From Battles to Brushstrokes: Lena Webb's Therapeutic Art and Inspirational Story

Welcome to "The Beauty in You: Podcast!" In this episode, hosts Lena Webb and Chi Quita Mack explore the transformative power of starting small and following your passion. Lena Webb, an army veteran, author, and graphic artist, shares her incredible journey from joining the military to battling cancer and losing her eyesight. Discover how a simple coloring book became a lifeline during her recovery, leading her to become a therapeutic art coach for veterans.

Lena and Chi Quita discuss the unique challenges faced by black women in the military, the importance of leaving a legacy, and the value of using creative talents. Learn about Lena's innovative work with custom coloring books and self-discovery journals, and how she empowers others to embrace their gifts.

Tune in for an inspiring conversation about resilience, creativity, and the importance of pursuing your calling. 

Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to "The Beauty in You" for more motivational content!

To work with Lena Webb: https://yourartisticexpressions.com/

To work with Chi Quita Mack:
Take Back Your Life 1-on-1 Coaching — Life Coach - The ChiQuita Mack
To Purchase The Beauty in You Workbook:
https://www.thechiquitamack.com/shop-tcm/p/the-beauty-in-you-a-guide-created-to-help-you-discover-the-best-version-of-you
Chi Quita Mack's Website: https://www.thechiquitamack.com
Chi Quita Mack Shop/ Merchandise: https://www.thechiquitamack.com/shop-tcm
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechiquitamack

Chapters

• 4:45 Struggling with depression after cancer diagnosis and blindness
• 9:05 Striving for representation, creating personal art
• 16:39 Learning from experiences and finding purpose afterwards
• 25:33 Struggle to maintain identity in demanding career
• 30:39 Imprint love and impact, even after passing

Transcript

Jacqueline G. [00:00:01]:
Welcome to the Beauty in you podcast, a safe place created for all women to come relax, get inspired, and be constantly reminded that they have not lost the ability to be who they once were. Join us as we dive into the true meaning of rediscovery through inspiring guests and topics such as healing, self love, and creating a positive mindset. So sit back, relax, and get comfortable as we dive into this week's episode. Here is your host, Chiquita Mack.

Chi Quita Mack [00:00:29]:
Hey, y'all. Welcome back to another episode of the Beauty and you podcast. I am so excited. And this is my army sister. She's an army vet. I'm serving right now. You know, we got to stick together and I cannot wait for you to hear her story. She is an accomplished author and the creative force behind blue impressions design.

Chi Quita Mack [00:00:48]:
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, and now residing in Alabama, she brings over 30 years of experience as a graphic artist, weaving captivating stories and creating inspiring digital art. Her enhancing creations celebrate the human spirit through custom journals, coloring books and more. As a certified therapeutic art coach, she empowers inspiring authors to share their unique narratives, guiding them on a journey of creativity and personal discovery. As a retired army veteran, devoted wife, and loving mother, she infuses her work with resilience and compassion. Welcome to the beauty and you podcast. Lena Webb. How are you?

Lena Webb [00:01:30]:
I'm doing well, thank you. Thank you so much. How are you this morning?

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:34]:
I'm doing well. I can't complain. I can't complain. I'm here, I'm alive. So we gonna do it. So, as you know, the podcast is called the beating you and I am so fascinated by other people's stories and how, you know, they take what they've gone through and learn the lessons from it, and then they are shining now. So walk me through part of your rediscovery journey.

Lena Webb [00:01:57]:
Yeah. So thank you so much for that. So my journey was probably one of the most. Well, for me, it was odd, right? So, you know how you look back on things, you're like, man, all that kind of ties together so early on. Like you said, I'm a graphic designer by trade, so I went to school for that. And I figured, you know, at 20, you think you're not making a lot of money. So I work for a lot of good companies in Detroit, so I thought I would make a lot of money and I figured I'd go back to school. So I go back to school, I go back to college, and about, I think the second semester in, you know, the college politely asked me to leave because I did not have the money to stay and, you know, to pay for it.

Lena Webb [00:02:33]:
So that started my career into the army. So I went off to Fort Jackson and was serving, doing all the things, you know, living my best life, just, you know, serving. And in about. I think I was in about 19 years, and I wake up one day and go to the doctor, take my kids to the doctor, and I get this devastating news that I have cancer.

Chi Quita Mack [00:02:57]:
Oh, okay.

Lena Webb [00:02:59]:
So that right there just kind of shifted my world, shifted my life. It shifted everything. Everything I thought I knew, everything I thought I loved was questioned how I thought I was gonna take care of my kids and my family at that time. I just questioned everything, you know, not knowing what life was going to look like for me, you know, let alone if I was going to be able to continue to serve, you know, doing the thing that I love. Right. Which was being all that I could be. Right. That's cool.

Lena Webb [00:03:25]:
Yeah. So I was really just traumatized by that. And then to add to that, I'm still worried about going back, you know? And you can relate to this. The army don't care. They think that once you come back, you supposed to show up like you was when you left. Right.

Chi Quita Mack [00:03:40]:
So.

