December 14, 2021

Dear Oprah - L. Y. Marlow

27 minutes

“It doesn't matter where you come from or what you did, you can step into who you were put on this earth to be. “ L. Y. Marlow

Breaking historical patterns doesn’t happen easily. This is especially true when it runs across multiple generations. It requires a strong will power and commitment to break off and out of such circumstances and that is what our guest today L. Y. Marlow, did. Marlow went through years of hard work and persistence to be a different story as well as to enable multiple generations tell their story and change it for the better.

L.Y. Marlow is an award-winning author and sought-after empowerment advocate and influencer whose life journey took her from a legacy of domestic violence to the opulence of corporate America and now to a life devoted to inspiring other women. L.Y.’s story would be notable enough given her tenacity to shatter the status quo, but it would be her courageous decision to step down from a progressive and stellar 20+ year corporate career to pursue her passion and write her award-winning Color Me Butterfly—the compelling and heart wrenching story behind the national organization she founded Saving Promise—inspired by five generations of mothers and daughters in her family that survived more than sixty years of domestic violence, including her granddaughter, a little girl named Promise.

This heartfelt and captivating story of tragedy to triumph inspired her memoir Don’t Look at the Monster: One Woman’s Journey to Embrace a Purposeful Life and MonsteRise—a women empowerment brand to inspire women to confront their fears and embrace their passion, purpose and power!

In today’s episode, Marlow will talk about her life journey and the events that led her to the business she does today.

Listen in!

Social Media

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/lymarlow/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monste.rise.56

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lymarlow/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LYMarlow

Clubhouse: @lymarlow

My journey started nearly fifty years ago, when I was in corporate America and I was at the top of my game. [4:27]

I grew up in poverty and in one of the most crime infested projects in Philadelphia. [4:40]

I was the first in my family to eventually leave Wilson Park and go to school for 16 years at night to earn three degrees. [4:58]

I had my daughter when I was 17 and was in an abusive relationship and I made a decision I was going to get up out of there. [5:20]

It would be 20 years into my career, that I got a call that my daughter had almost been killed through domestic violence which ultimately changed the shift of my life. [5:50]

I had published my first book called “Colour Me Butterfly,” about four generations that were trapped, suffered and survived 60 plus years of domestic violence. [6:03]

I wrote a letter to Oprah, about how my daughter was strangled and nearly killed for the second time and how, as a mother, was in pain. [6:50]

The words eventually led me to launch a national organization called Save me promise. [7:38]

I walked away from corporate America and had no idea how to do that or what my potential was because I was going through a tough time. [7:53]

No matter what I was coming against, I knew my life was purposeful and I was going to not only step up out of that, but pay it forward to help other women. [8:58]

Whatever you want in your life is 80% of mindset and 20% of strategy. [10:46]

My breakthrough in my mindset came when talking to a friend and I said that everything is a gift, a lesson or a blessing. [10:54]

Now even when I get annoyed I try to look for the gift, the lesson or the blessing in the situation. [12:45]

I now have come to acknowledge in these last few years that Oprah did me a favor by saying no. [13:29]

I had to go on and figure out how to build this organization on my own and step into it in a way that I not only believe in it, but it is me. [13:59]

I took my mission, my vision for Saving Promise and I launched a second company called Master rise. [16:16]

I teach women how to launch their business where I have a three-day intense mastermind and by the end of that third day you have a blueprint and on a path to launching your business in 90 days. [16:30]

I'm so good at helping women to strategize and to step outside of their lives and see a different perspective and how to get from point A to point B. [16:54]

Commercial break. [18:18]

I have learnt to be resilient and I didn't understand it until I was looking back at those times when I struggled where despite of the situation I always come out on the other end of it with resilience. [19:56]

I've learned to be vulnerable and stopped trying to put up a face that everything is perfect and also learned to accept help. [20:45]

Everything in your life is a gift, a lesson or a blessing and remember it is not always bow wrapped. [26:24]

…………………………………………………

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By Michael Sherlock

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