April 7, 2025 • 13 mins
Loretta Terrell is the founder of Sista Soul Fest. She is a finalist for the Courage Award.
Sista Soul Fest Website: http://sistasoulfest.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sistasoulfest
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SistaSoulFest
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@sistasoulfest
Brotha’s United for Hope on Instagram: www.instagram.com/brothasunitedforhope
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to the Inspiring Women of Iowa podcast,
a special series
amplifying the stories of the Inspiring Women of Iowa Finalists.
Inspiring Women of Iowa is an annual event hosted by Girl
Scouts of Greater
Iowa with the goal of celebrating women of courage,
confidence and character who are making the world
(00:27):
a better place.
Why does that sound familiar?
Well, because it also happens
to be the mission of the Girl Scouts,
where they believe society is better because strong
women show girls that anything is possible.
This event was created by Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa in 2017
to celebrate women in our community
(00:48):
and share their stories, while raising support
for the Girl Scout programs
that build the next generation of inspiring women.
16 individuals are celebrated annually with the Courage,
Confidence, Character and Inspiring Advocate for Women Awards.
I'm your host, Sarah Noll Wilson.
I am a business owner, a champion of women, and I'm
(01:10):
also a proud Girl Scout alum.
So massive love to troop 238.
And I am honored to have the chance to speak with these amazing,
inspiring women and to share their stories with you.
Joining me
today is Loretta Terrell,
(01:30):
who is being nominated for the Courage Award.
She is the founder of Sista Soul Fest.
Loretta.
Yeah! We made it.
We made it.
We are here.
It is happening. It is.
Oh my goodness.
I'm so excited to talk with you and friends who are listening.
(01:50):
So I had the privilege of meeting Loretta,
in a pretty quick interaction.
And, and every interaction I have had with her
since, she is just an absolute delight.
And I was so excited for you all to get exposed to her
and to hear more about her message.
So, okay, so, Loretta, before we get into the work you do,
(02:11):
question I'm asking everyone is just what what else
do you want us to know about who you are as a human?
Oh, well, you might already know,
but I am a I love people.
I just I believe that there's more.
We have more alike than not.
(02:32):
And I believe that we should.
Well,
what I do is
I try to focus on the things that we have in common.
Then the things that we don't.
Just, Yeah,
I just I believe in living your best life.
And whatever your best is at that time.
Because it does change, so.
(02:53):
You bet it does.
Has that always, has
that always been a strong value of yours
or where did that evolve for you?
You know, I would like to say, and I do believe it's
always been a strong value because of my family, my upbringing.
But it wasn't really I didn't really recognize it
until I left a corporation, a job
(03:17):
that no longer valued me after 15 years.
And I really just dug deep into that and
found out that, you know.
I couldn't really live the life that I want to live.
How I see it best for me.
You know, so.
Yeah.
It's, I don't know if this was your experience, but
(03:39):
sometimes when you're in a tough situation like that,
you know, it's bad.
You know, it's draining or dimming your life.
But it's
not until you get out that you realize, like,
oh, it's actually worse than what I thought.
I don't know if that resonates for you at all, but it is.
Absolutely.
My experience, it was just like that.
I, actually, that was the first time
(03:59):
I got a therapist because it was so rough for me.
Being in that position and, just for the first time, really
feeling like, God, these people don't care about me.
You know, I grew up
having love, at its highest with my family.
So to have that feeling of not being even liked, let alone
(04:24):
loved, was like, oh, this was it was crushing.
So yeah,
I understand it.
What glorious language to describe,
but I'm already like,
okay, like,
we need to have you on our show because I want to dig in more.
But okay, so for purposes of this.
You know.
We know that everyone who is nominated is nominated
(04:47):
because they've made an impact,
that they've made an impact on the community, on an individual.
Even if they didn't realize, and so talk to us, Loretta,
about the work
you do, the impact you want to make, and what drives
that for you.
Okay.
This is where I take a deep breath at the.