Lena Webb [00:03:40]:
So I'm in literally in the hospital, like, every day with my chemo pole, which I had gave her name. Her name was Charlene girl. Me and Charlene will walk the hallways every day because I want it to stay in shape. So in my mind, I'm thinking, I'm going back when this is over. I got to go back because the treatment was all inpatient, so it was four months inpatient. So every day, I would get up and walk. I walked two and a half miles because that was the thing for walking, right back then. So I would get up, walk some two and a half miles.

Lena Webb [00:04:08]:
And I know them nurses had to think I was like, Looney. She get up every morning and push this pole up and down the hall, two and a half miles. But that was my mind's way of just giving me something else to do to try and stay focused on something else versus on my treatment. And then one day, I get up, wake up, and I can't see the chemo treatment has taken my eyesight. And I wake up, and I'm screaming for the nurse. The nurses, you know, the nurses. Normally, you know, nurses don't scream, but this nurse, she screamed for the doctor, right? And the doctors came. They called all these specialists, and it was traumatic.

Lena Webb [00:04:45]:
I mean, you talk about depression. I was, like, literally depressed, not knowing if I was going to be able to beat the cancer was one thing, but not to add losing my eyesight to it was a whole nother level, right? Not knowing, not being able to see my kids, not being able to see what was in front of me, not being. Just not knowing what life was going to look like. So if I thought I was questioning life before with just the diagnosis of leukemia, I was really questioning everything at this point because I'm like, man, is it just going to get worse? You know, that's where I felt. And then to add to that, my dad, at the time, I was taking care of him, and he had cancer, so I knew what it looked like for him, right? I knew what that looked like. And I'm like, man, is that what life is about to look like for me? So I didn't want to be here. I was like, I don't want to go through that. I don't want to take my kids through that.

Lena Webb [00:05:36]:
I didn't want to go through that. So it was a really dark time, but it was just. It questioned everything. It questioned everything. Every choice I made. I was like, did I do the right thing? I was a single parenthood. Who's gonna take care of these kids and who gonna take care of my dad? And what about the, you know, soldiers I had at the time? I was like, what? You know, everything was in question, but it just. It took me to a really dark place.

Lena Webb [00:05:59]:
So it was a challenge. It was. It was a really huge challenge.

Chi Quita Mack [00:06:03]:
Wow. All I can say is, wow. And look at you now. You're here.

Lena Webb [00:06:08]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:06:09]:
Made it through.

Lena Webb [00:06:10]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:06:11]:
What an inspiration. Seriously. Wow. I'm blown away.

Lena Webb [00:06:18]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:06:18]:
I'm blown away by that. What a scary moment. I can't imagine putting myself in those shoes and then not being able to see. I can't. I can't imagine that at all.

Lena Webb [00:06:28]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:06:28]:
What strength that you have and you still have to this day. You still have to this day. What are some things that you think got you through that moment? I know going through you were just like, I got to get through. But looking back and doing some self reflection, what got you through?

Lena Webb [00:06:49]:
Well, I know one of the things that got me through was my faith. My faith. Even though I was questioning things, I still had it. Right. So just because we have faith doesn't mean we don't question it. So that, and then my family. So, like I said, I had it. I was a single parent, so I was like, well, if I'm not here, who's going to take care of my daughter, right? So that was probably the second biggest thing.

Lena Webb [00:07:08]:
So, yeah, that those two things, for sure got me through it. But in the process of going through that period, it was odd just looking at. Thinking about how it happened. One day, this lady just. You know how they had the hospital nurse. Not the nurses, the volunteers, little nurse company. And this is about four months in, they've had all these. They've had little specialists come, like, fly in from different eye hospitals, like, clinics, to come in and check on little me and my little eyeballs, like, to try and figure out what was going on, right? Because they had never seen anything like it.

Lena Webb [00:07:40]:
So these people, they had a doctor come from India, like, he did speak any English, but he came in and was doing all this stuff. It was like torture to me, because your eyes are very sensitive, so they're, like, putting stuff in your eyes and looking at them all the time, and they felt like sandpaper, like. Like, really gritty. And then the light burned them, so it was, like, a lot of discomfort. And so they got it to the point where I seen a little. Like I could see, only that I see was, like, a little. Almost like a mustard seed of light. That was it.

Lena Webb [00:08:11]:
That's the only thing I could see, was, like, this little. This little hole of light. So anything I needed to see, I would, like, try and move it in front of this little hole in my eye to see. That was it. And so this particular day, this volunteer comes in the room, and she's like, hey, would you like some water? Would you like a book, or would you like this coloring book? And that's. You know. And I'm like, this lady see me laying in the dark every day. She know I can't see, you know? That was what was going through my mind.

Lena Webb [00:08:38]:
I was like, let me get the water, and let me get that. Let me get that coloring book. So she gave. She took the look, the coloring book, and this coloring book had Barney on it. It had big bird, it had ABC, it had one, two, three. Nothing that looked like me. Nothing that resonated with me. But I would use the book at the time as a tool to try and focus my eyes, right? And then, as I would get better, I would use that.

Lena Webb [00:09:05]:
I was like, okay, well, if this thing doesn't look like me or resonate with me, then I can make my own, if I could see it, right? So that's all I could. Kept thinking, like, if I, you know, at one time, I could make my own, because I could, you know, but I couldn't see at that time. So I'm like, okay, well, if I. If my eyes get better, I could just. And make my own. I can make stuff that looks like me and resonate with me. Some time would pass, and then eventually, because of the depression was so heavy, I would use journaling, right. To help me try and pass through that.

