Meet Dawn Charleston-Green, Founder and Creator of Dawn of a New Day 365. DND365 is a movement focused on women journeying through everyday life –the good, the bad, the unexpected, and the ugly. Overcoming with TRUTH and TRANSPARENCY, leading to TRANSFORMATION.
As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, we are thrilled to introduce our readers to a woman who is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring women to live in their truth, power, and authenticity and rise from the shadows of silence, shame, and secrecy.
We’ve obtained an exclusive interview with the wife, mother, veteran, entrepreneur, minister, and speaker who hopes that women will grow stronger in resiliency through the truths and testimonies of herself and others.
Tell us a little about yourself and what the motivator is behind what you do.
Dawn: Greetings!!! My name is Dawn-Charleston Green and some know me to be a writer, blogger, award-winning author, and self-publishing consultant. I am the founder and CEO of Dawn of a New Day 365, LLC.
Let’s talk about your writing. When you first decide to become an author, what was that defining moment when you said or thought, “the world needs to know this”?
Dawn: Initially, I began writing a women’s devotional. I always knew that I wanted to write a devotion. Since a child, I had been serving in church, but I’ve been an ordained minister for close to two decades. More specifically, since becoming a minister, I had been facilitating and teaching women’s bible studies for about five years. During that time, I realized that I connected well with the ladies who would attend and I had a natural ability to make them feel safe in a vulnerable environment. From that, I knew that rather than continue to present messaging from other teachers and speakers, I too had a message to share that would be encouraging and inspiring.
With that said, I wrote the 5-Day Morning C.O.F.F.E.E. Devotional; with COFFEE standing for Chicks of Faith Focused Encouraged, and Empowered. Meant to help women develop or deepen their daily time in prayer and devotion with intentionality. And everything that I had hoped is what God allowed. Now I am almost ready to release my much anticipated second devotion, New Day of G.R.A.C.E. — 21 Day Devotional. This devotion was written with the intent of helping women (or anyone) facing the difficulties of starting over after a setback, loss, or disappointment. My desire as a minister is to provide tools and resources, along with prayer and scripture, to guide believers with even the most challenging circumstances to appreciate their New Days ahead filled with Gratitude, Repentance, Assessment, Communion, and Execution — G.R.A.C.E.
But even as much as I love and believe in the devotions I’ve written (my second devotion releases this year) I’ll admit, most of my success or popularity has surrounded my children’s book Heeeyy Dandelion — a book written for and about my daughter that gently addresses childhood self-esteem, honesty, and belonging. And I am thrilled to introduce my new children’s book, Rudy the Smart Kid; not only inspired by my son, Rudy Valentine, III, but he co-authored the project. RTSK, like Heeeyy Dandelion, is a book that was needed. It not only shows black boy representation, but it also shows how giftedness and inquisitiveness among black boys can often be overlooked and dismissed for behavior.
I was writing the story, but then realized I needed Rudy’s input. Since it was his lived experience. And I’m so glad that I did. Having him be a part of the process means everything to me.
How hard was it learning the ins and outs of book publishing? What was your biggest lessons learned on the road to publishing?
Dawn: Whew!! Publishing is a learning curve. And I often share it’s not hard…it is meticulous. Writing the story is the easy part, but then there is editing, formatting, copyrighting, printing, distributing, and the biggest of them all…MARKETING, MARKETING, and oh did I mention…MORE MARKETING.
But, now that I am familiar with the process, I love it! So much so, I actually began the Dawn of a New Day 365 Rising Author Academy on January 9th of this year.
In my course, I meet with aspiring authors once per week for four months. In addition to the group meetings, I also conduct individual strategy sessions with each writer. This works well since they each have individual projects. During the strategy sessions, I help the writer set goals and hold them accountable to them. I also help them strategize a realistic writing plan. Honestly, that’s the hardest part. But it does them no good if I teach them all of the components they need to self-publish, but they don’t commit to providing the content.
Throughout the course, I work with authors on creating a cover, completing the copyright, dedication, preface, introduction, acknowledgment, and about the author pages. However, with all that included, there is still no book if they don’t write. Though I do help with proofing, editing, and formatting, I make it clear that I am not a ghostwriter. They have to do the work.
I’m excited to share that nine new authors will be launching their books for Summer 2023.
Looking back on our publishing journey, what would you do differently knowing what you know now?
Dawn: Honestly, there aren’t too many things that I would do differently. I had a great mentoring program that prepared me for the publishing process. Additionally, I do a substantial amount of research, as well as follow other authors. I’ve learned so much from other authors’ mistakes and experiences.
I would also add that participating in a variety of book events, tours, signings, and conferences has also helped me as an author. And I would be remiss if I forgot the media specialists, librarians, and journalists who offer a wealth of information that I would not have otherwise known…like book conferences, awards, and platforms available to writers and authors.
