Meet Erin Copelan | Author, speaker, and guest writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erin Copelan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erin, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Whenever I hear the work “risk” my mind gets dark and I think of all the scary things that could happen. “What if…” When I fill out financial investment questionnaires I always check the box: “risk averse.”

Then I actually look at the way I live my life.

I love to travel the world and have been to Japan, France, Italy, England, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Africa.

I’ve been diving with sharks in warm, turquoise waters.

I’ve voluntarily strapped myself to another human being and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, floating through a rainbow to land safely on the ground.

I earned my degree going to college at night while working full time. Then I did it again twenty years later to become a massage therapist. I opened my own business the day after I graduated and ten years later I love the work I do helping clients manage their chronic pain.

All of these risks have shifted the needle within me. Each risk, each reward, has made me bolder. Stronger.

As I embark on my next adventure – the publication of my new book, “Welcome to Caregiving: The Things Caregivers Never Talk About,” I think of the risk I’m taking. Yes, there is a financial investment: I’ve made a considerable capital contribution to this project to help my message ring true and clear. But the bigger risk, the scariest risk, is using my voice. Because I am my brand. The project is all me. My life. My stories. My heart.

Could I have gotten here without jumping out of a plane? I’m not so sure… because all of those risky moments led me here.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always been an artist at heart. Drawing, painting, ceramics, massage, and as I creep closer and closer to my 5th decade on this earth, I’ve discovered writing. I’m elated to be launching my new book, “Welcome to Caregiving: The Things Caregivers Never Talk About,” because it speaks to the essence of who I am. I was able to take a topic that very few people talk about and use my voice to shed light on it. To set it aglow. Burning embers, smoldering just below the surface of the people who need it most, sparking them to life at just the right moment. Right when they need it.

No it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy to put myself out into the world in a vulnerable way. To tell the truth about things people rarely speak of (ah-hum, sometimes patients are a pain the butt).

This book, this brand, it’s all me. My heart. My soul. My love.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m an old soul and I love funky adventures! A week in South Florida with my Bestie? Airboat rides to see gators of COURSE! Dinner at Kaluz on the Intercoastal for martinis and crab salad. Snorkeling in Lauderdale by the Sea. If we feel like dancin’ a trip to Round Up Night Club in Davie is in order. And there’s nothing like brunch at the Foxy Brown before heading off to the airport.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I was given the opportunity to serve as a caregiver to my husband because he was fortunate enough to receive a life saving liver transplant.

His organ donor chose to make their last gift on this Earth the gift of life. Their liver saved the life of my husband. Their other organs and tissue positively impacted the lives of more than seventy-five recipients and their families. The wives. The mothers. The children. The friends. The community.

This Shoutout is for all organ donors and donor families.

To learn more about organ donation please visit the United Network for Organ sharing at www.UNOS.org.

Website: www.ErinCopelan.com

Instagram: @erin_copelan

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

Image Credits
Kaycie Davis