let me see what I can do to glam myself up or whatever, so people don’t see. And I think that’s our natural inclination. But I think when we lean into it, but we lean into it with a kind of a mothering stance, I wonder if that will shift? If I lean into the shameful parts, the vulnerable parts, you know, and mother her? What would I do differently?
And I started to know that shift in my own life when I felt like times where I want to disappear into the floor. And it was always a relational experience. Everything is relational to me, I see trauma, all the thing is relational. So instead of just trying to cover it up or pretend it’s not there, it’s happened about a couple years ago, I stopped and said hey, wait, I want to disappear into the floor. What does this remind me? What age is this? Like, what else is there? You know, and that part of me was able to kind of merge more. What do you need, you know, and again, it took a while because normally we were so busy trying to be like, ah, you know, let’s just go away, go away. But when we welcome those parts of ourselves, they do speak back. And so that’s out of my chapter. I said, oh, she wanted me to fight for her. That’s what it was. So now I fight like hell for her. I do. Whenever I sense that, okay, that part of me is threatened. I’m like, motherhood it, you know, and I get really get part of me gets overzealous, because this is a fairly new activity that I’m doing, psychologically for me. But I know I’ll achieve some balance where not every time I feel like she’s threatened, I need to be like, ah, you know, but I would do like, I would do my own daughter and a mother lion in some way to say I’m going to fight for you. I’m gonna make you feel like you belong here. I’m not going to try to leave you out. And so yeah, and I think I said in my book, she’s worth it. She’s worth it. I don’t know if she’s ever been shown that before is that she’s worth it.
Margaret 16:24
For all my lovely listeners, I have the privilege of introducing you to Marsha, who I will have introduced herself, who was another sister author for this new book coming out on February 6, Voices of the 21st Century Women Empowered Through Passion and purpose. Welcome, Marsha.
Marsha Lake: Thank you very much, Margaret.
Margaret: So, Marsha, if you were to introduce yourself, what would be your description of who you are and what you do in the world? Okay,
Marsha Lake 16:56
Okay, well, my name is Marsha Lake, I come from Sydney, Australia. I was born in London, England, was there for 16 years, and came out to Australia. So, I’m a visual presentation and transcription expert. And I have 41 years’ experience operating a successful secretarial and administrative business.
Margaret 17:18
Within those four years, you must have adjusted and changed to all sorts of different demands over those years.
Marsha Lake 17:26
Absolutely. When I started, I was on a typewriter. I was bashing away on a typewriter, which was challenging, especially when you have to do 10 letters of the same type. You just have to type it 10 times.
Right.
And so, I grew with the technology as the years flowed. And I have tried very hard to keep up with that technology to this day. Because things are changing by the minute, as you know.
Margaret 17:51
Absolutely. My mom was a secretary and takes me back to the days where she had to do the, the roller copies with the ink underneath and the mess of that, back in the school se was a secretary..
Marsha Lake 18:03
Sure. Well, when I first started with a typewriter, we had a carbon. And we had the second copy there. So, we had to do sort of carbon copies. So that was, that was what it was all about. And then we get to things like telexes, where we sent sort of these little tapes, though to all over the world and, and it was just went on from there.
Margaret 18:22
I respect tremendously your ability to adjust and change because some of these changes would have been really monumental, even though it’s probably brought ease in some respects, the learning curve is great.
Marsha Lake 18:36
Yes, well you have to keep up with technology, because your clients expect you to do that. Just very quickly. My background is that my late father was a printer. So, I was always there on school holidays working with him. So, I always had an eye for detail because he was training me in that respect, having an eye for detail for all my work. And so that’s when I decided to go down this path, which I’m very happy. I did.
Margaret 19:02
Yeah. Good for you. So, coming back to the book. Is this your first time writing anything to be published?
Marsha Lake 19:11
Absolutely. Except for doing my websites, which I did the content for. This is absolutely the first time I’ve done anything like this. So, it was like imposter syndrome. Should I, shouldn’t I think of starting a business. Should I, shouldn’t I? Yeah.
Margaret 19:27
Yeah, it is a big step. And so, when you heard about Voices of the 21st Century, what about this appealed to you to want to be involved?
Marsha Lake 19:37
Well, once again, having the imposter syndrome, thinking I didn’t have a story to tell. Believing that I didn’t have the content, even though I’ve been in business for many years. Just getting my mind around how I can do it and what type of thing would be interesting for the audience or the reader to actually read? And that’s what was going through my mind at the time.
