Home » Heidi Siefkas Shines a Light on Resilience with Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience

Heidi Siefkas Shines a Light on Resilience with Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience

April 7, 2025 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

After surviving a life-altering accident in 2010, author and speaker Heidi Siefkas adopted a two-word mantra that helped her rebuild her life—Look Up. It became her compass for navigating loss, recovery, and personal transformation. Now, more than a decade later, that simple phrase has evolved into a global movement, culminating in the release of her latest book, Look Up—Global Stories of Resilience.

This new collection is more than a book. It’s a powerful chorus of voices—real people from around the world who’ve turned personal adversity into strength, wisdom, and purpose. Through stories of homelessness, addiction, immigration, natural disasters, and identity, Siefkas weaves a tapestry of hope and healing that is both timely and timeless.

Interview with Heidi Siefkas

What is the inspiration behind your book LOOK UP?

I created the mantra Look Up in 2010 after a life-changing accident. After a year-long recovery from a broken neck coupled with a messy divorce and career loss, I didn’t want to lose the wisdom that I had gained. However, the lesson needed to be short, easy to remember; thus, I chose Look Up. It is a double-entendre that reminds us all to: 1) Be in the moment, appreciating the beauty around us as well as hazards and 2) Find the upside in any situation, each wound or life hurdle makes us who we are and who we will become.

I first wrote about the life-altering accident in When All Balls Drop, which was my first book. In it, I highlighted Look Up in one of its last chapters. Since it has been a common thread in my subsequent books, With New Eyes and Cubicle to Cuba, as well as my TEDx talks. Through sharing my story of overcoming obstacles and triumphing against odds, others recounted their stories of doing the same. The stories were different combinations of factors and curveballs with a Look Up lesson or silver lining. That’s when the ah-ha moment came that I needed to write a book about Look Up, but not my story, others’ stories. That lightbulb went off in 2021; so, at the turn of the 2022, I started my search for true, inspirational stories of resilience.

How did you go about creating the book?

I reached out to everybody that I knew asking for real-life comeback kid stories. I did this in-person around the dinner table or happy hour. I asked on social media. In fact, I asked for Women’s Writers help. And, one of my chapters comes from this community, Heid Love. In under a year, I had 15 contributors. Some of which knew others that would like to share their powerful stories. So, it was a like a domino effect.

Each contributor would sit for an online interview of roughly an hour, I would record and take notes. From this, I would craft a chapter about their stories. Whether it took me a week or a month, I would hand over my chapter to each contributor for their approval, edits, and feedback. This was the most petrifying part of the process because my goal is to do each story justice. I was fearful each and every time that they weren’t going to like it, think it was crap, and not participate in the book. But it never once happened. Granted, I did need to change some factoids and soften language in places to make all comfortable with the story, but never did anyone feel that it was not a thoughtfully written story that was powerful.

Then in December 2022, life forced me to pause my endeavor. My life partner of twelve years, Brian, was piloting a medevac mission from Maui and because of multiple factors crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Brian’s passing was unexpected, and I didn’t know how to continue life let alone the book.

In time, I moved off Maui to the mainland and picked Nashville, Tennessee because previously in Maui both Brian and I would take care of my nearly 90-year-old father. I would need support in continuing to care for him. Two family friends since my infancy lived in Nashville and that’s where I started a new life and a new adventure. After nearly a year in Nashville and much therapy and self-exploration, I restarted the Look Up book again, but with more gusto. In 2024, I kickstarted the project in spring and by November I was nearly finished. I contacted my previous editor, but she was no longer accepting work, embracing a retired lifestyle. However, she did have a recommendation for me, Heart and Soul Editing.

In late November, Peggy Henrikson and I started the editing process, albeit I thought I was missing 4 themes: homelessness, drug addiction, immigration, and gender roles. So, Peggy did her first review while I was still drumming up stories by literally shaking the trees. I cold called the Nashville Rescue Mission to find one of my favorite stories in the book. Plus, I reached out to my friends of Cubicle to Cuba to find a story about immigration from the forbidden island. By the turn of the 2025, I had all completed, approved chapters for the editor’s review. Then, that meant with slight changes by Peggy, another final review process was at hand.

I thought the nerves and anxiety of asking for approval was gone, but it was not. Most were quick to review, but others were not. As two-three years had gone by between some of the interviewing and writing, we needed to update some positive life changes but also amend some stories that had encountered some curveballs. With slight changes, all chapters were approved, and it was ready for the design. The fastest part of the process was cover design and interior formatting. Thanks to Yvonne Parks and the Pear Creative team.

Then, I had to do the hard stuff, craft the best summary for Amazon and Ingram Spark. Find a couple of pre-publish reviews to include on the cover and online listings and then test the supply chain. Voilà, we did it. I use we because the book wouldn’t have been possible without the contributors nor my team of professionals from book editing, cover design, interior design, website revamps by Levy Media Marketing, and marketing design support by Designarie for business cards, bookmarks, posters.

Were there any specific stories that stood out to you more than others?

All the stories are unique, but I will share with you the 3 chapters that I selected to use as a sneak preview before the book launched. Here’s the link. It starts with the prologue which explains my back story and the why behind the project. Then, it shares a story from Maui about Pamela Reader’s family’s survival during the devastating fire of August 2023. Maui is where I started writing the book, so it felt like the right way to kick off the sneak preview. Then, I continued with a story of immigration from Vietnam. My family sponsored Chong Hang’s family in the early 1980s when I was nearly 4 years old living on our hobby farm in rural Western family. I conclude the sneak preview with a story from Nashville. Krystal Knight’s story of overcoming drug addiction and homelessness is a testament to the strength of the human spirit. One metaphor Krystle often shares is that of the mosaic. “Life can shatter you, but those broken pieces can be rearranged into something more beautiful and impactful than before.”