Lena Webb [00:09:35]:
And the journaling between the journaling and the coloring book between the two, those are kind of what helped me mentally to try to me to say staying so those two tools together. So once I had my vision back enough where I could see good enough, I would make my own. So I'm like, well, if I have this issue, then my clients will have the same issue as well. So hence, I would start making my own for myself first. And then years later, I would make them for other people. So it made me realize, one, the gifts that I had that I didn't use fully, right? So it was like, it's shocking the way, you know, things work. And God says, listen, I made you to do this. This thing, and you're not doing it right.

Lena Webb [00:10:17]:
To me, the tap on the shoulder was probably the cancer, right? It was like, okay, listen, okay, you've done enough. You've done the time in the army. Now I need you to focus and do what I need you to do. And I didn't do that. So I think. Cause in my mind, I was still striving to get back to being in the army, to get back to being all I could be. I mean, I was planning it out. I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna do another 20 years.

Lena Webb [00:10:37]:
And that was my mindset. And I think it just took that shaking from him to say, listen, okay, enough of that. I need you to think bigger than that. I got some other things I need you to do. You know, you have these gifts. You have these talents, although you're using them, you're not using them to your full capacity, you're playing with them. Because, you know, I was doing freelance stuff because the army was my job, so I would freelance to do contract stuff on the side. But this, I think that, you know, people say things happen to you.

Lena Webb [00:11:08]:
I think it would happen. This happened for me. It happened for me to realize the gifts and the talents that I had and the purpose that I have while I'm here on this side of heaven. Right? So for me to tap into that and to use it. So, yeah, it's a crazy story, and I guess it's one of those things I'm grateful for.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:26]:
Yes.

Lena Webb [00:11:27]:
Because it could have happened at any time.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:29]:
So it's a beautiful story. A couple of things that you said that I'm like, journaling. Oh, my gosh. Journaling saved me, too, when I went journaling.

Lena Webb [00:11:40]:
Save lives. I don't.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:42]:
It's just something about getting it out on paper and just processing that and having that time. Like when I was going through my deep depression years, years ago, that raggedy little journal saved my life.

Lena Webb [00:11:58]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:59]:
It just allowed me to get out. I had a hard time expressing myself and really saying, what's wrong? But I could write it on paper. And so I just utilized that to write. So y'all out there that's listening, y'all better find you a journal.

Lena Webb [00:12:15]:
Yeah. Yes. Notebooks and paper.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:18]:
Something. You don't have to be fancy just to get it.

Lena Webb [00:12:22]:
Listen, I tell people now, like, some of my clients, I use your phone, right? No, app. Just put it. Just put it in there. Right? Just to get it out. Once you get it out, you feel so much, so much better. But we hold stuff in. We hold stuff in so much.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:39]:
So we really do another thing. You said that. I'm like, oh, Washington, your gifts. Just having those gifts, we know what they are. They're there, and we don't always use them to their full potential. And I can relate, not extreme to everything that happened to you, but just not using the gift that well, I believe that we know what we're supposed to be doing. Like that passion, like that passion of what we're supposed to do. We know what we love to do.

Chi Quita Mack [00:13:13]:
We may get it buried a little bit in motherhood and being a wife and all them other things, but ultimately, we know what it is that we would love to do, and we just let everything else jump on top of that. Or we kind of talk ourselves out of why we shouldn't be doing something and why this is what we need to be like. For you, for example, you had all the gifts, but you're like, I'm going to go back to the army. I'm going to go back. But you've already had all. You did your time. You learned everything the army could teach you, and you already had these gifts sometimes. And I'm not gonna lie, when I went through my stuff, I'm like, lord, why is this so extreme? You doing too much, right? And what my face.

Chi Quita Mack [00:13:51]:
I'm doing this for a reason. I have to make it extreme, because had he not made it extreme, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. I wouldn't be helping as many women as I'm helping by sharing their story and this power of healing. So I just think that sometimes, even though it's extreme, it's like when you do self reflection, it. Maybe it had to be, right?

Lena Webb [00:14:13]:
I think it has it for me. Obviously, it had to be. If I. I'm, like, thinking back, I'm like, man, I was literally walking around the hospital pushing a chemo pole for the army. Like, literally, like, girl quit, right?

Chi Quita Mack [00:14:27]:
They replaced us in a heartbeat.

Lena Webb [00:14:29]:
Right? In a heartbeat. Listen, I mean, to this day, I haven't heard anything from them. Right? They didn't come check. They didn't do any of that stuff, matter of fact. Well, you know how the army is. They give you so much grief because you're going through this thing and you. And you're not there. Yeah.

Lena Webb [00:14:43]:
So it was a trying time. So, yeah, so I guess. Well, I know it had to be extreme because it took all that to kind of deprogram me and have me think differently. So.

Chi Quita Mack [00:14:58]:
Yeah, so when we started creating your coloring books, first set of coloring books for yourself, what were your ideas and what did you actually create? Like, what was your first set of books?

Lena Webb [00:15:09]:
So it was just for me. I made some, like, printouts. It was a. It was an army girl, and she looked like me, so she, you know, she had features like me.

Chi Quita Mack [00:15:18]:
Right?

