Listen:
I first connected with Becca Powers when she invited me to be a guest on her fantastic podcast The emPOWERed Half Hour. We had so much fun (episode link here). When she shared that she was also publishing a book with New World Library, called A Return to Radiance, I knew that I wanted to have her on the program close to her launch time.
I know you will fall in love with Becca’s light, enthusiasm, knowledge and storytelling.
In This Episode:
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The inspiration behind her book, A Return to Radiance [3:24]
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The underlying spiritual component of success [4:50]
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How witnessing her family member’s disconnect shaped her understanding of radiance. [6:13]
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Becca’s proprietary Power Method and how she used it as an acronym to structure the book. [9:41]
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Challenges Becca faced on when to go into teacher mode, and when to go into personal storytelling [12:29]
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Making each theme in her book digestible to the reader [16:46]
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Adding stories of transformation from Becca’s coaching clients into the book for another layer of expertise [19:08]
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What Becca means when she writes “bear hugging the uncomfortable.” [23:49]
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How Becca’s book melds the spiritual and the practical into an accessible package. [25:24]
Watch on YouTube
About Becca Powers
Becca Powers is a USA TODAY best-selling author, renowned keynote speaker, Fortune 500 sales executive, and visionary behind The Dragonfly Effect, which she leads as a transformative movement inspiring positive change and resilience. Through The Dragonfly Effect, Becca empowers high performers to embrace adaptability, growth, and impactful purpose. She has shared her inspiring journey from minimum-wage worker to award-winning Fortune 500 leader with organizations like Cisco, Dell, Carrier Global, and Royal Caribbean. Her insights have been featured in Business Insider, Newsweek, Forbes, USA TODAY, and more.
Her books, A Return to Radiance and Harness Your Inner CEO, and her podcast, The emPOWERed Half Hour, deliver practical tools for personal and professional growth. Becca’s proprietary POWER Method teaches individuals the skills and tools to integrate career success with creative fulfillment, cultivating happier, healthier, and more impactful lives.
Certified in Kundalini Yoga and trauma-awareness, Becca incorporates these healing practices to help clients overcome limiting beliefs and achieve new heights. Dedicated to philanthropy, she supports causes like the Alzheimer’s Association, Believe Ranch, and Feeding America. As a sought-after speaker, Becca’s transformative insights inspire audiences to join The Dragonfly Effect movement, to embrace and share qualities like resilience, adaptability, and purpose to elevate impact around the globe . She resides in South Florida with her firefighter husband, their blended family of four young adult children, two french bulldogs, and a pitbull mix.
Connect with Becca Powers
Order A Return to Radiance on Estelle’s Bookshop
Connect with Estelle Erasmus
Her latest substack Post: My Predictions for Publishing in 2025
Apply to be on Freelance Writing Direct in a coaching episode: email [email protected] and state three of the issues you are dealing with that you would like Estelle’s help with.
Get Writing That Gets Noticed, named a Best Book for Writers by Poets & Writers Magazine.
Order Her Audiobook
Sign up for Estelle’s Substack(for craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests. Check out her post on the Editor of The Cut.
Sign up for her Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest
Student Work
* Congrats to Tracy Cate for her first published piece an inspiring essay called Ready for Marriage at 50 on Next Avenue/PBS. She workshopped this piece in my class, and I knew that Next Avenue was the perfect venue for it, and suggested she submit there. It was kismet, as is her marriage.
* Congrats to my former student Barbra Cosentino for her powerful essay for Next Avenue/PBS My Mother, Floating in the Atlantic Ocean. I recall she was working on an earlier version of this essay in my NYU class several years ago.
* Congrats to Lottie Joiner for a wonderful essay in Next Avenue Life Lessons from a Zip Line. She first workshopped this piece with me in class several years ago, and I’m so glad she decided to get it published.
Here is what Lottie said about our work together.
“I was a student in Estelle Erasmus’ “Writing the Personal Essay” class that she taught for Writer’s Digest University in 2022. Estelle gave me invaluable feedback on my essays. She encouraged me to dig deeper, focus on the small details and offered recommendations on structure. Her input improved my writing and helped shape my stories. I really appreciated Estelle’s gentle touch which helped me find my voice and write with authenticity and vulnerability. One of the essays I wrote during her class was recently published on Next Avenue. My editor told me it was the lead story of the day.”
* If you are interested in publishing on Next Avenue, this is episode #118 with Julie Pfitzinger, Managing Editor of Next Avenue
* Congrats to Laura Schep for her latest piece in The Globe and Mail: Adventure Lover Harry Schep, Never Let Age Get in The Way. Her previous essay for the pub was The Year I Worked Christmas Shifts at the Hospital Was One of the Best Holidays Ever.
* So happy to see my Zoom class student Linda Maltz Wolff’s fabulous and humorous piece on grandmothers in The Boston Globe. Brava! (Gift Link)
*Congrats to Deborah Copperud who was on my podcast getting coaching from me in an episode, and now has a viral piece on HuffPost Personal called I Spent Over $6,000 at Target Last Year. Here’s Why I’m Giving Up My Favorite Place to Shop.
This was Deborah’s coaching episode #115.
This is what Deborah said about my coaching,
* And my former student Rochelle had a Tiny Love Story, called Gathering Valuables in the New York Times (Gift Link).
Classes
Estelle’s private small Zoom classes are sold out for March 2025 and May/June 2025 (the May/June class sold out in 2 days). Her next personal essay 6 week Zoom class will start in September, and her fiction/novel writing class will also start in September. Email her at [email protected] to find out how to secure your spot/s.
Her newest NYU class now taking registrations is Writing About Your Life Through Memoir, Essays and Articles.
Save the Date on April 10th from 12:30-1:30 for her next free Editor-0n-Call series event for NYU. Editor to be announced shortly.
Sign up for her Webinar on April 24th from 1:00-2:30 pm ET for Writer’s Digest: Layering Throughlines and Timelines into Your Essays and Books to Pack a Punch. It will be generative, informational, and interactive.
Follow Estelle
Find me this month at ASJA. To learn more and register go here.
