We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Chambers recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission is to do my best to promote peace and healing. I had a tough childhood, and I’m just getting out of a very difficult marriage. With the help of an amazing therapist and the support of my friends and family, I’m in such a better and happier place. It took work, but it’s the best feeling in the world to be free of those resentments and that pain. It is much better to operate from a place of self-created peace than to let things from the past that you can’t control drag you down and make you miserable. The most important thing I want people to take from my story is that you can overcome and heal.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I was raised by my mother’s side of the family, and they were very big on Black pride and projecting Black voices. They were also very avid readers, and I was exposed to Black literature very early on in life. However, as I got older, I noticed a disproportionate amount of authentic Black voices compared to white voices in both fiction and non-fiction. It seemed to me that the Black experience was limited to certain types of stories from very specific authors. In short, traditional publishing was failing Black authors and Black readers.

I started Divine Legacy Publishing because I saw the need for a different type of publishing company. I wanted to combine the freedom and control of self-publishing with the resources and community we often see provided by traditional publishing companies. My ultimate goal was to create a community of empowered Black authors who learn, collaborate, and support each other and to provide them with the ever-evolving tools and resources they need to succeed.

In addition to owning Divine Legacy Publishing, I’m also an author. I write erotic romance novels, affirmation books, and children’s books, which I co-author with my daughter Brooke. I know, that’s a crazy combination. My romance novels are 5-star rated on Amazon and are carried in bookstores, the books I write with my daughter encourage and empower young minds, and my affirmation books have helped many women work through trauma and find their peace.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’m really big on breaking generational curses. A lot of the things my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother had to face because of the timeframe that they grew up in, I have the ability to break, reverse, and eradicate. However, as I tried to break the generational curse of divorce that runs in my family, I subjected myself to an unhealthy relationship, which is another generational curse in my family. So, I traded one curse for another instead of focusing on what was best for me. I had to learn that sometimes you can’t break the curse, and that’s okay too. I had to lean on the generational blessing of strength that was also passed down to me and realign my life.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

My writing career started out as a side hustle. By trade, I was a college English professor, and you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t going to do that for the rest of my life. I’d always dreamed about writing a book, but I never thought it would be more than a hobby or side hustle. When I released my first book in 2016, it hit number one on its Amazon chart. Before I knew it, not only did my writing hobby become my full-time career, but I also owned a publishing company. When I first started my company, I honestly had no goals I wanted to reach. I just kind of went with the flow. Five years later and I have close to 90 authors, and I’ve put out 12 books myself. I think year three of being in business was a big milestone for me because that’s the year that I realized that I was really a full-time author and business owner and I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.amandachamberssays.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/amandachamberssays
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandachamberssays
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/achamberssays
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amandachamberssays?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc