LuAn Mitchell-Halter's life has been a lot like that of a paper doll.

But this award-winning entrepreneur, corporate executive and motivational speaker is anything but fragile.

"The properties of paper are very similar to the properties of us humans," said Mitchell-Halter, who was in Regina Saturday promoting her first book.

"Paper can be torn, we can sometimes feel like we've been torn. Paper can get burned and I felt like I've been burned sometimes. Also with paper, we can laminate it and I've built walls around myself that I wanted to be impenetrable because I didn't want to be hurt."

Paper Doll: Lessons Learned From a Life Lived in the Headlines is both an autobiography and motivational tool. Released in February, the book has received an enormous amount of response thus far, according to Mitchell-Halter.

It took her four-and-a-half years, in between running Mitchell's Gourmet Foods and raising three children as a single parent, to write her manuscript.

"My story's so much more than I think what generally might be perceived, which is probably true of a lot of people. But this particular story and the way that I structured it is based on lessons learned and I feel I can really help people," said Mitchell-Halter.

All of the chapter headings in the book are taken from newspaper headlines that have been written about Mitchell-Halter, dating back to even before she met her late husband Fred Mitchell, who was president of Intercontinental Packers at the time.

Born and raised in Melfort, Sask., Mitchell-Halter struggled to be accepted during school as a young girl. But after becoming a teenage mother and hosting her own radio and television talk show, she represented Saskatoon in the Miss Canada Pageant in 1984.

From there, she met and became engaged to Mitchell.

Just before their wedding in 1986, Fred was diagnosed with a rare form of cystic fibrosis. Four years later, he underwent a rare heart and double lung transplant.

He survived the transplant, but the legal battle between him and his family over control of the company was just beginning. The drama played out in the public eye through extensive national media coverage.

After almost losing everything to pay for legal fees, Fred and Mitchell-Halter gained control of the pork processing operation, and revamped and renamed the company to Mitchell's Gourmet Foods.

When Fred passed away unexpectedly in 1998, Mitchell-Halter stepped up to the plate and rallied to become chair of the board. She led the company through a $44-million expansion and her efforts didn't go unrecognized.

She was named, among other things, Canada's Number One Female Entrepreneur for three successive years by Chatelaine and Profit magazines.

"There were a lot of things on my plate and a lot of people who said ‘this girl's an idiot, how's she going to do that?' The truth of the matter is when we're passionate about something and we've got it in us...it's one of those ‘get the hell out of the way' stories." said Mitchell-Halter.

She sold off her shares of the company in 2002, and now does motivational speaking around the world. She has since married Dr. Reese Halter, founder and president of an international forest biology research institute.

Mitchell-Halter said anyone can be successful by following their instincts, looking for the seed of good in every situation and making realistic goals.