Woman Rising
A True Story
A story of tragedy, hope, healing, and success despite all the odds. For 21 years, a closed cult in Pennsylvania was all she knew. Her father’s abusive home led her to the brink of despair and self-destruction. Tapping into her passion was her way out.
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“The same tenacity, passion, and determination that has allowed Julia to build a thriving business is evident in Woman Rising. With vivid imagery and eloquent language, she immerses the reader in her story of a difficult childhood while also providing guideposts for self-discovery along the way. This is a brave and important work.”
– Anna LeBaron
author, The Polygamist’s Daughter
What’s Inside
A narratively written true story.
Told in two parts:
Part 1: Life in a Cult
Part 2: The Making of Success
Woman Rising: A True Story shares the reality of Julia’s terror-filled life as a young child; her heartaches, struggles, breakthroughs, and the true story of her midnight escape. But the story doesn’t stop here. Part 2 chronicles how she went on to experience healing, life fulfillment, and build four businesses. This is the story of one woman’s survival and her path to a thriving life, despite all the odds. It’s also an entrepreneur’s success manual.
Preface
For the first twenty-one years of my life, I was the victim of a religious cult that had tried to mold me into slavery since birth – mute my voice, force me into silence and servitude. My father was the leader, and his house was my norm.
When I escaped his house in the middle of the night in 2012, in a car I’d bought with cash funded by a fledgling business empire I’d started while living in the cult, I believed I’d never amount to much.
I thought I was broken inside. Beyond repair.
Today, I’m living the life I always dreamed of. Despite the mountains that stood before me, I took life in my own hands, made risky choices, went against the mainstream, did things that scared me, and found real passion and purpose. I built a life I love out of less than nothing. I get to work hand-in-hand every day with the love of my life.
Healing and happiness can happen for every broken being on this earth. I can’t tell you how strongly I used to believe, deep down, that I was the most broken one. Yet today, I’ve worked my way up to industry influencer—if you want to call me that. I’m a business builder. A teacher. An author. I’ve written two books on content, hosted a podcast, and created a blog read by thousands of readers. My agency has over ninety people on staff. I’ve built and launched courses, created multiple brands.
I haven’t arrived at perfection by a long shot, but every single day, I’m grateful. Let me put this into perspective for you. At twenty-one, my birthday gift from my father was a letter saying I shouldn’t have been born. I was called “worthless,” a “disgrace” to the family.
Today, I live a life I love. Daily, my best work stems from my greatest passions. I met my husband through content writing, and he was the perfect (if accidental) partner for me. Our story is in this book. I’m the proud mom of a creative, attitude-filled little girl. I eat challenges for breakfast. I’m hungry for life, and the next big idea. I’m in constant pursuit of how I can rise higher.
I become alive in the search of getting better and better at what I do.
And in that journey, I’ve gone from utter despair and brokenness to feeling needed, loved, and knowing I’m leaving my mark in this world.
It’s time to share my story. It’s time for you to read it. Because even if you don’t have a support system, even if you feel pushed down and beaten up, even if you don’t believe in yourself right now as you read this, my story will show you—prove to you—that you have the power to accomplish great things. I’m living proof. My mind was able to restore, heal, and do a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree pivot after years of being told I was worth nothing.
It’s time to get out of the shadows, to shrug off the echoes of past hurts and shake off the pronouncements of those who seek to limit your power. The world needs you. All of you. Let’s rise together. Read my story and be inspired to spread your wings and fly.
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About Julia
Julia McCoy is an author, entrepreneur, mom, and wife. She dropped out of college at nineteen years old to pursue her dreams to write for a living and find healing and life fulfillment. At the age of 21, she escaped her father’s cult to build a life on her own terms. Her content agency, Express Writers, grew from nothing to over $4.3M in revenue in just seven years, and she was named an industry thought leader in content marketing by Forbes in 2018. Today, she’s the author of two bestselling books, founder of The Content Hacker, and lives in Austin, Texas, with her daughter, husband, and fur baby.
Julia McCoy