(05:07):
Okay.
So the work that I do, I do a lot of community work.
I would like to say that I am a, community
activist, and I am a creator.
I create spaces that aren’t normally,
accessible or easily accessible to a community.
(05:30):
And when I say community, sometimes people just say community
and they think of it as a location.
But when I say community,
the definition of that is a lot more than just a location.
A community is a group of people that have a common interest.
We have the same concerns.
(05:51):
So you don't necessarily
have to live in that actual community or location.
One of the things that I was thinking
about was, a colleague of ours in Des Moines, Courageous Fire.
She was a former actually winner for the event.
And one of the things she talks about,
especially like as a black woman, is there's the places of trust
and there's the places of must, like the places you have to.
(06:15):
And when you think about creating so, so, so continue
talking about the spaces you create and what that looks like.
Oh my goodness.
So yes, first and foremost it's women.
Women and girls.
And that's all of us,
regardless of color, creed, background.
And then there is where we focus more on to the women
(06:36):
and young girls that are, black women and women of color.
Yeah.
So the communities that are marginalized.
So the actual location, of the community or space in the city,
you know, we have expanded,
and I say we at Sista Soul Fest expanded to, the communities
that the missing men in our communities,
(06:58):
which are men that are incarcerated.
So that community of people, really, of course, our children,
the youth, we have Culture Kids, that’s part of Sister
Soul Fest,
that is something that we've always had, but we're now
being able to move in it and see it grow.
So yeah, just, Yeah,
(07:21):
that that's just kind of, them in a nutshell, but.
Yeah.
How when did you start Sister Soul first?
How long is that organization been?
Because when we met you,
it was through displaying the artwork of the missing men.
And. And it was actually it was Nick.
When we saw your name come through,
he was like, pretty sure we met her.
(07:42):
And I'm pretty sure it was, you know, because of that work.
So how long how long has your organization been around?
Well, Sista Soul Fest started in 2020.
So, August of 2020 is when we had our first fest
in the middle of a pandemic at that.
Yeah. Yeah.
And Brothers United for Hope is,
(08:03):
going to be two years in this coming August.
Yeah. That's amazing.
So we know and people can hear how inspiring you are.
You've been nominated for this award.
You've created these spaces,
Loretta, who's somebody who inspires you?
There's so many people that inspire me as far as,
(08:23):
of course, my my mother, my grandmothers, my family members.
But one person that I, listen to daily
and I had the chance to go
to, his ministry over in the Bahamas when he was alive.
Is Doctor Myles Munroe.
(08:43):
He is a big inspiration.
And I'm inspired by everything
he did in his ministry and his outreach to people.
So, Well, I love that, I appreciate that.
When were you.
When you think about the people
who are going to get exposed to your story,
who maybe are familiar,
(09:04):
but maybe it's the first time
they're hearing about you through this event
and even people who might be,
learning about you through this conversation.
What, as we wrap up our time together,
what's one message you want to leave with?
I would say
the one message that I would like for everyone to know
and to remember is that we really are in this together.
(09:26):
And when I say in this, I mean in this life together,
and I can't say it enough, but it doesn't matter.
Your color, your background, your religious beliefs,
we are really in this life together.
And we again, we have so much more in common than than not.
(09:47):
And we're we're all given the same 24 hours in a day.
Yeah.
We're all, the sun shines, the same sun
that shines on me shines on everyone else.
The same moon at night is the same that we all have .
So it's really what we do with it
and more importantly, how we move in that.
(10:07):
You know, my grandmother,
both of them, but my mother's mother always instilled in us
love, you know, and taught us the importance of love.
And really, it's the greatest.
It really is the greatest.
And if we could move more in our hearts
(10:29):
to move from a space of love when we deal with people
and one another, we would be so much better off.
Yeah, we really, really would.
So it's, Yeah.
Well, it's I mean, that's really clear.
Even when you talk about
you've experienced the highest, like,
power of love or the highest type of love,
how you said it earlier.
