Maria Appelbe

I attribute my success to childhood trauma. I know that sounds strange, but it's true. We moved around a lot, so I had to be outgoing to make friends every 3 months. I did theater because I and learned how to connect with people quickly. Even though I come from a very toxic mother and sisters, I've created my own tribe. I have a wonderful house, a wonderful daughter, amazing friends, and people I call family even though they're not blood related. I've learned to surround myself with great people and to let go of toxic people. I used to think my mother was the strongest one because she was single and my dad abandoned us at birth, but I've since learned about boundaries and being kind to myself. My book is all about that - if people aren't kind to you and you've given them kindness many times, it's time to be kind to yourself. I grew up in the worst trailer in the trailer park, and now I live in a 5-bedroom house in South Gilbert with a pool and a jacuzzi.

The best career advice I've ever received is delegation. Because I'm such a perfectionist, I wanted to do everything on my own, and then you end up with burnout and you're not taking care of yourself. My boss would tell me, 'You're trying to do everything, and you have these great people here, but you're not utilizing them effectively.' So if you want a good team, you've got to delegate and show them what to do. Being able to delegate means that all I had to do was write down the little notes on the board, and they knew what to do and how to do it, and it took a lot of stress off of me. It's about not being a perfectionist and letting it go a little bit.

For writing, I would say just write. Don't think about it, just write what's on your mind, what's in your heart, the characters, make it up, think of anything fantasy-wise. You can go back later and do the editing, you can go back and change things, but write from your experience, write from your heart, write from anything that you've explored, and then go back. Don't think about it. I will also say this - as a woman, I do believe I had to work a little harder than the men. When I worked at Target, I got promoted within 6 months at a young age, but I felt like there was a boys' club. So my advice is to stick up for yourself, and that's okay, as long as you do it in a professional way.

Learning the publishing world. The marketing part was brilliant work, but the editing was not getting down fast enough so I did most of it. And the photo placement was not correct, so wanting to be in the publishing really listening to the author and reading the story in detail is crucial. I plan on creating more books, a good-old fashion thriller with a love story intertwined. I wrote my book before AI even existed are was at least utilized, so it will be interesting to see if and how I utilize it. Taking a course this month to learn about A1. Another opportunity is learning new ways to describing places and characters. In addition, with the guided meditation learning all the technical opportunities to make the ambiance of the app stand out.

Spirituality is incredibly important to me, both personally and professionally. Spirituality is what got me through my daughter's brain injury. There have been moments where I just know things are meant to be. I've been seeing 333 everywhere, and when I was getting my tattoo done - an anchor that represents my sink or swim moment - I told my daughter I didn't know why I kept seeing 333. A gentleman next to me showed me his 333 tattoo at that exact moment. It means you have angels, past mistakes you're learning from, and positive future endeavors coming your way. Kindness is definitely another core value - you'd be amazed, especially during COVID, if you're just nice and talk to people, how people respond. I had to get past some anger from my early retail days when people would yell at me, and I'd think, 'I just sell toilet paper.' Loyalty is important to me, and being kind to our Earth and our creatures. My daughter, at 14, knows to cut the soda can rings so animals don't get stuck. I mean, I could do without scorpions, but that's about it. Self-care is huge too - we need to remember to take care of ourselves, to lay down for that 45 minutes, or even just 5 minutes of meditation or some tea.