Living in Charleston interview with Kim Russo- On Brand Designs New Mt Pleasant Resident

Website
https://onbranddesigns.com
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/onbranddesigns/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/stayonbrandwithkim
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/on_brand_designs/
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@onbranddesigns
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-russo/

This is a quiz I have for people to lear their brand voice

https://onbranddesigns.com/brand-voice-quiz

My relationship coach is Michelle Zaylar

https://www.michellezaylar.com/email-list

Insta and tik tok @michellezaylar

Transcript

intro  0:05  
Welcome to Living in Charleston podcast with your host Lisa Richard Hernandez, a fun loving Charleston resident for over 25 years and a full time real estate agent with her pulls on everything Charleston, from where to live, to where to eat, what to do, where to tour, and who is who about living life in the low country of Charleston, South Carolina.

Lisa RichartHernandez  0:32  
I welcome living in Charleston. I am here today with a friend of mine, Kim Russo. And we're super excited. We're going to talk all about her moving here. I think she just shared with me that it's been almost three years. So Kim, say hello and introduce yourself and tell us all about where you moved from and what made you move to the area.

Kim Russo  0:55  
Hello, I'm Kimber so I am originally from New York. So I grew up in Syracuse and went to school at fit in New York City and stayed all over New York City for about 17 years. I say that hard time and then moved, moved down with family for a year in transition I was with from Dallas for a couple of months and Illinois, which was the reverse direction I wanted to go in back to cold weather. And so I chose Charleston, because my parents retired to Bluffton, which is right outside Hilton Head. And they came to visit in Illinois. And I was like, wait a minute, why don't you just moved to Charleston, like only had been here? Literally twice for like, eight hours, combined. So it was kind of just like it's close to them, but not too close. And I had a city that I could grow my business. And so came here No, nobody.

Lisa RichartHernandez  1:54  
Wow. Yeah. Share with us what business you're in and how your work transitioned and how that came about.

Kim Russo  2:03  
Yeah, so I've been a graphic brand designer, packaging designer for over 20 years. And just when I left New York, I started my own agency called on brand designs, specializing in brand strategy, brand visual design. So everything from your logo to your website and beyond. And so I started it, moved it from started in Dallas, moved to Dallas moved to Illinois, and then moved out here. And you know, I kind of had that freedom to do that. Because it's a service based industry that can really do it from wherever. Yeah, but yeah, I've had the most success here. I'll start by saying that it's, it's, it's been amazing being in Charleston.

Lisa RichartHernandez  2:47  
Well, that's great. I know, like the whole tech industry is growing here in Charleston. But also like, I think with COVID There's so many more people that are just working remotely or from anywhere. And it's just so commonplace now. So do you get most of your business from people in Charleston area? Or is it all over the country?

Kim Russo  3:03  
So it's definitely all over the country, I still have a lot of clients in New York, just because that's where I, you know, I've worked for other agencies and did freelance for many, many years. Like all the time I was working for corporations, I was doing freelance so I have some writer dies that still do work for me and then will refer me to people. But I am definitely growing my my business here in Charleston and getting out more there and like networking and building up my business here because I love to work in person too, and get to see my clients. So that's definitely Charleston being such a small town compared to New York City has definitely worked in my favor to be able to meet people and be connected to more people.

Lisa RichartHernandez  3:49  
Well, that leads me to my next question. Like, what what did you immediately find different? And so just to let you know, I moved here about 30 years ago from Michigan, there was definitely some things that I immediately found different. So I always like to ask people that come like especially from North like what did you immediately find different about being quote down south that compared to New York City?

Kim Russo  4:13  
Oh my gosh, like everybody knows everybody. That is I mean, I even within a year of being here and just beating the people that I have, I literally go somewhere and know somebody. But I don't think it's true. I have so many more good friends I won't say more because you know, it's quality over quantity, but so many more good quality friends here than I ever had in my 17 years in New York City. And coming here knowing nobody that was so out of characteristic for me like I am a math people type of person. I like my face, but I need my people, right and I kind of just took the leap and met friends so fast. So I just put myself out there and everybody's so fun. Like I was

Lisa RichartHernandez  5:00  
gonna say, Do you think that southern hospitality or do you just think that you had a mindset change? And were like, I'm gonna meet people?

