Life After DV|Breaking Cycles & Reclaiming Your Voice with Kristen Faith Sharpe

Content Warning: This episode includes discussions of domestic violence, emotional abuse, and financial abuse. Listener discretion is advised.

What happens when the life you’ve always known is steeped in dysfunction—and you’re finally brave enough to break the cycle?

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Kristen Faith Sharpe, founder of Boss Babe Networking, Boss Babe Academy, and co-owner of Anthem Live Studios. Kristen went viral at 22 for speaking out about surviving domestic violence. From there, she launched a nationally recognized nonprofit—Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence—and began using her story to empower women to find their voice and rebuild.

We talk about:

    •    The hidden patterns of abuse and why they’re hard to spot—especially when they’ve been normalized since childhood

    •    Kristen’s journey from survivor to speaker, community leader, and entrepreneur

    •    How financial abuse affects 99% of DV victims—and how Kristen responded by creating the Grants of Hope program

    •    The difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships

    •    The deep, uncomfortable work of healing and how community can be the catalyst for transformation

If you’ve ever felt stuck in survival mode… if you’ve questioned your worth… or if you’re walking through the aftermath of emotional or physical abuse—this conversation is for you.

You are not alone. There is a way forward. And you are so worthy of a life filled with safety, love, and purpose.

📌 Resources:

If you or someone you love is experiencing abuse, here are confidential resources that can help:

    •    National Domestic Violence Hotline (U.S.):

1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or https://www.thehotline.org (24/7 chat available)

    •    Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence:

https://breakthesilencedv.org

    •    StrongHearts Native Helpline (for Native communities):

1-844-762-8483 or https://www.strongheartshelpline.org

    •    RAINN (for sexual abuse & trauma):

1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or https://www.rainn.org

💬 After you listen, don’t forget to share this episode with someone who needs it—and leave a review to help more women find these stories of healing and hope.

Connect With Kristen Faith Sharpe| https://www.instagram.com/iamkristenfaith/?igsh=MXdsN3BpY25jZG1sbA%3D%3D

Boss Babe Academy for teen girls| https://www.bossbabenetworking.com/bossbabeacademy

Boss Babe Networking| https://www.bossbabenetworking.com/about

Anthem Live Studios| https://www.anthemlivestudios.com/

Follow The Worthy Woman Project on IG (Or DM me!)| https://www.instagram.com/worthy.woman.project/?igsh=MXYyODY1cjB3b3VndQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Apply to share your story| https://form.jotform.com/250987432136057

Apply for mentorship/coaching with me| https://form.jotform.com/250986505598069

Sponsor the Worthy Woman Mission| https://form.jotform.com/250986201855058

Transcript

0:00

Hi friends. Welcome back to The Worthy Woman, rooted in rising, where we dive deep into resilience, faith, and the stories that shape us into who we're becoming. In today's episode, it's super powerful. My guest is Kristen Faith Sharp, founder of Boss Babe, networking Boss Babe Academy, and co-owner of Anthem Live Studios in Colorado Springs. But before the titles, before the platform, Kristen was a young woman fighting her way out of an abusive relationship at just 22 years old. She went viral for sharing her story of surviving domestic violence and what followed was the launch of a nonprofit, national speaking tours and programs that changed lives, including Grants of Hope, which provided financial literacy and direct support to survivors of abuse. In this conversation, we talk about how growing up around domestic violence shapes what we believe is normal and how hard it can be to recognize the signs in your own relationship, even when you think you'd know better. We also dig into what healing really looks like, how messy, real and uncomfortable the self work can be, and Kristen is so honest about what it's taken to get here. This episode is for any woman who's ever questioned her, worth her voice, or her ability to rebuild. Kristen reminds us that community matters. Healing is possible, and you're not alone. So grab your coffee, find a quiet spot, and let's dive in.

Shalesa Aldrich: 1:36

Welcome to the Worthy Woman, rooted in Rising. If you're ready to rise into the woman God created you to be, you're in the right place. Each week we'll explore real stories with real women. No sugarcoating, no filters, just raw life-giving truth. If you've been longing for a space where hope is spoken, purpose is pursued, and healing is possible, you found it. Let's walk this journey together. You are worthy.

