holistic: The place where conscious meets cash, and ambition meets inner peace; the space in which all beings and ecologies are considered by asking questions like, How will this make them feel? Who will profit? Who pays? Where does this come from? Where do my thoughts go?; The bridling of intense desire with intelligent strategy; ruthless compassion.
Entrepreneurship has been my back door approach to having conversations about consciousness. All that fire starting and hustling brought me to a place where I’m simply more interested in love, and how to apply it in any given situation. These days, most of my philosophizing is about what I consider to be the most creative force in the universe: Desire. I’m curious about our relationship to “wanting”, and how we create lives that we love living.
Professionally-speaking, I once ran a future studies think tank in Washington DC, and started my own communications company. I skipped college, raised money, wrote books, learned to speak multimedia, and generally learned everything I know through bursts of obsession. Those details are here.
Creative highlights and lowlights
Biggest creative feat ever: born May 25 1969. My mom, a teen-ager at the time, brings me to college with her so she can finish her BA.
Nursery school teacher reports that I’m very bossy and motherly.
Age 7. First poem is rejected from curated collection.
Grade Two. Public speaking contest. I talk about how awesome Eskimos are. (This is subversive retaliation against the kids
who teased me for looking like an Eskimo.)
Draft my first young adult novel. Get criticized by a grown up.
Burn draft in the fire pit behind our barn.
Best part of high school was To Kill A Mocking Bird, by Harper
Lee.
Drop out of Fashion Design school application process when I
realize that sewing gives me migraines.
Work at a Romanian orphanage as a “Department of Social
Inventions” project with The Body Shop. First cultural heartbreak.
Santa Fe, New Mexico. I learn to worship the night sky (while
running my communications & marketing company by day.) I see Leonard Cohen at the Paolo Solari — religious experience.
I discover Rothko. I commit to having more patience with my art.
Jane Campion’s The Piano, and Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women
Who Run with the Wolves — I am beginning to consider what it
means to be free.
Psychedelics in San Francisco while helping authors self-publish.
Rilke, Rumi, Jim Morrison’s American Prayer fill my nights.
Dharamsala, India for a private meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Soul satisfied.
Resign as the executive director of a DC-based future-studies
think tank. I realize I’m more interested in the present.
Rejected from art school.
Vancouver 2004. Give birth to my son at home. Realize
that if I’m going to tell him to go after his dreams, I better fully go
after mine. I have no idea what it will mean, but I commit to live my
life as an artist.
Co-found a lifestyle media company. Write Style Statement: Live
By Your Own Design. Raise a bunch of capital. Oprah producers
call. First well-paid speaking gig.
Make one of those Top 40 under 40 lists, which just adds to my
complex that there’s so much more to do before I die.
I discover Jiddu Krishnamurti and feel so fucking liberated by
his viewpoints that I ease up on my to do list (kinda), and realize
that all I’ve ever wanted is freedom.
Speaking of freedom…in a coup d’etat, I’m fired from my own
incorporation. And then it hits me: creativity sovereignty rocks.
Launch WhiteHotTruth.com — later re-named DanielleLaPorte.com
— visit sixteen cities in one year to do group “Fire Starter
Sessions”. Come home full of great stories.
2009. Launch digital edition of The Fire Starter Sessions.
Alexander McQueen Exhibit at The Met. Decide that I want
to write like McQueen designed clothing: light. dark. light.
post: 1424 Commercial Drive, PO Box 21708 Vancouver BC, V5L 3XO Canada
If you need a non-PO Box delivery address for FedEx, couriers and such, please ask [email protected]
gifts, manuscripts, treats: I’m always lecturing my kid about not buying stuff we don’t need, recycling, and being grateful for what we have. “Live lightly on the land…” and all that. If you want to share some appreciation, love notes go straight to my heart (I read them on down days, seriously), and so do donations to any of these incredible charities I’ve supported: WriteGirl.org, Women for Women International, The Acumen Fund, Charity: Water.
The Fire Starter Sessions is so incredibly rich and deep. I read a bit and savor it. I ask myself the questions. I feel how I want to feel deep in my soul and then read on for more layers of goodness. I'm grateful for this book. I have it on my phone so I look forward to stealing moments throughout the day to take in a little more of it. I can't say enough how much I love it -- just like fine dark chocolate for the soul! Read the full review.
- JenPD
Danielle’s unique combination of pragmatism and love of profit, with high minded inspiration and dream, breathed life into (my) questions - enlarging them and illuminating them until I found the answers that were just right.
- Bri Saussy | MilagroRoots.com
A soulful Seth Godin-esque guide to getting fired up to achieve success, however you define it
Danielle Laporte is known for her witty, pithy blog posts and commentary which reframe old concepts in fresh ways. In short, she shares both common and uncommon wisdom in quotable, easy-to-remember bites which make you feel empowered to actually DO the things you want to do, and live the life you dream of!
This book has both the esoteric and the practical. Whatever your mood, There's an approach in here that's readymade for helping you feel in your soul that you're ready for action. Read the full review.
- Gen of North Coast Gardening
Are you Ready?
Not everyone is ready for Fire Starter Sessions. Let me tell you why. You may quit your job, leave your man, move to another city, quit graduate school or climb Kilimanjaro! Danielle goes for broke in breaking down all of the excuses we pad our lives with as we avoid the pain and work of being authentic.
Twenty years ago, the breakaway best-seller, The Artist's Way changed my life. Today, it's Fire Starter Sessions, it's the big girl's version of the Artist's Way. Read the full review.
- lyght_trvlr
"I was stuck in the mire of being halfway-done with my book proposal, and YBBBP rescued me. Linda & Danielle are like the best wise fairy godmothers a writer could ever want. The depth of the program reassured me that I was on the right track, and their honey-we've-been-there insights saved me hours of wasted time 'chasing rabbits.'
I got a book deal with the first and only publisher I submitted to (New World Library) and handed in the first draft of the manuscript - early!
YBBBP gave me clarity, encouragement and the solid information I needed, exactly when I needed it most."
