LOVE YOU BOOK INTERVIEW – PINK PEARL PR
Why I Wrote ‘Love You’ – Lorna Jane Clarkson
Australia's iconic award-winning technical fashion brand designer, Lorna Jane Clarkson, releases her fifth book, Love You.
Fresh from the first leg of her book tour, we sat down with our one and only leading lady and wellness pioneer, Lorna Jane Clarkson, to gain a personal insight into her latest book, ‘Love You’.
Interview Questions:
What is Love You about?
Essentially ‘Love You” is about the incredible power and positivity you can bring in to your life when you decide to love and believe in yourself.
Why did you write Love You?
LOVE YOU is my 5th book and surprisingly not one that I set out to intentionally write.
For the past 18 months I’ve been running an Active Schools program for young girls where we teach the importance of loving and believing in yourself and the more I spoke about this message and saw how much it resonated not only with the students but with their teachers and their parents – I just knew that it was something that ALL women would benefit from.
I wanted to write about self-love because I wanted to inspire women to stop and think about where they are going with their lives, to instil in them the importance of taking care of themselves and to show them that they CAN bring about positive change in their lives.
I believe that self-love is important because everything good in your life starts with how YOU think and feel about yourself and I want to encourage ALL women to invest in themselves, back themselves, challenge themselves and ultimately love and believe in themselves enough to create a life that they love.
In this book, I talk about self-love and self-belief, the importance of authenticity and that making mistakes is inevitable and ultimately how we learn and move forward in life. I share the real stories of my personal journey (warts and all!), the daily rituals that keep me on track despite my busy schedule and what I do to take care of myself both physically and mentally so that I can live my life at 100%.
How did you come up with the title?
Honestly, I’m usually at least half way through a book before the title starts to emerge and it’s not until I begin writing the introduction (which is usually after I have decided on all of the content) that I start to seriously think about what the title should be.
I decided on LOVE YOU because I wanted the message to be crystal clear to the reader as soon as she saw the book. I also wanted her to feel loved when she received the book – so the title also serves as an “I love you” message from me and the Lorna Jane team.
Why do you think self-love is so important?
I know from my own personal experience just how important self-love is, because how you think and feel about yourself has a direct impact on your life. Without self-love, you can’t have self-belief and without self-belief and self-confidence it’s almost impossible to reach your full potential in anything that you do.
I think right now is the perfect time to focus on YOU and what you are doing with your life instead of getting caught up in what everyone else is doing and comparing their seemingly perfect lives with yours. Social media and our obsession with celebrity is taking our focus away from being WHO we are and taking our attention away from what we want to do with our lives. I think we need to stop seeking likes on social media and start to like ourselves. Spend less time looking at other people’s lives and start working on where we want to go with our own lives instead!
When you decide to love and believe in yourself, your whole world changes for the better and I want every woman to know this and understand how she can take back her power.
Why was this book difficult to write?
Honestly, it was tough to write because it was so personal. It’s a well-known fact that the media can be tough on people in the spotlight and I have certainly felt that over the last few years. There are more and more ‘click-bait’ headlines and they often lead to or report on unfounded and misleading facts. I haven’t spoken about it publicly before, but these were difficult times for me that played havoc with my self-confidence. I felt too scared to do or say anything, especially when I learnt that ‘no comment’ wasn’t really an option either.
I started to doubt myself and what I was doing with my life and had to find a way to re-gain my own self love and self-confidence as well as the fearlessness and ability to be open and honest that I had lost. When I was writing this book I started thinking about all the other women out there that may have gone through something similar in their lives causing them to lose their confidence, and wouldn’t it be great if I could somehow use the stories of my journey to help them overcome their fears, find self-love and get back on track to creating an amazing life for themselves.
Why did you feel the need to share so many personal stories in this book?
I think that it’s important for people to know what it really takes to live with passion and purpose – of course I want to inspire women to follow their dreams like I did, but I also want them to know that it can (and will) be hard sometimes.
I think by telling my ‘own’ personal stories it allows me to share with the reader what I believe are the key ingredients to move forward towards success in their lives. What it actually takes to step out of your comfort zone and make change. And that it’s perfectly okay for people to think that you are crazy!
In this book I also talk about the daily rituals that I know have carried me through the most difficult times. That taking care of your health both physically and mentally is always important, and that anything truly is possible when you make the commitment to LOVE and believe in yourself every day.
My stories teach you that nothing worthwhile is easy. Building something important takes time. That without passion you will never begin, without courage, you will falter and without drive and determination you will never finish.
What is it really like to work with your husband Bill?
Everyone is saying ‘surround yourself with good people’ so it confuses me when they’re surprised that so many of my friends and family work with me at Lorna Jane! I mean why wouldn’t you want to chase your dreams and build something with the people that you love?
Right now, the official count is – one best friend, one brother-in-law, a school friend of Bill’s, two sister-in-law’s, one brother, one husband and one dog … and quite honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love working with my husband and YES we do argue (a lot!) but it just never seems to affect our personal life or how we feel about each other.
I think that the people you spend time with is important – and It’s nice to know that you can trust each other, that there is a genuine human connection and that we have each other’s best interests at heart. Working with family certainly works for me, but I’m not going to say it will work for everyone!
What is your ultimate dream for females around the world?
I think that right now is an amazing time in history for women, and I want every one of them to know that they have the power to bring positive change into their lives, to reach their full potential, to be fearless and make a difference big or small in the world.
To pre-order your signed copy, visit Lorna Jane.
Lorna Jane is available to buy in stores in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, in 45 Sport Chek retail locations across Canada, online at sportchek.ca and online at lornajane.com
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About Lorna Jane
Lorna Jane began in 1989 when Lorna Jane Clarkson sewed her first one-off design
at her home in Brisbane, Australia. Since then, Lorna Jane has transformed her fashion vision into a world-leading activewear brand with over 250 stores worldwide and a connected community of over 3 million women embracing Lorna’s personal philosophy of Active Living.
The technical fashion label designed for women by women provides the perfect mix of fashion and function. Lorna Jane delivers active, innovative and inspirational activewear that aims to inspire all women to lead an active and fulfilling life.
