
Give Her The Mic
Welcome to Give Her the Mic—the podcast where women reclaim their voice, tell their stories, and inspire each other to heal, rise, and thrive. Hosted by two best friends with a passion for authenticity, this series brings you unfiltered conversations on survival, resilience, mental health, family wounds, career challenges, self-love, and rewriting the narrative.
Each episode dives deep into the real-life journeys of women who’ve walked through trauma, heartbreak, and loss—and came out stronger. We’re breaking the silence around topics women aren’t “supposed” to talk about and giving the mic to stories that deserve to be heard.
If you’re looking for a podcast about women’s empowerment, healing, authenticity, mental health, career resilience, and real conversations—this is it.
Website: https:giveherthemic.co
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GiveHertheMic
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Give Her The Mic
Pass The Mic - Kate Ker
Breaking Barriers: Kate Kerr's Journey of Resilience and Creativity | Give Her The Mic Podcast S2E13
In this heartfelt episode of 'Give Her The Mic,' we kick off Season 2 with our first guest, the inspiring Kate Kerr. Hosts delve into Kate's incredible journey from Ukraine to Greenville, overcoming immense challenges after losing her mother at a young age, and finding her passion as a journalist and social media manager. Kate shares her experiences navigating cultural shocks, balancing personal life with big dreams, and the launch of her 'People of Greenville' project that beautifully captures the essence of her community. Tune in for an episode filled with raw emotions, resilience, and the power of turning pain into purpose.
00:00 Introduction to Season Two
01:18 Meet Our First Guest: Kate Kerr
02:35 Kate's Life in Greenville
05:16 Kate's Journey from Ukraine to Greenville
09:26 Overcoming Challenges and Finding Strength
20:55 Kate's Creative Ventures and Achievements
26:50 Dreams and Aspirations
29:52 A Journalist's Journey from Ukraine to Greenville
30:29 Building Connections Through Stories
33:22 Facing Insecurities and Embracing Growth
38:25 Balancing Personal Life and Professional Ambitions
41:03 The Power of Community and Collaboration
43:27 Embracing Individuality and Overcoming Doubts
51:12 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. We are in season two and it looks a little bit different. We have our first guest, Kristen, you wanna kind of introduce her and Yeah, we can get started. I've, this is give her the mic in case Love. In case y'all didn't know our podcast is called Give Her the Mic. Yeah. And y'all have heard a lot about me and Kristen by the way, over the first season. And so we kind of thought it would be cool to bring other women in that have stories and beautiful, messy, real raw things that you guys can relate with. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the truth is that most women have been through a lot of things in their lives. I mean, everybody heard what we had been through on season one and you know, our stories of um, just going through really hard things. But then overcoming, and I know, you know, Kate shared a little bit with both of us and we definitely were like. Why not? You know, you're such a beautiful, strong, amazing woman and we want people to see that and to hear that, like no matter what you've been through, there's so much like, just like we were talking about earlier when we met. Like you go through so much, but then you just, you get up and you figure it out and you keep rolling and you're better. It's true. You know it's true. So, Kate, we're so happy that you're here. We're ker. We're so excited. Kate, Kate Kerr and she, I texted yesterday and I said, you have a Hollywood name. Yeah. Like Kate Kerr is a Hollywood name. It's just social. It's like unique. It's one you don't, you don't forget when you hear it. And so I'm just excited that you're, thank you here and open to this. And I know you're gonna share a lot of your story with everybody that me and Kristen already know, but you know, just for people to be, hear who you are behind the camera because you're always. Behind the camera, but also interviewing people. So it's cool that we get to Yeah, I know, right? Ask you some questions and get people to see who you are. A little more broken down, a little more vulnerable, a little more, you know, it's very unusual, imperfect. And she also has a boast accent. Yes. So anyhow, which I'm super shy about, but think, you know, I share stories all the time. Yeah. And I feel like my story is nothing special, like it's just another story. But you made me think about it more and open up more. And now I feel like, okay, let's do it. And I'm a fan of your podcast and you inspired me so much. This first season was mind blowing. Mm-hmm. And eye opening. It was amazing. So thank you for doing what you do. I'm excited to be here. Yeah. Yeah. So why don't you tell us, you know, you wear a lot of hats. Um, you live here in Greenville and a lot of people know you. Even whenever you walked in, we were telling. Our producer, Josh, we were like, do you know Kate Curry was like, oh, I know Kate Curry. You know, and, and who doesn't? Because you're such a, you're like a it girl. You really are in the community. That's kind of like, right. Mm-hmm. Chris's like, oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. If there were a magazine like you would be in, there is one here, actually. And you've been in it actually, you know, like, you, you actually just, um, did an episode on people at Greenville on one of the magazines Yes. That a woman runs here. Mm-hmm. But tell us a little bit about like, who are you and like, you know, what day to day. Yeah. I am a mom first of all. That's my main purpose and my main, my main responsibility. I'm a mom. I'm a creative person. That's why I wear so many hats because I never cannot, I cannot stop. I, I, I never stop. I always experiment and try different things. So I'm a social media manager. I manage social media for different businesses in town and organizations, and I'm a creator of People of Greenville Project, the project where I share stories about people in our community to inspire others to be successful and to do something different or to connect with each other and to promote Greenville because it played a, it, it plays a huge role in my life. So I want to promote it and show people that