"Q&A With Arian Simone"

April 18, 2019

Book: Fearless Faith + Hustle: 21 Day Devotional Journey

Photo by Sarah Dorio

Header Photo Courtesy of Fearless Fund

Author: Arian Simone

Author Bio:

Oprah Winfrey once said: “What greater adventure is there than to live your dreams”. Arian Simone is a fun, fly, fabulous and fearless entrepreneur; she has been blessed throughout her career and continues to inspire others to live their dreams! Miss Simone is a proud native of Detroit, MI. She pursued her college education at Florida A&M University while owning and operating her mall-based retail store Fabulous.

Upon graduating college Arian Simone was laid off from her job and went from living in her apartment to out of her car; she was without a home of her own for almost a year until she was sought out to do Public Relations and Marketing independently.

Building a successful PR and Marketing Firm from the ground up, she established great relationships in the entertainment industry with clients such as the Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures and more. She is credited with doing publicity and promotions work on films such as Ride Along, Limitless, This Christmas, Hancock, Takers, and 007: Quantum of Solace just to name a few. She has also serviced clients in the music industry; her client list included Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo, and countless others.

Upon realizing that her fearless nature to live life without limits was an ingredient to her success in 2010, she launched FEARLESS Magazine with cover girls such as Khloe Kardashian, La La Anthony, Kelly Rowland and more, serving as a platform for people to transparently share their journey of life.

In sharing the message of being Fearless, Arian Simone travels the world speaking to thousands about her journey. She has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Essence, Marie Claire, Ebony, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, and more. Throughout the frenzy of her success, she always finds the time for philanthropic work. She is the founder of the Fearless Foundation whose mission is to reduce homelessness by providing financial and rehabilitative aid to women’s shelters and transitional homes. Miss Arian Simone lives a life of fulfillment and encourages others to do the same!

Most important of all she gives all credit and respect to her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for her success.

1. What was your writing process like for Fearless Faith + Hustle? Was it different than your first book My Fabulous & Fearless Journey: From Homeless To Hollywood?

Definitely different and a much more straightforward process! My first book, I started writing in 2008 and didn’t finish until 2015. I would write a little bit, put it down, write a little bit, put it down, that’s just how my method went back then. I do remember reciting some on a recorder and then I got it transcribed. From there I went back rewrote parts and cleaned it up. But yeah, 2015 is when it came out. So I would definitely say it was a slower process.

I didn't really have a sense of urgency behind it. People just always say, “oh, you should write a book about your story,” but it was nothing more. I think that it was never really a personal pursuit at that time.

2. How did you really propel yourself forward from being homeless to ultimately working in the entertainment industry in marketing and PR? Also, for those who are looking to propel their brands, what is the #1 piece of advice you would offer?

I never expected to be working in the entertainment industry, actually, my father did; I was so turned off by it and I said I'd never do it, but it found me versus me finding it. And that was just more so the path that I took.

Somebody sought me out to do some PR and marketing work and at that time if somebody sought me out to do their walls, I'd be a painter to this day! So that's pretty much what happened. I worked very diligently on it and they referred me to somebody, who referred me to somebody, and next thing you know, it grew and it grew.

Here are some tangible things I can say to help someone overcome. Of course, what you visualize, you materialize. Put different things you want in front of you that are inspirational. What you choose to consume in your ears and what you choose to meditate on has a lot to do with that as well too, as far as trying to elevate yourself into a new level.

In reference to business and branding, I definitely would say you kind of know what works and what I mean by that is you work with what works. There's something about what you're doing that people are attracted to you for. Whatever that is, whether that be a product or a service, you hone in on that and it's going to continue to grow.

3. What was your favorite PR opportunity you had last year?

Well, I guess my work on ‘Little’ but, in all honesty, I haven't worked in PR heavily, in a long time. My work in Fearless has taken on a life of its own that I didn't plan on. Like I didn't play on having this fearless brand. It started as a magazine and then it evolved into this whole movement within this women's empowerment space.

So I, by no means run PR the way I used to. Only on special occasions like if somebody calls me to consult for a film or a TV show and I have the availability and the capacity, I just don't mind.

I did that last summer for ‘Little’ and I even had moments on set where I was like, “Wait, why am I? At this point I'm like, I’ve just grown beyond doing this and there are so many other things happening right now!”

But Marsai Martin was definitely my why and witnessing her as a young executive of just 13 years old, at the time we were filming. Now she's 14, but just watching her and her greatness and meeting her family, I would say that was the highlight of 2018.

4. Your '21-Day Journey' is uniquely different because it has five elements to it, what inspired you to write this book?

So the book is a devotional and what inspired me to write it was my morning routine. People would always ask me what my morning routine was and I put it in a book. My morning routine is with God, it’s in scripture, it's in meditation, it's in exercise, it's in goal-setting, it’s in gratitude shifts and that's pretty much what produced the book.

5. What do you hope people gain from taking the '21-Day Journey'?

Oh my gosh! A place of being centered and a place of peace. Entrepreneurship right now is so on trend, and it's written for the female entrepreneur in mind, just to give them a solid foundation of being grounded as they pursue their goals.

6. Shifting to your other book My Fabulous & Fearless Journey: From Homeless To Hollywood how easy or how challenging was it for you be so transparent and vulnerable telling your narrative?

Authenticity, transparency, none of that is difficult for me alone. I’m a very rather honest and direction and blunt person. But I do understand that people are more able to relate to you when you are willing to be vulnerable and open. But no it wasn't difficult.

7. What’s the best advice you have for getting over writer’s block?

My best advice for dealing with writer's block is to stop overthinking the pen-to-paper process. People don't have talker's block. So that's why I say you just need to start talking and then just record whatever comes to your mind. Just get it all transcribed and then what you see later choose what you want to include and then include it.

8. What’s the best book you have read in the last year?

I'm always reading which makes this hard. I enjoyed You're a Badass.

9. How have advances in social media changed how you personally go about building your personal brand?

It's no different than anything else, I would say. Of course, social media has become a platform for everybody to reach more people. I had a business way before social media existed, so social media didn't make my business. But pretty much whatever we were doing in our business before, we now just display it more so on social media and from there we are reaching more people and just touching more lives.

It's definitely more exposure now. I'm a connector in general, I love connecting with people, so I've enjoyed the process of it.

10. Who has been an important mentor in your life, and what was the best lesson they taught you about success and happiness?

I have so many mentors in so many different areas, there are people who mentor me in my personal life and in my professional life. I don't know if I can just name one. Oh, I know a lesson one of my girlfriends gave me, which is, what you focus on expands!

11. Do you plan on writing more books in the future?

Of course!