Kelly Notaras

Kelly Notaras started her career as a book editor in the ”Big Five” publishing houses in New York City, including HarperCollins, Penguin and Hyperion. During this time she edited books on a wide variety of topics, from business to fiction to celebrity memoir. After learning to meditate, she began focusing on books in the transformational nonfiction category and in 2006 was hired as the VP/Associate Publisher at Sounds True, a spirituality publisher located in Boulder, CO. After four years of helping them establish a strong book publishing division, she went freelance in 2010 and in May 2013 founded her own company, KN Literary Arts—an editorial studio devoted to helping authors get the information and support they need to bring their wisdom onto the page into the world. A profitable company with approximately $2M in revenue in 2023, KNLA helps hundreds of authors each year. Kelly is the author of The Book You Were Born to Write, has a lively YouTube channel at youtube.com/knliterary and co-produces two online writers memberships with her partner, the publisher Hay House. She lives in Boulder, where her life is overseen by a 15 pound rescue pup named Violet.

My advice to students...

The first and most important thing I have learned as a leader in business and life is that success means getting used to mistakes and failure. Messing up is not optional! Having a sense of purpose, a positive attitude and a sense of humor about what you are learning is essential. Leadership does not mean being perfect, it means being willing to show up, over and over, even when it’s hard. Finally, getting to know yourself on a very deep and honest level— recognizing what lights you up versus what makes your eyes glaze over—means you can position yourself for constant improvement in the circumstances of your life and work.