Good Neighbor Podcast: Cobb County
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Cobb County. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Milli M. helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Cobb County, Georgia.
Is your business serving the residents of Cobb County? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpCobbCounty.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Cobb County
E57: The One-to-One Formula with Author Coach Zelda Miles: How Your Story Can Change Someone's Life
Meet Zelda Miles, founder of ByZeldaO and your new favorite writing guide. With roots as a newspaper reporter and the heart of a storyteller, Zelda has crafted a unique coaching practice helping people transform their personal journeys into powerful narratives.
Growing up on dirt roads with books as her closest companions, Zelda never imagined becoming an author coach. Despite teachers recognizing her gift with words, she initially pursued pre-med studies until life redirected her toward journalism. This unexpected path prepared her perfectly for her current mission: helping others, particularly women, birth the stories they've carried for years.
What makes Zelda's approach special is her understanding that writing is more than transcribing events—it's an act of revelation. "When you start writing about your experiences, you relive them," she explains, "but I find that when you relive them, it's really for revelation." This process often triggers unexpected healing as clients discover new perspectives on old wounds. With each manuscript, Zelda witnesses transformation happening on the page and in the author.
Beyond her professional insights, Zelda shares her personal battle with serious health challenges, including a recent bout with kidney failure that reinforced her belief in divine faithfulness. Her resilience mirrors what she teaches clients: that our stories matter not for personal glory, but for how they might help someone else navigate their journey.
Ready to finally write that book you've been carrying? Zelda's "one-to-one" formula might be exactly what you need—focusing on helping one person solve one problem through your story. Reach out to Zelda at byzelda@gmail.com or 659-232-2454 and discover how your story could change someone's life.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Millie.
Speaker 2:M. Hello everybody, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, millie M. Are you in need of a writing coach? Well, one might be closer than you think. I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, zelda Miles of ByZeldaO. How are you doing today? I'm great. How are you today Doing? Well, so excited to learn more about you and your business. Tell us all about BuyZeldaO.
Speaker 3:Well, my name is Zelda Miles and I am an author coach, so writing coach, author coach, whichever one you want to call it. I am a small business owner here in Adamsville, alabama. Awesome, I'm here in Alabama and my mission is to help women in particular, because those seem to be the ones who pull on me, but anyone who has a story that they've held for a long time that they're ready to put pen to paper. So I do that. I am a former newspaper reporter and an English major, so I've got years of experience in in the writing area and that's that's just kind of what I do. And so, by Zelda O, it's sort of like your byline. When I worked in the newspaper business, the byline was by Zelda Miles, so I just took that and incorporated it into my business, because things that I do are by me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I love how you were able to transition that newspaper career into something for yourself personally. So what got you into writing in general? Were you always good with words as a kid, or yeah?
Speaker 3:in general. I grew up in the country and when I mean country I mean dirt, roads, rocks and nothing but trees and our closest neighbor was about five or six miles away. So it was just my brother and I growing up, so we didn't have any. We had each other to play with, right. So outside of you know the annoying sibling playtime and that relationship books were my friend, so I would always. My grandparents had a big China berry tree in the front yard so I'd go out and sit on the ground and read a book.
Speaker 3:And when I started writing just things in school, you know, I was always oh, you're a great writer, you're a great writer. But it wasn't until high school when I decided to join the newspaper staff. After we had moved to another city. I joined the newspaper staff and my advisor kept telling me oh, you're so gifted, you have this.
Speaker 3:My dream was to become a pediatrician, not to have anything to do with writing. You know I was at that time I wasn't seeing anybody that looked like me, cause I grew up in a really poor County so I wasn't exposed to black authors. Then I wasn't exposed to anybody in the field that looked like me. So I was thinking that was, that was, this was a hobby, the writing part was a hobby and this was not anything that I was going to do. But I guess that bug bit me to college was an interesting one. I thought, yeah, I'm still not going to do this, decided I wanted to do pre-med. That did not work out. My mother's advice was you either come home or do what you do best. And I was you know, you're young trying to figure that out. And I took some journalism classes and another advisor said hey, you're too gifted to do this as a minor. So I ended up majoring in journalism From there here.
Speaker 2:I am, hey, so many things to take from that. Representation is so important for people to see someone like them, to have that encouragement, and our stories are very similar. I wanted to be a pediatrician as well and took one semester pre-med and I was like, yeah, no. Then I was like, what do I like to do? Oh, I like to run my mouth. Let's figure out how to make money doing that. We're so sisters in that area. Yes, we are definitely twinning on twin paths there. So tell me about some myths or misconceptions about your industry or what you do.
