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Influences | Books
As Lianne Raymond says
These are my teachers, “known and unknown” (meaning they don’t necessarily know me nor would they necessarily agree with everything I say or do — and vice versa — but at critical points in my career, their work has fed me and become part of my flesh):
Vicki Saunders, CV Harquail, Meghna Majmudar, Tanya Geisler, Pam Singh, Astarte Sands, Justine Musk, Dr. Danusia Malina-Derben, Una de Boer
For being points-of-inspiration, friends, or mentors along the way– in person and from afar.
Thinkers, writers, speakers — culture makers! — whose ideas have formed me:
Chantal Mouffe, Rene Girard, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Gloria Steinem, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Nancy Fraser, Carol Pateman, Maya Angelou, Rebecca Solnit, Kate Harding, Marianne Kirby, Roxane Gay, Dr. Kimberle Crenshaw, Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones, Benjamin R. Teitelbaum, adrienne maree brown, Sarah Schulman, Lindy West, Sonya Renee Taylor, Naomi Wolf, Susan Faludi, Jia Tolentino, Cedar Barstow.
Can magazines be formative influences?
Because they have been:
Ms. Magazine and the early iteration of Sassy. But especially Ms. Magazine, my friend and feminist mentor since I was eleven years old.
prah
As a possibility model. I often say I was co-parented by Oprah and I’m only half-joking. I feel like I grew up with her show and it shaped me. Of course, like most of the “unknown teachers” on this list, she has no idea I exist. Yet.
S. Lawrence, S. Kelly, A. Young, J. Neufeld and F. Rostant:
For their love across the years.
Dr. David Doolin:
For his friendship at a pivotal moment in my life, for helping me learn copywriting and trying to teach me about SEO. I say tried because I basically refused. Despite myself, I did absorb some critically useful stuff. I’m grateful.
Dear Fat Girl*,
Go ahead and get the photos.
Treat yourself like a work of art.
🌺Because you are.🌺
love + justice,
Kelly
*and anyone whom our dominator culture has silenced, shamed, excluded, punished and discriminated against. We belong here, too. xoxo
#feministselfie #fatliberation #fatacceptance #fatshion #bodypositivity #feministaf #feminist #WeAreTheCultureMakers #wwfkd #girlboss #bossbabe #creativebusiness #womenentrepreneurs #visibility #takeupspace #womensempowerment
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photos by @daniellecohenphotography
hair & makeup by @hillaryfaystudios
May 31
When we have `other` identities, the things society tells us are our individual problems & defects...
overwork
under-earning
lack of time
lack of support
self-doubt
...are almost always a result of systemic problems that have been downloaded onto our shoulders.
But instead of acknowledging that, conventional self-help & women`s entrepreneurship spaces tell us we have a mindset issue, our morning routines are all wrong, we`re not high-vibe or not manifesting hard enough.
In that worldview, the problem is individual: it is you. The world is just. There is nothing in your way except you.
To me, that`s victim-blaming.
The individualist lens of most self-help & business training programs erases the real, systemic & generational challenges you`re navigating daily...
...which leaves us with MORE shame & FEWER practical solutions.
In our business-development and self-development courses, we do it differently.
We Are...
SYSTEMIC -->We develop business through a systemic and feminist lens so that our solutions & systems are practical and grounded in reality (and release shame instead of activating it!). No gaslighting or spiritual bypassing required 🙂
DEVELOPMENTAL -->We build structures & accessibility into our courses based on how people actually develop and create change. We specifically bake in supports for different learning styles, brains, abilities AND your nervous system into our programs
BUILDING NEW WORLD BUSINESSES --> We teach new world business practices that are very different from the status quo and designed to seed new personal & collective realities (IMHO lots of folks teaching biz to marginalized people are simply showing them how to be the exception and do exploitative capitalism better. We`re not content to "add marginalized people and stir")
MAKING MONEY AND JUSTICE -->We are very serious about our clients making money AND justice. Both are non-negotiable. So we have real business savvy, real systems and tactics that grow businesses...without compromising your principles and desire for social change
Because like you, we are here for a future in which we all flourish.
#WeAreTheCultureMakers
kellydiels.com
May 30
We don`t have to like each other to learn from each other.
We don`t need to be BFFs
or even like each other
for me to respect you and your work.
Affection is a nice bonus. But it`s not a requirement.
There`s a way in which the fetishization of "sisterhood"
-- and the expectation that affection is a precondition for our movements and professional collaborations --
sets us up for disappointment and unnecessary conflict.
If we expect to experience sisterhood...
...if sisterhood is the basis of our movement
...and we find we don`t like our `sister` community members...
...then OF COURSE we will trash, exile and shun them.
We`ll make the people we don`t like the problem, when in fact the real problem is our unrealistic expectation of love-love-love all the time.
You know, `sisterhood`.
Because, once again: we do NOT have to like each other to learn from each other.
And...thank goodness.
Because the `thou shalt be likeable` conditioning that`s drilled into girls and women is one of the things constraining our lives and our voices.
Let`s get free of mandatory gendered likeability, everywhere -- including in our feminist communities.
It`s not about charm.
It`s about a mutual commitment to justice and a future in which we all flourish.
www.kellydiels.com
May 12
***Repeat, Repeat, Repeat***⠀
For years, my biz strategy was to constantly invent new programs and offers -- and then, on top of that, create all new launch material to go with them. ⠀
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Then my folks would graduate and I`d have to invent a new thing for them.
Cue more new instructional content, more new social media posts, more new emails...⠀
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I was always inventing and working and overworking. ⠀
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I always had to deliver a new message. ⠀
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Relatedly: I was always scrambling for cash AND constantly on the verge of burn out.⠀
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But there`s a much easier, and more impactful way to get traction and sales.⠀
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*****Just do one thing and repeat it*****⠀
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Invent one course and all the launch material, and repeat it.
* NO NEW COURSES. Just repeat the same ones.⠀
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* Create a quarterly list-building activity and repeat it.
* The same challenge. The same webinar. The same promo posts and emails. REPEAT THEM.⠀
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* Develop your One True Marketing Message and repeat it, EVERYWHERE.⠀
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* Write a call-to-action for your social media posts and repeat it at the bottom of all of them, like a hemline. ⠀
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That`s how you get known for something. ⠀
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And when you pour ALL your energy into one thing, instead of many things, it grows.⠀
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Instead of rolling 47 rocks up the hill, roll ONE...
...and see how much faster and easier it is to get where you want to go.⠀
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Want to flourish financially in your business without burning out? REPEAT YOURSELF.⠀
⠀
(See this post? I`ve published it many, many, MANY times. REPEAT YOURSELF.)
_____________⠀⠀
www.kellydiels.com
May 10
