I think our leaders, whether they are politicians, coaches, or priests, should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us, and accountable for their actions. I admire Pope Francis (though I’m not a Catholic) because he seems to have transparency and integrity in spades. Both Ariana Huffington and Oprah Winfrey rate high on this list for me – Huffington collapsed a few years ago because of lack of sleep. But she didn’t hide it. Instead, she made it a focal point of her paper to point out the ridiculous requirements we put on our bodies when we are striving for success. Winfrey spoke to her massive public following about being raped and brought the shame of it into the light, where it could heal. I think a leader with these qualities makes a better role model for all of humanity.
BI: What has been a key element of your success?
Halle: Perseverance is the strongest factor in my own success. I am reminded of Alan Rickman’s character in Galaxy Quest: “Never give up. Never surrender.” To me, as I near fifty, there is no such thing as failure. The broken road simply points you in the direction you need to go next. I have always been successful in my own businesses and have reinvented myself each time something changed that caused me to go in a new direction (when I was in software and real estate, those shifts were whole market crashes). I have always felt I was destined for success, and that failure was not an option.
Now I get to help people in different businesses succeed without fear because there’s nothing I haven’t done in business, nothing I feel that I cannot accomplish. That’s such a powerful shift from where I was in my 20s, one of a handful of women executives in an industry run so much by men that an exec from Warner Music Group (who was about to invest in us) told my partner he needed to buy me out and “get a guy in to run things.” It was experiences like that which led me to rely on own my own inner perseverance; otherwise, I would have fled under the bedcovers and never come out.
BI: What are some of the business projects that you are currently working on that you are excited about and why?
Halle: I’ve recently launched the Red Goddess School of Business – Red Goddess has been my moniker for years, and my spiritual travel memoir is called Red Goddess Rising. The school is designed to help women entrepreneurs create and grow businesses they LOVE and that are also wildly successful, and draws on my nearly 30 years experience as an entrepreneur.
I’ll also be presenting a live series of talks, Release Your Inner Thin Goddess, for women with weight issues, on how to lose weight from the inside by healing the pain that’s causing them to physically armor themselves, and I’m actively looking for sponsors for that project. I lost 40 lbs a few years ago when I decided to stop playing small (the irony of that is not lost on me), and it’s a deep passion of mine, especially when I see the obesity rates climbing. I’m afraid otherwise, we will all start to look like the characters on the planet in the movie WallE, too fat to get out of our personal vehicles as we drive from one fast food place to the next.
BI: What are 1 or 2 things you would like to say to a prospective client who stumbles across this interview?
Halle: Don’t waste another minute hoping it’s going to get better on its own. Even if you don’t choose to work with me, find someone who can help. Remember the definition of insanity: doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. You have to change what you’re doing inside if you want to permanently change your outside.
You CAN do this; you can have a successful business and life that matter and that you enjoy. Life is for living, not enduring (which is the motto of the French Quarter of New Orleans, by the way). One of my favorite expressions is, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Everything seems like overwhelm until you can break it down into manageable pieces. Then you get to feel like you’re in control again along the way of building something you love, whether that’s business, a family, or your legacy.
BI: What’s the biggest shift you ever experienced?
Halle: For me, it was my two awakenings, the things that caused me to become the best version of myself. The first one took place on my first trip to Egypt and caused me to go from being an atheist into a deeply spiritual person in one shining moment. The next one happened ten years later when I was leading my tenth Eat Pray Love tour to Bali – and I left a 25-year relationship and moved 3000 miles for love. So I am living proof that you can change, change BIG! “Leap and the net will appear” is true, and I hope that I can inspire others to take a big chance that’s calling to them.
BI: To wrap this up, what are you most excited about in the upcoming months in your business?
Halle: I am truly thrilled to bring spiritual principles and practices into my speaking arsenal – I’ve spoken all over the world for my other businesses, and I can’t wait to bring my message of transformation to a lot more people. We have so much pulling at us all the time, so many more things than we did just a generation ago, and life moves so quickly. I love the opportunity to help more people, knowing that at the end of my talks they’ll feel like they can breathe better like there’s a little more room for themselves inside their minds and their lives. That makes me so excited and happy!