Lena Webb [00:15:18]:
She had hair like me. So it was an army girl and she had affirmations. And so it was like a coloring book slash journal. So the books we make are, like, unique, right? So they're like, it doesn't have to be just one set thing. It doesn't have to be just coloring pages. Could be a coloring book slash workbook slash journal. It could be all the things in one. So we custom make things to whatever our clients like or need for their clients.

Lena Webb [00:15:41]:
So the thing that we make doesn't just help one person, it helps multiple people. So that's the gift and the gift that I have. Right. So. But the thing that I made was, I was going to therapy. You know how the therapists give you, like, sometimes they give you, like, a little worksheet, right? So this worksheet was. It was just a general, like, worksheet. So I took it home and I made this look, the little army lady.

Lena Webb [00:16:04]:
And I put the things that they had on the worksheet on the page, like, so I took that and recreated it and revived it. And so I would just do that, like, over and over and over again. And then I would question, I was like, man, this coloring thing and journaling really resonated with me. On multiple levels. And so I got curious on the things with color and why that was so soothing to me. So that's when I went to school and became a. A therapeutic art coach, because that in itself just kind of really intrigued me. So then I learned about colors and things like that and why certain things in the color space resonated with me.

Lena Webb [00:16:39]:
So that helped me to learn more about myself, but also to help. It helped me identify different type of people that I was working with and how I could transcribe that for my clients to identify things that they need to look for with their clients. So it was really. I mean, when I look back on it, I'm like, man, this was really divine alignment, the way it played out, right? Like, who would have thought after, you know, by the time it was all done and over with, you know, the time in the army and stuff like that, that I will go back to the thing that. That I was doing before I even went in to the army. So.

Chi Quita Mack [00:17:11]:
Yeah, see, because you already had to get.

Lena Webb [00:17:14]:
I already had it, right? Yeah, just already there. I was just playing with it all those years. Just, you know, I would do a little contract stuff here and there while I was in, but, yeah, afterwards. So now that's, you know, I can't see. I guess I don't see any other way that it probably would have happened, because I probably. If it was up to me, I probably would have still been there. Now that's just.

Chi Quita Mack [00:17:35]:
Yeah, I'm trying to get out.

Lena Webb [00:17:38]:
I had my moments, you know, but I had just. I had went in and listed, so I did, like, 18 years enlisted, and then I switched over to the officer side. So I was like, at that point, I was going to start a whole nother career, right? So, yeah, I probably would have still been in, so they would have put me out, which they did. Right? Cause I was like. They were like, just get out. You got 20 years. I was like, no, sir. No, ma'am.

Lena Webb [00:18:03]:
Y'all want me out of here? I'm sitting here to. Y'all put me out because I don't struggle. I know what that looks like, you know, trying to get your benefits. Y'all don't want me here. Y'all gonna have to put me out. And they did. They did. They was like, girl, you can't wear no gear.

Lena Webb [00:18:18]:
Your bones too brittle, you know, from the treatment. You just can't do it. I was like, well, y'all will me out. Y'all gotta put me out of here, cuz. Uh, yeah, so he. Yeah, so they did. They put me out, but they took care of me, so they rightly so. So, yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:18:32]:
It's so funny.

Lena Webb [00:18:33]:
They did. Yeah. You getting up out of here. You're getting up out of here. Don't worry.

Chi Quita Mack [00:18:37]:
You don't want to go. Don't worry about it. We got you. We got initiate.

Lena Webb [00:18:41]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:18:42]:
You gonna sign that?

Lena Webb [00:18:43]:
Was that by itself was, uh. Um. Shoot, I probably could write a book about that, you know, process of what that looked like, because, you know, when. When they got to put you out, they don't like you. They don't care if it is because of cancer. They do not like you. They like you. Won't get out.

Lena Webb [00:18:57]:
Now, you making us work. So, yeah, we're going to give you a little hic. Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:01]:
We could probably do a lifetime movie about in the military, that man as a black woman.

Lena Webb [00:19:14]:
Oh, my goodness. Don't have a little, you know, be in a position of leadership or something like that. That's a whole nother thing.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:21]:
A whole nother ball game.

Lena Webb [00:19:24]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:25]:
Only one go there. We go offline.

Lena Webb [00:19:28]:
Yes, yes, yes. You said you still is, so we don't want to mess that up.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:33]:
Yeah, we can't. We can't mess it up.

Lena Webb [00:19:36]:
Yeah. Right. We don't want to mess that up. And nothing to ironically happen to my check that comes. So we'll leave that alone.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:45]:
We ain't gonna touch that.

Lena Webb [00:19:46]:
No, we ain't gonna touch it. We're not gonna do that.

Chi Quita Mack [00:19:47]:
We're not gonna do that. Oh, my goodness. I want to talk a little bit more about you as a therapeutic coach and more about that. People that may not know exactly what that is. Can you talk me through kind of what. What it is and what exactly that you do for that?

Lena Webb [00:20:04]:
Yeah. So, specifically, I work with. I only do the therapeutic art coaching with veterans. Right. So as we know that we are a special breed. We just. Special one. It takes a special person to do what we do.

