GOOD VIBRATIONS
With her life-affirming, socially conscious poetry, prose and attitude, Cleo Wade is delivering a message of hope to the world.
We might not know it, but we all need Cleo Wade in our lives. At a time where jadedness and cynicism have gained currency, her forthright optimism and hopefulness slice through the negativity.
“My biggest passion is making sure everybody has the tools to be the best person you can be,” says Wade ebulliently over the phone from her home in New York. Her words of affirmation and encouragement feature on public art and in Gucci’s Chime for Change campaigns, but are most prolific and accessible on Instagram, where you can find them wherever you are, whenever you want, which is very Cleo Wade.
“When I wake up in the morning, I don’t wake up and feel like an author, I feel like a toolmaker, so I’m really focused on how I can make my book something every type of person would read,” says Wade about Heart Talk, her first book of poetry, which is self-help crossed with general life manual and ‘uplifter-er’. An avid reader of Maya Angelou and Paulo Coelho, Wade was surprised to learn that some of her friends and acquaintances had an aversion to reading (not enough time, too daunting). “What I realised when writing this was that there are so many people in the world who don’t identify as readers,” she says. Heart Talk is the book for them: on the surface accessible, yet with word play that displays the author’s wit and finesse for language.
Formatted with one page of poetry followed by a page of straightforward explanation, the book can be read front-toback, or with pages picked at random.
“We didn’t know where this book would sit on shelves, and everyone wanted me to do just a traditional book of poetry. This was the book nobody wanted, so for it to become a bestseller shocked everyone,” she says. “I was so happy I was able to stay focussed on my goal of putting it out … If you’re not really dedicated to the goal, it’s easy to get hijacked along the way.”
Wade’s words are succinct and powerful, with sentences turning previous lines inside out, or outside down, flipping meanings and adding new revelations to words we already know. An example: ‘You want love? Be love/You want light? Be light.’ – the words written in her signature style of filled-in capital letters. “I want the words to not just be beautiful but also helpful and useful. I think about how they could help me, how it would shift me and to change my thinking, or help my friend, or anyone. The words then create their own patterns,” she explains of how she writes.
Her slogans appear on protest signs for women’s marches, are slipped in graduation caps during ceremonies and are reposted time and time again on Instagram, the social medium that gave Wade prominence. A political activist, she acknowledges that more needs to be done beyond the digital sphere.
“It [social media] gives an added element of sharing information, but you still need to go to the booth to vote, and to make real change you need to get on the phone, show up and stay vocal and use your voice offline as well as online. The online space is a jumping-off point, not an answer to a kind of political movement.”
It’s an attitude that shows in how she speaks, too, her responses filled with positive affirmations, the kind we would want to blow up, print out and pin to our walls.
Does she ever experience writer’s block? “It’s very important for me not to use my language against myself, not to affirm negativity,” she says, rejecting the phrase.
Her life phase as a poet and artist began with a stall at Hester Street Fair in New York, where she would offer “free, peaceful and loving conversation” for anyone – a friendly ear to listen to worries and insecurities.
“The world is changing so quickly and there are lots of statistics showing that we have never been more depressed, anxious and lonely, because I think it’s hard to navigate this new terrain … so I think poetry can be helpful when it can give language to things that people feel, because when you give language to something, you can start figuring out what you want to do with that feeling.”
But what happens when there is negativity or complaints? “We can’t control what pops up in our minds,” she gently advises. “We have so much control over how we direct our thoughts, and so for me it’s not that I don’t have thoughts that get me off track or distract me, or bribe me to accept something lesser than my highest goal,
dream or aspiration, but I have different mantras, or I write, in order to stay focused on the woman I want to be.”
With a personal style that also emanates the same warmth and expressiveness of her personality, she is dressed at talks in Maggie Marilyn matching sets (“I met her in New Zealand and I just fell in love with her and her mission”), works from home in La Line knits accessorised in Brother Vellies (“they use female artisans around the world”). “I love Gucci too; they recently went fur-free,” she adds, in reference to her Met Gala look this year of a shimmery, rainbow-coloured Gucci gown.
Her stance on fashion is considered. “For me, I think it’s difficult to be in the world regardless of your gender, because people often tell you that you need to be one thing at a time to be taken seriously. But we are such nuanced and multi-dimensional characters; it’s really important that in our lives we make room to express all the parts of who we are, so you can be a serious writer or attorney or teacher and still wear a fabulous ruffled, hot-pink, polka-dot thing on the weekends because it puts you in a good mood. They don’t negate the other.”
Her choices and the way she decides to live reflect her own values. “I don’t think I know a single person where [sustainable designs and ethical practices] aren’t important to them,” she says. “I wake up every morning and decide to be a role model for the next generation.” While many may reject the label of role model – contest it, challenge it, claim independence from it – Wade’s considered decision is bold.
She clarifies (because although she’s refreshingly positive, she still has a healthy dose of realism) that being a role model is not about “the things you do” or power or celebrity, but being able to back herself and be proud of her choices.
“You’re a role model because it’s a conscious choice. I realised how important it was for me to be responsible and to make sure that all the decisions I make in my life, work and business – from who I work with and the clothes I wear and what I do – follow my motto, which is if I couldn’t stand in front of a room of 300 young girls and tell them why I made that decision, then don’t make that decision.”
A New Orleans native who still keeps her home state’s phone area code, Wade moved to New York to work at fashion brands like M Missoni and Halston before finding her way as a mantra-maker and messenger. How did she find her way from there to here? “It’s important to remember that people will continuously tell you to find your passion or purpose, but we always have the ability to apply passion and purpose to everything we do.” See, there’s another affirmation. “We can enjoy the journey because it’s not about getting ‘there’. The reason the subtitle of my book is ‘poetic wisdom for a better life’ – not the perfect or best life – is because I don’t think I’m trying to give this one answer that there’s this place you’ll get to, to be happy.” And therein lies a message to all of us to keep in mind and hold tight, courtesy of Cleo Wade.
Heart Talk: Poetic wisdom for a better life by Cleo Wade
(Allen & Unwin, $24.99).
“We are such nuanced and multidimensional characters; it’s really important that in our lives we make room to express all the parts of who we are”