Kim Russo  5:08  
I think both. I think it's, it's definitely a combination of both. Because you know, if you don't put yourself out there, you're not going to meet the people.

Lisa RichartHernandez  5:18  
Yeah, I always crack up on people are like, I came down there and I haven't met anybody or had any friends. I'm like, Oh my gosh, like, then you're not doing the right things. Because what is so friendly? I feel

Kim Russo  5:30  
like, I moved here and COVID happened to like, a month and a half later.

Unknown Speaker  5:34  
Oh, wow. Oh,

Kim Russo  5:37  
when I'm locked down, and thankfully, I have like a good handful of friends and met my man. So that made everything easier. But yeah, I have people that I had met after COVID who are like, I moved here also the same time you did, and I just set in my apartment by myself the whole time because they didn't meet people. Well, kind of make that

Lisa RichartHernandez  6:01  
well, you and I got to know each other from the dames group, which is a women's women's networking group, which is great. And I really love that. And I love that's how we connected. One of the things that I found down south, like there's just like, actually more like cultural things. Like, for example, when you walk into a room like in business, you never just say, Hey, could you file this for me? It's like, Hey, how are you today? Would you mind filing this for me? was very different from being up north was like, get this done, get this done right now, you know, and I had learned to wait through the drive thru for 10 minutes instead of 45 seconds. You know, things like that. Were a big change for me. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it just like the people in line now when I go to the grocery store, and people are just chit chatting in front of me with the cashier. I'm just like, yeah, it is what it is, like, I'm not like, hurry up, get out of my way. But I like that better. And I think it's just like a whole mindset. What do you finally get to that point? You know, it's all good. Like, Everyone's just really friendly to me. That's what I think. Yeah,

Kim Russo  7:09  
I think I've adjusted to the slower pace. But I still like within my business. I'm still in there. Like Go Go, go, go go good things. Don't check things off, like, move at a pace that some people here like, we're not working this afternoon. Total I'm trying to adjust and start to take Friday's off for the most part. But I still I still have that like Go Go Go mentality. But people also don't when I when they meet me. They can't pinpoint that. Like you lived in New York City for 17 years because I don't have an accent and be I'm super friendly.

Lisa RichartHernandez  7:49  
Maybe Maybe you're just not meant to be in New York City. Thankfully,

Kim Russo  7:53  
to be here. I'm meant to look at at Palmetto trees and the beach and the water and the sun. Although it's not up today.

Lisa RichartHernandez  8:03  
What's your was share with us what area of town you live in. Because we all know there's different areas that we call the whole place Charleston, but really, there's all different areas of Charleston, what areas Yeah,

Kim Russo  8:13  
I'm actually moving here like and not only only being downtown for like, a couple hours, I had no idea and not knowing any better. I was like, I have no idea where to even look. And so I had to, you know, ask people online, but I am in North Mount Pleasant, but I'm moving to closer to the bridge and Shem Creek and Mount Pleasant next month. And I love it because it's definitely a slower pace than New York. I kind of was over that whole city life. And so as I'm now 40 years old, just wanting kind of that more peaceful, calm nature. You know, it's kind of like it's not suburb, but it's also not city.

Lisa RichartHernandez  8:56  
Right, right. Yeah. We're kind of like a suburb town. But even the City of Charleston downtown is so different, like the New York City, you know, there's no yeah, no building taller than the church steeples. And that's like, hard to grasp sometimes. So tell us about, I like to get a new person's perspective. You've been here for three years now. But part of that was COVID. So all three years don't really count. What are your What are your favorite things to do in the area, like in the Mount Pleasant area, or Charlson in general? Like what are your favorite things to do?

Kim Russo  9:33  
So my favorite things to do here is honestly just going to the beach, or going on the boat. So I have friends that have boats and they just, you know, take turns and going out different weekends and being on the water. That's like my absolute favorite, favorite thing to do. Sullivan's Beach is also my favorite beach to go to because it's just a little bit quieter when you go up to like further accesses and then Shem Creek is always a good time. I prefer kind of that area than going downtown to downtown to me is more like oh, a once in a while special occasion. Yeah, type of thing.

