Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from Brazil and live in Orange County.
I’ve had a very different life story from the age of 6.
My family and I went to live in Lagos, Nigeria in the beginning of 1981. My father disappeared in the beginning of 1985 and my mom shipped my brothers and I to Brazil to stay at my grandmother’s house. She stayed behind to try and help my dad. He had been arrested by the police and charged with industrial espionage.
Six months later my mom returns to Brazil and we move from my grandma’s to our own apartment. My mom starts drinking every day to cope with the pain of never knowing if my father would ever come home and I became her favorite punching bag.
My dad managed to escape from Africa in 1986 and went home in July. My mom’s drinking got heavier with time and the abuse continued.
At the age of 13 I started to gain weight and for 10 years I weighed between 180 and 220 pounds.
I dropped out of law school and resigned from Price Waterhouse in 1997 to backpack around Europe and try to rescue myself. That’s when I admitted that I was addicted to food, just like my mom to alcohol. I never felt that she loved me and always felt rejected, which influenced all of my relationships as I was growing up.
I donated my eggs to a friend who wanted to have children. She has twin girls.
I finally lost close to 80 pounds after I met a guy who fell in love with me, despite my weight and the belief that people were only going to like me if I were thin started to be questioned by me and I was able to let go of it.
I passed the bar, opened my own practice and started my masters, which gave me the opportunity to be a teacher at universities in Brazil.
I met my husband through a website dating service and in 2006 we got married. It was a toxic relationship, because that was the only kind I knew and 13 months later I filed for divorce. In the meantime I dropped law and became an image consultant at the age of 32.
6 months after that I was on a weekly national radio chat and 6 months after that on national tv co hosting makeover shows. When I embraced my new profession I created a new me. I became Milla Mathias (my birth name is Camilla Teixeira de Freitas). I wrote and published 2 books regarding image and style. Both are in Portuguese.
In 2012 I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and my priorities changed. My career was no longer the number one priority.
Of course that I had disastrous relationships all along because of my low self esteem. Although I had lost close to 80 pounds I still had the fat girl inside me thinking I wasn’t good enough for anyone to love.
It all changed when I had cancer. At the end of 2012 I met a man in Birmingham, Alabama and 2 months later I was living with him. We got married in April of 2013 and we have been together ever since.
When I was a lawyer I wrote a book about civil law and my theses on contractual law.
Cancer taught me several things, but most importantly it showed me that people are the most valuable asset in our lives.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Written in The Stars, The Art of Letting Go and Starting Over. My life’s story inspired me to write this book because I believe I am a survivor and I can inspire people to go after themselves, happiness and dreams.
My growing faith in God inspired me as well.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. I wake up at 1:30 in the morning and write until 6. Go back to bed, wake up at 9 and continue to work on my books.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
Several by Marianne Williamson
Deepak Chopra
Conversations with God – vol. 1
The books by Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes.
What are you working on now?
On marketing and promoting my latest book.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning…
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Believe in yourselves and take time to really perfect your work. This book has been a project of mine since 2009, but I only started writing it in 2012 and only in 2014 I became very pleased with it and published it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write like you talk.
What are you reading now?
Articles on how to promote and market my book.
What’s next for you as a writer?
A sequel.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Antony Robbin’s “Awake the Giant Within”, Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” and “A Course in Miracles”
Author Websites and Profiles
Milla Mathias Website
Milla Mathias Amazon Profile
Milla Mathias’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account