Her Story
About Elli
I'm coming up on 4 years as a writer. After graduating from Colorado State University with my Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration, I worked in sales for the NBA for my first three years out of school. My alcoholism became really apparent during that time, and when I turned [AGE], I quit drinking, left the NBA, and started writing my first book. I continued working in tech sales for the past couple years while developing my writing career, but I just made the shift out of corporate after publishing my book. I'm a writer and creative who also acts and writes various projects. My main accomplishment is publishing The Diary of a [AGE] Alcoholic. Now my days are focused on marketing the book, with my first reading coming up on June 7th in LA, and I'm also turning the book into a vertical series, so there's a lot of script writing going on as well. My book isn't just about alcoholism, it's about what alcoholism brings into your life and how dangerous that is for young women.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elli
01What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, I attribute my success to sobriety and grit. Getting sober was transformative for me. It forced me to find equilibrium in my life and allowed me to focus on my writing and creative work. The alcoholism was really intense, starting when I was really young, and it crept into all aspects of my life. You don't just quit drinking and things are easy - that's just the start. But sobriety gave me the foundation I needed, combined with the grit to keep pushing forward, to accomplish what I have today, including publishing my book.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to start small. With my book, someone gave me the best piece of advice and they said to start with 3 essays - just get something tangible, and it grows. You can't tackle it all at once. You gotta start small. It's the everyday efforts that compound. Small everyday efforts are more impactful than one large sprint. I wouldn't have a book if I didn't do that. You can't tackle everything at once, but those small, consistent efforts add up to something meaningful.
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