Lisa RichartHernandez  10:12  
Yeah, well, just so Shem creek for our listeners that don't know what it is it's an area of Mount Pleasant where all of the shrimp boats come in. And there's about what seven different restaurants that are all on the water there. So we've got victories saltwater cowboys, water's edge, reds Ice House Tavern and table think there's a smokehouse. There's a bunch of like, right on the water, different types of eateries and bars and like, people go there for nightlife and entertainment. So it's cool. Yeah, the dolphin Bay Yeah. One of my favorite things to do is go to bakeries and just sit on the on the deck outside over the water and just watch the the dolphins come in. And like when the shrimp boats come in all the pelicans come and you know, they throw them all the scraps and stuff. That's so yeah, I feel like I'm on vacation. Every time I go there, even though I live here.

Kim Russo  11:16  
Same thing. Every time I'm there, I look at it the water and just like having a drink. I'm like, This is what I used to do when I go on vacation with my life.

Lisa RichartHernandez  11:24  
I know. I know. Awesome. Yeah, that's, that's so cool. So a lot of people ask me this, and and you've already shared with me a little bit what I'd like you to share with our listeners. Like, how hard is it to be single here? And like, what's the what's the dating pool? Like, tell us about like, what your experience was?

Kim Russo  11:47  
I guess I got super fortunate. But I also put in a lot of pre work to kind of manifest my dream man, which I found. I have many single friends and at my age at 40. Like, I'm so glad I am not. And some of the horror stories, they tell me what's out there. I'm thankful that I put in the work to get the person that I'm with now. So I was only single in Charleston for about a month and a half. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah. And I was told before I moved here by people, I was at that age where i i left a relationship when I left New York. And I spent a year really working on myself and I dated a little bit just felt like, you know, but I knew I wasn't staying in locations that I was at. And so what I did want to do when I moved here is before I even like put myself out there was just make friends because I wanted like a girlfriend that if I went on a date, I could be like, Okay, this is what happened, what do you think, you know, I didn't work, I'm going to be out with this person, just you know where I'm at. Because I'm here by myself. So I did that. And I started to after that month and a half I I did sign up for online dating, I went on a couple of dates, none of them were anything that I was interested in. But the pre work that I did is I saw I started seeing a relationship coach before I even moved here, really, and this relationship coach, because I was I left very, I always had bad relationships, they were always very controlling. And when I was starting to get back into the dating world, I felt like I was kind of doing the same things. And I would date these people that were just toxic. But I would keep dating men because they felt bad or they liked me or I didn't have a real reason I didn't. I just felt like I needed to because they asked me like, I mean, there were certain ones I was like absolutely not. But there was certain people I fall for that I didn't know why. Because they were not good for me. And then I kept extending it when I knew in my gut, it wasn't right. So I cut everything off stop date and completely took myself off of any type of app. And really, and this was when I was starting my business too. So I really focused on not just the relationship of finding like a love, but also relationships with people friends, my business so it was like holding me accountable to getting myself in a place that I was ready to give myself to somebody else and share that life with so I had to like really put in the market. And it was like little things down to like, Okay, I want to drink more water. So in between our calls, like okay, you need to drink eight glasses of water a day and I'm gonna make sure that you did this and posting on social media for my business, like different things just to get myself and build up my confidence again, I was kind of coming out of that relationship, not in a good place. And so I had to make myself really healthy mentally and physically to you know, I had taken a break from working out when I was in that past relationship. So I got back into fitness. So did all of the work on myself and one Other practices that she had me do was create a list of everything I wanted in my dream partner. And then I would take that list and prioritize it. And this took like months in between things of like, evolving to what it is today. Because the list when I first created, it was like everything I didn't want, because it was all from my past experience of what I hated and didn't work well with my ex partners. So then we transition that list into the positives of like, what I do want. And then when I prioritized it, we would be like, Okay, well, do you what I had on the top of the list, like, Well, do you really want to be with this person? If they're not, like number 20? On the list as like, No, you should. So that number 20 moved to number one. And then it kind of went into this whole thing that like the things that I thought I wanted. Really, like, yeah, I want them but not unless this person can do this is good family person, like my friend, you know, like, so things that were minuscule, but like the order even just like opened my eyes to what I really wanted in this person. And so the way that I met my partner now was like, through a networking group. And it wasn't like a love at first sight. It was like, oh, man, you know, I'm new here. I don't know, buddy came friends on Facebook. And I did a little bit of the, you know, talking in my restaurant, and we and we hung out. And we spent a whole weekend together. And we're together ever since. And I think we were only spent maybe like two or three weekends in the three years apart. But we also don't see each other during the week, which is super healthy. It's like the healthiest relationship I've ever been in. Because we have our ballots. So we do really fun things on the weekends and spend time with each other. And during the week, I run my business, I do things of girlfriends I network. And then the weekends we we do things with friends and and spend together.

Lisa RichartHernandez  16:57  
Well, I have to say that it is first off, congratulations. That's amazing. I just love to hear somebody that like really like took ownership of what they were doing and figured it out and did the work that it takes to put into your relationship because I was I was married for 22 years previously. And I went to a life coach after my divorce. I'm going through my divorce and my new relationship with my husband now that I am so happy with too. And I felt like I needed to figure out my things to like, you know what I mean? So that was cool. But I have never heard of a relationship coach. So I know that people are gonna be like, wait a minute, what the heck is a relationship coach, and maybe they need to be our next guest.

Kim Russo  17:43  
Yeah, she's amazing. She is amazing. Like she because she didn't only help me with this love relationship, but it was also family and friends and you know, countability stuff, too. So it's just to make yourself whole, so that you can open yourself to somebody else is really what what happened. And honestly, my partner now checks off. Literally every single box.

Lisa RichartHernandez  18:07  
Oh my god. That's amazing. So where did you find this relationship out?

Kim Russo  18:12  
So she was actually she grew up with one of my friends. And I was in her when we were both in her wedding. And so we became friendly and social media friends, and I saw that she was just at the time that I was going through all of this. She was starting her business and I was like, I will be your guinea pig. Now let's do this.

Lisa RichartHernandez  18:32  
And she still is she in New York or she back in? Oh, okay.

Kim Russo  18:36  
She's in New York. Yep. Yeah. But I was in Illinois at the time when I was working with her. So it was all over the phone.

Lisa RichartHernandez  18:43  
Right? Well, that's Yeah, well, now everybody can like zoom or whatever. So what we'll have to do is we'll put it in our show notes. If you can get her contact information, maybe we can plug and

Kim Russo  18:53  
get her Absolutely. Michelle, Michelle Zeiler is her name and she changed my life I and I actually haven't spoken to her in a long time because I continue to speak to her for about the first six months of our relationship. And then it got to the point where we were like, I'm good. And yeah, that's me too. But but it helped set like the foundation of my relationship with him too, because I would check in with her once a week and like making sure this was this was what I wanted and and I was making sure I wasn't staying in something that I didn't want to which was a you know what I used to do

Lisa RichartHernandez  19:29  
that yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, that was really interesting. I've never heard that before. So I learned something new today. That's awesome.

Kim Russo  19:37  
I tried to tell all my single friends I'm like if you don't want to see a coach or like therapist or whatever it is just do this whole list because the list helps the manifestation and it also gives you clarity so when you're going out with somebody or even just talking to somebody you can cut it off before it gets too far or you can realize if it's worth investing any more time into

Lisa RichartHernandez  19:58  
Yeah, that's that's such that's That's awesome. I. So I don't know if you know this or not, but you could come you and your boyfriend and bring a single friend if you have some because you said you have some single,

Kim Russo  20:11  
I have many.

