We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Poet Melody Godfred. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melody below.
Melody, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?
Growing up, I was an incredibly creative child. I was singing, playing the piano and even writing my own music by the age of seven. As I entered my adolescence though, I started to feel like being creative wasn’t enough, and so I devoted myself to achieving. From getting straight As to applying to the most competitive colleges, my entire identity started shifting away from creating art to accomplishing goals. The pinnacle of this was when I ended up going to law school and becoming a litigation attorney, even though I studied music as an undergraduate. The greatest risk I ever took was leaving my job at a world renowned law firm to pursue my career as a writer, because being a creative is my essence and my calling. My future instantly went from being completely secure to being completely unknown. It wasn’t an easy path forward, but I’m grateful to say that choosing my true self was worth it. In these ten years, I’ve written four books, started two companies, and also balanced an enriching life with my three kids and husband. I published my most recent poetry book, The Shift: Poetry for a New Perspective (https://a.co/d/b1NTiRL) in September of 2022. It shares everything I’ve learned along the way.
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?
I am a poet, author and speaker who is passionate about empowering people to love themselves and transform their lives. I am also known as the Self Love Philosopher.
I started my career as a litigation attorney, but soon realized a disconnect between my work and my essence, so I left a prestigious position at a top law firm to launch Write In Color, my personal branding and career development company. I quickly established my reputation as a leader in the career development space. Through my work as a coach exploring the narratives of hundreds of women, and after undergoing several life transitions myself — including motherhood — I discovered a common trend: in their quest to fuel their careers and relationships, women were increasingly sacrificing their authentic selves, happiness and well-being.
I needed a reminder to choose myself each and every day and believed that other women did too, so I created the Self Love Pinky Ring, a self-commitment ring for women, and launched Fred and Far, my self love movement and community. The Self Love Pinky Ring and Fred and Far self love community instantly went viral around the world (Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, and more), and started a global conversation around self love.
In 2020, I initially self-published published Self Love Poetry: For Thinkers & Feelers, a collection of 200 poems that instantly became and remains a bestseller. One of my poems (“I thought 2020 would be the year I got everything I wanted. Now I know 2020 is the year I appreciate everything I have.”) was shared on social media by Oprah Magazine just before the Thanksgiving Holiday, quickly going viral and eventually reaching hundreds of millions of people, in addition to earning a feature on Today with Hoda and Jenna.
In early 2021, I signed a three-book deal with Andrews McMeel Publishing, re-releasing Self Love Poetry and publishing my second book, The ABCs of Self Love, an illustrated guided journal that joyfully shares the foundational concepts of self love and makes them an actionable part of daily life. The ABCs of Self Love was recently featured by Hudson Booksellers at over 300 airports across the United States. Self Love Poetry was named one of the best poetry books of 2021 and 2022 by Woman’s Day Magazine.
My latest poetry book, The Shift: Poetry for a New Perspective was released on September 27, 2022 (Andrews McMeel Publishing), and is designed to reframe how we see and move through this brave new, post-pandemic world. In 2022, I also released three audiobooks that I was lucky enough to narrate: The Self Love Poetry audiobook, The Shift audiobook, and Poetry for Thinkers & Feelers, an audiobook that features my collected works.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a poet and author is that I have the ability to not only explore and share my own thoughts and feelings, but that through my books I get to connect with a worldwide audience that entrusts me with their thoughts and feelings as well. I’m thankful that my books are now available in bookstores around the world — it is truly my lifelong dream come true to connect with people from all walks of life. Every day, someone messages me on social media and shares the impact my poetry and books have had on their lives. This is the most profound and meaningful aspect of being a creative. To know that I’ve made a difference is what inspires me to continue writing.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
My new book, The Shift: Poetry for a New Perspective, focuses on all the pivots I had to make in my life during the pandemic. Not only did I have to pivot my lifestyle due to the unprecedented changes we all endured collectively, I also had to pivot my thinking.
Each pair of poems in The Shift inspires a shift from the old way of thinking to the new: from guilt to gratitude, resistance to surrender, and fear to love. The left side of every spread is dedicated to the old way. The right side offers a shift in perspective that lovingly illuminates the new. Each seemingly simple poem instantly elicits a profound reset, and is coupled with beautiful line drawings that awaken not just the mind, but also the heart. The Shift’s unique poem pairings uplift the soul by offering a hopeful salve for our collective burnout.
Here is one of my favorite pair of poems in the book:
Before the Shift
All the time I spent
Surrounded by toxic people
I thought I was healing them
When all the while
They were making me sick.
After the Shift
My wounds
Only started to heal
When I realized
I, too, am a patient
Worthy of my care
Deserving of my time
In need of my attention.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melodygodfred.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/melodygodfred
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/melodygodfred
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/melodygodfred
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/melodygodfred
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@melodygodfred https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XC9DKFS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B005FMQNBS?_encoding=UTF8&node=283155&offset=0&pageSize=12&searchAlias=stripbooks&sort=author-sidecar-rank&page=1&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader