The Business of Life with Dr King
Dr Ariel Rosita King brings on a variety of International guests from various countries, cultures, organisations, and businesses to talk about turning
problem into possibilities! Let's turn our challenges in opportunities together!
The Business of Life with Dr King
Birthing Books and Nurturing Humanity: Conversations with Book Strategist Geo Derice
What happens when you treat the book writing process like giving birth? Meet Geo Derice, the self-described "Book Doula" who's helping people birth their ideas into books that transform lives.
In this captivating conversation, Geo Derice reveals how curiosity became his superpower and explains the beautiful metaphor behind his unique approach to book coaching. Just as a birth doula assists in bringing new life into the world naturally and with minimal stress, Geo Derice helps authors nurture their ideas from conception to publication.
Through stories of transformation, Geo Derice shows us the profound impact books can have, regardless of how we measure success. From an author who reluctantly switched topics and landed a traditional publishing deal, to a writer whose healing journey unexpectedly helped her own family member, to a cancer survivor who chose empowerment over anger—each story illuminates how sharing our unique perspectives creates ripples of positive change.
The conversation takes a meaningful turn when Geo Derice, and host, Dr Ariel King discuss the forgotten language of humanity. In our rushed, disconnected world, we've become "more robot than human," losing sight of grace, connection, and the human spirit that binds us. Their discussion of Dr. Ariel King's book "Humanity Unveiled" highlights how authentic human connections transcend status and position, offering a much-needed reminder that we all need each other.
Whether you're considering writing a book, seeking to make a difference, or simply craving more meaningful human connections, this episode offers wisdom and inspiration. As Geo Deice says, "You never know who's waiting to read your story and you never know where your book is going to take you." What story are you keeping inside that the world needs to hear?
Music, lyrics, guitar and singing by Dr Ariel Rosita King
Teach me to live one day at a time
with courage love and a sense of pride.
Giving me the ability to love and accept myself
so I can go and give it to someone else.
Teach me to live one day at a time.....
The Business of Life
Dr Ariella (Ariel) Rosita King
Original Song, "Teach Me to Live one Day At A Time"
written, guitar and vocals by Dr. Ariel Rosita King
Dr King Solutions (USA Office)
1629 K St, NW #300,
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Hi and welcome to another episode of the Business of Life. Today we have a very, very special guest, sir Gio DeRice. Welcome, sir.
Geor Derice:Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Dr Ariel King:I'm so excited you're here too. Can you please tell us our audience a little bit more about yourself?
Geor Derice:Sure, sure so. Gilles DeVries, the founder of First Book Done, an amazing program that I get to go and work with amazing people who have something to say that is going to benefit the world, and so it's a love project for me, passion project for me, and there's also a career where I got a chance to help people be motivated, inspired, see the world from a different perspective. So I do that for a living, as well as doing this public speaking to college students and to other leaders as well.
Dr Ariel King:That's really wonderful. You know, I'm really curious how did you start? What happened that you decided that you were going to start to help the first person to um to complete their book?
Geor Derice:Um, so, in full transparency, I wrote my first book and, uh, my mentor, who I was working for at the time, um, and, like I said, I worked for him, so it wasn't even a choice. It was like you're going to do this because this is now your new assignment. So I never had any intention of helping people go ahead and write books. I know what it has done for me in terms of my speaking career and how it opened up doors and helped to increase the value and the perceptions that somebody had of me, and so my mentor at the time just thought that that would be a great tool for other business owners to have so that they are able to stand out in crowded marketplaces. And so we started working on that.
Geor Derice:And then, before I know it, I started to like, enjoy it a lot more because I had a chance to like. It's like kind of like being in the like someone's pregnant and you get to see the sonogram. Like I get to see all the stuff and the knowledge that somebody has before the world gets a chance to go and see it. So like I get to like, sample all the great stuff, like whether it's humanity, business development, real estate, and so I think it's like a nice cheat code for me where I can kind of get a leg up and know what what people are about to go and bring out to the world before the world gets a chance to eat it that sounds so exciting and it sounds like also you're a renaissance man, that you.
