An interview with Debrianna Debolt, founder of Olive Home, singer, writer, and creative, by Elizabeth Harris.
Being an artist, a designer, a singer, a chef, a creative of any type can be some of the most fulfilling work. It’s also some of the hardest with the constant stream of content creation, comparing oneself to others, and inconsistent flow of work.
Still, there is room for everyone to be great and unlock their full creative potential while finding balance with their inner life and wellbeing. That is where Debrianna Debolt founder of Olive Home can come in and help. I got to interview Debrianna and share her creative journey and her journey helping others on theirs.
Debrianna, you’ve written an album and started a business. How do you describe yourself?
I am a creative who is passionate about creatives. First and foremost, I am an artist. Yes, I make music, create beautiful spaces for people to be together, I enjoy cooking and baking bread, etc… but over all of that I see the world through a lens of beauty and wonder. I long to give people language for their life through melodies and lyrics, and sometimes through an extravagant night of hosting.
From there, I am passionate about creatives and helping them steward their inner life and creative process. I help creatives become whole and healthy by teaching them how to live from their original design. I help unlock artists who have been burnt out, locked up, and shut down.
How do you describe Olive Home? It’s a really interesting business.
Thank You! Olive Home has many different facets.
First and foremost, Olive Home houses the Creative Mentorship. The Creative Mentorship is a 3-6 month season where I work with artists one on one. I create a Formation Plan that helps them clearly articulate their creative history, creative tensions, and creative passions. Throughout their mentorship, we work on cultivating a healthy soul (because all creativity flows from that place). I also help launch them into their creative dreams by practically setting attainable goals and helping them find the first step towards the vision in their heart. We work through finding the invitations in creative blocks and discovering the mindsets that they have built over the course of their life. It’s a ton of healing, discovery, and beauty!
Olive Home is also a platform for me to release more music, and as it grows and where other artists will be able to release music as well. My music will now be under the name Olive Home and I cannot wait to help other artists release music under that name as well!
Other than that, Olive Home serves as an educational source. Through retreats, workshops, and creative prompts, Olive Home helps teach creatives how to tend to their inner life and develop a sustainable creative process.
What is the story of how and why you started it?
At the start of last year, everything in my life shifted. I moved states, got married, stopped working in church ministry for the first time since I was...12, and I had no job! Every door that I thought would be opened quickly closed, and I found myself really reevaluating what I wanted to do with my life. I was asking myself what I really thought was important.
From there and an entire year of processing, Olive Home was dreamt up. At the end of the day, I realized I wanted to create music and help other people navigate the murky waters of the creative process. So I developed a Creative Mentorship where people would commit 3-6 months of intentional time to honor the artist that they are. I developed the mentorship to help heal creatives who are burnt out, tired and shut down. Olive Home is meant for creatives to learn sustainable tools that will help them throughout their creative process, and ultimately in every area of their lives.
I started Olive Home because I believe that intentionally walking through life with one person at a time can change the world. If one person is whole and healthy in every dimension of their soul, it will completely revolutionize their sphere of influence. I’ve seen it happen over and over again, and I am a product of that mindset. I am forever indebted to all those amazing mentors and teachers who spent hours, days, probably years of their life, mentoring me and helping me navigate all the inner workings of my heart and mind.
I noticed Olive Home is focused on helping creatives and, specifically, creative formation. Can you tell us more about that?
Yes of course! As humans who have a soul, we are multidimensional, layered, and intricately, uniquely designed. Creativity is an expression of our souls. If we want to have a healthy creative process, we must attend to our multidimensional soul. Creative Formation is about going to the root of our creativity and starting there.
To make this really practical, say an artist struggles with Creative Comparison. Most people just live with the toxic mindset or they try and force themselves to stop comparing, but it's too hard because they are caught up in a cycle. Creative Formation helps the artist find the root of their Creative Comparison, the fears involved, the wounds throughout their life that might have caused them to build those mindsets and habits. You’ll see that Creative Comparison is simply a symptom of deeper things within your soul. Some of my students say that the Mentorship feels like Creative Therapy… and I’m not mad about it! Everything flows from the heart, and that is where Creative Formation happens.
That's really interesting! After helping so many creatives, have you seen changes in your creativity and how you approach your art?
Absolutely! It is less hurried. It is less anxious. It is more balanced. More concerned about the process than the product. I am asking myself more than ever, “How is this forming me?” and “Who am I becoming?” It feels like the important things are back at the center of my creative process. More than anything, I am loving what I create and that is a joy like no other!
Amazing! Given your experience as a creative and working with so many, what advice do you have for our readers who are looking to unlock their creativity?
What a stunning question!
If you feel blocked, rest. Slow Down. Find a way, any way, to
drawback. Your answer will not be found in doing more. Your blocks are invitations to greater freedom, but you just need to take enough time to see what is really being made available to you. You are worth the time it takes to slow down. You are worth the time it takes to heal. You are not late. There is room for you to be all that you are. Get your eyes off others and show up to your own life.
What’s next for your business?
I want to launch online courses and begin offering some workshops for creatives! I am also releasing new music in a few months and can hardly wait for that as well.
Other than that, I am slowly working through writing a book and just enjoying those I am currently mentoring. It feels surreal to be able to call this my career, so I’m taking it all in!
To learn more about Olive Home check out their website at www.ourolivehome.com. To keep up to date with Debrianna and her work, make sure to follow her @OurOliveHome on Facebook and @our.olivehome on Instagram. You can also check out her videos on her Youtube Channel, OurOliveHome.
Comments