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*soul-powered sistas = connected to their inner well of faith, wisdom and courage; use their divine powers to nurse a tiny idea into a full-fledged thing you can touch.

Each week, I’ll feature an interview with a fierce, creative sista who’s successfully manifested a successful business. We’ll explore their entrepreneurial journey, lessons learned and challenges overcome…or not:-) Too often, we hear about the big launches and see the long list of testimonials from raving fans and miss all the hard work and heartache in between. These interviews with soul-powered sistas are intended to fill in the gap.

Kelly Diels’ writing is fierce.

During my Red Shoe Blogger session with her, I was pleased to discover that she’s just as warm, generous and passionate as her writing.

She runs her business the same way she writes her posts:  her way. And she doesn’t care if she breaks a few “rules” along the way.  What’s most important to her is coming from the heart.

Kelly started our conversation sharing:  “It is my mission in life to delight (and be delighted).” And like all the faithful readers who look forward to her fresh new blog posts know, she always delivers.  Enjoy!

IU:  For people who don’t already know you, share what you do.

I’m a writer and a thinker. I dive in the deep waters of sex, money and meaning at my blog, Cleavage. Cleavage is a sexy word that means more than you think…it refers, of course, to my spectacular rack, and also to the social and personal cracks and fault lines that define our lives.

IU:  What inspired you to start your businesses?  What were the defining moments that led you to:  “Okay, I’m going to do this”?

My relationship died a horrible, protracted death; I started a new job; I moved house; and then everything was basically fine. I had a nice job, nice house, no drama…and it was a life devoid of meaning. I felt like I was running in place and getting nowhere.  I asked my sister, Isn’t there more?  Is this all I’m here to do? To go to work and pay the bills and have martinis on Saturday nights? What is my legacy?

And I started a blog. Because I needed to write. I needed to create. I needed it all to mean something. I’m going to admit something a little grandiose: I started the blog and thought that of course, I’d end up famous.

I had no idea how to blog, I just thought my magical words would be enough. I had no plan.  No business plan. Just pure intention and unrelenting effort.I did it “wrong”. I went all field-of-dreams…you know “if you build it, they will come” and that worked.

IU:  Where did you find the courage to just trust your heart?

I didn’t have the courage NOT to trust my heart. My heart leads me around by the nose.

IU:  Did you always believe in your writing?

I’ve always been a writer. I always knew there were books in me and in my future. I always knew this is who I am.  But I ran away from it for a long time, because I though artists lived in attics or basements and starved.

Most of my life, I’ve heard from people that I am ‘too much”.  Too emotional. Too sensitive. Too idealistic. Too free. Too risky. Too demanding. Too much work.

And it is only now, when I embrace all of those things, that people can ’see’ me.

I just had to write. I was always writing, but I never had an audience. And a friend of mine, Ricardo Scipio, who is a film-maker and a photographer, told me that art requires an audience. That landed with me. So, I was always writing. What switched in me last year was that I decided to give my writing a home and invite people over. I gave my art an audience.

IU:  How did you hone your craft?

A lot of it is sheer instinct, but there’s a list of things that have been essential.

1. Reading voraciously.
2. Mimicry. I sometimes give myself little assignments to write in Margaret Atwood’s voice or Michael Ondaatje’s voice or Hemingway’s voice. When I do that, I get really intimate with the elements of their style. What techniques they’re using, what works.
3. Daily practice. Just write.

IU:  Have you ever felt like you wanted to “quit” your biz or wonder if you had made the right decision in leaving your job and doing your thing?

I’m terrified on a regular basis. Some months I make a lot of money. Other months, not so much. I’d be less freaked out if it was just me, but it is me and my girls. I need to give them a life that is stable…so I worry. But I don’t regret it.

And the lack of a safety net is a great catalyst. I don’t have any writing gigs lined up for the summer, and that is forcing me to be creative.

IU:  How do you deal with the stress?

My way of handling stress is perhaps not for everyone. I just acknowledge that I’m going to go, go, go until I can’t. I make peace with the fact that I’m going to break down every three or four weeks.

I’ll cry. I’ll call my friends. I’ll write copiously. I’ll go to bed for a day or get my hair done. And then I’ll get back atter.

IU: What book, movie, song, poems get your through those dips in life?

It varies. Right now, Soul Sister by Train. Listen to it constantly.  Always go back to Ondaatje. His prose is poetry.

Bull Durham. It is so much more epic than it appears. It is covertly a film about The Goddess. In my opinion.

And Ani Di Franco. There are a couple of songs that I always return to: Little Plastic Castles and 32 Flavors.

IU: Do you have a “power” song? A song that re-connects you to the raw essence of who you are and pumps you up?

Clear by Kardinall Offishall.

IU:  What helps to shift out of worry into creativity?

What is helping me is Radical Devotion. I have a few friends who are in the same business, who are radically devoted to me and I am to them. We’re in it, together.

We’re building our own empires, creating our own art, and at the same time collaborating and intimately involved in each other’s castles in the air.How can I fail when I have that kind of loyalty and devotion?

IU:  Were these friendships that formed through social media? *

Yes! Isn’t that incredible?  We *think* social media is frivolous and superficial – and it can be – but it is just another venue for “social”. And what is social if not the urge to connect and commune?

IU:  It’s like we’re able to find our soul families and connect across time and space through the internet.

Randi Buckley tweeted a few weeks ago: if you were in a relationship with your business what would it be.  I’d like to add to that. Describe the love affair between you and your biz, how did you 2 meet, what were the ups and downs, and what helped you get to where you are now?

My love affair with my business: actually, I like thinking about it like that. That’s making my business speak my language. My business might be more of a child than a partner, though.

I imagined it. I created it. I birthed it. And now, it is not wholly of me or my own. I nurture and take care of it and hope it will take care of me in my old age. It really is like a kid.

IU:  What does soul-powered mean to you?  I’m featuring you in an interview called soul-powered sistas and you so embody what I think it means to be soul-powered. I’m curious to hear how you’d define it.

Feels an awful lot like what I told you in the beginning of our conversation: that my heart leads me around by the nose. Soul-powered feels like the same thing. Being fueled by our spirits.

IU:  Who are people, alive or not, that embody what it means to be soul-powered?

Danielle LaPorte.  Randi Buckley. Lianne Raymond.  My friend Dave Doolin. He’s not a sista. But he is soul-powered. Maya Angelou. Ani DiFranco.

IU:  What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced that ended up bringing you some cherished gifts?

I’ve learned so much from being a single mama. The way I treat my children is a lesson in how I ought to treat myself. I’m even applying that to my romantic life. If I wouldn’t want this person in my child’s life, then he doesn’t belong in mine! The way I love – not as a feeling, but as a practice – my children is a model for how I should love myself.

IU:  What’s one piece of Kelly wisdom you’d give to a creative sista who wants to start her own biz?

Be ruthless. Realize you can’t do it all, and get rid of the non-essential stuff. Be willing to live with dishes on the counter and piles of laundry and raised eyebrows. And then dedicate yourself to doing Your Thing.And try to find people who will love you through the mess and be in it with you.

It doesn’t have to be a partner.  A soul family in the ether will do, too.

____________________________

Fierce, right?

*Kelly got me thinking about social media and how you can really build authentic, supportive relationships online.  Part 2 of this series will focus on how to move beyond networking and use your Tweets and status updates to build real connections and friendships. Subscribe to this blog to be sure you don’t miss it!

And if you’re interested in adding some zing and passion to your blog, check out Kelly’s Red Blogger sessions or better yet, see if she’ll be leading a workshop near you.