And it makes me think of a mentor of mine always says
(10:51):
you are either always coming from a place of fear or love.
And that is so true.
And both is a choice.
So yeah.
So, Loretta, for people who are interested in learning
more about the organizations that you run with Soul Sister Fest
and then the missing men’s,
what's the best way
for people to connect with you or follow your work?
(11:11):
They can definitely follow us.
We have, a website, a beautiful website.
It is at WWW dot Sista, and it’s Sista’s with sass.
S.I.S.T.A.
Yes.
Dot com.
And we also have, you know, Instagram,
Facebook and TikTok.
(11:31):
And I know nothing about TikTok.
But yeah.
So they can follow us on that.
And then Brothers United for Hope is also on our website.
And it has its own social media handles as well.
So, so can like follow us that way.
And just remember that
Sista Soul Fest
is coming up
this year, it’ll be our sixth year here in Des Moines,
(11:52):
our fourth year in North Carolina,
and our first debut July 12th in Waterloo.
So we are so excited. Yeah.
When, when is
when is the next date for the one here in Des Moines?
In Des Moines it is August 31st.
So it's it's always the last Sunday in August.
(12:13):
Okay. Fantastic.
You know, I thank you for sharing that Loretta.
Yes, you I
know people that are listening to this.
You have to understand
there's been a whole lot of laughter,
giggling in the process of us
trying to get this scheduled,
navigating technology and vacuuming.
And honestly,
(12:37):
I feel so much love being in this conversation with you.
And there's such a warmth and I'm so grateful for you.
So thank you so much for coming and talking with me.
I am just as grateful for you to there.
So thank you so, so, so much.
And I know we're going to connect to get.
So yeah, this is not goodbye.
Thank you.
(13:02):
The 2025 Inspiring
Women of Iowa event will be held
on May 9th at the Meadows Events and Conference Center.
To purchase tickets
and get more information about supporting this event, please
visit Inspiring Women of Iowa dot com and all proceeds
from this fundraising event stay 100% local
to benefit Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa and their mission
(13:25):
to build up girls of courage, confidence
and character who will make this world a better place.
Thank you for listening and thank you for your support.
Welcome to the Inspiring Women of Iowa podcast,
a special series
amplifying the stories of the Inspiring Women of Iowa Finalists.
Inspiring Women of Iowa is an annual event hosted by Girl
Scouts of Greater
Iowa with the goal of celebrating women of courage,
confidence and character who are making the world
(00:27):
a better place.
Why does that sound familiar?
Well, because it also happens
to be the mission of the Girl Scouts,
where they believe society is better because strong
women show girls that anything is possible.
This event was created by Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa in 2017
to celebrate women in our community
(00:48):
and share their stories, while raising support
for the Girl Scout programs
that build the next generation of inspiring women.
16 individuals are celebrated annually with the Courage,
Confidence, Character and Inspiring Advocate for Women Awards.
I'm your host, Sarah Noll Wilson.
I am a business owner, a champion of women, and I'm
(01:10):
also a proud Girl Scout alum.
So massive love to troop 238.
And I am honored to have the chance to speak with these amazing,
inspiring women and to share their stories with you.
Joining me
today is Loretta Terrell,
(01:30):
who is being nominated for the Courage Award.
She is the founder of Sista Soul Fest.
Loretta.
Yeah! We made it.
We made it.
We are here.
It is happening. It is.
Oh my goodness.
I'm so excited to talk with you and friends who are listening.
(01:50):
So I had the privilege of meeting Loretta,
in a pretty quick interaction.
And, and every interaction I have had with her
since, she is just an absolute delight.
And I was so excited for you all to get exposed to her
and to hear more about her message.
So, okay, so, Loretta, before we get into the work you do,
(02:11):
question I'm asking everyone is just what what else
do you want us to know about who you are as a human?
Oh, well, you might already know,
but I am a I love people.
I just I believe that there's more.
We have more alike than not.
(02:32):
And I believe that we should.