Lena Webb [00:20:19]:
Sometimes people discredit that. You know, they think anybody just can sign up, but it's not the signing up part. It takes a lot to sign up to say, okay, well, I'm gonna sign my name on this piece of paper and turn my life over to some folks I don't know, and I have no say on where I go and what I do. Right. You might pick what mos or what job skill you. You want to pursue, but sometimes that don't even work out. Right. You can pick it, and then you get somewhere and they say, well, we know you're supposed to be being a mechanic.

Lena Webb [00:20:45]:
But I want you to go over here and be a cook, and you can't do nothing but do it, right? Take special people to. We're just as we're special breed. So when it comes to communicating, our communication skills are different, right? So sometimes we. We put on this battle shield because that's what it takes for us to survive. So with therapeutic art, what they're able to do is just come in and just create and just not really, you know, they can communicate without communicating, if that makes sense. So certain colors have certain meanings, certain expressions, right? So, you know, if somebody comes in and they splashing a whole bunch of red on their paper, then you might. That might. Can tell you something, right? Either they're passionate about something or they're driven, or they may be, you know, there may be some anger or something going on, right? Or if they do it a whole bunch of yellow, then, you know, oh, they feeling happy.

Lena Webb [00:21:33]:
Happy. Joy. Joy, right? So it's. It just depends, right? And you can. The same concept can be used with kids where you can almost communicate with them or know how they're feeling without knowing what's actually going on with them. But I find a lot of times we work with us as veterans, we sometimes we say one thing, but we're really feeling something else, right? We just been programmed that way to just, you know, put things to the side or tuck it away just to deal with the mission, right? Just to deal with the mission. And I know for myself, I served as a casualty assistant officer for several years, and that is one of the most rewarding jobs, but it's one of the most stressful jobs, right? Because who wants. Who wants to go knock on somebody's family door and give them bad news, right? And so I did that for years.

Lena Webb [00:22:22]:
And it for me, just to do that job, I had to, like, just kind of disconnect from that person being a person and just treat it as a mission. And that's what we do. We just like, okay, forget that it's a person behind these things that's happening, and let's just get to the mission and get it so we can get it done. And then we are experts in that. I mean, we are. We have that nailed down. We can camouflage some stuff internally and externally, like nobody's business. So it helps them to take the camouflage off, in a sense.

Lena Webb [00:22:54]:
So I love being able to do it, and I like being able to. To help them. Just give them a moment to take the camouflage off. Now, some of them, when they walk out the door, they put that stuff back on, but for those moments that they're in that space, they're able to take the camouflage off.

Chi Quita Mack [00:23:11]:
I love it. Yeah, I love it. When you're saying camouflage, I'm like, oh, my God. When I put that uniform on, I am a completely different person. It's like everything locks up like. Like I am, you know, while I'm walking through the halls, they're like, ma'am, you look so mean. I'm like, my bad. You know? But it's not on purpose.

Chi Quita Mack [00:23:30]:
It's because I have to be a certain way to get what I have to get done.

Lena Webb [00:23:37]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:23:38]:
And it is so protective. And then when I get home and I take it off, and I'm like, lord. But, yeah, the moment we put it on, we're just like a different person.

Lena Webb [00:23:47]:
Mm hmm. You know, if you. Especially if you. After a while, you just. That just becomes. Become so routine. You don't. You.

Lena Webb [00:23:57]:
It's more of a challenge to let who you really are come through versus you let the soul that you are, you know, be forefront. So it took years for me. I mean, years. Like year. Yeah, years. And I revert back to it sometimes, and I have to catch myself. Like, it's okay. Like, you know, you.

Lena Webb [00:24:15]:
Your facial expression, especially a woman, a woman of color, you can don't be smiling. Right. It's like my face is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then I learn to be intentional with a smile. Right. Or check myself, like, okay, okay. You know, you want to come off.

Lena Webb [00:24:28]:
It's hard. Or, you know, or something like that. So. Yeah, because that's not my intent. Right. If that's just how I had to be, then for so many years. So learn how to peel that stuff back. It's a challenge.

Lena Webb [00:24:40]:
It's a challenge. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of work. Yeah, yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:24:45]:
Definitely have to be intentional and just. Just in life, like, I find myself being intentional, like, through. Through everything because I don't want to be hard. I watch my dad, too, because he served for 22 years, and so I watched him, and it took him a minute to get back into society, too, so just watching him and what he's gone through and being intentional, and then paperwork wise, too, like, don't have my dad filled no paperwork. He not doing it. So I'm like, dad, you can educate yourself on this stuff. A lot of things that's happening, you know, let's come back here. So it's like watching him, too.

Chi Quita Mack [00:25:14]:
But, yes, I have to be intentional about every single part of that, like, smile, girl, fix your, like, fix your face.

Lena Webb [00:25:21]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:25:23]:
Know my heart.

Lena Webb [00:25:25]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And people don't know, you know, because a lot in the military, a lot of time, people don't get to know you. They just know you as the soldier.

Chi Quita Mack [00:25:33]:
Right.

Lena Webb [00:25:33]:
Or the person does that job, they don't know you, right. And especially for me, I didn't know me. I had lost me, right. The things that I like, the things that I enjoy, the things that I love. But that's what I had to do to do what I did for so long, right. For 20, over 21 years, that's just what I had to become to survive. Just keeping the mission in front of me and what I had to do to make it to the next step, especially if you're trying to excel or trying to go up a career ladder as a woman, for one, was a challenge. As a woman of color is a whole nother thing.

