We were lucky to catch up with Luciana Black recently and have shared our conversation below.

Luciana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I didn’t come up with the idea for my creative services business in a conference room, with a clean whiteboard and a cup of coffee beside me. It came to me in the middle of a storm — the kind of storm that rearranges who you are at the deepest level.

My journey started long before I had words for it. I was seven years old when my father passed away, and everything in my world shifted. I became “the child who mothered,” the one who held things together while my own mother battled addiction. I learned early what survival, resilience, and emotional intelligence looked like — not from textbooks, but from life itself. What I didn’t know was that everything I endured was planting seeds for the business I would one day build.

Fast forward to adulthood — becoming a mother myself, surviving heartbreak, losing my mom, navigating my daughter’s suicide attempt, and healing through my own grief. I carried so much inside of me, but I also knew I wasn’t the only one. I saw the same emotional weight in other women, other mothers, other daughters trying to hold everything together while quietly falling apart.

That’s when the idea became clear:
People needed a safe space to feel.
To name their emotions.
To express without judgment.
To learn themselves while healing themselves.

So I created my first journal — not just for me, but for anyone who had ever been silenced, overwhelmed, or unsure how to process what was happening inside of them. I wanted to build a tool that allowed people to sit with their feelings and use written expression as a pathway to transformation. That’s where the mantra “Feel. Heal. Live.” came from — not as something I scribbled in desperation, but as a guiding philosophy for emotional freedom.

This is how Marvel the Strength Productions was born — named after my mother, Marvel, who fought her way back to sobriety and taught me what true strength looks like. The journal wasn’t meant to be a business; it was meant to be a lifeline. But women started sharing their stories, their breakthroughs, their tears, and that’s when I realized this was bigger than a book. It was a movement.

Then came Phoenix Storme — my creative imprint and the name I write under. That identity emerged during one of the darkest seasons of my life, when I felt burned to ashes by heartbreak, transition, and betrayal. Rising from that pain, “Born in Fire. Built from Ashes.” became not only my personal mantra but the foundation of the brand. It created a lane for storytelling, identity, resilience, and creative expression.

I knew this was a worthwhile endeavor because the need was real — I had lived it, witnessed it, and served it long before I had a company name. Logically, I knew I could succeed because:
• I understood the emotional journey firsthand.
• I wasn’t creating from theory — I was creating from lived truth.
• People were drawn to the authenticity of my story.
• My first journal found an audience before I even marketed it.
• There was a clear gap for honest, raw, healing-centered creative tools.
• Both of my brands filled not just a niche, but a calling.

My business grew from connection — from people seeing themselves in my journey and trusting me to help them navigate theirs. I didn’t choose this idea. The idea chose me. And once I saw how many lives it touched, I knew this was exactly where I was meant to be.

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.

My name is Luciana M. Black, also known by my pen name Phoenix Storme, and I am the founder of Marvel the Strength Productions LLC and Phoenix Storme LLC — two brands born from resilience, prayer, creativity, and purpose. I am an author, speaker, creative strategist, and emotional wellness advocate who believes in helping people feel, heal, and live through their stories.

My work is rooted in life — real life. I grew up as the “child who mothered,” navigating my mother’s addiction, the death of my father at age seven, and learning emotional survival long before I even knew the name for it. Those early experiences shaped how I see people, how I show up for them, and how I build safe spaces for emotional expression. Writing, creativity, and healing were never hobbies for me — they were lifelines. Today, they are the foundation of my businesses.

How I Got Into This Work

My entry into this industry wasn’t traditional. I didn’t follow a blueprint — I followed God, healing, and intuition. After losing my mother and navigating my daughter’s suicide attempt, I realized how badly people needed safe spaces to understand their emotions. That is when I created my first journal, Marvel’s Inspiration: A Journal for Self-Healing. It was more than a journal — it was a guided emotional outlet for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed, unseen, or unheard.

That single product opened the door to everything else.

From there, my mission became clear:
Use my story, my creativity, and my gifts to help others heal, express, and transform.

