We were lucky to catch up with Linda Fields Steelman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Linda , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I grew up loving to read, perform, and make people laugh. It was assumed by all that I would study theatre arts in college and take education courses as a ‘back up.’  After college, I did enjoy performing onstage for a while, but once I got a chance to do some substitute teaching, I knew that a hidden passion within me had awakened from sleep! I even got to teach drama classes and direct plays in a high school for five years! ANY good teaching requires a lot of creativity!

My love of reading developed into a love of writing and my ‘teacher’s heart’ had some ideas that I wanted to put into words, I started writing monologues based on bible characters that I would perform at church or direct others in for special events. When I developed the story-poem “Caterpillar’s Song” (a caterpillar’s epic journey to discover what she was meant to do), I had never published anything before. But collaboration is a big part of theatre, so I eventually collaborated with people who could help me self-publish. I even got to introduce the story with my three granddaughters and read it on my podcast, “Bedtime Stories with Nini.” (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/caterpillars-song-by-linda-fields-steelman/id1602729247?i=1000591200620)

How we interact and collaborate in ANY project is a creative process, too! I consider the development of the nonprofit I’m putting together (CALL US FAMILY) to be a very creative and inspirational endeavor. I can’t wait to hear what ideas come out of conversations with other nonprofits who are already providing some of the services that are helpful for the young adults without families that my future website will connect.

Linda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my “Bedtime Stories with Nini” podcast because stories played an important part of my learning and growth – growth in my confidence and my belief in myself. My children’s book “Caterpillar’s Song” is meant to help children believe in their dreams – even when it seems that life is taking them in a different direction. (https://a.co/d/7PwWGXV)

My brand is all about belief – everyone needs to feel believed in!

In college studying theatre, there were many people who believed in me, so I thrived. When I was making my way in professional stage acting in my hometown of Chicago, I had a family that believed in me – it was easy to do my best and feel confident. Later, alone in another city without all those people who believed in me, it felt harder to ‘produce.’

When I finally fulfilled my other dream of teaching in a classroom, I saw at once how easily the lights in a student’s eyes went out when someone made a doubting remark about their ability to give a meaningful answer in class. But I also saw how easily that light would come back on when they could see that the ‘teacher’ believed they could figure it out.

Both my creative ventures and my website for the support of young adults without families have the same underlying message.

WE BELIEVE IN YOU! You have something great to offer this world. Listen to the stories that remind you that you know how to think. You have great ideas. And you can accomplish wonderful things – with the help of others who believe in you.
#letsmakebelief

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

One lesson I had to unlearn/relearn was about independence vs. seeking out support.

American society is quite focused on independent efforts, and creative people are often focused on originality – scorning any kind of advice that might lead to mere ‘imitation’ – a dirty word in some creative circles. I was also raised by parents who had independent and creative spirits. I was a more mature adult before I began to see that my unwillingness to seek help outside my family was crippling my efforts to accomplish some of my goals.

Learning to seek help and assistance as an adult in my thirties led to completing a degree in psychology; teaching as a second career; and renewed dreams of performing and/or publishing some of my writing.

This is one reason I find it incredibly satisfying to look for ways to lend support to young independent adults without family. I’ve experienced firsthand how freeing it is to have help looking for answers to some of my questions. No one demanded I take their advice, but I experienced great relief in looking objectively at possibilities that I never would have found without someone’s willingness to sit down with me and offer their own life experience.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

For twelve months in 2021-22, I was part of a support group of women entrepreneurs working through the curriculum of a personal coaching program called Live Your Vision. This really fueled my efforts to grow and push the needle forward on personal projects I had put on the back burner for way too long.

During the program I read the book THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY by Ryan Holiday. This might have been one of the hardest books to work through but probably made the biggest impact on me to make the changes I needed in order to be the person who could get the work done.

Contact Info:

• Other: “Bedtime Stories with Nini” podcast available on Spotify and Apple podcasts. [email protected]