Well,
what I do is
I try to focus on the things that we have in common.
Then the things that we don't.
Just, Yeah,
I just I believe in living your best life.
And whatever your best is at that time.
Because it does change, so.
(02:53):
You bet it does.
Has that always, has
that always been a strong value of yours
or where did that evolve for you?
You know, I would like to say, and I do believe it's
always been a strong value because of my family, my upbringing.
But it wasn't really I didn't really recognize it
until I left a corporation, a job
(03:17):
that no longer valued me after 15 years.
And I really just dug deep into that and
found out that, you know.
I couldn't really live the life that I want to live.
How I see it best for me.
You know, so.
Yeah.
It's, I don't know if this was your experience, but
(03:39):
sometimes when you're in a tough situation like that,
you know, it's bad.
You know, it's draining or dimming your life.
But it's
not until you get out that you realize, like,
oh, it's actually worse than what I thought.
I don't know if that resonates for you at all, but it is.
Absolutely.
My experience, it was just like that.
I, actually, that was the first time
(03:59):
I got a therapist because it was so rough for me.
Being in that position and, just for the first time, really
feeling like, God, these people don't care about me.
You know, I grew up
having love, at its highest with my family.
So to have that feeling of not being even liked, let alone
(04:24):
loved, was like, oh, this was it was crushing.
So yeah,
I understand it.
What glorious language to describe,
but I'm already like,
okay, like,
we need to have you on our show because I want to dig in more.
But okay, so for purposes of this.
You know.
We know that everyone who is nominated is nominated
(04:47):
because they've made an impact,
that they've made an impact on the community, on an individual.
Even if they didn't realize, and so talk to us, Loretta,
about the work
you do, the impact you want to make, and what drives
that for you.
Okay.
This is where I take a deep breath at the.
(05:07):
Okay.
So the work that I do, I do a lot of community work.
I would like to say that I am a, community
activist, and I am a creator.
I create spaces that aren’t normally,
accessible or easily accessible to a community.
(05:30):
And when I say community, sometimes people just say community
and they think of it as a location.
But when I say community,
the definition of that is a lot more than just a location.
A community is a group of people that have a common interest.
We have the same concerns.
(05:51):
So you don't necessarily
have to live in that actual community or location.
One of the things that I was thinking
about was, a colleague of ours in Des Moines, Courageous Fire.
She was a former actually winner for the event.
And one of the things she talks about,
especially like as a black woman, is there's the places of trust
and there's the places of must, like the places you have to.
(06:15):
And when you think about creating so, so, so continue
talking about the spaces you create and what that looks like.
Oh my goodness.
So yes, first and foremost it's women.
Women and girls.
And that's all of us,
regardless of color, creed, background.
And then there is where we focus more on to the women
(06:36):
and young girls that are, black women and women of color.
Yeah.
So the communities that are marginalized.
So the actual location, of the community or space in the city,
you know, we have expanded,
and I say we at Sista Soul Fest expanded to, the communities
that the missing men in our communities,
(06:58):
which are men that are incarcerated.
So that community of people, really, of course, our children,
the youth, we have Culture Kids, that’s part of Sister
Soul Fest,
that is something that we've always had, but we're now
being able to move in it and see it grow.
So yeah, just, Yeah,
(07:21):
that that's just kind of, them in a nutshell, but.
Yeah.
How when did you start Sister Soul first?
How long is that organization been?
Because when we met you,
it was through displaying the artwork of the missing men.
And. And it was actually it was Nick.
When we saw your name come through,
he was like, pretty sure we met her.
(07:42):
And I'm pretty sure it was, you know, because of that work.
So how long how long has your organization been around?
Well, Sista Soul Fest started in 2020.
So, August of 2020 is when we had our first fest
in the middle of a pandemic at that.
Yeah. Yeah.
And Brothers United for Hope is,
(08:03):
going to be two years in this coming August.
Yeah. That's amazing.
So we know and people can hear how inspiring you are.
You've been nominated for this award.
You've created these spaces,
Loretta, who's somebody who inspires you?
There's so many people that inspire me as far as,
(08:23):
of course, my my mother, my grandmothers, my family members.
But one person that I, listen to daily
and I had the chance to go
to, his ministry over in the Bahamas when he was alive.
Is Doctor Myles Munroe.
(08:43):
He is a big inspiration.
And I'm inspired by everything
he did in his ministry and his outreach to people.
So, Well, I love that, I appreciate that.
When were you.
When you think about the people
who are going to get exposed to your story,
who maybe are familiar,
(09:04):
but maybe it's the first time
they're hearing about you through this event
and even people who might be,
learning about you through this conversation.
What, as we wrap up our time together,
what's one message you want to leave with?
I would say
the one message that I would like for everyone to know
and to remember is that we really are in this together.
(09:26):
And when I say in this, I mean in this life together,
and I can't say it enough, but it doesn't matter.
Your color, your background, your religious beliefs,
we are really in this life together.
And we again, we have so much more in common than than not.
(09:47):
And we're we're all given the same 24 hours in a day.
Yeah.
We're all, the sun shines, the same sun
that shines on me shines on everyone else.
The same moon at night is the same that we all have .
So it's really what we do with it
and more importantly, how we move in that.
(10:07):
You know, my grandmother,
both of them, but my mother's mother always instilled in us
love, you know, and taught us the importance of love.
And really, it's the greatest.
It really is the greatest.
And if we could move more in our hearts
(10:29):
to move from a space of love when we deal with people
and one another, we would be so much better off.
Yeah, we really, really would.
So it's, Yeah.
Well, it's I mean, that's really clear.
Even when you talk about
you've experienced the highest, like,
power of love or the highest type of love,
how you said it earlier.
And it makes me think of a mentor of mine always says
(10:51):
you are either always coming from a place of fear or love.
And that is so true.
And both is a choice.
So yeah.
So, Loretta, for people who are interested in learning
more about the organizations that you run with Soul Sister Fest
and then the missing men’s,
what's the best way
for people to connect with you or follow your work?
(11:11):
They can definitely follow us.
We have, a website, a beautiful website.
It is at WWW dot Sista, and it’s Sista’s with sass.
S.I.S.T.A.
Yes.
Dot com.
And we also have, you know, Instagram,
Facebook and TikTok.
(11:31):
And I know nothing about TikTok.
But yeah.
So they can follow us on that.
And then Brothers United for Hope is also on our website.
And it has its own social media handles as well.
So, so can like follow us that way.
And just remember that
Sista Soul Fest
is coming up
this year, it’ll be our sixth year here in Des Moines,
(11:52):
our fourth year in North Carolina,
and our first debut July 12th in Waterloo.
So we are so excited. Yeah.
When, when is
when is the next date for the one here in Des Moines?
In Des Moines it is August 31st.
So it's it's always the last Sunday in August.
(12:13):
Okay. Fantastic.
You know, I thank you for sharing that Loretta.
Yes, you I
know people that are listening to this.
You have to understand
there's been a whole lot of laughter,
giggling in the process of us
trying to get this scheduled,
navigating technology and vacuuming.
And honestly,
(12:37):
I feel so much love being in this conversation with you.
And there's such a warmth and I'm so grateful for you.
So thank you so much for coming and talking with me.
I am just as grateful for you to there.
So thank you so, so, so much.
And I know we're going to connect to get.
So yeah, this is not goodbye.
Thank you.
(13:02):
The 2025 Inspiring
Women of Iowa event will be held
on May 9th at the Meadows Events and Conference Center.
To purchase tickets
and get more information about supporting this event, please
visit Inspiring Women of Iowa dot com and all proceeds
from this fundraising event stay 100% local
to benefit Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa and their mission
(13:25):
to build up girls of courage, confidence
and character who will make this world a better place.
Thank you for listening and thank you for your support.
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