Margaret 20:00
Okay. And so, the neat thing about this process, as I’m sure you can relate to, because we’ve been doing it together, is we have these meetings, and we get to hear from different people who’ve done this before. And we learn from editors and publishers, and it’s very interesting. It’s been the behind the scenes without having to carry the load if you’d like.
Marsha Lake 20:20
I’ve found it fascinating. Not only just the fact that there’s about there’s six Australian ladies in the book this year, which is wonderful. The year before, it was just Brigette Stills who was a very good, great friend of mine, she was the only one in the book last year.
And so, this year, not only the six Australians, but meeting everyone from all over the world, I’ve had the opportunity to speak, as you say, on these meetings. Learning from people who’ve been in five books of four books or have written 20 books. It’s fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.
Margaret 20:55
It is, it’s great. In when you thought about your story, you talked about your imposter syndrome and what you wanted to write about, what did you end up deciding on making your chapter about?
Marsha Lake 21:08
Well, my subject for my chapter is perseverance and tenacity, which is me. Absolutely. I have persevered over the years, and I’ve got the tenacity. So, it was obvious from my point of view that I was going to talk about how I started my business. What I went through and made a negative into a positive and a successful business. And that’s what my story is about, you know, what actually happened throughout that whole sort of journey, if you like.
Margaret 21:39
And was it hard to write it?
Marsha Lake 21:41
I did a few drafts. It was hard, because I’m a perfectionist. So, I really wanted to make sure that it was gripping, I was guided by the ladies in the group who sort of gave me some ideas of, you know, perhaps put some questions in there, make it a little bit more interesting. And I knew the story, obviously, but I didn’t know how to put it down. And I do this for my clients all the time. I help them to write things all the time. But when you’re doing it for yourself, it’s completely different, i
Margaret: Isn’t it though?
Marsha Lake: It’s scary. It’s scary. And so, I just went to my heart and just pulled it out. I believe.
Margaret 22:18
That’s fabulous. I found it very vulnerable.
Marsha Lake 22:22
When I pressed that button to actually send it, it was like, should I be doing this?
Margaret 22:29
And you did?
Marsha Lake 22:31
And I did, I just said no, stop, stop it. Don’t even think about that Marsha. And I just pushed the button.
Margaret 22:35
Good for you. So, I don’t know if you have a line from your chapter that you want to share or something without giving away obviously everything because we want people to buy it and read it. But is there something you wanted to share from your chapter?
Marsha Lake 22:47
I start the book off by saying 41 years of operating a business, has it really been that long. So that was my start of the book. And I’m obviously not going to speak about the whole thing. But basically, went through, as I said, a negative time in my life with the last job I had. And from that experience, I believed that I was never ever going to work with an employer, again, I was going to start my own business. That’s really what my story is about. So, I loved working for employers before my last job. But I’m just saying, that isn’t to my last position working directly with the CEO of a national organization. And that’s when I decided because I was actually pregnant with my son at the time. And I thought, well, I’m going to have time off, I’m going to have a think about what I want to do. And whether I will go back to working with employers or do my own thing. But how? How?
Margaret 23:38
Big change in a very critical time of life having a child I mean, that’s a big undertaking.
Marsha Lake 23:45
Yeah, it was a big undertaking. And then I had my second child after three years. And I actually started my business a year after my son was born. And he was a good sleeper. So, we had a good thing guy made it work, we worked, you know, different times a day or night.
Margaret: Sure.
Marsha Lake: And that’s it.
Margaret 24:03
Adaptability again. And I think the other piece of that is, I don’t know, I love doing this with other women authors. Um, not that I have anything against male authors are men. I think it’s just incredible to see what we juggle as women, as partners, as mothers, as daughters, siblings, and careers. So, I’m inspired to, you know, learn from people from all around the world on, on that balance and what people do what women do to make it work and succeed.
Marsha Lake 24:31
Yeah, I’ve added that in my chapter of that sort of experience as well. Because, you know, my children were asleep. My husband was asleep, and I was working. Nighttime, daytime, whenever I had to work. I worked in between everything. Wow.
Margaret 24:46
Wow. As we publish the book and as it goes out, and as people read it, what would be a homerun, slam dunk for someone reading your chapter. What would it mean to you? What would you envision that they experience that would mean the most you?
