A Conversation with Yolanda King
(The complete Flip interview, with only minor edits, not found in the book)

Yolanda King (www.yolanda-king.com), founder and CEO of Higher Ground Productions, is an amazing and dynamic voice among twenty-first century speakers. The first-born daughter of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Yolanda has a mission to encourage personal growth and positive social change through her artistic endeavors, including acting, producing, speaking, and teaching. It is Ms. King’s passion for peace and positive change that prompted her vision for founding Higher Ground Productions, an organization dedicated to teaching people to celebrate diversity and embrace unity through the arts.

With her father being one of the major lights of modern civilization, one naturally wonders if Yolanda feels an obligation to extend his legacy. “I have felt a calling for as long as I can remember,” she affirms. “When you grow up in an environment where there is a commitment to service, to making a difference and helping others – a commitment that is not only just talked about, but is actually lived in front of you – it naturally takes root in your life. I see it in all my siblings, not just me. We had the opportunity to see that commitment lived so purely and so passionately, both in my father and mother.

“They say the best sermons are the ones that are lived. My father not only talked the talk, and did a really great job of that, he also walked the talk and so did my grandparents, on both sides. So there was this ancestral energy that resulted in my feeling a very strong responsibility. So I’ve spent a great deal of my life trying to carve out a place for myself in this awesome legacy and make a difference on my own.”

Since no one can simply imitate the legacy of their famous forebears, how did Yolanda find her own special means of contributing? “I took the long road to get to where I am,” Yolanda reveals. “Interestingly enough, I’m working on a book now that’s called Embracing Your Power in Thirty Days. But it took me almost thirty years to get there! I’m showing people a process that will minimize their wandering around in the wilderness like I did.

“I’ve wanted to be an actress since was eight. That was the first burning desire in my spirit, to perform. And I started doing theater at a very young age. But I got sidetracked because I thought that it was not significant enough. I thought it was a very self-centered profession and I could not see how I could make a difference in that way. So I tried to do other things even though I was acting at the same time. I had a theater company and we ran around the country doing work that was touching the lives of young people. But because I was trying to figure out a way to combine this huge calling to make a difference with this passion to perform, I did a lot of other things trying to find myself. At one time I had three full time jobs – which is impossible!

“The point is that it took me a while to realize that I could do both – that I could utilize my art and my gift, and that I could use that gift to uplift and to edutain, as I call it – blend education and entertainment. I realized that I could be true to this calling. And my gracious, what peace I have had since I’ve been able to reconcile that within my spirit!”

Yolanda’s experience made us wonder which comes first: a personal or social inspiration? “It’s really a blending,” she says. “I feel strongly that you can’t stand up for anything else unless you have learned to stand up for yourself in an honest, authentic way. If you’re not true to yourself, if you’re not clear about who you are and what your purpose is and what your unique gift is to the planet, then there’s only so much that you’re going to be able to give to the world. So I try to help people understand that they have a light, that they are significant, that they are a part of this incredible whole. We come from the same source. Each and every last one of us has something very special and unique that we bring to the rest of us. We all have incredible energy for good and for transformation, if we can only plug into and accept it… and then consciously develop and share it with others. It is from that impetus of peace, passion and purpose that people begin to look at what’s happening in their home, their workplace, their community, and on this planet. I believe if you are clear about who you are, you can be a wonderful light for the world. Everywhere you go, that sense of clarity, that sense of conviction, reverberates.

“On the other hand, I think it’s pretty difficult to be a true light on this planet and not be engaged in service in some way. Once you have awakened to what your own potential is, I can’t imagine that you would not want to share that. It doesn’t have to be in the way of conventional activism, like marching and petitioning, even though those methods are incredibly important. Activism can look very different for everyone, but there is no way that you can be in that place of change in your own life and not want to effect change in other places.

“Now, there are those, of course, who are on the high spiritual path, that go to caves and into monasteries, and that’s what they do and that’s fine. But I can’t imagine it. That’s not the tradition that I come from. I come from a tradition that’s spiritual and visionary, but deeply activist.

“People often ask me, ‘What is it like being the daughter of…’ and I say, ‘It’s an incredible, awesome blessing and a tremendous responsibility.’ At one point in my life, I felt so inadequate to all of that – the hunger, the demand, the expectations and assumptions. I just felt smothered and burdened. I was like a dog chasing its tail, trying to support this, and be a part of that, and getting nowhere fast. That’s why we have to be very clear about who we are. I believe that is our first responsibility, because we really can’t be effective if we aren’t. Our potential is so diminished when we’re floundering around uncertain of who we are and the power that we have, whereas self-knowledge allows us to select the opportunities where we can make a unique contribution – those that are in alignment with our mission and abilities.”

What is Yolanda’s dream for the evolution of humanity? “My dream would be the worldwide realization that each and every one of us is one. We are so vitally connected that we are like pieces of an incredible puzzle. We are all together breathing this one breath. My dream is that once we realize that, we would understand that if I hurt or harm you, I’m destroying a piece of myself. I can’t do that because it would be like cutting off my knees or tearing out my heart! When we realize that, and I believe that we will, there will be peace. That would be my dream for the evolution of humanity – universal recognition of our oneness.

“I believe that we create what shows up in our lives. We are not victims. This world is not accidental or coincidental. Mass consciousness has created our planet, the challenges, the problems – all of it. And each of us has a responsibility to, in our own way, transform our thinking and move that consciousness forward.”

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The Flip, by Jared Rosen and David Rippe, illuminates a clear path to a vibrant enlightened world where millions of people already live and thrive. It describes in vivid detail and real examples evidence of an upside down world in decay and a Right Side Up world of authentic beings bright with possibility.
The Flip is an owner’s manual for the twenty-first century full of insights, conversations with recognized experts, thought leaders, and visionaries, and actionable exercises and tips you can use to begin your own personal flip.

To read more about The Flip and additional interviews from other luminaries, experts and bestselling authors, please visit www.theflip.net

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