Where The Light Breaks Through with Amy Meredith

You can find Amy's book here. And work with Amy here. 

I’m Samantha Perkins and this is Why You Write That?!?!?  This podcast is for anyone who wonders what authors were thinking when they shared that really detailed secret or their most embarrassing moment.  For writers, future writers, readers, and those who love words Join me as I interview authors and writers to uncover the truth behind why they share all the of those cringey details and what it feels like to air it all! So press play and get ready to hear the story behind the words

Transcript

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Okay. Hi Amy. I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today and being willing to share some of your story and tell us about your writing process. Hey, thanks for having me. I am really excited about this podcast. I love the theme and can't wait to hear from other authors. I think it's super interesting, so thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you. I've been thinking about doing this for a while and I just finally put it together and I've been able to interview and have a lot of really fun conversations. And so I am really looking forward to your to ours today. And so I'm gonna introduce you and read your bios to let our listeners hear about who you are. Amy Meredith is an author, social entrepreneur, the 2025 Honoree of the Most Admired CEO award for her leadership with Up for Women and Children, and a tireless advocate for causes close to her heart with degrees in psychology and justice administration, and a background in business development. She brings both head and heart to the work systems of change. She lives with her family in Louisville, Kentucky, and writes to inspires others to use their voices as a force for connection, healing, and change. So welcome, Amy. I know that you've had a big week so far. Your book launch yesterday, right? Yes. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your book and what the writing process has been like and how it feels to have it out there in the world and finally launch. Yeah, it is. Been really amazing. I, for about a month ago, I just kept saying on repeat, I feel like I'm standing naked in the hallway at middle school. And then once it started circulating and I started getting some feedback and people were sending me text messages and leaving reviews of just like the most beautiful feedback around my story, then that just really changed everything. So this. Book where the light breaks through has really been decades in the making. I vividly remember riding around in the car in like college, and one of my friends was like, you need to write a book. And that really stuck with me and I knew that I've always had a book in me. And so it really is the story of my. Free range, eighties childhood into caring for my mother with ovarian cancer, losing her at a young age, then losing my father, becoming guardian to my sister, learning entrepreneurship from my grandfather, who I adored and was like a second father to me to be. Coming really unfulfilled and then ultimately the founding of UP and everything, it's taken to grow it, especially with the pandemic in our second year and now we're in our eighth year. And really, I just think in a time when we're so divided that it's really important to use the power of our stories for connection and to spark change. It's like they're good reminders of how close we really all are, and I just really believe in the power of our stories. Yes, thank you. That is exactly what I believe to be true too. I think that stories are the way that we bring ourselves back to this connection, and I can't think of a better way than to advocate. By just sharing people underestimate the value of using their own personal stories as advocacy, and I know that's what you've done and your book title is awesome, where the light digs through, and your book cover is beautiful. Why don't you tell us a little bit about how you came to such a beautiful cover and what that process was like? Thank you. Yes. Here, I'll share it here too. Just yeah, case. I love it. Thank you. Like many of my visions, they just come to me in a flash. And there is a metaphor around the eclipse season in my story, because really up was formed at the time of the 2017 eclipse. We were literally founded in the same month, and then I knew that I was gonna be working my way towards succession with a second eclipse. And so I was like. Plus I'm just always love the moon and stars, and I was like, what a perfect image. I love that moment in the eclipse, the diamond ring effect, and I just thought it really signifies my tenure it up and so much life transformation for me that I could just. See it immediately. And I knew that I wanted that specific image of an eclipse on the book. And it's funny'cause other people have seen it and they're like, oh, of course you have a moon on there. But yes, but, and I really enjoyed designing that. I had a lot of the idea. And then my vet editor, Becky, helped bring it to life. And so yes, I've been really pleased with it. That's awesome. Yeah, I think that I noticed that people have complimented the book and it does look so much like you.'cause I've had known you for a long time and I had the privilege of helping you along with putting together the organization really, of the stories. And I didn't know what the cover was gonna look like. And so when I got a chance to see it, it just really, to me, brought it all back together. That's another example of trusting yourself to bring forth what you. See and not being persuaded by all of the information and images that we're taking in all