Inspiration For The Impossible Dream (Part III): Arlene
Part III of my series Inspiration For The Impossible Dream. If you didn’t catch Part One (Rosetta) and Part Two (Tara), click back – those ladies and their stories will stir you to get up and get started building your impossible dream. There’s also Arlene Gibbs. The Screenwriter from the movie Jumping The Broom. This sister got up one morning in 2008, quit her six figure Hollywood executive career, told sunny California goodbye and moved completely out of the United States. She says she was broke, broken and bitter, though none of that comes through in her blog. Where did she move? Rome, Italy. In 2013, I was following various blogs by Americans living in Rome. She made a comment on one of them and it was her name that caught my attention, NYC/Caribbean Ragazza which means NYC/Caribbean Girl in Italian (sistergirltales.blogspot.com). I clicked over to her blog and just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that an African American woman would pick up and move to a foreign country where she doesn’t speak the language and she doesn’t have a means of earning income. Arlene was writing about her life and times getting used to living in such a wonderful city. Taking Italian classes, getting hit-on at the grocery store and her first trip back to the States. The most memorable to me was her description of a feeling she had returning to Rome from the States. She said Rome felt like home and she was at peace being back. I check in from time to time at Arlene’s new blog Arlene Gibbs Décor (arlenegibbsdecor.com) where I always find a smile. Find something, a magazine, blog, restaurant – where you know you’re guaranteed to be lifted!
A former school and community agency counselor and creator of the 7-Step Method, Anita’s helped guide people from the ages of eleven to fifty through their own life issues, personal transformations and professional endeavors. With an old soul and a comedic, honest voice. She uses many southern colloquialisms and colorful expressions to unwrap personal stories of surviving a homicidal alcoholic father, a mother in denial and four physically and emotionally abusive brothers and relates them to guiding principles and healing techniques.
Through her powerful and uplifting interviews at ThatAnitaLive.TV and The Emotional Happiness Podcast women get to see and hear real women with resourceful stories living relentless lives after life's most devastating events. Through her charismatic and compelling speaking, Anita helps women use the tools and resources they already have to reveal and release success blockers such as childhood trauma and family dysfunction so they can build self-confidence, boost their self-esteem and feel free to live true to their own personality, spirit and character.
In her newly released ebook, 7 Simple Steps to Beat Emotional Baggage, Anita shares actionable techniques that will walk women through letting go of the past and rising above the glass ceiling to reach higher levels of success and satisfaction in life.
From nine-to-five, Anita is a Senior Acquisition Support Specialist, possessing over nineteen years of performing and administering program management and cradle-to-grave commercial and federal contracting activities for acquisitions ranging from $500,000 to over $2 Billion. She has progressively worked her way up the federal acquisition lifecycle and commercial supply chain through various positions from pre-award and requirements definition to commodities buying to contract close-out. In her career, she has mastered the art of transitioning to level-up.
Anita is a graduate of Limestone College, Virginia State University, and Strayer University with a B.S. in Mathematics, an M.Ed. in Guidance & Counseling, and an M.B.A. in Contracts & Acquisitions. You can find Anita online at ThatAnitaLive.com, Twitter, Periscope, Instagram and Facebook. Her handle is That Anita Live on all four social media platforms.
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