Welcome to Conversations with Authors, where I – Alison Thompson, AKA The Proof Fairy – meet amazing authors and find out what inspires them to write and what advice they would offer other aspiring authors. My guest today is Dr Rebekah Louisa Smith. Since 2009 Rebekah has worked in the film industry where she has positioned herself as The Film Festival Doctor. Her first book Born to Do It: Becoming the Leader of a Business Niche Using Powerful Spiritual Techniques, aimed at entrepreneurs wanting to start and grow niche businesses, came out in October 2020.
In our conversation Rebekah tells me how her book raised the profile of her business, and we talk about how everyone has a book in them and why it’s important to self-publish the right way.
More About Dr Rebekah Louisa Smith
Dr Rebekah Louisa Smith was born in Worcestershire, United Kingdom. From humble beginnings working as a personal assistant at lots of corporate companies, she worked her way up to become an award-winning consultant and media personality who now has more than 10 years of film festival strategy consulting experience. After choosing not to pursue a career in academia teaching film studies, Rebekah began her film industry career in 2009, working as one of the producers of Wales’ most successful national horror film festival, the Abertoir Horror Festival. During that time she began to develop a great knowledge of the film festival business, which led her to becoming inspired to start her own innovative company in an industry she loved. Rebekah and the hard-working team behind her company The Film Festival Doctor are creators of success and are committed to nurturing filmmakers in order to help them secure film festival screenings, and win awards and positive recognition within the film industry. Currently her company has won more than 800 awards for their clients and her team have supported nearly 850 creatives across the world, enlightening and inspiring their journey towards achieving their goals and following their filmmaking dreams. One of the factors that led to her success is the blending of both practical business skills and spiritual techniques, which infused new life into her company’s growth. She decided to record her hard-won knowledge in her new book Born to Do It: Becoming the Leader of a Business Niche Using Powerful Spiritual Techniques to help others who are pondering the leap into entrepreneurship or are already on the journey, but yearning for more success and profitability.