the time. Oh God. Yeah. But I'm glad that you mentioned that because that is really one of my favorite parts of this story to tell. When people ask me what it's about, I'm like, it's a motherhood and leadership memoir, and one of the best parts is how you found your way to up and volunteering and then becoming our interim shelter manager. And then how when you exited, I, I took your writing workshop, which was just amazing and I really recommended, I loved being in that group with. Several other CEOs and we really helped hold each other accountable and share our vulnerability, and we just kept showing up and we're each going on to do the great next things. And so I just love the, the connection that you helped bring this together. I really do feel that it was divine that you arrived here, and I'm just really so grateful for it and our friendship. Yeah, agreed. And for anyone listening, I made my way to this shelter and found Amy the CEO and somehow, despite not needing or wanting another job at all, ended up, uh, working for a little while as an interim shelter manager, and it really changed my life and I've had an amazing. Experience there, and I know that has to do a lot with your leadership and the way that mm-hmm. You set up kind of women helping women. At the time when I was there, it was all women and just working with the other women in our community and. What a beautiful thing, and I'm just so glad that you share a little bit about this in your book and that you can leave this behind as a legacy, especially as you're moving out of role of CEO and onto other things. I'm glad that this is written down and, Chronicled in a way that you can have forever. Yeah. Thank you. Me too. And I do feel like there are really so many elements to that story, right? And it's funny, I laughed at, it wasn't funny, but funny how for months you're just in the basement volunteering. And I'm like, what? She's giving a TED Talk. She's written a book. I'm over here manifesting boy mom, friends and alcohol free friends, and here you are. And like the best things. Came of it, connections to other people living alcohol free lives and just other connections around parenting and just the telling the story of what we were seeing in the shelter. Yeah, and I think that's some of what I really wanna move into next. And I read a piece from my book at our last fundraiser at uplift and I thought it was an important time to talk about, there's a lot of times in my life when I too. Could have been homeless had I not had the resources, the supports, the community connections, privilege and money. And so many people have forgotten how close, if not they themselves. Somebody in their circle could be to needing the kind of supports for the services that we offer. Particularly now, millions, more of Americans are gonna be facing additional challenges with what's happening at the federal level. And I just think it's really important that we remember that. Yeah, I totally agree, and I was at the fundraiser when you read from your book, and I think it was really profound to help people understand that the fragility around housing. I think that it's just really easy. For people with a lot of support and all the things that you just mentioned, to not be able to connect how quickly things could go downhill. I know over the last few years, especially months here, I see all the things that are adding up, including kids not, don't have a bus to get to school, and so their parent takes them and they're late for work and then they lose their job. This trickle effect and the food insecurity and just so many things, and I love that you're using. This book to advocate for that. And I think that's just important. And I, when I think about writing these days, it's just a different tool. It's another avenue for us to be able to get stories out there that matter. And I always say that. Storytelling. I've done a lot of research on it, and it is an ancient method that people have used to transform communities for ages and ages. Storytelling is nothing new. It's how, yeah. People passed down the messages and got communities to rally around the right thing and how a lot of good things happened, and thank you for being brave enough to put this out. Yeah. Thank you. And I think that it's important, especially we don't talk enough about the disproportionate disadvantage for women and how that impacts us. As often heads of households, mothers, we are often carrying the responsibility of the children carrying, like you said, those things, having to take them to school, having to take them to doctor's appointments. And it impacts us often more than the men in our household. We make less money on the dollar. We own only 20% of the land, and it's a, there's a real disproportionate. Ratio there that puts women up, it makes it a lot harder for us. And I think that's another thing that we need to be talking about and especially as we're seeing the impacts with everything that's happening right now with SNAP and food, that is a lifeline for people and that's gonna impact women and families significantly. And I really, I've been trying to figure out in my next steps, what is, how am I telling that story to connect, to keep pushing forward, to get the change and support that people need. Yeah, absolutely. And for people to not see this as something so political and one side or the other, but just for the storytelling, I think helps with people seeing us as humans and the humanity. So I think just making sure that we don't. Forget to tell stories because we think they're not important because right now there's so many other things going on. I, I think that now is the time to keep going up and to keep talking and to keep letting others know about who you are, who, what you wrote, and I, it's a great time to be. Advocating for your book and marketing yourself, because it's important that people read this for all of the reasons that we've just mentioned. Yeah, Especially when I've been really working to unsubscribe from chaos as much as I can while spending significant portion working to make a difference too. I think the power of a story can ground us, connect us and remind us. You know how close we really are. Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about how you are. I've read a lot your book, and so I know that you talked about a lot of sensitive things, probably things, and this is one of the things that I like to say that you wouldn't have mentioned in a job interview. Or to at a tape filled with other executives that you often sit with in your role as a CEO. Yeah. And so tell me how you got over the feeling of sharing these like very vulnerable, private parts of your story, even though you hold a very high role in our community. How did you find that balance with that? I wouldn't say that I'm fully arrived, but that's the journey, right? I do think, like I said, it felt very vulnerable at first, and I told myself a lot of stories, not just with this book, but even before this book, like how do I talk about the fact that I gave up alcohol because I didn't like how it was impacting my life anymore, and then here I am growing this nonprofit and are people going to be scared to give us money to help us grow? Those are the kind of ridiculous stories that I was telling myself that I think it's. Really important to Nate and talk about, but I am in all truthfulness, still really coming to terms with that and there are a lot of vulnerable things in there. But also I think I'm just at a point in my life up in the matriarch in my family for a while, losing my parents. I grew this gray hair out in my thirties, which was very liberating and freeing, and I just feel like that is. My purpose now is to just speak the truth and share those stories and be vulnerable. I'm not afraid to be vulnerable for the benefit of others. Yeah. And I think that's a hard thing that so many of the women that I work with are working to get over. And I know that for me personally, it's not something that you'll ever like. Wake up one day and you're like, okay, I arrived. I don't, I'm not feeling vulnerable anymore. You just grow with thicker skin. Yeah. Now you just become more resilient and you like exactly what you said. You just realize that the work that you're doing is more important than your ego essentially, you know, than, yeah. Yeah, I think we had, I had to check my ego at the door, particularly with this job and showing up in a pandemic. I was really scared and I, there was a lot of days, many people got to work from the comforts at home and I just had to check that and I just kept showing up a lot of days in fear, but you just kept to keep putting one foot in front of the other, doing the next right thing. And I think that's really important and I think that it's. It's impactful for us to, to speak about those things because we don't talk enough about the harder parts of leadership. It's lonely at the top. You carry a lot of responsibility and I think that it's really impactful to share, those hard things that. That we're facing and the people that you know, the, I can't miss what's meant for me. The people that don't need it will get it. And the pe, the people that don't can let you know leave it. Yeah, a hundred percent. But I don't want it to stop me from sharing that because I think it really helps empower others to share their stories because everybody has stories that the world needs. Yeah, and I think it would be really easy for people to look at you and see most admired, CEO and author and all the other amazing things that you've done and think, oh, it must have been easy for her, or, oh, she must have been, she's not like me, I guess is what I think a lot of people, when we see things on social media or when we see things in quick passing on our Instagram, we're like, oh, that person could do it because their circumstances are different than mine, or they're not. They had a different path, and a lot of times that's just not true and certainly not true for your case. You have not had an easy path by any means. That is another great reason to be sharing this with other female leaders, to show them like, Hey, A, if you wanna become a leader, your path doesn't define you. Yes. just because you are a leader doesn't mean that you have to hide this part of yourself. Yeah, and I really wrestled with that too. I think there was a while, particularly when I came, became a mom and I was really embracing that identity. I told myself all these stories that all those previous wild versions of me would not make for a good mom when. In fact, they actually absolutely do. Yeah. And so that was a real reclaiming and reconnecting with myself because there were a lot of pieces that I held shame about or I had closed off. And so this book was really reconnecting to myself, my truth, and of the full circle moment of healing. But you bring up. Something really important, and I think that's enough. People don't talk about what it takes to show up like the way that and I that I do. And people ask like, where did you find the time to write a book? I didn't find it. I made it right and it was a commitment that I make, just like it's a commitment to myself that I've made to be this version of me. And it is, and it does take. Work it takes. I have to know when I'm out of balance, when I need a hike, when I need time with friends, when I need more rest, when I need to clear my calendar and go home early. All those things are important, and I think particularly as women, we're conditioned to not listen to ourselves, but it's so important that we do, and that's where our real power comes. We've been conditioned to not connect with ourselves, but when we're able to reconnect, that's when we can really expand. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So can you tell us, or you wanna share some of your book with us and talk about something that was really hard for you to write and then read it to us? Sure. Thank you. When you first ask about this, I remember thinking immediately, oh, I'm gonna talk about this. Car wreck scene and I remember you saying, oh yeah, no, I think that's great'cause I was asking for your feedback, but I think I struggle with this one'cause it's actually probably one of my oldest shame stories. But re reflecting back, I don't think that was really the problem in this scene. But yes, this is, I am in eighth grade and it's spring break week and I had used to babysit with my cousins and I've been invited to babysit for nine days in the country by myself with a friend for a two and 4-year-old. I was taking the car out. I'd practiced in the driveway and maybe a few parking lots by then, but this was likely my first time actually driving on the road. I honestly don't remember. My friend adjusted the radio. We giggled surprised at how badass we were in that moment. As I hit the winding road and rounded the second curve, I accelerated just a little too much. The pedal got away from me. The tire slipped on the wet pavement. I overcorrected and hit the brakes. It was too late. We were off the road and airborne before I could even react, we were spinning. Time slowed as the car lifted and rotated the world outside disappearing. My life flashed before my eyes as I sat in the center of the vehicle while it twisted around me like a load of laundry in the dryer. I was spinning and spinning, and I moved with the car completely immobilized. We flipped the Pontiac multiple times, six or seven by my account. I was frozen as the car tumbled around me each rotation, letting out a violent crash of metal on the pavement over and over again. And when it finally slammed to a stop, we were upside down in the back end of a parked car in the driveway of a stranger's house. I looked at my friend, she was out cold. Twisted in the front seat, her back against the dashboard. Eyes closed. Glass is still intact. Oh my God, I've killed her. She must be dead and it's all my fault. I said her name over and over as I climbed a clause trying to get out of the car. I hadn't been wearing my seatbelt. I tried to wake her to free her, to free us from the mess. We found ourselves in a matter of seconds, and for a brief moment, I thought I might die, or worse, maybe I should have. And then her eyes opened. Oh, thank God. Someone must be looking out for us. Are you okay? I asked Breathless, can you move? Are you hurt? Can you get out of this car? I wasn't sure if it would catch fire or explode. I'd seen so many movies. I was terrified it might blow up, but with minor cuts and bruises, we climbed out through the window and pulled ourselves from the remains of what used to be a car. Terrified. I walked towards the house whose driveway we just landed in, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. In shock I gulped and took a breath, tears streaming down my face and rang the doorbell. I don't remember who answered. Can I use your phone? I ask. I need to call my dad. Wow. I feel like I probably should have gave a trigger warning for that one. I think it's okay. Okay. I can put that in the show notes for sure. Thank you. Okay. Wow. I guess my, when I read this, I remember you telling me this story before you ever wrote it. First of all, the writing is so remarkable and I want to encourage all of our listen. That if they liked that and what you just read that this is what the whole book sounds like and it is just amazing. It's so scenic and also there, while that story is really terrifying and sad, there's also this. Moment of like humor to it because you're a child, you're driving the car around and you just walk up to your neighbor's house or the stranger's house, and you're like, can I call my dad? So why don't you just talk about a little more why that was hard to write. Yeah, when I was, I think that was another piece that I had closed off for a really long time, and I remember when I was writing about it, I thought about it like, geez, I don't even think I'd had a period yet for a year. That's how young I was. And then I started really thinking more about. Why were we not talking about my parents, my, the other adults that allowed the situation to ensue it. That was just 1980s, right? I wasn't for everybody. The more I learned as I've gotten older, some that wasn't everybody's experience, but we really did raise ourselves in a lot of ways, and I had great parents. It was just a very different time. But I, this was exactly one of those pieces in my story that I had compartmentalized and I had. A lot of shame around and it was gave me the opportunity to pull it back up to let it out and be like, no, actually you were a child and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that is one. I've said this in every podcast, but the page reveals, right? Like you, in your head have built this into something that it maybe wasn't like, this is all Amy's fault. I'm a bad person. I shouldn't have done that. And for all these years, you've, you buried that away thinking that you were the problem in that situation. And for anyone, for any adult reading that, the