Speaker 3:I think people tend to think that, you know, writing is easy and everybody can do it. I once had a boss my first, my very first book that I published with a small publishing house. The owner gave me an assignment and I completed it and we were having a discussion about writing. He had actually hired someone who had a whole bunch of letters behind their name. Like me, I don't have those letters behind my name, but this person did so. He was really excited about this person's work and me being me.
Speaker 3:My conversation was oh, that's great, but I believe writing is a gift and while there are skills that everybody can learn, everybody's not a storyteller. You know, that's part of the writing gift. So, uh, you know he was like, oh, I don't agree with you. And I was like, yeah, okay, that's fine. You know, he came back a few weeks later and said, yeah, you might be right. I mean, you know not to brag, but my, my manuscript that I turned in was pretty clean and he didn't have to do much editing. Where he had been since that conversation and then the next one, he had still been editing this person's work right right it was a lot.
Speaker 3:He was like. You would think I was like, but no, I think the misconception is that, while we all have stories, sometimes it's better to find somebody who can help you tell that story, because we don't write like we speak. We write to a reader, we write to the one person, but you don't. You may be speaking to them, but that's not how you write, and I think a lot of our stories get overlooked because we have that mindset that we're supposed to write like we talk and that's not it. And in telling your story there's always a, a formula that people need to follow and really you know nobody. Very few people hit that bestsellers list and I think sometimes the myth behind that is if you get to be a bestseller, everything is golden. It's not. I'm not saying I don't want to hit that bestsellers list myself, but it doesn't always mean that your writing is excellent or great. It just means that you sold a lot of books, right?
Speaker 2:We see a lot of celebrities hit that bestsellers list just because of their popularity and things like that for sure. And only you know how you want to tell your story, so those letters don't necessarily mean anything when it comes to you telling your individual story. So who are your target customers? If Like, who do you seek out or who seeks you out for help with their authorship?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. Sometimes it varies, it really depends. I don't do a lot of advertising really, so I feel like God sends the right people to me and usually those people are the people who have the heart-wrenching stories. They have the stories, a lot of trauma and big testimonies, and those seem to be the people who are drawn to me and I guess maybe it's because of my own personal journey.
Speaker 3:They don't know that until they reach out to me, but a lot of my referrals from people that go oh yeah, you need to talk to her and it's amazing those people always have the stories that move me, the, the stories that really they touch my heart and they make me work harder, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3:I worked with an older gentleman. He passed last year and he had a story that had me laughing and tears crying and it was such a big testimony of what God can do in somebody's life and it was just amazing. And then I worked with a lady who had lots of trauma in her life of bad marriage and she pulled it all together and the story. Since we did her book and her release I think she sold over 500 copies of her book.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow, and it's just been, you know, word of mouth and events that she's attended. But the story, you know, I had the pleasure of attending one of her sign-ins and the stories that I heard people who read her book, how it resonated with them, and I just sat back in the corner and go, hmm, look.
Speaker 2:Just being like a proud parent.
Speaker 3:Just being a proud parent. So some of them like to call me a midwife. I don't really like that, but I think that's probably.
Speaker 2:I understand the analogy Someone has something and you help them birth that Help them birth.
Speaker 3:That, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:For sure, I bet it creates a really uh deep connection, because you're not a therapist, but you're helping them work through because, you know, even in my own experience, there are things that you know. I thought I was over, yes, I'm writing about it, and I go oh, that hurts, yes, and then there are things that I thought would hurt and I write it and I go oh, that hurts.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then there are things that I thought would hurt, and I write about it and I go oh, you know I can, I can share this story without the pain associated with it. So it'll really put a mirror in front of you as to it really does, it really does and that's.
Speaker 3:And that's my coaching style, honestly, because I always forewarn my my clients. So said, listen, I'm gonna tell you a couple of things. This is gonna sound crazy, but every time I say it it happens. And my last client just kind of you know, she kind of she told me. She said I kind of brushed off what you said. She said but um, can I call you? I, I need to talk.
Speaker 2:I was like okay, Again, like a parent, you're like like a parent, do you count?
Speaker 3:No, I don't do counseling, I just hear from Holy Spirit and I just kind of move from there. It always tends to work out for the best. Writing can really start a healing process if you have it, and nine times out of ten, the what my my personal experience is is what I teach from is that there are things that you do think, hey, I'm over that, I've gotten past it, I I've healed from it. And when you start writing about it, you go ugh Because it's like reliving it all over again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you relive it all over again, but I find that when you relive it all over again, it's really for revelation, because it helps you better reach that person who is your target audience.
Speaker 2:yes, yes, I love that, so let's let's talk about outside of work. What do you do outside of work for fun?
Speaker 3:well, I've got a stack of to be read that's the name of our book club to be read.
