We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elise Krentzel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Elise, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ve taken risks my entire life throughout my career and in my personal life. As a serial entrepreneur with creative talents in writing and ideation, I didn’t always identify as creative. However, proof of my unconventional approach and solution finding was a dead giveaway to my proclivities. The most significant risk I ever took started when I was 16. I decided to pool my talent as a writer and budding journalist with music to become a music journalist. It took two years until I was published in a national magazine but published I was.

I have lived and created businesses in the USA (NYC), Japan, Switzerland, and, The Netherlands. In these countries where I spent over twenty-five years of my life, I saw opportunities where others saw crazy. I took risks by following my insight or intuition; call it what you will. I can correlate external trends with internal impulses. In some cases, that brought on lawsuits, near bankruptcy, slander (don’t forget, as a woman in business since the 1970s, I had to put up with tons of misogynistic BS), and near homelessness. But in all cases, I didn’t lose sight of what inspired me.

What inspired me was my core creativity, and I gave myself leeway to broaden the definition of creativity. If I see something, a client does not imagine, that is creative. When I follow my gut instincts, a pathway often appears to problem-solving. As I listen to what brings me joy daily, I move away from external noise to inner listening.

The most recent “big risk” was publishing my memoir, exposing myself to the world. It was the best leap of faith I have ever made. Now I’m on book two of my trilogy and am ghostwriting others’ stories to share with the world.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have launched several companies in my life in the publishing, music/entertainment, and media industries. If there’s a common thread, it is as a serial entrepreneur and creative and expert communicator. I began as a music journalist, then morphed into an experiential promoter, marketer, publicist, and publisher of digital assets. It wasn’t a straight line, but the string of experiences led me to the happy place I currently reside.

I run a boutique communication and editorial agency representing creative people and industries, focusing on books, coaching, ghostwriting, brand building, and book marketing. I am like an archeologist, able to dig under the surface and excavate the hidden gems of property, bringing this to light in the public eye. I am an author of Under My Skin – Drama, Trauma & Rock ‘n’ Roll, memoir one in a trilogy.

I am a dream weaver, as passionate about making your dreams come alive as you are. If you haven’t dared to dream big, I will make it happen for you. Whatever “it” is that you are seeking to achieve. Think of me as your private investigator who gets to the bottom of what is holding you back. Then put on another hat, and take the megaphone to amplify your voice and message and let the world know who you are!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As a creative who wishes to fully live the life I envision for myself, the reward is faith. Trust in myself and the path, the way, the flow. Call it whatever you want; it’s the knowingness that so long as I am true to myself and have a vision of what I wish to achieve, I will get there. No matter what happens in between, respect for the process is critical.

When I wake up, and before I sleep, the first thing I do is meditate on my wishes and hopes. I visualize in great detail the life I am hoping for. This gets me all excited as I can feel how it is to live that future self. I am called to remember these visions during challenging times. For proof that this works, cause I’m a very practical person, I look to my past achievements, write them down and hold it up as a reminder: whatever I wished for in the past did come true.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

What’s driving me is legacy. The legacy of being you to the utmost degree by finding freedom. Freedom is the reason I am alive, to find that within me, within relationships, and within the world at large. To free oneself from the harmful messages society breeds was the first step on my journey. The second step was to free me from others’ opinions, whether they were family or close relations. The third step was to free me from expectations by being flexible and non-reactive to outer circumstances.

You can only be free when you recalibrate your mind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.elisekrentzel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisekrentzel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficiallyElise
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisekrentzel
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/elisekrentzel
• Other: linktr.ee/undermyskinbook