2:09

I'm here with Kristen Faith Sharp, the creator of Boss Babe Networking. She also hosts some really cool things like Boss Babe Academy coming up this summer and so many other fun things that we're gonna talk about right here. So grab a seat, and join us for a really cool story. Kristen, we met maybe six months ago. Yeah. And I just loved watching you. Everything that you do, you are so inspiring. Then I sat down with you for lunch and I got to hear a little more about your story and what you've been through. And that just softens my heart for you even more we see these women doing really cool things. And I think when you're on the sidelines watching, it's okay, maybe her circumstance was this or this, but you didn't come by any of this easily. You went through some really hard things to find who you were and what you wanted to do. Start by telling me maybe where you grew up and what childhood was like, and then a segue into adulthood and we'll go from there. Sure. So thank you first of all for having me a part of this show and absolutely be able to share a story. So I came from, a beautiful family that, did as best as they could in raising me and my brother. But I grew up with domestic violence. And 5 million children witness domestic violence every year. And unfortunately, my family was one of'em. But it doesn't define who I am, but it definitely helped, mold me. It played a huge part in molding me into the woman that I am today. So growing up in that,, I remember telling myself I would never get into a relationship that had abuse in it and also take into consideration, I didn't know if this thing was called domestic violence. And I was in an abusive relationship as a teenager, young adult. That changed my life tremendously and it could have cost my life. And so one of the things that I was able to do from leaving that abusive relationship was share my story. I eventually shared. A story on social media and let the world read it, and people from around the world started writing in and asking for help, whether it was the UK to South Africa, to Wichita, Kansas. I was a 22-year-old girl who had just gotten out of an abusive relationship and I wanted to help people and so I built a non-profit for domestic violence and it blew up overnight, and I had the opportunity to help thousands of people leave abusive relationships. Fast forward to today and the woman that I become with BBN, boss Big Networking is our mission is to help rebuild the lives of women affected by abuse through entrepreneurship. So our company trains and employs survivors of domestic violence to work with us, to help them rebuild their life into. Obtain that financial security that they need. Especially after going through dv. That's me even nutshell. You were so young whenever that happened and people just started reaching out and you were able to be there for them, you were able to share your authentic story so tell us more about your nonprofit and just getting that started, what that looked like and, I'm sure that's hard. And were you 22? I was at the time was 22. Yeah, yep.. I was in college, I was affected by dv. I was going to school for media studies, so studying social media. Go figure. And when I realized the situation that I was in, I got the help that I needed. I shared my story with my mom and she helped me get a restraining order. I created a nonprofit just about six months after creating the Facebook page. People were writing in every day, all hours of the day. I was finding myself working on the. Organization that wasn't a non-profit yet for probably 20 hours a day, seven days.. I was so fired up about that work that I couldn't put it down. When you're getting messages from people that, Hey, I'm in an abusive relationship, I need help right now, what do I do? I couldn't just sit back in the sidelines and not help them. So I found the answers. I wasn't a trained advocate. I didn't go to school for non-profit management. I was very resourceful in getting the answers that people needed to. Break free from that life. And so I created a nonprofit. It was called Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence. And, it was my way of creating programming that I would've needed when I was in that situation. So I wanted to be educated, so I created programs and conferences and did national speaking tours for people of all different ages and backgrounds. I was severely impacted by financial abuse. 99% of victims of abuse also suffer from financial abuse. So I created a program called Grants of Hope, which provided, survivors the opportunity to get financial literacy training. And at the end of the program, we gave them money, to, whether it was pay their mortgage or their rent, buy groceries for their family, take care of past debts, several different things that they might have needed. Community, that was a huge thing for me. We know when you're in an abusive relationship, you don't know. What you don't know. And you also don't wanna talk about it to people. Oh, you're gonna be judged, or, oh, I can't believe you went through that, or, oh, you deserved it. So I created a community for survivors and families that could come together and rally against this cause. And we did retreats. We did meetups, I filled a documentary of survivors from all across the country. And really just creating that comradery, that community, that family allowed me to reach so many people. Something I talk about often is coming from victim to Victor, not allowing