Speaker 3:Read, yeah To Be Read. I've got a stack of those. You know I am the proud mother of two adult children. Neither is married or have children, so I'm still parenting my 30-year-olds. You know they have their own careers but I'm still mom. I have my husband and I, you know, we're learning to work through the emptiness process. They live close by but you know it's still when you've had kids for a long time you just go OK, find something else to do. But reading has always been my love. If I'm not doing that I'm usually, you know, with some group. I'm a part of a mentee group there in Douglasville. So, you know, just mentoring people, just trying to live life.
Speaker 2:I feel you. I feel you, so let's switch gears really quick. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger?
Speaker 3:Ooh man, I have got lots of those, but my most recent one is one that I'm still. I'm still in the middle of. I think About a year or so ago I was experiencing some health issues. I had gotten pneumonia and I couldn't shake it. I had it for three months. It would not go away. After that, I ended up having a couple of visits to the emergency room, and the first visit they couldn't really decide what was wrong with me. So I was there for a few days and a month later I was back in the hospital and did not know until after I was released, after 12 days, that I was in the middle of kidney failure and my lungs were failing. Goodness, yeah, I did. I didn't had no clue, because when I was there, what they finally discovered from me having issues breathing? Um, I thought maybe the pneumonia was back, but they they ended up saying that I had vasculitis and my antibodies were at war with each other.
Speaker 3:So, I had an inner war going on and I had to end up having several different treatments and all the different things and, just to God be the glory Cause, by day 12, they were like, well, we've never seen anybody recover like this, but you got some stuff we still got to do. So you know, with that being said, god had me on the journey of really some inner healing and just learning to deal with some things that I'd ignored for a long time. You know we spent, as women, we spent a lot of time pouring into other people, taking care of everybody else and neglecting ourselves, and there were things that I've written about, talked about stress, all the things, and never really thought about it for myself. And my oncologist said, yeah, you know, sometimes stress will trigger this and you just never know. You know we were on the tail end coming out of COVID and, amazingly enough, I never had COVID, oh wow, until I got sick.
Speaker 3:I get home. I'm home for about two months. My husband gets COVID for the third time.
Speaker 3:Oh goodness and I got it. So it was the first time. But since I was already on a whole bunch of medical treatments therapies, medicines they called me in something quickly so I did not have all of the bad symptoms that everybody experienced, but I was already on around the steroids and having all these other different treatments, so that really helped. But that journey has taught me that you know God is faithful. But that journey has taught me that you know God is faithful and that once you hit 50, you really know how to bounce back.
Speaker 2:You got to slow down and take care of you. I would have never known with the bright smile that you're showing me right now.
Speaker 3:So it's a journey because that illness I mean oh my God, that illness. It's a journey because that illness I mean oh my God, that illness. I was like, okay, well, I ended up with another issue where I had a really bad allergic reaction to some medicine and lost all my skin. So, goodness, yeah, my hair, everything just started shedding and falling, but the reaction I forget what they call it, but it was almost like I had a third degree sunburn. Oh my gosh, From the top of my head to the soles of my feet, everything just peeled off. Oh my gosh, yeah. So that journey, really, when I say learning that God is faithful and that he is a healer, yeah, because I don't look like what I've been through.
Speaker 2:Absolutely not. Like I said, you are smiling brightly and have such great energy, so you're just a testament to that, for sure. So, zelda, please tell our listeners one thing you would like for them to always remember about. By Zelda.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a good one. Um, the one thing I want them to remember is the lesson that I teach, um, uh, my, my clients is that when you're writing your story, or you have your story to tell, the formula is one You're going to write for one person, you pick out who it is and you're going to help her solve one problem, so it's one and one. So, and that's what I do with my one-on-one consultations. It's a one-on-one and and that's how I help people to write, because really, it's not about you, it's about them, and people don't really care what you've been through most of the time. I've learned that the objective is what can you do for me? How can what you have to say affect me and help me get on the other side, where we're both smiling and happy and have reached a turning point in our lives?
Speaker 2:That's beautiful. Everybody is looking for that turning point in their lives and it's a beautiful thing that you can help people get their stories out to help others. So if someone needs help with their next project, myself included, how can they get in touch with you?
Speaker 3:Well, right now my website is down, so you can email me at by Zelda at Gmail dot com, and you also can reach me at six, five nine two, three, two, two, four, five four.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Zelda. I have enjoyed this conversation with you. I have too. I was nervous, but, thank you, you made me feel comfortable, oh, absolutely. And, like I said, your bright smile and your energy just made this all the more pleasant. I enjoyed hearing your stories and wishing you and your business the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you, you too, and I hope we can chat about what story you have. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpcobbcountycom. That's gnpcobbcountycom, or call 470-470-4506.