Marsha Lake 25:00
Well, I’ve done this story because I really want to help people. You know, I’ve got a genuine love and a passion to support small business owners, especially lady owners, but I do work with, with both. Just giving them perhaps as much experience that I’ve got that I can pass on to them that may help them, especially people who may be thinking of starting a business. And not sure. Yeah, I don’t know whether I can do this, where I had all those questions, you know, and I just want to give back and inspire people to, other women that want to start a business and maybe just need some guidance. And I’m always here for guidance, for mentoring or whatever they want. So, I felt good when I did it, because that was what I really wanted to the story to tell. Yeah.
Margaret 25:49
Yeah, It’s wonderful. So, you mentioned there, six of you from Australia this year? Are you planning any kind of a neat kickoff or signing or book tour or anything fun as a group of women from the same country? I know it’s a big country. But still.
Marsha Lake 26:05
yeah, we’re not all in the same place. Some of us are in Sydney, but not all of us somewhere in Adelaide. And we’ve got I think we’ve got one in Melbourne. So, we’re not all in the same place. We’ll do something we haven’t quite worked out yet. But we’ve got Brigitte as our she’s our steward. She’s the head of our team there. So hopefully, we can work something out.
Margaret 26:25
I think it’d be really special for people to come and be able to hear a little bit from each of you and some sort of a press thing or publicity thing. It’s great.
Marsha Lake 26:33
Sure, oh well, we’ll be the on the, you know, it’s a seventh of January,
Margaret: For you
Marsha Lake: For us since in Australia, so that’ll be really great. And as long as my daughter decides not to have her baby, then, it will be great too.
Margaret 26:47
Well, there’s a theme, Marsha there’s a l theme. There’s your big, big launch of your business with one year old and all that went into it leading up to I’m sure. And now look at you are publishing a book and daughter having a child. That’s pretty neat.
Marsha Lake 27:03
Yeah, I’m even trying to work with her to t see what she can do when, you know, besides going back to her job doing other things, mentoring, public speaking things like that. So, it’s sort of all because I did what I did. I’m thinking about her as well what she can do. And so, this experience and this whole journey has made me think and think outside the square even more than I do normally.
Margaret: So awesome. Awesome.
Margaret 27:40
So hi, Glendoria. This is so exciting to have you as one of my sister authors on this incredible book and this journey we’ve been on. Why don’t you introduce yourself to everybody? And tell us what led you to want to be a part of the Voices of the 21st Century Women Empowered Through Passion and Purpose Book?
Glendoria Boyd 28:01
Well, hi, everybody. I am Glendoria Boyd. And what led me to want to be a part of this book is that first of all, it’s an amazing book. And there are amazing women that have written their stories in this book. And I am just really honored to be one of those women.
Margaret 28:23
As I am yeah, it’s amazing to be a part of this 45 women from around the world to be a part of this.
Glendoria Boyd 28:28
Yes.
Margaret 28:30
So, have you ever written before? Have you done anything like this ever?
Glendoria Boyd 28:34
Yes, as a matter of fact, I am the author of four books. Would you like the names of those.
Margaret 28:41
Whatever you want to share, I will share any links with our transcript so people can find you, learn more about you. But sure, tell us about your books.
Glendoria Boyd 28:50
Okay. My first book was From Black and Blue to Christ. And in that particular book I just wrote about what led me to becoming a child of God, which is my greatest feet ever.
And so, after that I wrote Glendoria’s Creations because I’m also a poet. And I had a lot of poems that I wanted to get out to the world, so that people could see me and see where I was coming from. And also know that they could do the same. Maybe they could relate to one of those poems that I had in Glendoria’s Creations.
And then I wrote Wounded Lambs. That’s a book about raising my children as a single parent, before I came to the Lord and then correcting it as I found the Lord in my life. Then trying to go back and correct those things that I felt like I had done wrong. But anyway, that’s what that book is about. It’s very interesting, heartfelt, and godly book, you know, it just tells parents how to raise their children the way God wants us to raise then.
And then the last one I wrote was Church House Poetry, which is completely comical. You know, the things that you see going on in the church today, and then you put a little twist a little humor with it. And so that was the last one that I wrote until I was introduced to Voices of the 21st Century.
Oh, there’s one, I did a collaborative book with my church. I can’t think of a name right now it left me but I think it’s Blood of the Cross or something like that. I have a part in that particular book. And then I found out about Voices of the 21st Century. And so that’s how I got involved in that. But yeah, that’s my story.