Lena Webb [00:26:05]:
Right? That's a whole nother thing, right. And then a woman in leadership, that's just a whole nother thing because, yeah, they you a woman, you of color, and you want me to listen to and do what you say. They gonna do it because they have to, but they gonna give you the flux in the process. Right. They're not gonna make it easy. So that's a whole nother world. A whole nother world.

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:27]:
So, yeah, I just, like, watch me work. Just watch me work. I can't even go. Go against that now, especially coming into new assignments and trying to start over and building that rapport. It is a whole thing. That's where I'm at right now. I'm like, the struggle is real, but don't you worry about it. Just watch it work.

Lena Webb [00:26:44]:
Yeah, but it shouldn't be that way, right?

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:47]:
It shouldn't be.

Lena Webb [00:26:48]:
Okay, here I am. I'm here to do the job. What's my assignment? What's my job? Let me do it. But, no, we have to go. And not only we have to do our job, but we have to prove to them that we can do our job.

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:58]:
Yeah. I'm like, these next 90 days, I'm like, but it's okay. I got it.

Lena Webb [00:27:04]:
Yeah, you got it. You got it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:07]:
I got it. So I want to talk about you as an author. Do you have a few books?

Lena Webb [00:27:14]:
I do.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:15]:
Okay, let's talk about your book.

Lena Webb [00:27:16]:
Several books. So, my dad was an author, right? So my dad started the stuff. Right, with the book. So he was an author, and he wrote a lot about religion because he was a pastor, so he wrote a lot about religion. So for me, when I decided to write a book, I was like, well, I want to do something different. And so now that I'm in this space where I don't have to be so dressed right. Dress or in a uniform. No, I don't.

Lena Webb [00:27:40]:
I don't want to do that. I don't want to do stuff that everybody else is doing.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:43]:
Right.

Lena Webb [00:27:44]:
Let me do out the box. Let me color outside the lines. Let me figure out how I could be a little creative with it, right. Or add my own personality to it, which is probably something they probably should not have wanted me to unleash. Right?

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:56]:
Unleash it.

Lena Webb [00:27:58]:
Just unleash it. So I had to learn to unleash it and embrace it. Right. And embrace it. So in that process, I found that I don't have to. I don't want to write what everybody else writes. I don't want to write like that. You know, some people want to hear about that story.

Lena Webb [00:28:12]:
I just got to where I will talk about that over the last year or two. Wow, that's crazy. Right? But I was still doing the thing, so I just started using my story in this type of setting, but. So I decided when I would write a book, the first thing I did was a coloring book. Of course, right?

Chi Quita Mack [00:28:28]:
Of course.

Lena Webb [00:28:29]:
The coloring book with affirmations. And the title of that one was called I decide my vibe. But she is. She's my mantra, because I refuse to let anybody else in this time of my life to decide how I feel.

Chi Quita Mack [00:28:44]:
Yeah.

Lena Webb [00:28:45]:
Right? I've done that for years. Right. You know, I mean, the army tell you almost everything to include. You're not feeling. You just do the work. There's no feelings. No feelings involved. So, yeah, that's my mantra.

Lena Webb [00:29:00]:
I decide my vibe. I don't let anybody have that power over me to make me feel a certain kind of way or put me in a box to feel a certain kind of way. So you can do what you want to do, but how I feel about it is my business. Right. So I did that one, and I did a couple other children's coloring books, and then I did decided to do just journaling, because journaling, to me, was like, the journalists save lives. The journalists save lives. Yeah. So a whole bunch of journals that.

Lena Webb [00:29:28]:
That just had different pictures that look like me or people that I know or. And a lot of them are actual pictures. So I take pictures of people and turn those into coloring pages.

Chi Quita Mack [00:29:38]:
Okay.

Lena Webb [00:29:39]:
Right. So that's where we make the custom coloring books. So we did that. And then I did a couple of books with. I did a poetry book. So, yes, I took some of the stuff from one of the journals, like, with some of the favorite topics, like everything from jet skiing to talking about ptsd and depression and all that. It was just something I just needed to just get out. And so I did that as well.

Lena Webb [00:30:05]:
And I was like, well, you know what? You're doing all these other types of books. Let's try that. And so I did that, and I use it now. Sometimes I'll go do spoken word and things like that. But, yeah, so that was, like, one of them books. Like, I'm gonna put it out. I don't really care what people think about it, right?

Chi Quita Mack [00:30:20]:
Yeah, yeah, it'd be like that.

Lena Webb [00:30:23]:
I'm gonna just do it anyway. Let's just do it. So I did that. It's like, even a poem about Detroit where I'm from. So stuff like that. So it was just, like, some of my favorite things, things that I bought my dogs. I like dogs more than people because they loyal. Yeah, they loyal.

Lena Webb [00:30:39]:
They'll give you a hard time, you know, give them a treat, give them some food, give them a rub, and they just listen. Love you forever. So, being an author, it just allows me to tap in things that I haven't really been able to express over the years. So just let me put that stuff in writing. And it just left me to be able to leave a legacy far beyond what I'll be here. And that's probably one of the biggest things I look at life now with. Like, how can I impact the world when I'm not physically here anymore, right. And that's a gift in itself, just to be able to do something that's going to help other people when I'm not here.