Dr Ariel King:You have many different interests and you're very curious. You're very curious, you're a very curious person. Is that right A hundred?
Geor Derice:percent, I think I'll say if you were to ask me what's the one skill or thought process or mindset you would like to transfer over to others, it would be curiosity. I think that everyone has the. I think if we get away from assumptions and get out and start to ask, it'll increase connection. But it also elevates our knowledge, gives us additional perspectives and you can start to see the value in another person when you are curious. I think when you are like a rock and you can't soak in anything, it's very hard for you to get like a full experience. So curiosity I always say the joke like curiosity kills the cat, but it makes a lot of people successful too. So I like curiosity.
Dr Ariel King:It makes all the difference. That's really interesting to know. Can you perhaps give us three different stories of different types of books and different types of, if not, the people that you worked with to birth those books, and before that, tell me about the? What do you call it? The birthing, the book, doula, I think.
Geor Derice:Yeah, no, thank you. That concept came to me because I just start. I love metaphors, so if anybody knows me, you'll know that I'm a I'm a stickler. Not a stickler, but a love for metaphors. And I love metaphors because it's just.
Geor Derice:It requires empathy for it to be done well, like, in order for you to be able to do a good metaphor, you really must understand the perspective of the person you're looking to communicate to, and take a photo from their world and match what you're trying to say to something they've already seen or understand. So there's a level of care that comes from that. So I love metaphors, and so I was thinking about the process of somebody writing a book. I started to think about like what is it like? Right? So it's like something that's the person has on the inside, but the world doesn't see right, so it's the same thing as like okay, you're, you're pregnant, right? Like, so you can, you have something inside of you, someone, but you don't necessarily the world doesn't get a chance to see it. And as time goes on, the belly gets bigger, and then the world's like wow, in anticipation of this new being in the world, get excited. And so I was like man, this sounds similar to like what I go through when I'm working with authors. Like they're like, gee, I got an idea and then no one sees it, and then they're like it starts to grow with writing and talking about it.
Geor Derice:And then the book cover comes. And I say the book cover is like the sonogram, where you start to see and you're like, oh, wow, like you go from the pregnancy test to like, oh, it's real, like there it is, like it's right there. So that, as I kept on thinking about it and understanding my role in the equation like I don't deliver the baby, but I am a person who assists and helps it be the most natural, the most organic way, trying to minimize the stress, confidence that comes and I was like man, a doula that's what role they play in the birthing process. And I was like, well, that's what I do when I'm working with my authors. So why not call myself that instead of, like you know, book strategist or book coach or book writing coach? I said I want something different, so that it becomes a thing of conversation, and so even you bring it up shows that the wisdom that I got from God to do that was definitely well served.
Dr Ariel King:Absolutely, and I love the explanation about it generating and getting bigger and the birth and so on and so forth, and the doula assists and the word doula seems very warm to me and caring and confident and I know, I know which way we're going to be going and I'm going to go with you and we're going to go through this together, so I love that.
Geor Derice:What was the other part of the question?
Dr Ariel King:I forgot the other part you said so yeah, the other part is, can you tell us the three different stories of three different books, the three different stories of three different books, and just, I guess, the most poignant part of that for you, because everybody in every process has a different process and also different people and then different subjects of the book. And I thought maybe with our audience it would be interesting, because you don't just do one type of book, you do all kinds of books. Yeah, and you work with all types of people.
Geor Derice:Yeah. So that's different people from different sectors of the world. Predominantly, they're all nonfiction, typically like there's some type of truth they want to share that they think would benefit others. So one story that comes to mind to me is this one was like it's kind of started a little bit bumpy in the beginning, right?
Geor Derice:So this author I actually got him to change the book he wanted to write, right. So he came to me and said hey, I want to do a mentoring book, gio. And I'm like no, what are you talking about? Mentoring book? I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no. I said I've spoken to you for a little bit of time and you've shared with me a level of financial literacy that is not common to people who look like you.
