Allyson (Schultz) Golden’s (18) story is inexorably caught up in her faith. The 26-year-old’s relationship with the Lord is evident within the first few minutes of speaking with her. A Porterville, California native, Golden grew up in a Nazarene community hearing about PLNU for most of her school years.
“I was in high school and asking myself what do I want to do with my life, and I felt like the Lord was calling me to nursing,” said Golden. “I was super intrigued by the human body, and my family had gone through health things in childhood, so I thought it would be a good path for me.”
Four years and one nursing degree later, Golden was graduating from PLNU and ready to start working in nursing full-time. She landed a role with Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego and got engaged to fellow PLNU graduate Michael Golden (18). The two were married in 2019 and started to think about how they wanted to invest in their community.
“I was a full-time nurse for about a year, and I was looking for something to do as a hobby on my off days,” said Golden. Like most full-time nurses, Golden worked three 12-hour shifts per week with time off on her other days.
So she began to bring her request to the Lord in prayer, asking Him to help her find a new hobby.
“I started picking up the iPad and using the Procreate app as an outlet for my creativity,” said Golden. “It became very therapeutic for me, and I loved to do calligraphy on quotes or verses that the Lord put on my mind.”
“After I started designing more, I also felt the Lord calling me to write more,” said Golden. “I didn’t like reading or writing when I was growing up, but I was walking one day with a friend and she said, ‘Ally, you should really start sharing some of the art you’re creating on Instagram’.”
“After I started designing more, I also felt the Lord calling me to write more. I didn’t like reading or writing when I was growing up, but I was walking one day with a friend and she said, ‘Ally, you should really start sharing some of the art you’re creating on Instagram’.”
Later that year on August 27, 2019, the @wordsaregolden Instagram page was born. Its first post came in the form of a simple black and white poppy with “words are Golden” in lettering on the side. From that simple post, Golden has grown a veritable empire.
“I just started sharing what the Lord was teaching me, and it seemed to resonate with people,” said Golden when asked about her relatively quick rise to mid-level influencer.
Since its inception, Golden’s page has bloomed into a healthy 100,000 followers with an official website, multiple book deals, and a new online community for women she just launched called “She Who Speaks Light.”
After her page started to gain more followers, DaySpring, a Christian publishing organization reached out to Golden via direct message. They were interested in working with her on a “Words are Golden” devotional journal.
“God started to teach me a lot about another book idea while I was working on the devotional, and I started putting it together,” said Golden, who found a literary agent after the devotional was published.
“I never knew I had a passion to teach the word of God, but it’s all I want to do now,” said Golden, who has also since moved to part-time nursing.
As her life has taken a turn from traditional nursing, Golden has started to explore the opportunities she has to continue growing in her faith and sharing on Words are Golden and She Who Speaks Light.
From guest writing on popular blogs for the likes of Sadie Robertson Huff to guest speaking on podcasts and speaking from stage, Golden has spent time investing in spaces where she feels called to share her voice beyond the curated cubes of social media.
“I honestly love what I do,” said Golden. “I’ve seen the impact that a word can have from the Lord on someone I don’t even know. My favorite thing is pouring into peoples’ lives. I have just seen so much beauty and so many undeniable acts of the Lord.”
“It has completely changed everything about my life,” said Golden.
Her plans for the future include maintaining a balance between part-time nursing, writing a book, managing She Who Speaks Light, creating the social media content for Aloha Church, and hanging out with her husband. In the future, she hopes to attend seminary to further grow in her faith and continue to positively impact her community both on and off the screen.
