Harwich Author Wants You To ‘Unlock Success’

A Harwich author and public relations specialist, Helene Clay Kelly, has co-authored a book, “Unlocking Success: Inspiring Tales of Resilience, Innovation, and Growth” (SuccessBooks, 2025) that has reached best-seller status in three different categories on Amazon.com.

 The non-fiction book is number one in “New Release Rankings in Direct Marketing,” number seven in “Entrepreneurship and Marketing and Sales” and number six in “Top Amazon Best Seller Rankings in Direct Marketing.”

 Kelly teamed up with Jack Canfield, a success coach and the author of the bestselling “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of inspirational books, to create the book.

 “I have been a follower of Jack Canfield for more than 20 years,” Kelly said in an email interview last week. “I became truly enamored with him when he was a contributor to the film ‘The Secret.’”

 “The Secret” is a 2006 Australian-American documentary consisting of a series of interviews — including one with Canfield — regarding the “law of attraction” that suggests that thoughts and feelings can attract experiences and that getting rid of negative thoughts can improve one’s life.

 In the opening chapter of “Unlocking Success,” Canfield breaks down the steps to success this way: Decide what you want, believe it possible, break it into manageable steps and take action.

“I love his philosophy of ‘we are what we think,’” Kelly says of Canfield. Last year Kelly was invited to become one of the 25 contributing authors to “Unlocking Success.” (As one of the book’s authors and editors, Kelly is credited alongside Canfield on the book’s cover.) The group of authors met at an event last fall in Beverly Hills. Canfield “is everything he appears to be: gracious, witty and an incredibly motivating and powerful speaker,” Kelly says.

 This book is right for “anyone who is looking to advance their career, grow their business, achieve massive personal growth and with respect to my chapter, for any girl or woman who has endured trauma and wants [not only] to heal but [to] transform their trauma into their life passion,” Kelly says.

 The book embraces various approaches to what might be glibly summed up as “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Topics covered include “The Secret Ingredient to Success,” “The Unshakable Power of Resilience,” “Power Habits,” “The Art of Reinvention” and “Awakening the Peacemaker Within.” The authors are drawn from a wide range of fields including medicine, songwriting, financial planning, business and public relations, and offer practical advice. Latonia Wallace Copeland, a Global Peace Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote a chapter called “Faith is Your Most Powerful Copilot.”

 Kelly wrote Chapter 10, “Breaking Free: Transforming Pain Into Power!” She opens the chapter recalling that her uncle molested her when she was 3. The memory first came back to her much later, when she was 36. While she was an apparent success working in the PR and advertising fields after graduating from Emerson College, her first marriage was troubled and she was drinking too much. She entered a 12-step program and then therapy. 

“Even our most buried pain eventually claws its way to the surface,” she writes. During therapy, her repressed memories about the sexual abuse returned. Over the next decade, she realized that her uncle had abused her not just once but for many years. Sometimes the memories were so painful that she wondered if she should go on or give up.

 “You see, what I know now is that trauma, while life-altering, does not have to be a life sentence,” she writes. She realized that the shame of the abuse belonged not to her but to her uncle. “What is mine is the story of resilience, healing and success.” Ultimately, she transformed her rage into strength. Today, as well as running her PR agency, Clay Communications and Marketing, she mentors women who have survived trauma to rebuild their lives.

 She offers a number of tips such as “work toward wholeness,” “find replacements,” “change the tape” and “forgive.”

 She sums up her chapter in the book this way: “Your trauma can truly be your gift. You can turn your ‘victimhood’ into a ‘victory.’”

 Kelly grew up in a small town north of Los Angeles where her father, a commander in the U.S. Navy, was stationed in a flight school. When she was young, her family moved to Western Massachusetts and vacationed on Cape Cod.

 “Those summers on Cape Cod were the happiest times of my life,” she says. “And I’ve had a lot of happy times over the last 63 years. My life’s goal was to someday live and work at the Cape.” Her dream came true a couple of years ago when she and her husband bought a house in Harwich. “Honestly, I drive along Route 6A and cry tears of joy that I finally live in the place I was always meant to be.”

 Kelly hopes to connect with local organizations for women and businesses that could benefit from her experiences. “I believe by sharing my experience and path to success can benefit so many. That is my goal and my life’s passion,” she says.