Professor passes out realistic advice

Kinda Wilson proves that taking a leap of faith doesn’t always mean making concessions, but in this case, it does involve making a few confessions.
 

Wilson, an OSU-Tulsa marketing professor, has written and published her first book, “Confessions of a Non-Barbie: A Real Girls Guide to Finding Beauty and Pursuing Happily Ever After.”
 

She said the book covers the things that “real girls” go through in relationships, dating, singleness, rejection, breakups and ultimately finding true beauty.  
 

Wilson was at Hastings in Stillwater on Friday afternoon for a book signing.  With a soft-spoken voice and a ready smile, she passed out cookies to kids and displayed her book, a compilation of past journal entries, tips from experts and things she has learned over the years.
 

She said she hopes to finish touring Oklahoma soon and get into some national venues while beginning a second book.
 

Wilson said the whole experience has been surreal but she is excited and having the time of her life.  
 

 “I’m going 90 miles an hour and I’m having fun with it,” Wilson said.
With chapter titles like “I think I need a kick in the pants” and “I think I saw a sparkler…let’s make out,” Wilson creates a humorous, honest perspective on women’s issues from a personal standpoint.
 

She said journaling is what inspired her to begin writing “Confessions of a Non-Barbie.”
“It was literally just one of those days when I was journaling and I remember saying ‘Why didn’t someone tell me this?’” Wilson said.  “No one said Prince Charming would be like this.”  
 

“I look back now and I don’t even remember how it all came together,” Wilson said.
She said some of the journal entries in the book go back 10 years.  
 

“I never thought when I was writing those personal journal entries that my ex-boyfriends, my grandmother, my parents, etc. would be reading it,” Wilson said.  “But I knew I couldn’t be real without being personal.”  
 

Wilson said she found herself writing a book to pass this advice onto girls in their teens and twenties. However, the amount of women in their 30s and 40s and men who have picked up her book has surprised her.
 

“Things like beauty, guys, and rejections - these things we deal with are universal,” Wilson said.  “Different countries, different backgrounds, different ages…we can all relate to the same things.”
 

Wilson said she has two goals for this book: to let girls going through something know they are not alone and to give tips for future preparation to those who haven’t yet experienced these issues.  
 

“We all have this image of the Barbie or the fake life or how things should be, and there are so many things in the media that try to make us feel less than perfect,” Wilson said.  “This book says that life is not that perfect, plastic, little world, and that’s okay, because here’s how you make your mark as a pretty cool girl.”
For more information about Wilson or her book, visit her Web site, www.kindawilson.com.