We were lucky to catch up with Liz Childs Kelly recently and have shared our conversation below.
Liz, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
As a women’s empowerment coach, I am on a mission to help women reclaim a sense of their own sovereignty and power. One of the most common limitations I see in this field is a discussion of of women’s agency and power without fully taking into consideration the larger cultural landscape we all reside in.
There’s an inescapable truth so powerful and pervasive that it shapes every cultural institution around us, and yet
so deeply ingrained that most of us never even pause to question it, and it’s this: the world we live in was designed without the participation or even the input of women, period.
The government. The entire field of medicine. The healthcare system. Economic models. Academic institutions and
methods of learning. Leadership models. Not even one was designed with the care or consideration of women in mind. No wonder so many women struggle to thrive in their industries and professions, or feel as if they don’t belong. And it’s no wonder that so many women feel disconnected from our own power.
Turning to these same cultural institutions to help us find our footing presents us with another problem. Can a system that was designed without the input of women really teach us how to lead our most authentic, courageous lives? Can it show us how to access our true power in a way that honors who we are, wholly and completely?
Unfortunately not. But there’s another truth, hidden and obscured by patriarchal traditions, but just as real as the world we inhabit now: it hasn’t always been this way.
The herstorical record, mostly dismissed by modern culture and our standard history textbooks, is nonetheless full of stories, mythologies and artifacts that demonstrate that women have regularly held and exercised power, often in ways that feel wildly different than the ways we might perceive power now. Turning to those herstories offers vital information about how we might reclaim our own power and live into the fullest versions of ourselves.
This is my mission – to connect women with the ancient roots of female power so that they can deeply know this power within themselves. It’s never truly been lost, but it’s difficult to access without a guide. I’ve been researching and writing about these ancient roots for the last 10 years, as well as working with women to help them find the living tendrils in their own lives. It’s an amazing thing to watch a woman awaken to her true power, supported by the herstory and stories she never was given, and defined solely on her own terms. This is the medicine that will change the world for the better.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m Liz Childs Kelly. I’m a former business executive, writer, award-winning researcher, educator, community builder, author of Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine (Womancraft Publishing), a 2023 Nautilus Gold Award recipient, and host of the popular and long-running Home to Her podcast, which is dedicated to celebrating female power by amplifying the voices of the Sacred Feminine.
More than 10 years ago, I was on a very different path. I owned my own consulting company and was busy managing a team of employees and contractors based in Oakland, CA and New York, while also navigating life as the mother of a two-year-old. I was four months pregnant with my second child when an intense, in-body experience at a business conference turned my world upside down and made me question nearly everything in my life that I believed to be true.
While it took me a while to make sense of that experience, I eventually understood that I was being called by a timeless wisdom to step more fully into myself – and that calling came from a distinctly feminine source.
Since then, I’ve spent the last decade researching, writing and teaching others about ancient feminine wisdom and why I think it’s so critical that we reclaim it for ourselves, our communities and the planet.
Along the way, I’ve traveled to several countries seeking this wisdom; completed an intense priestess initiation program and studied many body-based and energy practices; been in dialogue with hundreds of academics, mystics, activists, and artists on the subject of female power and the Sacred Feminine; and shared what I’ve learned with thousands of women, all with the goal of helping them move into deeper relationships with themselves.
Some bonus facts about me:
• I’m a single mom to two amazing humans and one exceptionally large and lovable black lab
• I’m a Georgia girl, raised Southern Baptist, who fled to the West Coast, which welcomed me with open arms and helped me grow tremendously.
• While California will always feel like home, I currently live in Central Virginia, in the shadow of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, near where my earliest ancestors settled almost 400 years ago.
• I’m certified in Vinyasa and Yin yoga, as well as all three levels of Reiki. I love a good yoga playlist and offering gentle hands-on assists infused with energy and love.
•I hold a Master’s degree in communications, studied systems theory in graduate school, and have an entrepreneurial spirit that runs deep.
•Growing and running a successful business with an all-female team was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Even though I’m no longer involved, the company I founded is still operating today as a successful, woman-owned and led venture with 16+ years in business. Not too shabby.
•I’ve won national and regional awards in research design, and one of my proudest moments was receiving the prestigious Gold Nautilus award for my book, Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine. It’s not all about accolades – but sometimes a little external recognition feels pretty damn good.
• If you want to make me happy, get me on the dance floor. Works every time.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My work is deeply personal and mission driven, but it hasn’t necessarily been an easy road. From the very beginning, my interest in female power has been an intense calling, one that I knew I couldn’t ignore. Initially I tried very hard to maintain my existing consulting company while also pursuing this as a research topic, but my growing passion for the subject made it virtually impossible to focus on anything else. Eventually I ended up selling the company that I founded to one of my former employees, which was a difficult transition for me, my family, and my former employees.
As I learned more about the ancient roots of female power and began to understood the true absence of feminine wisdom in our world, I began deeply questioning my own life choices and how I’d come to arrive where I was. Over the course of the last 10 years, I’ve not only given up my first career, I ended up leaving my home in California and ultimately my marriage. These decisions unfolded gradually, and each has been incredibly challenging in their own way. But I wouldn’t trade the journey for anything. There is much less certainty in my world than there once was, but I am living a life with greater purpose and more meaning than ever before.
We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.
In order to pursue my current career, I needed to fully let go of my old one, and that involved selling my consulting company. Most consulting companies have very few tangible assets – in my case, the value was in the people doing the work, and the client contracts, which are also deeply connected to the people. So one of the first things I recommend for anyone trying to sell a service-based business is to set their expectations appropriately. Depending on the size of the company, it’s unlikely to make you rich! In my case, most of our clients were very large companies, which meant they typically set the terms of the contracts we had with them and could choose to cease doing business with us at any time, so there was no guarantee for anyone who bought the company that those relationships would continue. I contemplated shutting down the business altogether, using some accumulated business savings to pay generous severances to my team, all of whom were incredible and who felt like family to me at that point. In the end, a woman that had worked with me for many years agreed to buy the business, which made the transition much easier for my employees and clients, all of whom remained with the company once I left. But even that was challenging, as we were also friends and the sales negotiations became quite difficult. In the end, it worked out well, our relationship has been repaired, and the company continues to be very successful under her leadership – in fact, I believe she has taken it farther than I ever could! I always recommend that people begin with the end game in mind – how do they wish to exit the business they’ve built? What’s the roadmap for getting there? This was recommended to me early on as well, but I didn’t follow it and I wish I had!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hometoher.com/
- Instagram: @hometoher
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hometoher
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizchildskelly/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hometoher
Image Credits
Rebecca George, Amelia Solesky