Geor Derice:He's an African-American man, right? So I was like no, the way you're talking about credit score, leveraging money and all these different things like that, like that's what you should write about. And he was like no, I don't want to do it. And I said listen, I'm going to say right now, tell me what is the outcome you would like to have with your book. And he was like I want to be able to impact people, I want to help the world. I want to say right now I'm not saying you can't do it with mentoring, but I feel you're set up to do it a lot faster and even more effectively if you go to financial literacy route so reluctantly he decided, well, all right, fine, you're the one who knows what you're doing, so let's do it. And so he went ahead and did it and has received so much success. I think it has like 15 five-star reviews on Amazon.
Geor Derice:He did get the TEDx talk. He did get on the television. He is writing for a bunch of different publications about financial literacy. Now he's talking about financial trauma. And, to bring it full circle, he went from self-publishing, with me assisting him, to now actually landing his first traditional publishing deal.
Dr Ariel King:Fantastic and traditional publishing deal means he's signed on before he wrote the book and he's gotten some type of payment for the compensation before the book's even written. Correct, fabulous, yeah, that's fabulous.
Geor Derice:That one was fun, and then just to show spectrums, because I think that what happens when people are writing books? They think like, okay, well, if that is not the outcome I get, then it's a fail. So I had another young lady. He wrote a book called hey, Little Girl and her name was Vania Swain and she shared with me, like Gio, if one person reads this book, it'll change my life, like I would just be happy to know that one other person didn't feel alone in their journey of healing themselves through what they went through as they were younger. And so Veneer wrote the book, had imposter syndrome, didn't think why would anybody listen to me? We did the book amazing.
Geor Derice:And one of the things that was so profound was like one day she got a phone call from, I think, like a family member, and a family member said, hey, I'm reading this amazing book, it's really helping me like resurface some of the things that I went through as a child that I didn't even know was bothering me and I'm like working through it and I'm like feeling liberated. And so the person said, oh, what is that book? And the person was like, yeah, it's this book called hey Little Girl by Vania I forget her name and the person's like Swain, and it was like, yes, how did you know? Like that's my cousin, right, that's my cousin's book. And so it was like literally like a full circle moment of like someone she never met.
Geor Derice:But again, I think the reason I'm so excited about books is you never know who's waiting to read your story and you never know where your book is going to take you. And so if you and who is going to find and where they're going to find them, maybe they can find them at a breaking point, maybe they find them at a place where they're, like I feel a level of hopelessness in the world, or the world around me doesn't look the way I needed to, but your book might show them another world that exists that they never knew about. So I just love that story, just because I think sometimes everyone goes well, I need to be on Oprah or the book is a fail and I want people to understand. If you understand the value of a human life, a human being, and you understand that there's something that you could pen that will help someone feel seen, heard and appreciated and valued, there's something in that that is invaluable, that you could not measure wow, I love that story.
Dr Ariel King:That's really fantastic. So, basically, we have self-development and we're looking in financial literacy. Um, I asked for one more, but now I want to ask for two more, because I know that you have so many different can you give us two more that?
Geor Derice:are a little different what else would I highlight? What else? Who else? Um dang, there's so many of them, so many of them exactly that's why I want you more. They're going to listen to this podcast, and they're going to be upset.
Dr Ariel King:It's international.
Geor Derice:No, it's international Go ahead, so I want to give them. That's what I'm saying, that's what the pressure, the pressure is. Now I'm like, they're like Gia, why you didn't take me overseas with you on this podcast.
Dr Ariel King:Why right so, but we can list them actually when we do, when we do your podcast and we put it out.
Geor Derice:We can actually list all the different books if you want.
Geor Derice:We can do that. Okay, that'd be a pleasure. Yeah, no, perfect. So the another one that comes to mind to me is um patrice shepherd. She wrote a book called doing it differently and it was uh, it was about creating an empowering point of view around going through a breast cancer journey.