Lisa RichartHernandez  20:13  
I don't know if you saw it on Facebook, but last year, my husband and I did it. We do it the weekend after Valentine's Day at my house. And it's called matchmakers and singles mingle. And so like, if you're a couple, you're supposed to bring a single friend that you want to introduce to other singles. And if you're single, then you just come with yourself. And we hope that you'll bring like somebody of the opposite sex to kind of balance things out or whatever. But we do it like a brunch on a Sunday, because there's no commitment to brunch. Like it's not a primary dating night. It's the weekend after Valentine's Day. So there's no commitment for like, upcoming Valentine's events or anything like that. Last year, we had about I don't know about 100 people. And we're expecting about 100 or so again this year. So you'll have to, you'll have I'm in,

Kim Russo  20:58  
I'm in I'll try to pull as many girls that I know.

Lisa RichartHernandez  21:04  
That's awesome. It's funny, because last year, I was worried that there wouldn't be enough man, and I think I like worried about it so much that there was so many men. I was like, gosh, there's more men than women here. That's so rare. So yeah, especially

Kim Russo  21:17  
because of the ratio and you know, the fear of death that people were putting in me when I moved to like, you know, if you moved to Charleston, if you want to find a man, the growth guy ratios, or

Lisa RichartHernandez  21:27  
you know what, I think that's real about like really anything, though. Like, there's a million realtors, there's a million, you know, my ex husband was a dentist, there's a million of them. We started his practice from scratch. Like, I'm still a great realtor like one of the top agents. As long as you put the work in and do what you're supposed to do, then. I think a lot of these people are like, there's nobody good in Mount Pleasant. I'm, I'm tired of the dating scene. It's like, well, maybe it's you. Maybe look at what you're doing, because things don't seem Yeah. All right. So that's just like, I just love that, that I learned something new today from you. So that's really cool. All right, let's talk about Charleston a little bit more. So tell me because Okay, foodie town like right? You could eat at a different restaurant every single day. And still not eat at every restaurant in Charleston. What are your three favorite restaurants to eat?

Kim Russo  22:23  
So I'm actually not I love food, but I also don't eat out a lot because it's too much temptation to eat bad. But my favorite my all time favorite that we do for like birthdays and things is siwi outposts which are Sealy restaurant, which is like out by North like it's super authentic. Like I love their their seafood and it's just such a cool like, very low country spot.

Lisa RichartHernandez  22:54  
Yes. Yeah, that's really off the beaten path. Like I guess probably mostly only locals know about that. Unless you're traveling from Charleston to Myrtle Beach or something. You might see sea outpost, but it's bad

Kim Russo  23:05  
but even so you wouldn't know what it is like if you're driving by and the only reason why I know is because my boyfriend is from the south. So his family had always gone there.

Lisa RichartHernandez  23:17  
Let's go get some fried shrimp fresh off. There. Yeah. Okay, so see we what what's what else two more?

Kim Russo  23:25  
Next Next one is pages. love their their brunch.

Lisa RichartHernandez  23:31  
Yeah. Yeah, so pages pages. Okay, girl is near Shem Creek. And I mean, there's like an hour or two wait for brunch almost every day. And on the weekends, they're they're actually doing some remodeling right now. So a lot of other restaurants are getting a chance to have some business. But that place is huge and always packed. They have music and stuff a lot of times on the weekends, Bloody Marys and it's really cool. Good. Real southern food love.

Kim Russo  23:58  
Love extra grid. Yeah, they're definitely mad I'd say I kind of have like a toss up between the two for my third. And there's reasons why. So it's between Nico and Vickery.

Lisa RichartHernandez  24:14  
Oh my god. They're total opposites. But in the same hotel opposite

Kim Russo  24:17  
Yeah, same location, but I love like Nico's oysters. I love going for their happy hour oysters. And then at bakery. I love their crab cake. Hushpuppies Oh, I have never had the crab. You haven't tried them. They're so good.

Lisa RichartHernandez  24:33  
Oh my gosh. My husband is Cuban. And he says the Cuban sandwich at bakeries is the best Cuban sandwich he's ever had. Which I think is funny because that's not even really human food. But he loves it there. Yeah. So I've never tried those hush puppies. I'm gonna have to try that. In Nikko. I have been there and I do like the oysters. I like how they have all those little droppers for the different like, flavors that yeah, oysters

Kim Russo  24:57  
their their presentation with like, the big tray and everything is always so much fun. Those are my go to.

