A model and art director as well as a prolific author, Australian-born Singapore-based Steph Adams has published 14 books, showcasing the stories and wisdom of women spanning the globe. Here, she shares hers
When Arianna Huffington was trying to get her second book published, no one was biting. Despondent in the wake of so many rejections, she recalled walking down London’s St James’s Street in freezing cold weather and taking a chance at a branch of Barclays bank. She walked in and asked for a loan. Against the odds, the employee she spoke to, Ian Bell, gave her the loan.
Huffington’s recounting of this story had a lasting impression on Steph Adams, who interviewed the author and businesswoman for her own book The Game Changers: Success Secrets From 40 Women At The Top, which was written with co-author Samantha Brett and first released in December 2016.
According to Adams, Huffington said that the loan not only allowed her to publish her second book but helped her get to where she is today. Huffington told Adams that we will come across people in our lives who will be like “little angels” and who help in the moment, and it’s about recognising those moments and those people. “Ian Bell was her angel,” says Adams of a story that’s stuck with her.
Huffington is just one of many accomplished women that Adams has interviewed for her books, which span genres, from fashion, beauty and wellness, to luxury, leadership and success. But, if there’s one thing that ties all her titles all together, it’s that they empower women through the sharing of stories, learnings and wisdom of women from all walks of life and from around the world.
Adams started out modelling at the age of 12, a career she doesn’t think is good for any woman, as “it’s too much about how you look as opposed to building up your inner self.” She went on to work on fashion magazines as an art director in London and her native Australia. “Interviewing women was one of the things I had always done,” she says, so when she launched her own content website in 2010, it seemed natural to continue. “I was interested to hear what [these women] were doing, and celebrities started coming onto my website wanting to be interviewed,” says Adams.
Collating these interviews into books was a natural progression, and Adams has since been recognised for platforming accomplished women who serve as an inspiration for others. “I didn’t start out thinking, 'I want to empower women'. It just happened that way. I took a genuine interest. I was just working and passionate about what I was doing and then it evolved.”