Geor Derice:So a lot of us we may have seen on social media that, you know, every time someone has cancer, there's this rhetoric, there's this tone that people take on right Because cancer is threatening your loved one's life. And so you're like no, cancer sucks, or F cancer and all these things. And Patrice was like you know, like as we were working on her book, we were or F cancer and all these things. And Patrice was like yo, like as we were working on her book, we were talking about it. And she was like Gio, like I don't I never said anything negative about cancer. Like when I did it, like when I went through it, I was like, okay, it's not something that I would have asked someone to mail it to my house and say come find me. But not that it has. I'm asking of it. What is it that? Why are you here and what can I take from it, instead of you doing all the taking? And as she was talking and she didn't even have a title for her book, we're talking about it I'm like, patrice, let's just talk about why, like, what is this journey like for you? And she was like kept talking and kept talking. And then eventually I was like, hey, patrice, I think we found the title and she said what is it? I said you're doing it differently, you're doing it differently. And she was like, oh my gosh, she's like, yeah, let's just name it that. And so now this whole idea is now empowering.
Geor Derice:And now, what I love about this project is now, instead of getting the pamphlet that tells you what breast cancer entails, this project is now, instead of getting the pamphlet that tells you what breast cancer entails, now doctors and oncologists can actually go ahead and give a book that has an actual framework on how to go about your breast cancer journey in a way where it protects your mental health, where it's encouraging and people don't realize if you are optimistic or feel positive in the midst of a storm.
Geor Derice:It actually allows you the space to dance in the rain, and that energy changes everybody. It changes the pressure the doctor feels, it changes the people who are working on you and that energy, as it's being transferred from one another, from positivity to positivity, from love to love, really some way shape or form I can't even explain it changes the journey in and of itself. So I love that book, especially because we wanted to tackle this popular trend of constantly cursing cancer and I just wanted to let people know that if you take in a little bit of poison it can damage some other things, and so if we could change our perspective from oh F cancer or this and that and I get it, you're angry, but I want you to understand that in the midst of that there's a higher emotion, a higher vibration feeling that can serve you and others a lot better than the negative emotion would. So she did that, which was great.
Dr Ariel King:That's amazing. Can I just say that I love the fact that this author decided that she's going to look at the possibility of changing. I love her saying why are you here, what am I supposed to take, Rather than me just saying what am I supposed to take from this? And that in itself is such a different feeling from the start, as you said, that in itself even the thought process is different. That allows for the actions to be different. So a book like that is valuable all over the world because it actually doesn't have to be cancer. It could be any kind of illness that a person can either have a very serious effect for the rest of their life or even die as a result. And you know what? I think I'm going to get that book.
Geor Derice:Thank you, yeah no, no, that's a good one.
Dr Ariel King:Because I really love that type of attitude.
Geor Derice:Yeah, no, no, definitely. And then the last one I'll share, and this one is a shameless plug, but this was one of the projects that I actually loved worked in on. One of the most of out of all the ones I've done is your book. Hello, right, so right, like humanity unveiled, listen.
Geor Derice:So we had a chance, obviously, in so many different conversations, but I think the conversations we had made me a better human. So it's nice, right, so it's not so much just the oh, we got a book out, right, yes, absolutely, that's great. But I think it's the conversations that we had, the in-between, the higher level of respect for one another that we had, and just the way you view the world, the way you see the value in people in general, and that everyone's experience, no matter what they look like, was validated, even like I'll never forget the Maya Angelou story that you shared and how you know you saw her and she invited you in and she spoke to you and, you know, told you hey, don't call me this, because that's not where we at right in our relationship.
Dr Ariel King:Don't be calling me by my first name. Call me Dr Maya, Auntie Maya, but we're not friends.
Geor Derice:Yeah, yeah, and I remember these stories and you talk about, you know, nina Simone and all these different stories, that where people see these names that are in the spotlight, right, and they don't realize that those people, these intricate details that you highlighted and extracted in terms of what made that person human right, like, what made that person like? What was that humanity looking like? And I think, in a world now where we're seeing a lot of inhumane things that are happening to one another, the way we treat each other, the way laws are being changed without consideration of the human life and the person that you're impacting, all right, we're going to just do this, let's just change the taxes or let's just get all these people out of here, and all of these different things. And I think this is why I brought up your book.