Lisa RichartHernandez  25:06  
That's awesome. That's awesome. Okay, so my not I had another question on my list, but I think you touched on it earlier you said your favorite beach was Sullivan's Island. So, like, Have you been to the other beaches? And what do you find? What do you think? Tell me about why you think that your favorite one?

Kim Russo  25:23  
Yeah. So right here in Charleston, that would be my favorite. And I also like going to El palm. I honestly have only been to Foley like once or twice because it's just far from where I am. So I don't really venture out that way too often. But my absolute favorite favorite beach is at of Stowe, which is not really Charleston, but it's an hour away. And I go there for two weeks over the summer with my boyfriend's family and I love it's like it's just so quaint and quiet and have nothing to do with the beach.

Lisa RichartHernandez  25:57  
Yes. I was wondering if you had been to Edisto because it's interesting that you started your boyfriend's and he's from here, a lot of Yeah, like local tourists. Charlestonians actually spend like New Years and stuff out at Edisto I guess that's like their getaway with just like an hour. Yeah, really like hour, hour and a half depending on where in Charleston you're driving from. But Sullivan's Island kind of compared to that because it is, is much more less tourists, less, less crowds at Sullivan's than there is probably Iowa palms, especially during the season when you've got the wind jammer at our palms and all those, you know, beach bars and all of that is always really busy during the summer. So I usually just try to avoid it when it's like peak season.

Kim Russo  26:47  
All right, it's too crowded. It's too much. Yeah,

Lisa RichartHernandez  26:51  
yeah. Yeah. Sometimes. I mean, I used to live on James Island. So Folly Beach gets like that, too. Like, you'll get Saturday, Sunday mornings, just driving out to the beach. It'll be you know, a lot of traffic in the mornings. People getting out there to get their spots.

Kim Russo  27:06  
Yeah, and traffic to get there, no matter what is always. But you gotta get in for like, but I Yeah, it's those elements, if I'm here is definitely my favorite beach. And then, but definitely at a stove has. It's just my, my peaceful place. But yeah, so my actually, so my boyfriend is from a town called North in South Carolina. So the closest like town town is Orangeburg. And that's like, definitely a vacation spot for them. So no matter what, when we go take a walk on the beach, he'll always see somebody that knows or somebody that knows of him, like it's always something, it's that somebody knows somebody.

Lisa RichartHernandez  27:44  
So funny. Because I do feel like Charleston, even though we're really big now. Is such a small town, like, everywhere I go, same. We know somebody and people are so friendly. So I love that. So what yeah, what, just to kind of wrap it up, like if you were giving advice for somebody considering a move to the Charleston area. I know you grew your business here, and you kind of went on that and you went on the dating scene and told us all of those things. What would be your best advice for somebody moving to the area, like, tell us about how you made the decision and kind of maybe any research that you did with it and what you found and what would be your best advice.

Kim Russo  28:24  
I think just open to meeting people, like putting yourself out there. I think, you know, there's a lot of trials and Facebook pages too, that people engage in a lot. And people are always helpful and wanting to be friendly. And, you know, I've had multiple different groups of friends. And I've remained friends with all the different groups. So it's finding your place and just putting yourself out there and and meeting people. And you know, whether my first friend here was actually my last girl yeah, my lashes done. And I knew nobody and it's just like, hey, I'm here. I don't know, buddy, what do you like to do? Take me with you. So just Yeah, kind of really just putting yourself out there and meeting people and taking advantage of like a lot of the free activities and events that they have. There's so many things to do here. You know, like, did you even with me,

Lisa RichartHernandez  29:13  
like meetups and stuff like that? Did you do those kinds of things or

Kim Russo  29:17  
so I did sign up for it, but I actually never went to one because so I moved into an apartment building because it didn't, you know, get didn't know and it's coming from New York. That's what I was used to. The first week that I was here. My apartment building had an activity like it was a builder on sushi night. And so bring it was BYOB brought the wine down that some women standing online and shared my wine and, you know, the next night ended up staying up till 2am with their moment just hanging out and talking and she's I'm actually seeing her next weekend. She's still a friend now. You know, just any sort of activity that I saw that was going on. I went that's awesome. and just said, hi.