first question is where were the pa, where were the adults? She is a child. And I'm so glad that you took the time to write it out so that page could reveal to you, oh yeah, this isn't Amy's problem. This is a. Lack of supervision, a fundamental eighties parenting style that wasn't quite working for everyone. Yeah. And so I'm so glad that you had that healing experience. And I will say I was always super grateful and I go on to write about that too.'cause it's actually my young cousins that we were babysitting and they weren't in the car, they were napping and we had left them at home and they were fine. But I do remember my aunt and uncle were always so gracious, and even too, when I called them. The first thing he asked was, are you okay? Is everyone okay? It's just a car. And I will never forget that. They could have responded a lot of different ways, but I have always been grateful for the way that they responded. And they never brought it up unless someone else did, and they were pretty quick to shut it down. And so I was always really grateful for that generosity around that whole experience. Again, there was some ownership to be had, but still had it gone differently, it would've left additional impact on me. That's such a good way to put that and a good reminder to us as adults that when we are. How we are responding and reacting to the young people in our lives and how we can make something healing versus more traumatizing. You know, I'm glad that you shared that and I'm just really glad that you put stories like that in the book. I think it does, again, normalize like what some people experienced during childhood, and I know that you had. A lot of exciting moments like that, and I think it really, I love how you get into the motherhood piece too, because it helps shape some of who you are as a mother too. So anyway, the book is amazing and I'm so proud of you. I'm so glad that it's out in the world for people to get immediately, and I'm going to definitely link it in the bio and I encourage our listeners to get it ASAP so that they can read it. Thank you and thank you for having me. It's always great. I love when we get to connect, so thank you. Yeah, same. Same. So real quick before we go, how can people find you Other, I guess where can they find the book and what's the best way that they can get to know you? And do you have anything that you can offer people who are listening who maybe are in a level of managing teams or a CEO or just someone even starting a small company? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I have started this year. I launched my, my business, Amy Meredith Ventures, where it's the plat, the platform for my author site@amymeredith.co. And as they're working to to hire the next leader for up, I've been thinking a lot about how I could be my next acts of service, and I think that's some of like storytelling as leadership. Succession planning with integrity, reinvention, and navigating transitions with courage and clarity. I've had a lot of experience with that lately, and even neurodivergent strengths leading differently in a world that wasn't built for us. So also really breaking cycles and. Parenting and leadership and systems change. I'm still flushing some of those things out, but I have a lot of experience with all of those. And so soon I'll be working towards what services I'm gonna be offering in 2026 and what that looks like. But I am excited to work with other C-Suites and other leaders in any of those spaces. And another thing I've been really curious about lately too is I know that there are a lot of C-Suite level folks that are. Growing their relationships with alcohol, but it feels really complex because it's in all of the networking events, it's everywhere. And I'm sure as you remember in your early days, becoming alcohol free, it seems like everybody drinks some of that journey, who you hang with changes, and I think that I could be really supportive and bringing women together who are exploring that because it feels very isolating at first. I remember feeling. Especially isolated because although I know we didn't talk about it much, I decided in January, 2020 that I wanted to quit drinking. Yeah. In a year when alcohol became available for delivery, so many people went the other way. And I've never been more grateful. That's the time that I chose. But yeah, so I'm, so that's another thing that I'm talking about too. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I think that you will be a gift to anyone in any of those areas to consult with and to talk with and to glean some of your guidance from. And I'm excited for people to meet you and check you out. So definitely if you're listening, check out all the show notes so that, so that you know where to find Amy and you can get to know more of her story and utilize her as the tool and wonderful offering that offerings that she has for our community. Thank you. Yes. I forgot to mention I got excited about the topics, but also I'm moving more into the speaking platform around as well. With that, I've done the keynote speaking to other women's groups and through the UPLIFT fundraiser, but that's another thing that I'll be looking to. Working with not just women's groups, but how can I help organizations with any of those as well. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. People are in for a treat when they get to know you if they don't already. And thank you so much for being here today. This was a great conversation and I'm super pumped to get this out into the world for people to listen to. Yes, me too. And thanks so much for having me. It's always great to spend time with you. Same. Okay, bye. Bye.