Meet Savannah J. Frierson | USA TODAY Best-Selling author, editor, speaker, and Gallup-Certified strengths coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Savannah J. Frierson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Savannah J., we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
What I have learned about risk is it’s a feature, not a bug. Anything you do in life or career has an element of risk, even if it is something you may not think of as “risky,” To me, it’s more that you are extremely comfortable with the inherent risk therein, so it’s nothing to think about too deeply. But the more unknowns that are involved with a decision, the higher the risk is.

As an author, risk is always there. I don’t ever know if something I write will resonate the way I would like with readers. I can only be “sure” to a certain point, but then, it’s out of my hands—the reception, the takeaways, the critiques and the praises. My work is no longer just mine, and ceding control and sharing ownership with readers is still something of a risky thing. But ultimately, I have to do the best I know how to do at the time and hope readers are willing to go along the journey with the characters in good faith. Hope that I communicated what I was attempting to communicate. Take whatever critiques with grace and praise with humility. Be willing to learn from all the feedback whether positive or not and incorporate that learning in the next project.

It’s learning the difference between a calculated risk and an irresponsible one, learning what you can and are willing to tolerate while knowing that even with all your excellent planning, something can still happen that wasn’t anticipated. It’s about learning how to be resilient; how to pivot; how to find a way through/over/around when it seems everything is blocked. It’s about being comfortable with patience, with being still even though you’re buzzing to do something.

It’s about asking for help and knowing who to ask for said help.

And I have found the lessons you learn in one area, whether career or noncareer, will bleed into the others. You don’t exist in a vacuum. One area of your life isn’t siloed off from the others. You bring everything with you, and what a boon that is.

I’m still learning to become even more comfortable with calculated risk, and by that I mean expanding my calculations to increase my margins for error a little wider. Calibrate my tolerance. As the saying goes, you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take. Yes, you will have a few bricks, but eventually, you’ll get those buckets too.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My goal in my work and profession can be summed up in a Bruno Mars lyric: “You’re amazing just the way you are.” I want my readers, who are mostly Black women, to know despite what society may say, they are deserving of a grand love and relationship, and they don’t need to settle for anything less than what they require and desire.

When I edit works, I want to make sure their words sound like them and say exactly what they want to say while being able to reach the audience they’re trying to reach. To me, editing is a collaboration, but my clients always get the final say because it’s their work. And it’s my job to make sure the work can stand on its own—stand on business, as folks say.

When I’m speaking or coaching, I want people to know they have all the capability to accomplish whatever they want to accomplish. If they don’t have the tools, they can learn to identify and partner with people who do. They can also discern if the thing they say they want is true, or if they have moved on or changed from that. It’s about empowering people to be their inherent best selves, to know they’re inherent best selves are of worth and exactly who they should be. They’ll draw the right people in their life by being who they authentically are, whether professionally or personally. And whatever setbacks they face, they will have the resilience to move beyond them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
While I’m admittedly something of a homebody, I do have some places where I think folks should go when they come to Charleston. The first is to take a tour of the city, and I would suggest one of the motorcoach tours because it’s a climate-controlled vehicle. I tend to suggest either Gullah Tours or Sites and Insights Tours because they give a perspective of the city that’s not told often, from the African American perspective. For something a little more occult, there are several ghost tours, such as Ghost City Tours and Charleston Pirates and Ghost Tours. I would also suggest folks visit the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, which is a museum, archives, and center for public programming that focuses on Lowcountry history and beyond, with the archives full of materials from locals. The focus of the holdings is twentieth-century civil rights, but there is also much community building and advocacy the center does as well. Then, if one wants to visit a historic plantation, my suggestion would be McCleod Plantation because it’s the one closest to the peninsula and they give a comprehensive history of the plantation to include the owners and the enslaved who lived there. Other cultural sites to visit would include Charleston City Market, the Charleston Museum, the Gibbes Museum of Art, the International African American Museum, and the South Carolina Aquarium.

For food, I mean, it’s Charleston! It’s hard to find a bad place to eat. I always recommend Poogan’s Porch and Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ because of their generous portion sizes. I’ve never been able to leave there without a takeaway box! Fleet Landing is also nice for the view.

For shopping, there’s King Street in downtown Charleston and Tanger Outlets in North Charleston. For outdoor activities, there are beaches to visit, including Isle of Palms, Folly Beach, and Kiawah Beachwalker Park (this one is my favorite). There are also Charleston County Parks all throughout the county, from James Island County Park on James Island to Wannamaker County Park in North Charleston.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to shout out my family, friends, colleagues, and readers for their support. There are far too many individuals to single out, and I don’t want to miss anyone because everyone has been integral to my success—not just professionally, but personally too. I’m so grateful for the people I have around me. Without them, I wouldn’t be here. And I do mean that literally.

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Image Credits
Sean Evans Photography (headshot with white background) Sevan Photograpy (green dress)