Award-winning author and motivational speaker Lisa Nichols has the magic wand that will lure your inner gladiator that may be tucked away in the shadows of fear and oppression.
Having teamed up with My Black Is Beautiful to search for six ambassadors to represent the “new face of beauty,” Nichols is in her element. “Beauty is something that emanates from your soul and exists when you leave the room,” says the life coach during a recent interview with rolling out.
She’s working with My Black Is Beautiful to create a 30-day call to arms titled Beauty in Action, where she, alongside TV personality Tatyana Ali and singer Coco Jones, will curate a list of 30 things one can do in their everyday life over the course of a month to define their personal definition of beauty.
Nichols rose to fame when she co-authored Chicken Soup For The Soul, The Secret, and six of her own best-selling books. She is the CEO of her own company, Motivating The Masses, which is one of the top training and development companies in the world. She is also the first African American woman to be the CEO of a company that has gone public.
Read what she has to say. –yvette caslin
How did you connect with the My Black is Beautiful initiative?
I was lucky enough to hear about it at the Essence Festival a few years ago. I was super excited by the title,My Black is Beautiful. For so many years, as a young woman I didn’t celebrate my dark skin, my full lips, my round hips and I was really intrigued. Last year, Procter & Gamble did me the honor and asked me if I would be the transformational coach for the Beauty in Action component and be an ambassador for what Beauty in Action looks like. I was ecstatic. It was an easy yes. It’s a campaign I wish I had when I was 15.
How do you define beauty?
Beauty is a light that comes inside out. You can see a woman who owns her beauty whether she is a size 4 or 14; you can feel it. The earth shakes under her because she walks in her own authority. Beauty comes from servanthood, being in service to others. Beauty is best exemplified when you’re lifting others higher than yourself, not to your own sacrifice and detriment, but because you can.
When you emerged on the scene in conjunction with the Chicken Soup for the Soul phenomenon, you were a single mom. Share your backstory?
I was very single, living from hand-to-mouth and working to transform my life and my son’s life. When my son was born, I was receiving government assistance and WIC – Women, Infants and Children service. I couldn’t afford to feed my own baby. That was a hard time for me. When Chicken Soup came along, it was an opportunity to hopefully present my brand to the world and to start something. While I did, I didn’t make any money. Chicken Soup was a leverage project and I didn’t make any revenue at it. I spent as much as I made developing the tour. They provided me with the five-city tour. I did a 27-city tour because I was hungry – sick and tired of being sick and tired. I risked it all to gain it all. It was the beginning of a transformation.