Lena Webb [00:31:20]:
The things that I've been able to create over the past few years, they'll be able to still be able to help people even if I'm not here tomorrow. So that when I think about. Think about it in that regard, it's just. It just makes me happy. Right? It makes me happy to know that the gifts that I have that out that I'm now in the position to use, because, trust me, I will not go back to not listening and not doing the thing, so I will not do that. And I don't want anybody else to do that. So now I encourage other people, like, if you know you're supposed to be doing something, do it right, do it. Don't.

Lena Webb [00:31:55]:
Don't let the Lord tell me more than once to do the thing. So. Yeah, yeah, but, yeah. Just being an author is a whole different space, and it allows me to do the thing that I love to do, which is, you know, to help other people, but it allows me to be creative in a different sense, and then to use those things as tools to be able to go and speak and be able to go empower other people and to be an inspiration to other people. So it's a different space. My mother's an author as well, and she does. She has a devotional.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:30]:
Okay.

Lena Webb [00:32:31]:
Devotional. So her and my dad both are in the faith based space there. Yeah. So their. Their books are like that. My dad, he passed some years ago, but his books are still here. Right? So his books are. Yeah, right.

Lena Webb [00:32:44]:
So they're still here, but they. I was like, well, you know that Lord Jesus, that's. That's not my calling. I don't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My ministry is a little different, you know, so, yeah, and rightly so. So I'm just glad to be able to be amongst that, to have to add that title as well, you know? So, yeah, I love being an author.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:03]:
I love it. Yeah, I love it. Because what you're doing is. And I want you guys to listen to everything that she just said. You are doing something outside of the mold, you know, like your business. There it is.

Lena Webb [00:33:17]:
I love her anywhere. This is my favorite. So this. Yes. So this was an actual friend of mine, and I turned her into a color page. So she is. So she's my favorite. And listen, every time I have to do, like, a photo shoot or something, this is my girl.

Lena Webb [00:33:35]:
She is with me everywhere. And it's just, like I said, she's my mantra. And I think as long as I keep her in my forefront, you know, we good.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:42]:
I love that. Oh, I love that one.

Lena Webb [00:33:45]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:45]:
Okay. Yeah, yeah, I need that one.

Lena Webb [00:33:48]:
Yeah. So then when I was telling you about the journal, the journal. So this is another one with the custom digital art, and then it's prompted. Self discovery journal. So I said, it's different. We. It's a little different. It's different.

Lena Webb [00:34:04]:
Most people think of a journal, you know, just some lines and some paper. But, yeah, I try and do things look. Look creative. Little different.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:12]:
And that's different. Is good.

Lena Webb [00:34:14]:
Yeah, it is different.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:15]:
Is good. And that's what I was saying. Like, you are doing something that most people, they start a business, they're gonna do cookie cutter. They're gonna follow what everybody else is doing. And you literally was like, I'm gonna be expressive. I have so much talent here. I'm going to go outside of the lines because that's where I belong. I was already in somebody's box, and I want to be there no more.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:33]:
And that's what you're doing. And you found success in that. And so I encourage people to do the thing that you are supposed to be doing. Add your flavor to it, though, and keep going. You know, don't follow anyone else's path. Do what, you know, as scary as it can be being on the other side of that line, but that's what you're supposed.

Lena Webb [00:34:51]:
That's where you're supposed to be. That's what you're made for, right? Yeah. There's only one you. And the thing that you're holding on to can help so many other people. Right? And I think that's. It took a lot for me to realize that the thing that I'm holding on to. Cause at first, I was just making them for me. Like, I'm just.

Lena Webb [00:35:08]:
I'm just going home making them for myself. And I'm like, well, shucks, you about to get out the army. What you gonna do, girl?

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:15]:
What you gonna do?

Lena Webb [00:35:18]:
What you gonna do now? Retirements look good. You know, all that stuff. You know, so. But what you gonna do? You just. What you gonna do? Hence, that's what I'm like, well, if I'm gonna do it, I need to be able to do it, do it my way. Yeah, right. I need to be able to do it my way. So I did a lot of it for years, like, ghost publishing.

Lena Webb [00:35:36]:
Like, just then, nobody, you know, for other people. And then a few years ago, you know, the guy Laura was like, listen, we didn't go through all this for you to stay in the back. Right. You know, you can do it for yourself. So, sure enough, that's when we came to the forefront and stopped ghost publishing, and. Yeah. And here we are. But, yeah, I love it.

Lena Webb [00:35:55]:
We've been able to impact so many people's lives and just make a gift that just keeps giving.

Chi Quita Mack [00:36:01]:
Yeah.

Lena Webb [00:36:01]:
You know, a gift that just keeps giving. This. Let me show you this one. So this one is a kids book. I love it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:36:11]:
Oh, my God.

Lena Webb [00:36:12]:
So this lady, she has two autism. Two children with autism.

Chi Quita Mack [00:36:16]:
Okay.

Lena Webb [00:36:17]:
I want to do a book for Kennedy and Andrew. So this is Andrew. So they both have a book. He talks through a tablet. So I said, well, let's do a book about him using his tablet to communicate. And so she started a nonprofit, and that's the autism angles. She has the books that she used to, you know, to promote, to educate parents or other people on autism and the different spectrum. So he communicates with a tablet.

Lena Webb [00:36:45]:
She is like your everyday girl. She's a debutante. She works at Chick fil A. You know, she's just living life, right. Although she has this. I call it a different ability, but she's still doing the thing. And it's so inspiring, right? It's just so inspiring just to see what they do, what they do and how they. How they communicate.

Lena Webb [00:37:05]:
So this is just like some of the work that we've been able to do that I've been able to do to help other people in their, you know, in their ministry or in their calling, you know, in life. And then, so she uses that, those to educate people. So it's like I said, the gift that keeps giving. Yeah, they gonna be away after little Olena is.

Chi Quita Mack [00:37:26]:
But they're so beautiful. They're so beautiful and so unique. Oh, yeah, I want a book. I want a.

Lena Webb [00:37:34]:
Yeah. So, yeah, it's in. And there's no limit, right? There's no limit on what the, you know, back in the day when my dad did his book, I remember him writing his book, editing it, and then having to go back and forth with the publisher on titles and what it would look like. You know, it's almost like. Almost like the military, they wanted it in a certain way, and so we're a little different. We're like, no. You want rainbows and butterflies? Well, we could do that, but we gonna elevate. It ain't gonna just be no regular ego.

Chi Quita Mack [00:38:01]:
We're gonna give it to you up here, though.

Lena Webb [00:38:03]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I love being able to do that. Being able to take somebody's, their mission and then showing them or help them identify one, what type of book is. Works best for them, and then two, how to best use it. Right. And, you know, in their.

Lena Webb [00:38:16]:
In their practice or use it to serve other people. And that's what we're all called here to do, is to serve. To serve and to help somebody else and what other way and what unique way to be able to help. Serve or help other people than with a good. A book, right. That's gonna leave a good impact and be. And be creative. Right.

Lena Webb [00:38:34]:
And it. So that, that's been a journey and it's been fun. And so at this point, I love it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:38:39]:
I love it. Thank you for everything that you do.

Lena Webb [00:38:41]:
Thank you.

Chi Quita Mack [00:38:42]:
Seriously, thank you for everything that you do. For taking the chance, for listening to your heart, for listening to the Lord.

Lena Webb [00:38:49]:
And I don't know what was gonna be next if I didn't ask, think he was like, listen, you just. You not playing. I don't gave you a couple chances. Yeah, he probably. I don't know what would have been next. Yeah. Yeah, that was, yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:39:04]:
I love it. I really do. What advice would you just give to that one person that is just afraid to step out there and take a chance? What would you say to them?

Lena Webb [00:39:15]:
Oh, man. If you are afraid to step out there and take a chance, I would say do it. Scared. Right. Do it anyway. Right. What do you have to lose? Right? Even, even if it doesn't work out to the way you think it should work out, it's still gonna work out, right? Because you gonna learn something from it, right? You go, you're gonna do it again and you may do it differently. So, yeah, just do it anyway.

Lena Webb [00:39:39]:
Just. Just do it anyway. If it's the thing, you know, you're called to do, do it right. Just do it. And you don't have to do it. A lot of, especially now with social media and I, the Internet, we think things have to be so grand. It has to be a certain type of way. Just, it doesn't have to be.

Lena Webb [00:39:56]:
It could be whatever you want it to be. However, whatever is within reason for you. Just. Just do it. Just start off small. It doesn't even have to be small, but just start. Just start somewhere. Just do it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:40:08]:
Just do it.

Lena Webb [00:40:09]:
Just do it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:40:10]:
Yes. Can you let the audience know where they can find you?

Lena Webb [00:40:15]:
Absolutely. So you can find me@yourartisticexpressions.com. yep. So that's yourartisticexpressions.com. and then there you get a free book, a free ebook on five reasons why authors, coaches, and consultants should create additional streams of income using custom coloring books, workbooks, and self help books. So that's one of the unique things about us. We say, okay, we'd have created this thing for you. Now let's see how we can make, make it profitable.

Chi Quita Mack [00:40:41]:
Make that money.

Lena Webb [00:40:43]:
Make that money. You know, I don't care what. What niche you in. Everybody needs some money to make. Make these missions go right, so we can, we. We specialize in that. So we make the thing, and then we show you how to make the money, right.

Chi Quita Mack [00:40:56]:
Yes. Two fold.

Lena Webb [00:40:58]:
Yes. Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:40:59]:
I love it.

Lena Webb [00:41:00]:
Some people just want to make the thing right because they want to leave a legacy. But if you and you can do that, too, that's fine. But for those who need to make the money, that is a, you know, that's a good bonus. Yeah, absolutely.

Chi Quita Mack [00:41:12]:
And I'll make sure that everything is linked in the show notes so they can just click and get that ebook and get on your way. Linda, you've been awesome. I'm so happy to have you on my journey on being a part of the beauty in you podcast. Like I said, you've been wonderful.

Lena Webb [00:41:29]:
Thank you for having me so much. It has indeed been a pleasure.

Chi Quita Mack [00:41:34]:
All right, you guys, until next time.

Jacqueline G. [00:41:36]:
Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of the Beauty in you podcast. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. Visit us@thechiquitamack.com or join us on Instagram at thechiquitamack for your daily motivation and inspiration. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Until next time.