Say Yes (with Elizabeth Gilbert)

This week on Professional Troublemaker, the tables have turned a bit and I’m being interviewed by fellow Professional Troublemaker Elizabeth Gilbert.

Elizabeth Gilbert is a journalist and best-selling author. She is best known for her 2006 memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold over 12 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. She’s a brilliant speaker and human and I was thrilled to have the chance to speak with her as a featured author in her Onward Book Club in April.

After partnering with us during #ShareTheMicNow last summer, Liz founded the Onward Book Club as a way of spotlighting, studying, and celebrating the work of Black female authors. All of the meetings take place on her Instagram Live each month, and she has the full recordings for each conversation on her website.

Though she was technically interviewing me, it was really more a fantastic conversation featuring some stories that I hadn’t shared yet on the Professional Troublemaker Tour. We talk about how we don’t believe in fearlessness as a concept, and why we need to fight our fears.

We talk about my grandmother and her story in more detail, and why her story and spirit are so integral to the book, and why it’s critical to draw boundaries around what is sacred.

You’ll also hear some behind-the-scenes stories from my TED talk and my favorite moment where we discuss dreaming audaciously and what that looks like. (check my IG Reels for that moment)

The full conversation is available on the podcast, and if you’d like to watch the full IG live, you can do so on Elizabeth’s Instagram or check it out below: