Why Linda believes celebrity
interviews are important, especially green ones...
Linda has spent many years interviewing celebrities and environmentalists and knows how motivating their stories can be. When she first started, the mass media wasn’t open to talking much about the environment, and little was known of the inner workings of celebrity life—if you can believe that! (Other than talk shows and the occasional special, like those by Barbara Walters, the current popular TV biography shows had yet to air.) Today, thankfully, green is both hot and cool, and increasing numbers of celebrities are using the public’s intense fascination with their lives as a platform from which to help entertain and enlighten at the same time.
When writing Lives Charmed, Linda’s goal was to deliver in-depth, meaningful content. She was encouraged by the media’s response and by the gratitude she received from the interviewees—who found the positive focus on their lives and the opportunity to help heal the planet refreshing.
Why are interviews with powerful people so valuable? Other than the obvious, which is that they have access to the biggest microphones and in the best of cases can galvanize the masses, Sivertsen explains that one of the gifts of being well known in our society is access to people and places that are cutting edge. Certainly not everyone, but many people in high-powered circles are fascinating, creatively fulfilled, and enriching the lives of countless people. Quality information involving the best innovations in health, motivation, organization, creating wealth, and changing the world, literally, are readily discovered and shared.
Having found many things her interviewees have in common, Linda chooses subjects whose experience and wisdom uplifts others to reach for more, to believe in more, and to know that they, too, can make a difference and dare to dream big—and preferably dream in green! Stories of how they overcame obstacles give others the courage to do the same. Spiritual guidance or practices that helped them help the reader. Environmental or social causes that inspired them to action inspire the reader to action. To quote Bill Moyers, "Talk matters because ideas empower." Instead of rehashing how they feel kissing their latest co-stars, the celebrities give tools and strategies (through vivid stories) that influence others to create their own enviable lives.
"The greatest compliments I receive about my work come from the skeptics, people who normally couldn't care less about a celebrity-driven book, article, or radio show. When they tell me that their lives were changed by someone else's passion or experience, I know I've done my job. I get to be a part of the solution. The people I interview are touched with great good fortune; it is a blessing to see them share their knowledge, experience, and humor with the planet, one that often needs their abundant, bigger-than-life thinking."
"...the world's most successful people are magnetized to her for a very simple reason: Linda brings out the best in everyone she touches."
— Mimi Donaldson, Public Speaker and
Best-Selling Author of Negotiating for Dummies