Geor Derice:I did a speech last week at a college and the student asked me three questions and he had me stumped, because normally they ask me questions about the topic I'm talking about. He said can I ask you a question? I said sure. He said I got three questions for you. I'm like I said who has a question? But he said three, all right, fine, right. So I said what's your question. He said where does your confidence come from that you could go and speak in front of people and you think you're good? Where does that come from? What is your feeling about people and how do you feel about the world? And normally I answer questions very yes, right, wow, right Like a student asking these questions. And I'm like normally when I get questions, I normally not that I rush, but I typically feel like I just run into the question. This one, I said let me get a minute, let me get it, let me let me get a moment to Steve Jobs Right.
Dr Ariel King:Let me think about this.
Geor Derice:Yeah, let me think about it. Yes, so I said, ok, where does my confidence come from? I said my confidence come from I believe what God said, who God says I am. And so, because I believe who God says I am, even in the moments when I don't feel that I am, that I need to lean on to a stronger belief, right? So that's where my confidence comes from. And my confidence also comes from knowing that who I am today is is is just a snippet of who I could be, so there's always a way to rewrite and create another version of me.
Geor Derice:That was the first question. When he said how do you feel about people? I said the way I feel about people is I feel like we need each other. Like that's how I feel. Like I feel like without people I can't be who, I can't be all that I could. So I need each, I need everyone around me. Like I need people. Like it's not like I could do all good by myself. No, I can't. Like I need people. So community is important.
Geor Derice:And then the last question, when he said how do you feel about the world and this is where I'm bringing back full circle to your book I said I feel like the world is lost. I feel like the world is lost, like we've lost our way in some way, shape or form, where what is important isn't and what isn't important, like you know, like what is important is not important and then what isn't important, we just say, yeah, that's the thing that we want and I'm like what, like, like lives are being lost. People are living out of cars and going, like I see students going to school and they live in a shelter. Right, like you know, you have people who are losing businesses, people who are being laid off left and right, people, you know all these different things that are happening.
Geor Derice:So I think a book like yours, where it's like humanity unveiled and I love that when we worked so hard on the title because we wanted people to understand that it's something that's there but it's often easily missed and we all need it and the book was a way to and even if you guys please get the book, look at the cover, you'll see the cover has almost like a ripping to show that it's being revealed. Right, like, listen-.
Dr Ariel King:Okay, now I'm going to go get it. I didn't even think we were going to talk about my book.
Geor Derice:Right, no, no, go get it. No, get it. Listen, but as she's going to get it, I just want you to understand, like the idea about it. Right, so you can see humanity, it's almost like okay, like almost like a scratch off or a peeling of it, and there you go to show you like listen, these are these, and let me just read the subtitle of the collection of unexpected. Just put it into the light one more time Unexpected encounters when is it? Where is it? Where is it? Go up, go up, go up.
Dr Ariel King:It's this background is killing me. Humanity unveiled a collection of unexpected encounters that reveal the human spirit in all of us.
Geor Derice:So there you go, right. So I think when I say loss, I obviously don't mean loss like they're in a GPS and they don't know where they're going right. I really mean the spirit part, which is why, when I brought up the book about the human spirit, right, Like we've lost the human spirit. We've become robots. Ai is almost more human than us. Sometimes it's just so crazy, you're so crazy.
Geor Derice:What's going on.
Geor Derice:In the rush and the hustle of everything, we're forgetting to love on each other, we're forgetting to see each other's flaws and mistakes and things of that nature and understand we ourselves are flawed.
Geor Derice:So there's a level of grace that should be extended and one of the things I always loved about our interactions with you is the level of like. I think there were days where I might say something like hey, lady Ariel, I'm so tired, and you'd be like oh, we're not talking today, go to sleep, right. And I'm like man, like I felt so like, although I was the service provider, I felt served in the way you showed the kind spirit that you had about human, just humanity, right? So one of the things that's important is, when you write a book, is the person writing that you had about human, just humanity, right? So one of the things that's important is, when you write a book, is the person writing the book writing about something, or they're, or they're speaking from a place of authenticity. Do like, does the book match the person, right, right. And I think that this is stuff that no one knows, right, like people can read the book but no one know, like what we went through behind the scenes to see like there's a level of humanity.
