Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Brinkmann.
Hi Kelly, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
As I look back on my career of speaking and writing, I can pinpoint certain milestones that have marked my journey. In high school, I participated in Model United Nations and began to understand the power of words to affect change. Trips to New York to speak at the UN Student Conference showed me that words could take me anywhere.
In college, I was a part of an international program for youth who lived on U.S. military and embassy bases worldwide. During our training semester, I approached solutions to assignments in a creative way, not knowing they would really stand out or be different. Utilizing limited materials that would be available anywhere, I made a costume for superhero week out of paper, and to test the design, I literally ran around campus, standing on rooftops to let my cape blowing in the wind studying design changes that needed to be made.
Those ‘experiments’ caught the eye of the management team and I was recruited to teach others to think creatively and find solutions that sparked fun, problem-solving skills. My time as a curriculum trainer and speaker merged into becoming the curriculum developer and writing the educational material that would be used by college students in the field, or U.S. military bases, each summer.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My road to identify my own skills and strengths has not always been easy, but I kept on looking for new opportunities to grow. I had the skill to adapt and, if one solution did not work for a project, I could bob-and-weave to find a new solution. Limited resources or budgets helped me thrive to work within defined perimeters yet produce inspiring results.
I translated that skill to finding jobs or positions that would suit me and utilize all my skills. Learning and finding solutions inspires me. So I was not deterred to take a job for a short period or college semester and then try a different position the next semester. I was more dedicated to exploring the depths of my creativity than I was to a life-long job at an early age.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an artist and a writer. I weave art object lessons and stories together to teach others deeper life lessons. Spurred on by my Christian faith, my spoken messages aim to reveal biblical truths in a modern world. Setting up a full pottery studio on a stage area, I speak while throwing clay on a pottery wheel to share messages about forgiveness, both of ourselves and others, based on the message that God forgives us because of His Son, Jesus.
When I speak to women’s groups and conferences, I can see the heart of women mirrored the clay being opened up on the pottery wheel. I can feel them lean in and identify their own journey trying to find peace in their lives and opening themselves up to the refining work of aligning their hearts with timeless truths.
I can hear them exhale when I stand up from the wheel and move to the 5-gallon bucket of reclaimed clay and I explain that all their mistakes, failures, shame, and regret can be reclaimed, or used again because of Jesus. He is the one who fills in the gap and makes a way to be in the presence of God, completely accepted, loved, and celebrated.
It’s a great honor to get to share messages and illustrations of hope with women in a way that sinks deeply into their soul, watching them come to understand that they are enough, that God accepts them not because of what they have achieved or completed, but because he loves them.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
I get to speak to groups at conferences and retreats throughout the U.S. My events team helps identify available dates and messages that address the needs of each group at https://www.KellyBrinkmann.com.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: KellyBrinkmann.com
- Instagram: @officialkellybrinkmann
- Facebook: @officialkellybrinkmann
- Twitter: @officialKellyBE
- Youtube: Official Kelly Brinkmann
Image Credits
Lauren & Shirley at https://www.washmophoto.com
