Art & Life with Secily Wilson

However, the story didn’t end there. Subsequently, my career hit a layoff, my marriage ended in divorce, my savings was exhausted, and lost my home to foreclosure. It was a downward spiral, at no fault of my own. My life had fallen completely apart. I will never forget the day my daughters and I moved from our beautiful gated community home, to a two bedroom apartment. This was certainly NOT written in the script.

It was a conversation with one of my best friends that gave me my first brush with philanthropy. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink.  But I can do major damage in a mall. As a result, I have plenty of shoes, handbags, clothing that could stock a fabulous boutique. Unfortunately, I had nowhere to put all the fashionable accouterments in a two bedroom apartment. I was having a meltdown about where I was going to put all of my things. The next words were totally unexpected. ” Shut up Secily and quit your whining. All of that stuff is because you have been extremely blessed. Go and find a group of women in transition and give them the things you have nowhere to put. Then, watch God fill your hand back up more than you can imagine.” That was the beginning of creating my nonprofit, WOW Legacy Group and the Fall into Fabulous empowerment program for women in transition.

I’m often asked, how did I make the transition from broadcast news to philanthropy? The fact of the matter is, I didn’t. The transition was made for me. There’s a quote by Gandhi that I love. It says, “in order to find yourself, you must lose yourself in the service of others.” I truly understand it now. I have found a way to combine my passion for TV with my purpose for philanthropy. Empowering, educating, inspiring and transforming the lives of women facing life adversity is truly an art. I live by the mantra… when life falls apart, we Fall into Fabulous!

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Pablo Picasso once said, “the purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off your souls.” My art is in the form of human life. WOW, Legacy Group is a nonprofit with a mission to Empower, Educate, Inspire and Transform the lives of women facing life adversity. Its accomplished through the work of our Fall into Fabulous empowerment program. Women who are affected by unexpected challenges as a result of divorce, job loss, domestic violence, health challenges and/or death of a loved one, often times become paralyzed and unable to recover. They lose their self-worth, confidence, self-esteem and even their dignity. Through the six month program, participants are able to restart, refocus, and reimagine who they are and where they are going. Fall into Fabulous helps women wash the dust of daily life off their souls.

The message is very simple: Every woman goes through some kind of transition. If they haven’t, chances are they will. Part of the process is figuring out how to transform what’s broken, unproductive and painful into strength, purpose, and resilience. Falling into fabulous is less of the outward, superficial beauty. It’s the decision to do something different. The decision to start your own business. The decision to end a toxic relationship. The decision to get back up after being knocked down. THAT’S how you “Fall into Fabulous”!

In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
I think the biggest challenge facing artists today is deciding what art to make. It’s almost like finding a needle in a haystack. You search and search until you are ready to give up… then, suddenly your passion is found and realized. Once you find it, go all in. If it changes the life of one person, you’ve created a masterpiece!

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can see my work by logging onto our websites at www.wowlegacygroup.org and www.fallintofabulous.org. You can also see our work on our Fall into Fabulous YouTube channel. We are totally supported by the generosity of donors, corporations and grant opportunities.

Those interested in supporting WOW Legacy Group and our Fall into Fabulous empowerment program can donate by logging on to our website and clicking the donate button.