AUTHOR, ACTRESS, SPEAKER AN `ANGEL IN TRAINING.Byline: Victoria Giraud / People and Places Artist Carol Donnelly believes she's here on Earth to touch hearts. To this end she's been involved in a wide spectrum of activities. ``You can't categorize cat·e·go·rize tr.v. cat·e·go·rized, cat·e·go·riz·ing, cat·e·go·riz·es To put into a category or categories; classify. cat me,'' said Donnelly, who describes herself as a songwriter, an actress, an author, a fashion designer and a motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a professional speaker, facilitator or trainer who speaks to audiences, usually for a fee. The keynote speech generally takes place either at the beginning of the event, or the close of the event. . From hand-painting crafts to volunteering for Child Help USA and Children of the Night, she feels she has the energy to work at all sorts of things. ``Everyone has talent. Decide what you want and put energy into it,'' Donnelly said. Her goal this year is to find a publisher for two children's books: ``Dewey,'' a story about a raindrop that she wrote when her two sons were young; and ``The Book of Angels,'' because, Donnelly says, ``We're all angels in training.'' Recently Donnelly's artistic talents have been channeled into angels. A dream inspired her to make an angel dream-catcher, which are sold in Things From Heaven in Ventura. The design features a heart ``for love of ourselves and every living thing''; a key ``to open your imagination and believe all things are possible''; a tiny bell that ``when it rings, another angel gets their wings''; and white feathers to remind us to take ourselves ``lightly and spread our wings to fly.'' Donnelly mailed one of her angel dream-catchers to Mother Teresa in Calcutta, from whom she has since received short notes. Donnelly has good reason to believe in the power of angels. The 1994 Northridge Earthquake The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6. caused some major damage to her two-story Camarillo home, but there was one particular area that was untouched. She had set up a special angel area in the landing of her stairway stairway or staircase Series or flight of steps that provides a means of moving from one level to another. The earliest stairways seem to have been built with walls on both sides, as in Egyptian pylons dating from the 2nd millennium BC. . A collection of angels, angel books and a large, glass angel snow globe sat on glass shelves, completely unharmed, while almost everything else fell to the floor. Donnelly was born in Detroit, and moved with her family to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. when she was 14. In her early 20s, with no formal training as a clothing designer, she applied at Loubella, a Los Angeles sports clothing Sports clothing is a general term for clothing while performing a sport. Each sport has its own styled clothes fitting their needs, e.g. regarding the textile (depending on the environment), the cutting and the form of clothing. manufacturer. When she heard all the other applicants discussing their experience, Donnelly thought she would never land the job, but the firm's owner gave her a chance to draw her ideas. ``You sketch real good and have a good imagination,'' he told her, and within a week she was working there as head designer. Her designing career went on for a number of years, including designing lingerie for Frederick's of Hollywood Frederick's of Hollywood is a well known retailer of lingerie in the United States, with stores in many modern shopping malls across the USA. The business was started by Frederick Mellinger (inventor of the push-up bra) in 1946. and costumes for Ice Capades' skaters. Her artistic talents have led Donnelly down some interesting paths. Some years ago she made hand-painted pots which were sold in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Actress Jayne Meadows, wife of Steve Allen, bought one and called Carol to order more. A friendship blossomed and Donnelly spent time at the Allen home. Steve Allen discovered that Donnelly wrote lyrics, and as a surprise he put a melody to the words of one song. She eventually did five songs with him, one of them a tribute to Los Angeles - ``City of the Angels.'' Donnelly considers Allen a mentor, for not only did he encourage her songwriting but helped her start an acting career by putting her in one of his variety shows. Songwriting continues to be a strong interest, and Carol said one of her long-term goals Long-term goals Financial goals expected to be accomplished in five years or longer. is to have a song nominated for a Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards) are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the record industry. The current President of the Academy is Neil Portnow. . In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , she belongs to the Ventura Songwriting Guild. ``It's frustrating to me that people don't reach out to do what they want to do,'' Carol said. ``Live your life with passion. There's nobody I'd trade my life with. I've put 1,000 percent into it.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Carol Donnelly of Camarillo focused on her angel creations after an angel-themed collection of art survived the Northridge Quake. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion