We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Christie Black-Murrell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Dr. Christie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
In all honesty as a counselor the majority of my work has been a work of the heart. That has always been my driving force in the decisions that I have made and probably will forever be. One thing that I am extremely focused on is kindness and the impact that it has on me and on others. I teach it daily as a school counselor and I model with my children, family, friends, and even random strangers. This the very reason why I decided to not only write a Children’s book that focused on bullying and how to safeguard yourself but to be sure that it got into the hands and hearts of as many children possible. I launched a fundraiser that was entitled, “Battling Bullying One Book at A Time.” This fundraiser allowed me the opportunity to donate my book to the school counselor of over 50 elementary schools which meant between 12, 000 and 15, 000 students would have the chance to hear all about how to battle bullying. My hope during this project was that the students would gain knowledge, be safer, be kinder, and desire to read more. The project was so meaningful to me because I have seen the hurtful effects of bullying on children both the target and the bully. I know in my heart that if we can instill in children at a younger age the importance of kindness, empathy, self-awareness, and effective relationship skills we will eliminate bullying in our future schools.
Dr. Christie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Where do I begin with explaining who I am and my brand…Well, first and foremost I am a lover of God and all things positive! I am a counselor by trade and education but a writer by passion, purpose and creativity. I have been writing all of my life and decided around twenty-five to share my very first book with the world which was a collection of poetry. I have since written over thirteen books to include the following genres: Poetry, Adult Fiction, and Children’s Literature. I have truly found my niche with Children’s literature and that goes back to the core of who I am as a person and a writer. I want desperately to see our next generation be kinder, be more resilient, be lovers of literary works, love the skin they are in, and have effective social skills. For these reasons I write books that reflect diversity, highlight minorities, teach social emotional learning skills in an engaging and entertaining way. This is also why I expanded to not only writing but publishing others who have written books that I believe in and that have moral core to the work that they want to share with the world. The things that set me apart from the millions of writers and publishing houses out there is my desire to see other creatives reach their full potential. I feel in all honesty that there is room for us all to shine and so I love being able to be a part of seeing writers turn their dream of writing into actual books.
What I am most proud of is that in the last ten plus years that I have been writing books my message of hope, speaking life, and encouragement has not changed based on public opinion. I have remained true to my purpose and that is something that won’t change.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The mission of my creative journey is to “Speak Life” in/on both the written and spoken platforms. I want to ensure that children specifically understand and develop healthy social emotional learning skills to include the following: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and healthy relationship skills. Ultimately, I want to foster a love of literary works and a positive self-concept specifically for little brown boys and girls but also for all children.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My story of resilience is probably similar to many small business owners. It is also similar to that of indie authors and publishers specifically. My story of resilience is one that says, “I will not give up.” There have been trials like events where only my family are in attendance and vending experiences where I spent more to be there than I actually made. However, I know that this is the plan that God has for my life, and I will continue to run after my purpose as an author, speaker, publisher, and counselor until I am a household name. I have been a bestselling author on Amazon, I have had schools bring me in to speak to all grade levels, and I have even done some TV interviews, but I know there is much more in store for Dr. Christie Black-Murrell. It is my resilience, my bounce back, my refusal to give up, my firm belief in God’s plan that will give more and more stories to share. It is also my hope that my story will encourage others to push for their dreams as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cblackexpressions.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/authorchristie_blackmurrell
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorCBMurrell
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/dr-christie-black-murrell
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/authorchristie
Image Credits
Brian Jackson Photography