What I Provide

Under my two brands, I create:

✨ Books & Journals
• Marvel’s Inspiration: A Journal for Self-Healing
• Emotions Unlocked: Building Emotional Intelligence and Resilience to Feel, Heal & Live with Purpose
• She Felt It All (women’s empowerment)
• Anthology contributions including Unbroken Voices, Resilient AF Magazine, and more
• Youth-centered books with my son under Raen Storme

✨ Creative Services

Through Phoenix Storme:
• Author brand development
• Storytelling and writing guidance
• Product creation concepts
• Creative direction for events, launches, and content
• Emotional intelligence–centered consulting for women, mothers, and creatives

✨ Merchandise & Healing Tools
• Branded journals
• Bookmarks
• Apparel (Feel.Heal.Live., Create for a Purpose, Born in Fire. Built from Ashes.)
• Wine glasses, keepsake items, and event bundles

✨ Community Work
• Emotional wellness workshops
• Fundraisers, mentoring, and community care projects
• Speaking engagements and storytelling panels

The Problems I Solve

My clients and readers come to me because they are:
• overwhelmed emotionally
• navigating grief, betrayal, transition, or burnout
• struggling to understand or express their feelings
• looking for a safe space to heal
• wanting to turn their pain into purpose
• trying to build their own creative brand but don’t know where to start

What sets me apart is that I don’t just teach healing — I lived it.
I don’t just design journals — I design emotional pathways.
I don’t just write books — I write from generational truth and survival.
I don’t create from theory — I create from testimony.

People trust me because I show up as my full self — transparent, spiritual, real, and rooted. My work connects because it is human. My brands are extensions of my life story, my lineage, my mother’s legacy, and my belief that healing isn’t pretty, but it is powerful.

What I’m Most Proud Of

I am most proud of:
• being a cycle breaker
• turning everything meant to destroy me into something that helps others
• showing my children what resilience looks like
• watching women break open emotionally because they finally feel safe with my work
• creating tools that outlive pain
• building two brands from scratch with nothing but experience, intention, and God
• walking into my destiny as Phoenix Storme
• and proving that where you start is not where you finish.

What I Want People to Know

I want people to know that Marvel the Strength is about healing, legacy, and safe emotional spaces.
And Phoenix Storme is about transformation, creativity, and rebirth.

Everything I create — whether a journal, a book, a shirt, a panel, a workshop, or a piece of content — is centered around one truth:

You have permission to feel. You have the ability to heal. And you deserve to live a life that reflects your strength.

My brands are for anyone rebuilding themselves, rediscovering themselves, or rising from their ashes. I’m simply here to hold space, tell my story, and guide others into theirs.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is knowing that something I created from my own experiences becomes exactly what someone else needed. Turning my healing, my lessons, and my truth into a journal, a book, or a message — and then watching it help another person feel seen, grounded, understood, or inspired — is the greatest reward.

For me, it’s the connection.
It’s when someone says, “This helped me,” or “I finally understand my emotions,” or “Your work gave me clarity.” In those moments, I’m reminded that nothing I survived was in vain — it all became purpose.

The reward is impact.
It’s legacy.
It’s watching my creativity transform into a safe space for others.
And knowing that what was once my journey is now someone else’s breakthrough — that is the true gift of being a creative.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Absolutely. When I first started my creative journey, I didn’t realize how many resources existed that could have made the process smoother, more organized, and less overwhelming. Much of what I’ve built came from trial, error, prayer, and learning in real time. Looking back, I wish I had known about:

1. Self-Publishing Tools & Industry Platforms

I learned the hard way how to navigate Amazon KDP, ISBNs, formatting, and distribution. Having earlier access to reliable publishing guides, templates, and communities would’ve saved a lot of time and confusion.

2. Creative Business Foundations

Things like business credit, DUNS numbers, trademarks, branding kits, and marketing systems weren’t taught to me — I had to figure them out while building. Understanding these earlier would’ve helped me scale faster and with more structure.

3. Emotional Intelligence & Healing Resources

Because my work centers on emotional growth, I wish I had access sooner to tools for managing burnout, creative block, and emotional overwhelm. Learning grounding methods, reflective writing frameworks, and trauma-informed storytelling earlier would’ve supported my growth as both an author and a healer.

4. Networking & Creative Communities

I didn’t realize how important connection was. Mentorship, writer communities, women-led creative circles, and spaces for collaboration are powerful. Had I found those earlier, I would’ve realized sooner that I didn’t have to build everything alone.

5. Digital Tools for Branding & Design

Platforms like Canva, content planners, automation apps, and AI tools could’ve helped me create with more ease and consistency. I built so much manually in the beginning.

⸻

But here is the truth:

Even though I wish I knew about these things earlier, I also believe my journey unfolded the way it needed to. Every resource I didn’t have forced me to develop a deeper level of creativity, resilience, and ingenuity. It made my brands — Marvel the Strength and Phoenix Storme — authentic, grounded, and built from lived experience rather than shortcuts.

The lack of resources shaped me into the creator I am today.
And now, everything I learned the long way…I teach to others so their path is easier than mine.

Contact Info:

• Website: COMING SOON: marvelthestrength.com / phoenixstorme.com
• Instagram: @marvel.the.strength @phoenixstorme
• Facebook: Marvel the Strength / The Phoenix Storme

Image Credits
Marvel the Strength Productions LLC:
Luciana M.Black