your circumstances to dictate who you are. And that is totally what you did. And even hearing you talk about all of this, it's stuff that I can't even wrap my head around. I'm like, oh my gosh, how did she do all that? Especially being so young like Mia 22. We won't even go there. But it is just being so young and doing all these things, I can't help but think you were made for this. You had to have been made for this. This is your purpose and your passion. I'm sure even on the other side of the screen, people can hear the passion in your voice and see your face light up when you talk about these things because you took something really hard and then you did some really hard things as far as getting all this started. But the impact and the reach and the stories on the other side of it all just make it all worth it. Thanks. Yeah, I just, I was alone on a mission. And being where I am now. Even with Boss Bank networking, when I created it during the pandemic, I had freshly transitioned out of the nonprofit. And keep in mind, I did that work for almost a decade. And creating this new company and trying to find my way in a different light, but also should I do domestic violence advocacy or have a flavor of it, or should I complete some, create something completely different? It wasn't until just about a couple weeks ago that it really dawned on me that. Hey, just because you're not in that non-profit doesn't mean you can't advocate still. I thought that chapter was done and being able to incorporate my advocacy, my passion, and my story into the work that I get to do with BVN has been really special. I love that you've been able to take it to another chapter too. When talking to people who have been through domestic violence relationships that also saw domestic violence when they were young, I'm just really curious because that's not a part of my story. Do you feel that seeing that happen when you were a kid helped you recognize red flags as an adult and then from there helped you to decide that it was time to get out of that or I. Or no, Let's just say you have a family tradition. And that family tradition. Every Christmas or every holiday, this is what we do and this is how we do it. So anything different is weird. I know this sounds really crazy to say, but when you are taught something or shown something, or let's just even just use this as an example, is that the first example of a relationship is what from your parents and whether it's super lovey-dovey or your parents are super affectionate, or maybe your parents weren't together. So you didn't really see that love in the house, or maybe you didn't see how to have a relationship. Maybe you have maybe your parent was a single parent, and so you saw independence, you saw strength, you saw resilience, and that's how you define and perceived it, but. How do you have something else? So maybe you were raised by a single parent. How do I even have a relationship with someone in a relationship?'cause all I saw was a single parent. So going back to the direct question I'm the queen of analogies. I told myself at a young age, I would never get into a relationship like the one that I saw growing up. Because there was so much abuse. But then also so much love, and that's a whole, that's a DV training 1 0 1. There was so much of this abuse cycle that I didn't, I knew that it wasn't healthy. And I knew that it wasn't right, but I didn't know what it meant to have a healthy relationship. Yeah. And so I got into that unhealthy relationship as a young person. My first relationship was unhealthy. Didn't realize that until much later in life because he didn't physically abuse me. Then I got into a physically abusive relationship that was also sexually, financially, emotionally, mentally abusive. And I remember telling myself, if my mom could do it, I could do it too. And while that hurts and pains me to even say that now my mom is one of the strongest women that I know, and what she endured is she should be sitting here and sharing her story. Maybe one day she can maybe, yeah. Yeah. But I told myself that she could do it. I can do it.'cause I saw that my parents were together and they still are married. They fought through it and they got through it and they made it through it. But that's not every relationship. Yeah, that's not every domestic violence relationship. But they did. And so I found myself, I will never do this. I found myself in it, but how do I break the cycle and how do I recognize? But then. The adult me had to sit back and literally say what's unhealthy? What is healthy? How do I have a healthy relationship? What does that look like, sound like, feel like? So getting into my first and last healthy relationship when I found my husband. The day that we started dating, we said, if we are gonna have a relationship, both him and I agreed that we are going to do it completely different than we ever had. That's literally the words that came out of our mouth. Love that, that everything that you learned in your childhood and mine, we will not do that and we are going to build a healthy relationship and figure it out together. That's what we did. Did he come from a family with domestic violence as well? Wow. Yep. And so he grew up. He was abused physically. And he witnessed domestic violence as well. And he thought that domestic violence was, when someone physically assaulted you, he didn't realize that emotional and mental abuse were also abuse. Which quick caveat. So we just wrote