Lisa RichartHernandez  30:02  
Yeah, I mean that you're here. Yeah, that's so amazing. And, you know, it's, it's funny, because when you put it, that simply, it really is that simple. It's just like, go out and meet people. There's Yeah, places to go to startup. It's funny because my husband and I, a lot of times, we love to go well before COVID, they were more, there was more of them, but they have like joiners tables, like at a restaurant, like downtown at halls, for example, they used to have like a big, big table that you could just sit in, and like, eat there or whatever. And, and everyone sort of sat together, I think they have it, like Hanks is a seafood restaurant to that house that I believe, still cool. And you just like we would sit there. And then the next thing, you know, like, the people are sitting next to you, and you just strike up a conversation. And I just, we always meet like, the most interesting people. And a lot of times, even the two of us, you know, sometimes once you're a couple, it's also hard to find new people, you know, because they're like, Well, who wants to talk to us or whatever. And we would sit at the bar. And next thing, you know, we're like meeting another, you know, really cool people from either out of town or, you know, in town and just make friends that way. So, we've done a lot of that, too. So I think it's just putting yourself out there, which is, I mean, no rocket science or anything, but just really that's the truth.

Kim Russo  31:25  
Yeah, well, what also helped me was, so I met my boyfriend, like shortly after I got here, things were still open when we met like, it wasn't literally like two weekends after we met when things started like talking about COVID. And, you know, the world shutting down, but he is very extroverted too. So already that I met but he has helped me to become even more extroverted. So when we do go out, he will go up and talk to strangers. And then I it also forces me to go up and talk to people too. So it really I, I say I'm an introvert or an extrovert. Because when I take those anagram quizzes, if I took it, you know, three years ago, totally got introvert. But Charlson with everybody being so friendly, and open to conversations is, I'm now full on the high scale of extrovert, because it's really helped with my confidence to that people are so receptive.

Lisa RichartHernandez  32:17  
That's awesome. That's awesome. I love that. Well, Kim, it was great. Talking with you today, I would love to share your business information for anybody that's looking for any logo design or branding. So you want to tell us quickly how they can contact you or what your website or how to get a hold of you would be. And we'll also put it in the show notes, too. I

Kim Russo  32:39  
love that. So it's called on brand designs. So the website is just on brand designs.com. My Instagram handle is on underscore brand underscore designs. I'm all over there and Facebook, and then LinkedIn, I mostly just use my Kimberly Russo. Yeah, so I'm, I'm on Instagram more than anything and Facebook. I checked that. So I'm always open to do gray in there, if anybody has any questions.

Lisa RichartHernandez  33:06  
Well, that's awesome. Thank you so much for your time today.

Kim Russo  33:09  
Thanks for having me.

Lisa RichartHernandez  33:11  
Yeah. If our listeners, you can, either please like and share this podcast and look up, Kimberly, we're so on her social media, we'll add all of her information to our show notes and social media. And website is living in Charleston podcast.com. So thank you so much, Kim. We'll we'll talk to you again soon. Hopefully, we'll see you at the singles mingle with your boyfriend. Yeah, bring your

Kim Russo  33:37  
 Yeah, have to send me more information on that. And then I'll also be seeing you at the day's events.

Lisa RichartHernandez  33:42  
Yes, that's right. We've got one coming up at my house as a matter of fact, so yeah, I'm excited

Kim Russo  33:46  
for that. But maybe I'll be your house twice this month. All right.

Lisa RichartHernandez  33:50  
Thank you so much. Talk to you soon.

Outro  33:58  
Thanks for listening to another episode of living in Charleston podcast. We hope you're inspired to come back. Grab yourself a cool iced tea and listen to the next episode. Don't forget to share this with your friends, like comment, and feel free to reach out directly to Lisa at living in Charleston podcast.com. If you have any questions about the area, looking to move, or want to be in our next episode

Transcribed by https://otter.ai