Your Voice Was Never Lost. It Was Conditioned Into Silence with Deborah Kevin
My guest today is Deborah Kevin.Deborah Kevin (pronounced KEY-vin) is the founder of Highlander Press, former host of the STORYTELLHER podcast, bestselling author of Shelf Life: A Field Guide to Long-Term Author Success, and an unapologetic disruptor of the status quo. She’s on a mission to elevate women’s voices and help changemakers share their stories with impact and heart. An adventurer at heart, Debby has trekked the Camino de Santiago and thrives on exploring the world with her family. A magic believer, French Press enthusiast, and master of irreverent humor, she brings warmth, wit, and bold truth-telling to everything she touches. In this episode we discuss voice elevation, feminist disruption, storytelling as activism and storytelling impact.
Website - https://www.deborahkevin.com
https://www.highlanderpressbooks.com
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-kevin/
IG - https://www.instragram.com/debbykevinwriter
Substack - https://debbykevin.substack
In this episode you will learn:
1. Your voice was never lost. It was conditioned into silence.
"Be quiet. Be nice. Smile more." From girlhood, women are handed a script that shrinks them. Deborah didn't lose her voice, she was taught to hide it. The work isn't finding something new. It's unburying what was always there, stripping away layers of other people's expectations to get back to the real, essential you.
2. Your story isn't the problem. Your belief in its worthiness is.
A second-generation Holocaust survivor who became a trauma therapist once told Deborah her story wasn't big enough to share. That is what comparison does to us. Every person carries lived experiences that can crack someone else's world open. The question was never "is my story worth telling?", it was always "do I believe it is?"
3. Speaking your truth is not a responsibility. It's a call to courage.
Deborah reframes the weight of visibility: it's not about carrying the world on your shoulders. It's about one act of courage, speaking your truth, that gives someone else permission to do the same. When we share our stories, we bear witness to each other's lives. That ripple is how cultures shift and how "I'm not alone" becomes the most healing sentence someone can hear.
“Personally, I definitely hid my voice. I didn't grow it up in a family where it was safe for me to be me." - 00:05:17
"Writing is an act. Anybody who puts pen to paper or fingers on keyboard is a writer." - 00:28:58
"I think empowerment is not something that we're given. I think it's something that we take. " - 01:01:40
This episode is supported by Victoria Lee Starr.
Are you the one who keeps showing up for everyone else, holding it all together, while a quiet voice inside asks, “Is this all there is?” Victoria helps people see the stories shaping their lives, question the expectations they’ve inherited, and begin living with greater honesty, self-trust, and courage, through her See, Question, Live approach.
You don’t need to know what comes next. Start with a little room to breathe.
🌿 Explore Victoria’s work: victorialeestarr.com
🎁 Free resources and guided meditations: victorialeestarr.com/freebies
🎙️ The Sacred Mycelium Podcast: YouTube | Spotify
📸 Instagram: @victorialeestarr
Connect with Brad:
#Empowerography #womensempowerment #empowerelevateeducate #Podcast #DeborahKevin #HighlanderPress #WomenInPublishing #WomenStorytellers #ReclaimYourVoice #UnapologeticDisruptor #WomenEmpowerment #WomenInBusiness #StorytellingForChange #WomenLeadership #YourStoryMatters #CallToCourage #VisibilityHangover #WomenAuthors #ShelfLife #ElevateWomensVoices #FeminineLedLeadership #YouAreEnough #KeepShowingUpAndShining