Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Diane Dresback. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Diane, appreciate you joining us today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.

In the middle of the pandemic, I felt the time was appropriate to create a compilation book written by women I admired and who had stories to tell. The intent was for readers to be encouraged and inspired in their own lives after reading about the experiences, hardships, and breakthroughs of others.

Twenty-five women jumped on board loving the fact that all the net-proceeds would be donated to a non-profit organization focused on advocating for and helping women — Arizona Foundation for Women. Our chapter writers live across 8 states with their ages ranging from the 30s to 80s.

Our book, From Us For You: Inspiring Stories of Healing, Growth and Transformation, hit top ratings on Amazon in multiple categories including #4 Best Seller for Personal Transformation and Spirituality. Making the project even more compelling, we also recorded an audiobook in which each woman voiced her own chapter.

The women were amazing and so brutally honest. The chapters describe various experiences and successes like altering limiting mindsets, recognizing the value of self-care, manifesting, escaping emotionally or physically abusive environments, creating authentic and passionate lives, and overcoming life-threatening illness. I also conducted Zoom interviews for our YouTube page with each of these women to introduce them and spread their insights.

This was one of my all time favorite projects to create and I’m so happy I moved forward on it. If anyone is interested in the book, the easiest way to find out more about our authors, watch some videos, and support this project, simply visit FromUsForYou.com.

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 back background and context?

All during college, I worked in a financial institution. After graduating, I moved to Arizona and became a co-owner of a video production company. After 7 years, I returned to corporate America for almost 2 decades focused on Human Resources and Training with most of that time in management and executive level positions in the financial and travel industries.

Once I left corporate life, I returned to production work with a focus on telling stories on screen and eventually in books as well. I love independent filmmaking and independent authorship. To date, I’ve had the privilege of writing and producing a feature film, writing, directing and/or producing over 35 short films, writing several feature-length screenplays, and publishing 9 books.

Usually I tell fast-paced stories about regular, every day people who are faced with unexpected challenges and hardships that no one would care to endure. For example, in my most recent trilogy, Awake As A Stranger, one of the main characters wakes up living in another woman’s body. Another novel, Reminisce, tells the story of a man who gets caught up in re-living his past experiences. My novel, Room For Another, is based on true events surrounding my adoption.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Being a creative person is both rewarding and challenging. There is nothing better than putting something out for other people to learn from and with which to be entertained. Our culture is very busy and full of amazing, talented, and gifted writers and filmmakers. Gaining a little bit of attention in this environment is difficult. However, as a creative person, it’s harder NOT to have the desire and drive to create and share.

It takes fortitude and resilience as not everyone will love what you create. It doesn’t matter. Find your tribe. Those who enjoy and appreciate the gifts you bestow onto the world. I have a great group of dedicated readers and followers who I so much appreciate and I’m always on the look out for more of those individuals!

Each of us has something to say, something to give to humankind. Our messages and delivery channels may be different, yet they are all important.

I have a free, short story available that gives people an opportunity to see if they like my writing style. Last year I began a Behind the Idea (BTI) series which offers some insights into some of my books and films. I also send out a monthly newsletter. All can be found at my author website (DianeDresback.com).

I love what I do and have continued to create both films and books. I still get up every morning with the same drive, the same tenacity, the same goal of wanting to share my stories in both written and visual mediums.

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

While in high school I had a wonderful creative writing teacher. He knew how to give constructive feedback that was both helpful and encouraging. Based upon this positive experience, one of the first classes I signed up for during my first semester of college was a creative writing course.

One of our assignments was to write a short story and I admit my story was not that great. But as the professor read it with disdain to the entire class, then proceeded to rip it apart in front of all my fellow students (none of whom I knew), I felt utterly humiliated and mortified. Later in the semester this professor offered me some well- intentioned professional advice – what he most likely believed would save me a lot of heartache and headache. His message came across loud and clear to an 18 year old — I didn’t have the ability to write and shouldn’t pursue it any further. And, I listened.

During the next almost quarter century, I worked successfully in the business world in management, human resources and training. I earned my masters degree in adult education. No surprise these years required a lot of business writing as I designed training courses, developed staffing programs, communicated daily through emails, letters and reports.

Then unexpectedly, I encountered a fascinating personal experience and found myself telling the story over and over to people any time the opportunity presented itself. But I still held the belief in my head that I could not be any good at creative writing. I didn’t have the skill set to write as my wise college professor had assuredly informed me.

I distinctly recall lamenting to my oldest son (16 at the time) that although I would love to write about the personal situation, “I didn’t possess the ability to do so”. In other words, I wasn’t good enough. Now at that period in my life, if an employee or family member or friend would have come to me with that sentiment, I would have called them out. Here was my son’s advice to me. He said, “Mom, you shouldn’t let one professor have that much control over you.” It hit me like a ton of bricks. He was right.

In 2014, I finally shook off with a vengeance the last of that college professor’s haunting and detrimental words and wrote my first novel, then a second, and I’m now in development for number ten. Having shared all this, I still get those fearful feelings and thoughts on occasion. It’s not that you will never have another negative or critical thought about not being able to do something, but rather the key is keeping those thoughts in perspective.

If you keep thinking you can’t do this or you can’t do that or you don’t have this or that, instead start thinking about what you CAN do, what you DO have. When you exhibit an attitude that truly is not your own, or when you hear someone else’s words fall from your lips, or you engage in behaviors that feel foreign, take note. It may be time to abandon the limiting beliefs of other people and try something for yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dianedresback.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dianedresback.author
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diane-m-dresback-b0b5708/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtZdfDxV2FP0wzCEtpMQCIQ/playlists
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/FromUsForYouBook https://www.mindclover.com/