Meet Deedee Cummings Cummings

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deedee Cummings Cummings. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Deedee Cummings , so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.

It has helped me to realize that about 90% of what people say to you has nothing to do with you. I talk about this a lot more in my book that was just released called How to Dream. Most of the time when people are being negative it feels like that negativity is pointed at us, and maybe it is, but it is important to realize that the negativity is not about us. That negativity that they are trying to bring you is all about them and their journey. We do not have to allow the negativity of others to take up any bit of space in our minds.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a professional dreamer who is on a mission to help others achieve their dreams. As an author, therapist, attorney, and mom from Louisville, Kentucky, I have achieved many dreams in my lifetime. I founded Make A Way Media in 2014 after struggling to find books with characters who looked like my children. There were even less stories that reflected their life experiences. Since then, I’ve published 17 inspirational children’s books and am in the process of writing my first set of books for adults.

All of my books are hope-filled stories that model the social-emotional skills we all need to thrive. I am especially excited about my newest book for adults called How to Dream, which is out now. As a therapist, I am constantly getting a look into people’s thoughts and inner-worlds. Through many hours in my therapy chair, I’ve realized that we live in a world that crushes dreams.

Everything we’ve been told about dreams is wrong. Our dreams have been hijacked. Dreams aren’t just fanciful thoughts. They are the very reason we’re here. Dreams are the fuel we need for life. How to Dream is a practical, inspiring guide to help people uncover their dreams and passions and turn them into reality. It offers doable steps and momentous mindset shifts that will make you unstoppable.

You can get a sneak peek of the book by going to this page: https://mailchi.mp/360684eb1a66/how-to-dream-launch.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think the three skills or qualities that have been most impactful on my journey are:
1) That I am an avid reader.
2) That I don’t know how to give up.
and 3) That I remain open to things not looking exactly how I thought they would.
You can become a reader any time. You just have to find the area that you love to read about. Reading will change your life in all the best ways. It is free education and will increase more than just your intelligence, but your ability to be a better, more empathetic human being as well. It is also very beneficial to work with a mindset coach to train your mind on how to develop a growth mindset in order to achieve success in life. This can be a very powerful and lifechanging practice.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

We would love to collaborate with people working in the Broadway industry. I have a dream of turning my children’s series, Kayla: A Modern-Day Princess into a Broadway show. Many television and streaming services have caught up with including diverse stories in their programming, but Broadway still needs more diversity across the board from the shows for children to producers and artists. I am very interested and invested in telling more stories on Broadway about the lives of Black people so that more black people will feel that Broadway is a welcoming space for them and their families. Over the last couple of years there has been a dramatic increase in stories about Black and brown people, but it is something we have to consciously work to protect or we could lose it in the same way we are losing DEI programs right now.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

My headshot was taken by Irene Bibee of Vine and Branch Studio.

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