A Dose of Donna: Belmont Blogger’s Book Dispenses Life Advice

Did you ever have a colleague whom you could trust with your deepest concerns, fears and secrets? Someone to mentor you, boost you up and listen to you rant when things just got to be too much to manage?

For a long time, Donna Goolkasian was that colleague.

Throughout a long career in medical communications, the Belmont native was the go-to gal for her co-workers and friends. She was the kind of worker who would befriend younger, less experienced colleagues and dispense worldly wisdom and career advice to those interested in personal growth.

“I would be the one who would go into people’s offices when they were losing their minds and let them vent it out, then I would hug them and make them laugh and encourage them,” she said. “When I’m around a younger person who is gravitating toward me, I’m going to be right there with them.”

Goolkasian developed such a reputation for dispensing good advice that one colleague would call her office frequently and say, “I need a dose of Donna.”

The line stuck with Goolkasian. In 2007, after the sudden death of her fiance, she began writing down the life lessons she had become known for. The short vignettes, called “doses,” became a blog, then a social media feed on Instagram. Last year, Goolkasian published a book of inspirational essays and photos, “Dose of Donna: Inspiring Lessons from Everyday Life.” Now, she has devoted herself to dispensing wisdom full time, through writing and motivational speaking.

“I love encouraging people and inspiring people to be the best they can be,” she said. “I can’t tell them what to do, but I believe the answer is always inside of that person. My mother always used to say, ‘You’re not in their shoes, you don’t know what they are dealing with.’ She was always right.”

Her mother, who died at age 74, was her greatest inspiration and the source of her passion for helping others, Goolkasian said.

“She was always encouraging, everything was ‘you can do it,’ or ‘you can learn it,’” she said. Her mother advised her to “persevere through the valley times and celebrate the mountaintop experiences.”

Goolkasian’s father, a university administrator, was also a source of inspiration and support, urging his children to become self-sufficient through education and financial management.

“He got us ready for the world,” she said.

Nevertheless, Goolkasian said her urge to help others stems from a wish that someone outside of her family had taken her in hand when she was struggling or needed guidance.

“You listen to people outside your family more than inside sometimes,” she said.

“A Dose of Donna” is chock full of aphorisms and advice, such as this one, paraphrasing Diana Ross: “Reach out and touch, tell them you care. Didn’t somebody do that for you?” In another vignette, “Five Fingers,” Goolkasian shares her mother’s answer when she asked her who her favorite daughter was.

“I have five fingers, all different,” she responded. Goolkasian responded, “My mother had it right — each person should be considered distinct, and no one should be favored over another.”

In “Ears Wide Open,” Goolkasian focuses on the value of listening and meeting people where they are, instead of avoiding challenging topics. “Caught in conversations that are heating you up inside? Chill. Respect the difference and more importantly, listen fully with ears wide open. Isn’t that what you want from others?”

When asked to share her prescription for the particularly divisive time the country is in, Goolkasian took a long pause. Then she responded, “We need to treat others in the way we want them to treat us. It’s critical. I look at social media and how people talk about other people. You wouldn’t say that to my face, so why are you putting it down here?”

The moment calls for kindness, she said, reading from her book:

“Kindness is different from being nice. Nice people do seemingly nice things, but kind people do what is right for the other person. Kindness comforts the soul and brings joy to the spirit to the giver and receiver. The more kindness is expended, the richer the kind person becomes,” she said.

Can you use a dose of Donna? The book can be ordered online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Westbow Press. To learn more about Goolkasian, upcoming readings and how to book her as a speaker, visit doseofdonna.com.