a book and we co-authored a book with 13 other authors. And he shares his story of growing up with abuse, but then he realized that he was an abuser. And when him and I met through my nonprofit and he told me that I wanted to gag but he hadn't physically assaulted someone, but he was emotionally abusive. And so he did not know that was abuse.'cause he told him himself as a young person, I will never be an abuser. But again, we don't know what we don't know. So he had to learn what a healthy relationship was. Yeah. And he had to break the cycles of what he saw. Growing up. Wow. Yeah. The fact that he was able to see that though and say, wow, this is me, and then change it. That's already one step ahead of what most people do, Uhhuh. So That's amazing all in itself. Yeah. So if you're comfortable, would you share just some of your story and what you found happening when you found yourself in domestic violence relationships? Just maybe like the first signs. And then what happened from there and how you were able to get out of it. Because I think that's the part a lot of people skip over to say, okay, I went through this, but now I'm here. But maybe there's somebody out there who doesn't even realize that they're in an unhealthy relationship or what that looks like. So if you'd be willing to share some of that with us. So let's be honest. It is hard to spot a abusive relationship when you're in it. I'm gonna be a hundred percent real.'cause a lot of people think if that happened to you, why don't you just leave? First of all, let's stop using that language. Because you have no idea why people stay in abusive relationships. I could tell you a thousand reasons and I'll get to that later if you'd like to know. Yeah. But this relationship started off good, like most relationships. Do, phone calls the sweet, the sweetness. But one of the first red flags that I saw was, Hey, come over to my place. I'd stay. And okay, I'm gonna go now. No you're not. You're gonna stay here and you're gonna stay for as long as I tell you to, or else I'm gonna hurt myself and I'm gonna make it look like you did it. That was one of the first red flags. Wow. At that point, like, when people get into unhealthy relationships. One of the first things that abusers do is create that fear in you. Think about, being that little kid and being told, don't do this, don't do this, you never do it again. I will never touch the hot stove again because that's gonna burn me. Yeah, this sort of situation, it's not the hot stove, it's, I'm so afraid that I am crippled with fear. So that was one of the first red flags, or lemme check your phone, or who are you talking to or who are you with? Or. Demeaning. The verbal abuse. The mental abuse, that no one's gonna love you or you're ugly and all of those things. And so now you feel that your value is gone. So who else is gonna love me? If you're telling me that no one's gonna love me and I care about you, then you must be right. Just like kids, if you tell your kids that you're stupid, you're dumb, you're never gonna amount to anything, your kids are going to believe that. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's the same sort of situation in an abusive relationship is. Is there signs of verbal abuse? Are they degrading you? Are they putting you down? Are they jokingly putting you down? I don't play that game. Of course people think that domestic violence is just physical. It's way more than that. That's just one really slice of the puzzle. Not the, that is puzzle but of the situation.'Cause there's also financial, Hey, where's your money? Or, give me all your money. I'm gonna manage your money, or, Hey, you don't have to work. I'll take care of you. But then now you have to get an allowance. Or religious abuse. The person who abused me used to tell me that my faith was stupid. And so then I stopped going to church and that was the whole thing in and of itself. There's so many different signs of an abusive relationship. I would encourage anyone watching to check out. The, it's called the Duluth Power and Control Wheel. You can look at this wheel and it'll tell you dozens and dozens of different warning signs and red flags in an unhealthy relationship. I looked at that for the first time after I got out. And literally was like, oh my God. All my God. Oh my God, it was so bad. And again, if that's what you saw growing up, that's what you think is normal. That's the domestic violence 1 0 1. Wow. So tell us again what that will is called. It's called the Duluth Power and Control Wheel. Okay. And I'm just gonna challenge you right now. If you're a mom or a dad and you have young kids, boys, girls, or whatever, look at that with them because you don't know, like you said earlier, you don't know what you don't know. And we're raising up this new generation of kids. Let's just teach'em from the beginning. I'm glad you mentioned that. Thanks. So you were talking about the different kinds of abuse and I'm sure there's probably a lot of you who have never heard about financial abuse before. Tell us what that can look like. So it could look like a lot of things. It could be the allowance thing. And so just, it's a gray area because some people, like maybe your spouse is the person who handles the money. But. If it gets to a point where your spouse is like, it's completely off. You can't look at it, it's my situation. Or I've seen it where, some victims, they get an allowance or they get no money. Or hey, here's whatever