After Losing Her Husband, Brother and Mother in 14 Months, Texas Film Producer Vicki O'Brien Rebuilds Her Life Through Writing and a New Apparel Brand

Fort Worth, Texas

The founder and CEO of Relevant Entertainment, a Texas-based film production company, found herself facing two challenges at once: working through layers of unresolved grief and building a new way to support herself financially.

Her response began on the page. O'Brien wrote Stop, Drop, & Deal: Your Suffering Has Significance, a book that grew out of her own effort to unpack the loss and heartache she was carrying. Writing it, she says, forced her to slow down and face what had happened rather than push through it.

"There is no manual for losing three people you love that close together," said O'Brien. "At some point I realized I had to stop, name what I was feeling and deal with it honestly. Writing the book was how I did that. It didn't make the pain disappear, but it gave it a place to go."

The book later led to something she had not planned. O'Brien launched Authentically Broken, an apparel brand for women built around the same idea at the heart of her writing: that being honest about hardship is a strength, not a weakness. The name reflects the brand's core message that being authentically broken is not about being perfect, but about being real.

"I had to write a brand new story for my life," she said. "I wanted to build something that would sustain me, but also something that would matter to the women who wear it. A shirt can be a quiet way of saying, I've been through something, and I'm still here."

O'Brien says the months ahead can be especially difficult for people who have experienced recent loss, as holidays and family gatherings bring absences into sharper focus. Her advice is simple: give grief room instead of hiding it, lean on the people who show up and allow the next chapter to look different from the last.

O'Brien was named to the 2025 Most Influential Women list. Her book is available on Amazon and at authenticallybroken.com.

More information about Authentically Broken is available at authenticallybroken.shop.

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