Artist Recovery Podcast S2 Ep. 22 | From Boxed In to Breaking Out: Cathelina Duvert's Story

What happens when the people who are supposed to guide you tell you that you don't belong? For author and educator Cathelina Duvert, that question became the seed of a lifetime of creative recovery, deep self-discovery, and ultimately, a debut novel born from the pain she refused to keep carrying alone.In this episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, Rich Wright sits down with Cathelina Duvert, a Hofstra University graduate, award-winning author, mental health advocate, and seventh and ninth grade ELA teacher from Queens, New York. Her debut novel, The Box, explores identity, depression, and resilience, and it carries the weight of everything she once kept hidden.Cathelina opens up about growing up Haitian American in a strict Queens household, being a twin who felt perpetually in the shadow of her sister's social world, and discovering early on that writing was the one place she felt truly herself. From stapling together handmade books for her father to read, to carrying a green notebook filled with forced rhymes and secret poems, her creative life was always burning underneath the surface, even when no one around her could see it. A guidance counselor told her she was wasting her money applying to Hofstra University. She got in anyway, and in her very first semester, earned straight A's for the first time in her life.This episode goes deep into the moments that shaped her: the childhood anxiety that went unnamed for years, the sexual trauma at age twelve that became the hidden root of her depression, the sister who ultimately saw her struggling and pushed her toward therapy, the Manhattan publishing world that lit her up creatively and socially, and the slow, deliberate process of transferring her pain onto the page by giving it all to her main character.Cathelina also shares the story of founding a creative writing club at her school, applying for a grant, and guiding her students through publishing their own book, Masquerade of Lies, and what it felt like to watch their faces the moment they saw their names in print.This is a conversation about the audacity to create when the world has told you not to, the healing that lives inside the writing, and what it means to finally give your story permission to exist.Topics Covered:~Growing up in a strict Haitian American household in Queens, NY~Early signs of creativity, anxiety, and introversion~Being told by educators you don't belong, and proving them wrong~Discovering a new way to study and earning straight A's at Hofstra~Childhood sexual trauma and its connection to lifelong depression~Writing as therapy, healing, and identity~Self-publishing The Box and navigating the indie literary world~Founding a student creative writing club and publishing Masquerade of Lies~The audacity creatives need to share their work with the worldConnect with Cathelina:Website: https://cathelinaduvert.comLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathelina-duvert-b95b97304Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathelinaduvertFB: https://www.facebook.com/TheBoxTheBookTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@UCmXCJwm_yFyx-bumAZh1J7g Youtube:  @CathelinaDuvert  Join Podmatch: https://www.joinpodmatch.com/artistre...Dyslexia Classes: https://www.skool.com/dyslexia-classes#ArtistRecoveryPodcast #CreativeRecovery #CreativeBurnout #DepressionAndCreativity #WritingAsHealing #BlackAuthors #IndiePublishing #SelfPublishing #HaitianAmericanAuthor #WomenWriters #MentalHealthAndCreativity #IntrovertCreator #AnxietyAndCreativity #DebutNovel #TheBoxNovel #CreativeWritingTeacher #LiteraryFiction #CreativeWritingClub #ChildhoodTraumaAndCreativity #OvercomingSelfDoubt #CreativeConfidence #ImposterSyndrome #SensitiveCreative #WritingPoetry #FindingYourVoice #FirstGenerationCollegeStudent #Storytelling #AuthorsWhoTeach #WomenInLiterature #CreativeHealingJourney #BlackWomenWriters #InnerChildCreativity #richwrightartist #richwrightunlimited #richwrightunltd #beaguest #podmatchguest  @PodMatch_com ​Support the showAlways remember, Listen to your Heart and Be Kind to Your Mind! -Rich WrightFollow us here: https://www.theartistrecovery.comJoin the Community: https://www,artrecroom.comListen Weekly at: https://www.artistrecoverypodcast.comConnect:InstagramFacebookXTikTokLinkedin