money and you do what you want with it type thing. But who's paying for the bills? Who's taking care of the family, who's doing all of those things? For me, in my story it was, Hey, can you pay for my phone bill? If you can't, then I can't talk to you anymore. Hey, can you buy me this and it wasn't out of, oh, it's a gift and it's something special it ended up turning into a$40,000 debt. With buying this person motorcycles and vehicles and paying for his entire life. And for me it was a different sort of situation. But for others it might look like controlling or having that power control over your finances and dictating what that looks like. Personally now in a healthy relationship, it looks like, just so we can create that comparison, it's a team effort. It's, Hey, you're bringing in X amount of dollars. I'm bringing X amount of dollars. How much do we allocate for whatever? Or, Hey, you have your own personal budget. I have my own personal budget. You wanna save for this? I wanna save for this and we can work at this at a common goal. Yeah. I grew up having this interesting relationship with money because that's what I saw growing up. But it's incredible that where my parents are at now is that I can sit down and have a conversation with'em and say, why was it a challenge? How do I fix my own battles with money?'Cause I had this fear or I had this unhealthy relationship with money because that's all I heard growing up. Yeah. And so being able to break that cycle is, looks like you can pick up the trauma. Look at it. Okay. And put it back down. Understand that it's still there, but then understanding that you can let it go. Yeah. It doesn't, this doesn't define me. It's a part of me, but it doesn't define me and I can fix it. And many people's situation, they make excuses for it or, oh, I don't wanna look at it. Or it happened in the past, or it's not that bad anymore. Or whatever the excuse is we have in order for you to heal and become the best version of yourself. You have to be willing to pick that up and be like, okay, I did the work. Cool. And really be honest with yourself about it. That's so true. In order to heal, you have to be able to deal with it for a little bit. And that's not fun. Nobody wants to do that. No. But I also always say the growth doesn't happen when everything's wonderful. The growth happens in the trenches. Oh yeah. Like when you dig into that nasty stuff, that's when you really get better. One thing I for sure want you to share with us is, so we touched a little bit on bb n I mentioned at the beginning about Boss Academy anything you wanna share. Sure. So boss babe networking. We provide social media management services and content creation. We also do business coaching for women. And the reason why I chose our mission statement in the way that it how now reads is that when women are more empowered, they're less likely to fall victim to abuse. And financial abuse, like I said, was a huge part of my story. And so if I can empower women to be financially successful, then we are breaking cycles, as we call it. In a way that is easy for people and society to support. Yes. For example, seven 5% of businesses use social media marketing Now, why not use our services where you can know that you're getting great quality services? Plus you get the opportunity to know that you're combating domestic violence by rebuilding the lives of women. And on that same note, I created the Bosco Academy last year because my girls mentioned that they struggled with their own mental health their own confidence. And so a pure boss, they bash. And I said, what can I create for my girls so they can feel like they have a community and they feel empowered. And so creating this program last year was so special because the. The results were amazing. Seeing the testimonials and hearing the testimonials were incredible. But for me as a parent, seeing how my daughter was transformed from that program made all of it worth it to me. Wow. To the point where we had a fashion show here at Anthem Life Studios and she spoke in front of all the people and said, oh my gosh, I feel so confident. I can't believe I'm talking in front of all of you. And I can't believe that she did that, and for her to be able to share her testimony. About how the program impacted her was special and because of her speaking out, young ladies in that audience were like, I want to do that. And so we had several girls sign up for the academy because of her speaking. That's awesome. And so this year we are doing it again and we are tripling the size of our program. And I cannot wait for the young ladies. So many of them are new to the program. Some are returners to the program. It's a program for 11 to 18 year olds. It's a wide group simply because all girls need it. Women have asked me to create an academy for them, so stay tuned in the worst, eventually. But our program is built upon four pillars of confidence, mental health business, and how to express themself. And so girls will learn how to do all of those things. Over the course of our four day leadership program. My girls are actually gonna be participating this summer. I saw that on social media. Actually, you had asked me to share one of the res that you made around that. I was like, not only will I share, but I know a few girls that can use it. It is. It'll be great. It'll be great. Absolutely. I can't wait and I'll be helping behind the scenes with a few things too, which I'm really excited about. But just love what you're doing with all of this. Thanks. It's so funny because everything you say somebody said we needed this, or I saw a need for this, and then now that thing is here because. You've created it. if you can think of something that there should be and there's not. Or maybe there is, but it's not done how you want it done, perhaps you were created to create that thing and that's what you've done. Absolutely. And not just with one thing. Yeah. With 20 million things. Everything. Literally everything. You can say it or you can do it. Yeah. Gonna do it. And I'm gonna just say it. I love, it's just gonna run with it. And it's, have you always been that way? For at least the last decade. Do you, is, do you have advice for anybody? When it comes to doing these things, I guarantee you there's at least 20 people right now listening to this who have this idea in their mind, something that they want to do. What's your advice there, like as far as jumping in and just doing it? Sure. So what I loved about hearing your story and how your company started. It was birthed from a place of love, literally. Yeah. And your own experience with your family and how this was an integral part of who you are and your identity to its deepest core. Yeah. For me, I feel the same way, but not with the delicious, sweet treats. But with my story, yeah. It, it lives deep inside of me. And it is a part of my identity. For the last decade at least. I have been sharing my story and not knowing what was going to come of it, but when I heard that people needed, to hear that testimony, to find that trying to get that resilience, to get the courage they needed to be able to break free from their own silence. I was like, wait, is this what I'm supposed to be doing? And realizing that there were so many people that needed it, and the passion and the love that I feel when I have the opportunity to pour into someone who has walked in my shoes is probably a similar feeling that you feel when people come up to you and have this big, giant smile on their face. I'm like, oh my God. Being able to feel like you're not alone and that someone understands you is a really special, indescribable, priceless feeling. And being able to be that person for so many people has been a gift that I have 100% appreciated and am grateful for people to be able to feel that they can share their story with me. And it's safe with me. And they feel that, hey, my story matters. And for that person to then feel empowered to share their story with someone else, we are going to create a positive ripple effect that people create a positive change. Whatever your story is. I know you said it wasn't like mine, but whatever brought you to here, someone needs to hear that story. Yeah. And same for those watching that whatever your story is and however it reads. Someone somewhere needs to hear it. You may feel that you're not qualified to speak. You may feel that you don't have enough followers to speak. You may feel that, oh, I stutter, or I'm gonna ramble. It's all about practice. It's all about preparing. It's all about finding the right audience. It's all about figuring out what chapter of your story do you want to share. Because it's not just. Kristen, and here's my story, is Kristen in her childhood, Kristen growing, going through that abusive relationship, Kristen becoming an entrepreneur and a boss, babe, Kristen, being a stepparent, Kristen being a wife, those are all different chapters of me that make me this person. But nonetheless, each part of your story is important to someone out there. I can't help but think of that. Picture that floats around every once in a while on social. It says it's like a little flower and it says something like, if you feel like you've been buried, perhaps you've been planted. And then on the other side of that, you bloom. Yeah. And that's what I felt happened to me. Yeah. I got buried working for somebody else. Yeah. And then on the other side of it. I discovered, wow. I wasn't buried, I was actually planted, and I was just meant to make these other decisions that followed. Yeah. Which is a whole different story for another day, but on the other side of that, wow. Yeah. I'm so grateful I made those decisions and I'm sure you are too. Yeah. And you can be too. So stop waiting. Do it now. Exactly. One thing I wanna be sure to ask, because you deserve to celebrate yourself. What's something you're just so proud of yourself for? I think I have to say, I mean there's so many cool things that have happened in life, but I think that I have to be grateful for at the present moment I. It is been one help of a freaking journey. Sounds like it. And and people see Kristen as this person, but don't get to sit down and share s'mores with me and get to hear the Kristen that made this Kristen. Yeah. And so for me, I think I'm most proud of my healing and my commitment to healing and my commitment to growth. It's uncomfortable. Okay. Don't let social media fool you. Okay. It's so true. It's a real thing. I tell people social media is a lie. It is it's the truth, but it's also a lie. Because you can hide behind your pain. And when people decide to share their pain on social media, oh my gosh, why are you doing that? Yeah. But then we also want to see the realness. So it's like a double-edged sword. But I honestly, I think that my healing and my commitment to growth. Has impacted my immediate family, so my mom and dad and my brother and my sister-in-law, my