Margaret 30:42
As a person who’s written and published quite a few books, what made this different or what made you want to be a part of it?
Glendoria Boyd 30:48
Well, because with my first books that I published, I really didn’t feel like I got the recognition that I needed. As a matter of fact, it kind of depressed me for time, and I stopped writing. But when I heard about the Voices of the 21st Century, and how they really invest in their authors, and help their authors to succeed, I was like, wow, I want to be a part of that. And so, because of all the good things that they’re doing for me, I just had to become a part of it. And I’m so glad that I did. Because I already see a difference than when I tried to do it on my own, you know, there’s a scripture that goes two are better than one, and it certainly is. In this scenario, you know, it just is so many authors that is willing to reach out and help you to accomplish your goals and do the things that you know, you have a calling for. So, it made me really want to become a part of Voices of the 21st Century.
Margaret 31:49
Wonderful. And do you have I mean, there’s a theme that you share through your writing, which is your faith?
Glaendoria Boyd: Yes.
Margaret: Is that part of your chapter?
Glendoria Boyd 31:59
Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. My chapter is called My Passion Revived. So, I share about how one of my professors sparked me into writing again. So that’s basically what my chapter is about. And then I have a little sassy point at the end of my chapter that I think others will be able to relate to and grow from.
Margaret 32:24
So many of us on this are not just writers or poets, I certainly am not. Do you have a business that you work with women, are you coach or do anything as well as write?
Glendoria Boyd 32:34
I don’t have a business per se. But I am a full time Sunday school teacher,
Margaret: Okay.
Glendoria Boyd: And I also teach adult women, 50 Plus, and I also go to the Union Gospel Mission, and I teach an adult class there. I teach the women that comes into the shelter. I teach them a Bible course, once a week.
Margaret 32:57
Well, you have a lot going on, you’re doing a lot of work through your faith, it sounds like.
Glendoria Boyd 33:03
Yes, uh huh.
Margaret 33:04
And that’s wonderful. Do you have a line from your chapter you want to share?
Glendoria Boyd 33:11
I do have a sentence, but it’s not exactly from my chapter. My sentence is, sometimes your purpose needs a kick in the butt.
Margaret 33:26
Yes, it does.
Glendoria Boyd: Yes, it does.
Margaret: Is your chapter kind of about when that happened for you?
Glendoria Boyd 33:32
Yes, yes, it is. Like I was saying earlier, my professors sparked me, you know. He gave me that kick in the butt that push that I needed to get my chapter written. You know that to start back to writing again, he ignited a fire within me, that still burning to this day. And so, I have other books in me that I’m trying my best to get out there. Because there’s so much more to write about. And God has given me this talent, and this poetry side that I can really, I think I can go far just writing poetry.
Well, not only chapter writing, but also just, you know, delving into another book, you know, because I want to write letters to my daughter. And so, that’s really been weighing on my heart and mind, and I’m also a caregiver for my disabled niece. And I want to write about being that caregiver, that, you know, everybody talks about it, but nobody really wants to do it. And so, I wanted to write about that ways to do it, that will honor God and yourself and make your loved one feel wanted and accepted.
Margaret 34:47
Well bless you for doing that for your niece. You know it’s a tough job to be a caregiver of an ailing family member or someone who has a disability and I think writing that will be really helpful for people?
Glendoria Boyd: Yes, I do, too. Thank you.
Margaret: Do you hope that this chapter and being a part of voices of the 21st Century will lead to an uptick in sales of your other books?
Glendoria Boyd 35:11
I do. I really do. I think that just by being a part of Voices of the 21st Century, that people are gonna want to know what else I wrote and want to read it. Yeah, I think my writing will take off yes.
Margaret: Excellent
Outro 35:45
Remarkable, the courage, and tenacity, and strength of women to be vulnerable, and authentic and share tips, and strategies, and resources from their story for each of us to learn from.
Whether it’s my chapter or one of the other women’s chapters. I assure you, there is something in this for every woman in the world to gather, support, encouragement, maybe passion, light, a passion in you come back next week when I introduce you to some more of these incredible co-authors. These women who have taken the time to write their chapter and be a part of this book.
Voices of the 21st Century, Women Empowered Through Passion and Purpose.
Until next time, take care of you!
