We recently connected with Liz Ferro and have shared our conversation below.

Liz, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I truly believe that the key to success is incorporating passion into everything you do. Passion builds upon itself in positive ways, and it’s infectious, because your passion can ignite other people’s passions as well. Passion is what drives us forward from the energy it produces, and with it, comes the courage to pursue our goals and dreams. I know for a fact that my non-profit, Girls With Sole, and the subsequent books I have written after founding the organization, have been successful because I ooze passion as I write each page, as well as during every program I facilitate with the girls or speaking engagement I conduct at a vast array of venues. In order to do this, it was important for me to really delve into self awareness, discover my true purpose, and become crystal clear on my goals. Discovering and uncovering your strengths, purpose, and passions is how you can do what you are meant to do in this world, and give yourself the best possible chance for success.

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

My brand developed organically from my life’s experiences and how I found the POWER to move forward-resulting in the development of my nonprofit, Girls With Sole and four published books that are predominantly centered around these themes. I purposely chose the name Girls With Sole because of the play on words. Moving our bodies, and gaining emotional strength and confidence from overcoming obstacles is directly correlated to inner strength. It’s a mind, body, and soul connection that is fortified by lacing up and moving a bit. This is not to say that my books and my nonprofit are all about running. It’s quite the opposite, although I have been a distance runner for most of my life. The focus is more about moving forward with perseverance, optimism, wisdom, energy, and resilience, which are the POWER Principles of Girls With Sole and a resounding motif in all of my books, both fiction and nonfiction. They are about overcoming adversity, building self-awareness, and discovering the power we all have inside of us to succeed.

What is it that makes a superhero “super”?
Is it the power to persevere and overcome adversity? Is it the will to stand up for what’s right…and to stand up for themselves?
In the movies or comic books, a superhero conquers an adversity and turns a negative into a positive to reinvent themselves as a stronger more powerful version of who they already are. They become highly passionate about moving forward with this new sense of purpose and empowerment. It is usually slow going at first, and they need to persevere and gain courage along the way, but the transformation always brings great rewards, wonderful inner strength, and the ability to help others along the way.
Real-world superheroes….like you and I….can do the same exact thing- except without the spider bites and toxic sludge.
My personal negative to a positive helped me find my strength to persevere, discover my true passions, change the way I saw myself in the world, and my purpose, so that I could help others.
I experienced sexual abuse as a child and found that sports and fitness helped me immensely both mentally and physically. I was afraid for a long time, but courage came from my passions. Eventually I was able to feel strong enough to write books about my experiences, and start a non-profit to help young women overcome obstacles in their lives and come out of a
dark or challenging time in their lives much faster than I did.
Find your passion and your purpose will follow! It won’t be immediate, but you must persevere.
My passions are fitness and movement, helping women and girls, and creative outlets such as art, design, and music. My brand combines all of these things into a major source of inspiration, motivation and compassion.
My book, Finish Line Feeling, reads like a novel, although it’s a memoir. It has elements of running and triathlon in it because that’s what I chose to do to empower myself and run for other people’s benefit. However, the ultimate theme of the book is resilience and that the “finish line” of something is not the end. It’s the beginning of what is possible.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In my non-profit, I give copies of my books, Finish Line Feeling, as well as Girls With Sole-A Girl POWER Guide to Unleashing Your Inner Superhero, to the participants. I also sell or gift the books to adult women in need-many of whom I meet at speaking engagements or who have read about Girls With Sole in magazine articles and then reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook. Often times, the books make all the difference in the world. Their impact reinforces the importance of their role in my brand, because it lets people know that they are not alone in their journey, and gives them permission to accept themselves, find their purpose, and give voice to their own stories. People equate the finish line with the end. The Finish Line Feeling is the exact opposite of that. It’s about moving forward, coming out of the darkness, and finding happiness and resilience. One story that illustrates this notion, goes back to 1994, when I ran the Columbus Marathon in a non-tech fiber aerobics top and a backwards baseball hat. It was only my second marathon, I was twenty-five years old, and without knowing or expecting to do so, I qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:35.
Qualifying for Boston is widely known as the quintessential running goal for many marathon runners, but I didn’t go to Boston. At that time in my life, my main goal of survival required more endurance than a marathon.
I was working as an aerobics/group exercise instructor and a membership salesperson at a downtown Cleveland athletic club while also working diligently on myself to contain my inner chaos and suicidal thoughts. At this time of my life, my inner demons were at their worst, and while swimming, biking, and running were what helped to keep me feel more healthy and whole, I didn’t have a handle on my self awareness and wasn’t even in the mindset to understand that I had achieved something pretty awesome. It’s kind of crazy to look back on it now that I have come as far as I have in terms of my mind, body, and soul fitness levels, but qualifying for the Boston didn’t mean anything to me. That’s how bad it was at the time.
Those were the years that anger, self-hate, and feelings of worthlessness reared their ugly heads, and I was given the choice to do the work and slay the beast or to become the beast. I was admittedly scared. It was extremely frightening to think about where my life was going to end up, and to face the long road of confronting my inner demons, and forgiving those who wronged me while also learning to love myself. These were daunting and seemingly impossible tasks at that time.
I know first-hand that sometimes things can seem utterly hopeless, but if you take care of yourself and stay healthy and strong with exercise and hard work, anything is possible. By getting lost in music, art, fitness, nature, philanthropy-or whatever it is that you’re passionate about-you begin to discover the courage needed to build and construct your design for change, for being who you are, who you want to be, or for chasing and attaining the life you want.
We all have the POWER to be whole, and to make changes in our lives that will make us happier, healthier individuals. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed, and as a result, just give up. This is why it’s so important to start at the beginning-from the ground up, so to speak. In order for something (including us humans) to be strong and resilient, a solid foundation must exist. I have built my foundation with three crucial elements: priorities, consistency, and resilience. Without making myself and my health a priority, remaining consistent with my fitness and working on my self awareness over the years, and not letting adversity or obstacles keep me down, I wouldn’t have such a strong base to work from today.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~Lao Tzu
Now, more than 30 years later, Girls With Sole continues to thrive because its based on the foundation of utilizing mind, body, and soul to provide the tools to move forward with resilience, make physical and mental health a priority, and to “Lace Up for a Lifetime of Achievement.”

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Aside from what has already been described as the main mission and goal of my brand, I want my books to inspire, motivate, and empower people as well as entertain. I have begun creating a pitch deck with my publisher in New York City for my erotic, psychological thriller, Chameleon Girl. It would be an incredible movie and although it’s a fictional story, the main character has a less than idyllic childhood shrouded behind her and she tries to find confidence and strength in the life she has created for herself as a artist, runner, and firefighter.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: lizferroauthor
• Facebook: Liz Ferro Author