nephews. Being able to share space and literally have a family that is willing to have these uncomfortable conversations now, that accountability that hey, we don't do that. This is not it. Yeah. And having the courage to say, Hey, this is not healthy and I do not tolerate this, but being that person. And and them having the courage to do the same thing for accountability. Yeah. Being that example to my kids my and my husband, and for him to hold me accountable also,, because I'm not perfect. But to be able to have that space to say, Hey, you are not that, is that healthy or unhealthy? I hate when he says that, but I love that. Can I just be flawed for one moment? Yeah. But yeah, it's, I think that is probably my biggest proudest moment.'cause, winning awards and doing all those things and going on tours that's cool. But to me it's like the real work is inside. And when I'm able to do the work. It reflects on the work that I get to do for other people. So yes, I love that. Yeah, I love that. That is what you chose. That's huge because doing that internal work and then just being proud of yourself because yes, you're like this badass and everybody sees you and they're like, Kristen's a badass. Totally. And that is from the outside looking in what but I'm sure at some point you felt broken. I'm sure at some point you thought that's another episode. We'll go there, we'll go there. But I'm sure at some point you did feel like, how can I overcome this or should I even try to overcome this? Or what is the next step? Is there a next step? Do I continue? Do I quit? You have all these things that you went through in that time that people don't see. But you overcame that and you didn't allow yourself to stop there. And not only did you not allow yourself to stop there, but you're even helping your family, your parents. That's huge. That's amazing. So many people who have a story similar to yours, no two stories are alike, but so many people who have something similar, their parents aren't together anymore or it didn't work out, or maybe they are together, but it's unhealthy. And to hear you say my parents are still together and we're actually working on things and they've. Overcome some stuff and I'm actually a catalyst for change in our family. It's awesome. Thank you. I love hearing your story. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing with us. Absolutely. And just being open and willing to even do this. Yeah. I truly appreciate it. Thank you. Doctor's interview. Of course. And then, so at the end of each of these, I just like to tell my guests some things that I love and appreciate about them, and which I've already told you so many things that I love and appreciate about you. But even just in the short amount of time that we have known each other. You have inspired me to be better. And when I walk with people like you, or I'm in the same room as people like you, I'm like, I gotta bring my A game. I gotta be on top of it. I have to be my best self. We need people like that. And I have been through this season of surrounding myself with people who make me want to be the best version of me. And you don't even know it, but you've been a part of that. And when you asked me if I wanted to do the micro wedding mixer, I was like, anything to be in that space. Yes, absolutely. I'll bring free s'mores. I'll feed everybody. I don't care. Put me in your space. Thanks. So that's just so you know what you're doing on the back end that you don't even get to see every day. And I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels that way. Got you. Yeah, thanks. Thank you so much for watching and listening. We're gonna link in the show notes, all of the links for Boss Babe Networking, for Boss Babe Academy, for Anthem Life Studios, all the things we can think of. If you want to get into contact with any of us, we'll have information for that below as well, our Instagrams and all that so you can follow and like. But yeah, we're always here to help and like Kristen said, she was. 20 hours responding to people. This is where our heart is, or we wouldn't be here. So if you need somebody, don't hesitate to reach out. And even if we can't help with where you're at, like Kristen said, we're resourceful. We can figure out where you can go or who you can reach out to. So please break the silence. We're here for you and thanks again for listening. Have a great day. If you're still here, thanks for sticking around and wow, I really hope that conversation with Kristen stirred something deep in you because her story is so much more than powerful. It's a reminder that healing doesn't happen in silence, and that no matter how dark your past is, there's always a way forward if you or someone you know is navigating a season of survival or rebuilding after abuse. Please do not do it alone. Resources are out there, community is out there and hope is real. Make sure you follow Kristen and support her work with Boss Babe, networking Boss Babe Academy and Anthem Live Studios. Her story isn't just inspiring, it's a blueprint for transformation. And if this episode spoke to you, I'd love to hear from you. Leave a review, share this with a friend who needs it, or send me a DM on Instagram where the, uh, the Worthy Woman Project on Instagram. And I will also link everything you need in the show notes to find and connect with both myself and Kristen. And until next time, stay rooted, stay rising. And remember, you are worthy of the life you're dreaming of. I.