Georgia-based Kelisha Lopez-Shealey’s book “SIS” Helps Women Find Their Voices and Lead
(Dacula, GA) – A new book of poetry by Georgia resident Kelisha Lopez-Shealey (www.authorkelisha.com) gives voice to women everywhere. Written by a former model, now swimwear business owner, the book of poems titled SIS stands for sisterhood.
“I chose SIS because I’m speaking to women from a place of sisterhood. I believe we’re all sisters and that—especially now—we all need encouraging words,” says the author.
Mrs. Lopez-Shealey is a firm believer in women having a strong voice, SIS is her way of inspiring that voice. “There were times when I struggled with loosing myself and my strong voice. It was during these times that leaned more into evolving and being self-aware of what I needed from myself. I had to stop suppressing my feelings and live in the fullness of my life, I had to push past fears and let my faith lead me. That’s what my poems are about, empowering women to live in their power and their strong voice.”
The author recognizes that living in your power comes from feeling safe with yourself—living in your purpose unapologetically. She started journaling in 2018 as a way of healing and to take back her power from everything and everyone draining it. With a young daughter at home, she felt inclined to turn her journal into contemporary poems to share with others—including young women. “It’s easy for us women to lose our voices in the process of becoming mothers, wives and girlfriends or from trauma, lack of self-love and stress.”
Over the years, Kelisha has been inspired by Instagram poets like @lalahdelia and @mirthamichelle and wanted to follow in their social media footsteps.
Mrs. Lopez-Shealey isn’t a full-time poet. She writes when inspiration (and need) strikes. She has worked coding medical records for ten years and says the outpatient medical world was hit hard by COVID-19. “When the country shut down, all elective surgeries were cancelled. Everyone stopped going to clinics and the ER unless they had COVID-19. There were fewer charts to code, which meant a lot less work for about four months. Some coders lost their jobs completely. But things are picking up now.”
As a young teenager, Mrs. Lopez-Shealey started modeling. “I didn’t land my first job until I was 18 but then things really started to take off. I lived in Tampa, Florida at the time and did a lot of print work, commercials, and infomercials. I even had a billboard once.”
At the age of 23 the author moved to Atlanta continuing to pursue her career in modeling and acting. “I was 24 and six months pregnant when I got the call to be an extra in Tyler Perry’s film ‘Meet the Browns,’ but being 6 months pregnant I had to turn it down. I left modeling and acting after that and now I model for my own swimwear line Amor By KL Swimwear.”
Mrs. Lopez-Shealey is a feminist at heart and enjoys using an all-woman team whenever she can and especially when working on her swimwear line. “I love working with teams of women because it’s so inspiring for me. These lines of poetry were inspired by one of my swimwear photo shoots: ‘She’s a queen secure and assured on her throne, and she rules the kingdom of her existence in this wild world of the unknown.”
Kelisha is also inspired by prayer and faith and is the member of a church in Atlanta.
“I encourage everyone to keep a journal and to write down their thoughts. Doing this has helped me in so many ways, I’m an overthinker so writing helps me to clear my thoughts and move away from worrying. Being a person of faith has helped me to grow, heal and push forward every day.”
The author offers this advice to aspiring poets. “Stay true to your voice, a trick I use sometimes to make sure I’m staying true to my voice is recording myself and playing it back. Give it shot, try recording a thought or poem into your phone and listen back. With this trick you will get to hear the exact message your trying to deliver. It can also be used to play back whenever you need a word of empowerment.”
About the Author
Originally from Tampa, Florida Mrs. Lopez-Shealey now lives outside Atlanta, Georgia. When she isn’t writing she working as a medical coder, spending time with her family, or working on swimwear. She’s a member of New Birth church in Atlanta. Some of her favorite writers are Eric Jerome Dickey, and Instagram poets r.h.Sin (@r.h.sin), Lalah Delia (@lalahdelia), and Mirtha Michelle Castro Mármol (@mirthamichelle).
Kelisha would love to talk to your audiences about her favorite Instagram poets and how she understands what it’s like to lose, or just lose yourself, or to be in the process of becoming your best self, in need of healing, or working your way through growing, letting go of what was, or starting over. Wherever your audiences are she understands, she can relate and share her blunt and fresh voice to meet your audiences where they are. Talking points include:
- Kelisha can talk about her favorite Instagram poets and writing poems for sharing on Instagram
- How she’s learning to evolve, heal and grow into her purpose and how she went back to school for medical coding to help support herself and her daughter
- Being a swimwear designer and leading teams of women
- How her faith has kept her strong and inspired through the years
Learn more about Kelisha Lopez-Shealey at www.authorkelisha.com
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @authorkelisha
Buy the book SIS on Amazon.com or at BN.com
Published by AGS Publishing; ISBN: 0578590514; Price: $3.99 (Kindle)
$5.99 (Paperback)
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