For 11-time best selling author Cheryl Polote-Williamson, slowing down soon is not an option. From an award-winning stage play (Soul Purpose) to countless books and now film, the motivational speaker and self-proclaimed “AuthorPreneur” is carefully crafting a Soul Movement and changing lives globally, one soul at a time.
“You can go through soul stirring experiences and come out on the other side victorious,” Polote-Williamson said confidently.
As candid recollections of rape, molestation, deceit, and suicide grace the pages of many of her co-authored titles, it’s through these stories that souls are being delivered, lives are being changed, and the true glory of God is being manifested. To date, she has helped over 144 individuals become best selling authors by telling their stories.
At the brink of success for her 11th best selling title, Soul Talk Volume II, the multi-faceted leader sits down with Inspire N Style Magazine to chat all things in purpose, capturing your calling, and the relentless pursuit of God’s excellence for everything that is good for the soul.
Leah Frazier: You have numerous books highlighting the word ‘soul’ in the title as well as a successful play that you won an award for entitled ‘Soul Purpose’. Why is there emphasis on this word, and what is this ‘Soul Movement?’
Cheryl Polote-Williamson: “It’s a movement where women get in touch with who they are, but particularly whose they are in their relationship with Christ. I realized that through helping people heal their heart and their mind – and particularly that deep penetrating hurt that has rocked them to their core –people needed to heal their souls. In healing their souls it would afford them the opportunity to be an even greater person than who they were before the experienced the hurt.”
So let’s take it a step back. Around April of 2016, you released the book Soul Talk, and then from there Soul Bearer, and then another book and then another. Most people stop after one or two successful titles. Why did you keep on?
“I realized that it was greater than just that one book and that one person – it was about helping a multitude of women share and shed the past hurts that have held them back from being greater, from being fuller, from being fulfilled, from being set free, from being restored, redeemed, renewed, etc. I realized that it was not just something that I wanted to do here in Dallas — it had to be worldwide, because women are hurting and have been hurting all over the world for a very long time.”
And was it at this point in time that you realized that this was your calling?
“I knew it well before — when God healed me from a deep, penetrating soulful hurt that had occurred in my life. When I got to the other side of that pain, God said to me, ‘If you will be still and if you are quiet, I will show you great and wonderful things.’ I knew that he was sending me out into the world to share with people how to heal from these wounds in order to be what they’re being called to be.”
Now the movement includes the healing of men’s souls as well. Tell us briefly about that.
“In bearing the soul, we realize that men do not talk – they keep a lot of things in. Women will talk but men will keep things in. Through the book Soul Bearer, it gave many men the opportunity to share what was on their hearts, their mind, but most importantly, what was in their soul. A lot of the stories were things that was keeping them up at night – some things the wives didn’t even know.”
And from the men to now soul restoration for couples as well?
“We realized that when you wound the soul of a couple, it takes out the family, it takes out the children, and when it affects a family…it starts to trickle into the community, the nation, and then the world. So if you can help couples heal their soul [and] their soul wounds, you’ll see a change in their families and in our society. The Soul 2 Soul book will be released in February 2019.”
So from here we have a lot to look forward to: The Power of Laughter Heals the Soul (Standup Comedy Series January 4th and 5th at TBAAL), Soulful Prayers (2019), Soul 2 Soul (February 2019), Soul Talk Volume III, The Soul of a Woman (November 2019), programming for your non-profit Soul Reborn, Authorpreneurship workshops, and more! We’re all “Souled Out!”
“I know it’s a lot, but I know it’s what I’m supposed to be doing because I don’t have to struggle. I don’t struggle in this. The opportunities just immediately come – opportunities for plays, movies, books – for relationships with people that I’ve had on my vision board for years. He chose me for such a time as this and I’m clear on that.”