Dr Ariel King:It was absolutely fantastic. I loved it. I loved our interaction. It just made all the difference in the world.
Geor Derice:Yeah, no. So it was great that if we all can put our hands to the plow and just add a little bit of humanity to your day and bring that to somebody else, that it's going to be a breath of fresh air, because we're surrounded by examples that show like we don't have it.
Dr Ariel King:I want to thank you for that, because I think one of the reasons why, as you know, that wasn't the book I was going to write in the beginning, but one of the reasons why I wrote about humanity and veils, is because and even now in LinkedIn, I do humanity is not because it's a buzzword, because I forgot the language.
Dr Ariel King:I think I told you I forgot the language of humanity. I understood the language of violence, I understood the language of competition, I understand the language of business, I speak four languages, but somehow, with all of that and I love working with young people and children and so on and so forth but I myself have forgotten what is the language of humanity, what does that mean and what does it look like, and what's it look like in our interactions. And to this day, believe it or not, even after writing the book, every day that I looked on LinkedIn, I'm trying to forget oh, that's what that is, that's what I'm seeing. The name of this is called humanity. That's what that is. Because I do that, because I don't see that very often, even now, people just don't talk about humanity. And I'm like you, I'm curious, I want to know about everything and I'm looking forward to other people talking about this, but most people are not talking about humanity.
Geor Derice:No, I think it's something that we leave reserved for the few, right? So when you hear the term humanitarian, we're like, yeah, that's that person. Like there's seven Mother Teresas out of six billion people in the world. Good for you, right? And we don't realize. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And we don't realize. Like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like if you understood Mother Teresa and if you met these people that you wrote about in your book, you would understand that it has nothing to do with status, Right, and a lot of the people you interacted with they had status, but when they met you, their status was removed and they connected you in a human to human connection.
Dr Ariel King:It wasn't even like, hey, I'm Nina Simone, you better not talk to me and I wasn't even like hey, I'm Nina Simone, you better not talk to me. And I wasn't even important with all these people.
Geor Derice:I was not an important person at all, most of the time a student, unassuming unimportant untitled Right, untitled but they treated me with such kindness and such what I would call humanity, just because I was not anymore, and that really changed my life 100% and I think a lot of people and, like I said, I think it's needed more than ever before.
Geor Derice:I just went to another college and spoke and I heard that a person who was like Gothic, like a young lady, had took her life two weeks ago, like in the middle of Manhattan. And I'm like what, like, what do you mean? And she's like I wonder if she just didn't feel like anybody saw her right.
Dr Ariel King:No, they didn't. She felt very alone and she felt isolated and alone and she felt as if there was no direction to go in, and that's very, very sad.
Geor Derice:Yeah, so, that's yeah. So those are the four for me.
Dr Ariel King:Thank you. I'm very surprised that you did my book, but thank you so much. You're amazing and for those who are listening all over the world, I'd like to tell you that I call him Sergio Adariz. He's an amazing gentleman and our conversations for my book was more than conversation allowed me to get to know who I am and the experiences that I had, and how those experiences shape who I am today. So so, Gio, our time has gone by so quickly. Would you like to tell people how to get in touch with you and how they can possibly have you, help them and be their book doula?
Geor Derice:Yes, no, absolutely. If you're on LinkedInin, you just look up geo deris, you'll find my information or first book done on linkedin. Um, it's geo deris on all platforms, whether it's first book, um, whether it's facebook, instagram, um, and deris is d-e-r-i-c-e and geo is geo like geography. Um, I always tell people like, hey, I was supposed to be all around the world somehow with Gio as as my first, my nickname, and then just, yeah, there's information, like you can go to firstbookdonecom, but I would love to know what story you want to share and what value you want to put in the world. And if I could insist in any way as a doula, that would be my highest honor and privilege.
Dr Ariel King:I want to thank you for being with us and to our guests today. Thank you for joining us and remember if I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, then when? That's by the philosopher Hillel and I've added if not me, then who? Thank you so much for joining us.