We were lucky to catch up with Brenda Adelman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Brenda , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

The first time I knew I wanted and could pursue my dream of acting as a career came when I shared my life story on stage, in Los Angeles, in a one-person show I wrote and acted in.

Experiencing how moved the audience was by the journey I took them on in that hour made me realize I needed to continue.

Honestly, I was so happy to be expressing myself artistically that I didn’t mind that the producer took all the ticket sales during that multiple week run.

I had been an actor for several years by then but never understood that I could make a living at it until then..

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 grew up going to Broadway shows with my mom from the time I was 3 years old. I learned Shakespeare when she read it to me as a bedtime story. I studied acting in NYC, London and Los Angeles.

When my father (who I adored) shot and killed my mom (my best friend) and then married her sister (my aunt) in 1995 I found solace in the character of Hamlet (though in Hamlet everyone dies and my life’s work, including my one-woman show is about the power of forgiveness)

In a moment of divine guidance I knew I needed to put my personal story on stage and act it out. II was in a top acting class in Los Angeles a couple years after my mom was killed and requested to do ia storytelling exercise about being real (because I had been hiding my story in shame and depressed for years)

It was that short scene that I put up that developed into my full-length one-woman show which I have now toured to 4 countries, 10 states, performed virtually and for audiences as diverse as women prisoners, youth-at-risk, for domestic violence coalitions and theatre festivals.

I also teach workshops with my proven 3 step forgiveness process.

In 2014 I created my first online training, Create, Promote and Profit with a One-Person Show and then I started facilitating live and virtual programs and classes, including Healing through Story: Tell Yours on Stage. In the past 3 years I’ve helped develop and direct 150+ short Tedstyle talks for entrepreneurs and Shows for performers.

I’m most proud of producing in-person and now virtual showcases for my storytelling clients and getting to witness the affect they have on their audiences with their message…just as I have experienced when sharing my story.

I’m proud to have received a Hero of Forgiveness award and for the healing I create in this world.

I am proud to help my clients get past their blocks and nourish themselves as they are courageously standing out with their brands online, too, by sharing their stories in interviews using my SOUL Story method.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When Covid hit and we had to go into Lockdown I had to take continuing to tour with my one-woman show off the table and had to take all my in-person classes and translate them into virtual classes and showcases.

I had already gone online with an 8 week program called Take the Stage the year before and I felt lucky because I knew how to direct my clients on zoom and how to produce an event- a virtual showcase fairly easily.

I also pivoted back to focusing on creating Video Confidence for my entrepreneur clients because so many of my coaching colleagues and small business owners and speakers that I knew were scared of going LIVE. I took a digital course I had and made it into a Video Makeover Virtual Weekend so I could help my clients quickly get on video and stay in business .

About 8 months into the Lockdown I decided I really wanted to perform my one-woman show, My Brooklyn Hamlet, again and I would accept it would have to be virtual. As soon as I had that inner shift I got invited to do a short version LIVE and virtual for a non-profit that I believe in for their fundraiser, then I entered a zoom version of it into a storytelling festival and it was accepted and then one theatre in Los Angeles invited me to perform and do it at the reopening of their theatre for a 3 camera shoot (with no audience) and then two theatres in San Diego produced my full-length show in a 3 camera shoot and did a live Q and A with the audience.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve transformed my greatest pain and loss into my greatest lesson and it’s given me peace, power and the ability to transform lives for the better.

When I was scared of judgment I surrendered to my inner knowing that I had what it took to be all of me.

I’ve looked at my life deeply and healed the ‘story of me’ that was a victim so that I could become the Hero of my life and teaching this to others feels on purpose.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://members.tellyourstorychangetheworld.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brendaadelman/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/brendaadelman
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendaadelman/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendaadelman
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/brendaadelman
• Other: https://forgivenessandfreedom.com https://facebook.com/groups/profitablesoulstories. FREE Group