I’ve been so blessed to come into these circles.
Let’s talk about Dawn of a New Day 365. What inspired you to create a Facebook group for women to network? What is the overall goal of your group?
Dawn: Again, DND365 was meant to encourage and inspire. I, Dawn, created DND365 just after I had come back from the depths of hopelessness. Almost five years ago now (at the age of 45) I found myself unemployed and unsure of my purpose. I had put so much effort into so many of my endeavors — family, education, career, and ministry. I had no idea what I was to do apart from any of these things. At the time I was struggling as a parent, due to some challenges with my daughter. Those challenges caused strain on my marriage. The 110% I had put into my career for almost a decade was no more. And with all those areas of my life attacked, it’s no surprise that my faith waned too.
Still, I had enough trust in who God was to believe that He hadn’t brought me that far to bring me that far. I began to fast and pray, and I asked Him to repurpose me for my good and His glory.
After about 9 months of focusing on my mind, body, spirit, and finances…God allowed me to birth Dawn of a New Day 365 to create a space for other women to give voice and power to the things that once held them in secrecy, silence, and shame.
Through content and conversations of my own personal testimonies, as well as the testimonies of others, DND365 allows women to feel encouraged and inspired, but never alone. Today, close to 700 women are a part of the DND365 movement.
You have now begun to highlight women in your Facebook group. How long did you begin that and what was the inspiration to do this?
Dawn: When I created DND365 in May of 2020, my focus was mainly on providing encouragement through my blogs, inspirational posts, and our LIVE conversations on issues that mattered most to women — mental health, relationships, grief, miscarriages, the pandemic, race relations, vaccinations. Then, once I wrote my first devotion, a shift happened. I had become an author. I was being asked to speak and share from that perspective. Then, especially after I wrote Heeeyy Dandelion, my role as an author really took off.
Things began to happen quickly, and I desired to share my wins with the women in DND365, but I didn’t want to be the only person winning and sharing. Now, I had always solicited women within the group with specific expertise to participate and add to the LIVE panel discussions, but I felt I wanted to do more. DND365 was not meant to be a brag platform centered around me. It was birthed from bringing attention to shared experiences.
With that said, I decided to place intentional time on recognizing the other women in the group, especially during Women’s History Month. So, I started the Rays of Sunshine. My goal is to always have a diverse group of women each year from all over the globe with different races and ethnicities, careers, and experiences.
When I write about the women, I begin sharing their accomplishments, but honestly, it’s candidness of what they’ve overcome that resonates most with the other women. Resilience inspires us all.
What are the requirements you look for when choosing the women you want to highlight?
Dawn: There are no specific requirements, honestly. Again, most of the women… I’ve observed their success and impact in some capacity through social media or in person, or I’ve heard about them through someone else. However, though I want to honor successful women, I also want to use their tenacity, as well as their personal testimonies of trials and challenges to inspire and encourage other women to keep going and to know that they are never alone in their struggles.
DND365 is a multiracial platform, so I try to make sure that is also reflected among the Rays of Sunshine who are featured. I want everyone to feel seen, and to feel that in whatever place in life she may be experiencing, she is thought of and appreciated apart from her performance but simply because she exists.
Is there anything coming up you would like our audience to know?
Dawn: I’m excited for the summer. As a children’s book author, summer is definitely our time. But it is also a time for me to get out of Georgia and spend unique and quality time with my children and my family in Louisiana and Texas.
I’m grateful to again be participating in the Kid’s Red Carpet Book Tour in Jackson, MS, and Memphis, TN; and I also have plans to do some author visits while in Louisiana and Texas. The details have not been finalized at this time, but part of that time will include connecting and mentoring aspiring authors and giving them tips and insight on becoming self-published.
I will try to post on social media, as well as my website as details of the summer become available.
How can people connect with you?
Dawn: Please, stay connected with me through social media. My profile is Dawn Charleston-Green on Facebook. Also, follow the Dawn of a New Day 365 Facebook Page where I advertise new books, new features, and highlights. For all women interested in a safe supportive faith-based community of fellow women, please join me in the Dawn of a New Day 365 Women’s Facebook Group. You won’t regret it.
Likewise, you can find me on Instagram @dawnofanewday365. There you will see my entertaining reels, find out what’s new in the publishing realm, take a glimpse into “a day in the life,” as well as get tips about becoming self-published.
As a bonus, check out my Pinterest page and find some of my most popular blogs focused on Faith, Love, Relationships, and MORE.
Finally, subscribe to my website Dawn of a New Day 365 Life Blog & Creations at www.dawnofanewday365.com. There you can find all my blogs, books, and other creations.
If you are interested in scheduling an AUTHOR VISIT or joining the Rising Author Academy feel free to go to www.heeeyydandelion.com or
Read more lifestyle, entertainment, fashion, and beauty interviews by Tammy Reese| @tammyreesemedia.