it's amazing to be here. So, yeah, it's pretty much it. Probably. Yeah. And you're married? And I'm married. You're married? I have two girls. Yep. Your two girls. Super cute. We saw them this morning. It was so fun for coffee. They were eating their little. Avocado toast and chicken wrap. Like my kids would never Beautiful little girls. My my kids, my kids would be like, I want a piece of freaking toast. I know. And some bacon, like total, like, they're so cultured. Yeah. My little one, she's a Shayna, calls her bougie baby. She can eat caviar. She can eat reds. She's like, I, she, she, she loves that stuff. I love, oh my goodness, I love that. And it, it's funny because I'm like, what, did you get it? Do you eat things like that? Like your palate is just Yeah. Yeah. But it's interesting that she has that taste in when she's 3-year-old. Like I developed it later in life, of course. Like oysters and all that stuff, stuff do, like, I didn't get it when I was little, but she gets it. I'm like, okay. So tell us a little bit about, let's get our nifty little card out. What, um. You're really plugged in here. A lot of people know you. Mm-hmm. A lot of people know you though for your work, which I think is really important. Mm-hmm. Um, but what, what pulled you here? Like why Greenville? Because I know too, like you're not from here. Kristen's not from here. No. I mean, didn't have an accent. Clearly you weren't born and raised here. So tell us about that. You were born and you, you said you in Greenville for 17 years. Yes ma'am. So I'm in Greenville for 15 years. Yeah. And it was a very, very different place at that time. It was a huge transition. Yeah. I moved here when I was 18. I got married in Ukraine. I met my husband in Ukraine. We got married, we moved in together because he got a job. He had a job opportunity here and we moved in together. Um. Greenville was very different from where I grew up culturally. And we in so many aspects. I was in cultural shock when I moved here. Oh yeah. I was like, yeah, what? What I'm going to do here? I didn't know English at all. Mm. I still have my accent, probably have it till the last day. But I learned English and I learned it from nothing. I knew only basic words like, hi, bye. Thank you. And that's it. Yeah. And I couldn't understand what people seen because they were talking so fast. Yeah. And I was like, W whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait. What? What was that? So it was challenging. I moved here, was shocked, but then slow, like you said, people know you. You are everywhere now. It was not like that. Yeah. For many, many years I felt like a stranger. I felt like an outsider. I felt like an alien. Like an alien. Yeah. I didn't have any friends. I didn't, I didn't know any businesses. I would go there and like, we didn't even have too many places to go. No. In the first place because in Ukraine, I am from the city where we had this. Huge and rich cultural life. We would go to restaurants, to movie theaters, to theaters like it was, it was a social life was a big part of my life and I had so many creative friends and I struggled here. When I moved here, I didn't know anyone. Yeah, and I feel like also Greenville, like we build and we bring in so many new people now and the communities growing with many creative, cool people like you doing podcasts now, right? Is this something unusual? Like can you imagine a podcast 15 years ago in Greenwell? No, this definitely not. This is something like maybe New York. Yeah, but not 15 years ago in Greenwell. Now we're doing it here and now it looks natural and cool and awesome. It feels good to have it here now. Well, and there are so many creatives here, and I think that's something me and Kristen really bonded over when we first met. It was kind of like when me and her met. We knew. We were like, oh my gosh, this is like, we're both creatives and we're both like stylish and we both speak our minds. And so, um, you know, I obviously was born and raised here. I know Kristen wasn't, so, I don't know if you wanna share a little bit about how you felt when you moved from Boston. I, I felt like an alien. I literally did. I remember, I remember, um, you know, just, I dressed very differently. I didn't own a t-shirt when I moved here because people from the city, you don't wear a t-shirt. No. You don't even wear a t-shirt to bed. No. You know, and so my wardrobe was very different. My, my wardrobe was very different too. And I felt like I almost had to dress like them though at first. You know what I'm saying? Like, I felt like I had to fit in. Mm-hmm. And thank God I'm not that way now. And I dress exactly how I should, but I remember feeling super alone. True. I did meet one girl. I remember at the beginning she was great, thank God. But I can't imagine how alone you felt. Especially not knowing the language. I can't even imagine the gooders in the car. Nothing. Not having any friends, not just being secluded. And like you told us earlier, you were on a farm. I was on a farm. That's completely opposite of what we are used to. Correct. Yeah. Like you know when you're born and raised in a city and you are, when you're born and raised in a city, you're surrounded by people. Even if you're not talking to them, you still have that stimulation energy. You have all that energy. Everything. Yes. So when that shifts, I think that for me was really hard. It could lonely. And I know that was probably hard for you. It was very lonely, quiet. It was very depressing. Yes. It was very different. And let's, let's be honest, double white trailer is not the comfort zone where I want it to be. Yeah. It was very different. And it's like, I can do that and I can start from scratch. Like I, I'm not afraid of that. I know that I've seen everything, like we slept like a mat mattress on the floor. Like, because we didn't have any furniture at first when we just moved here. Like I can do that easily. Mm-hmm. But it's not where I want to be. And it's like I realized that and I was honest with myself because I can do this. I know I can, but I don't want to. I think that's the hardest part is that a lot of people aren't honest with themselves. Yeah. About like, I'm here, I don't like it. What do I need to do? Exactly. Mm-hmm. I wanna hear about your childhood. I want to hear you told us a little bit about it. I really think that our viewers need to hear that because to me, like you are the way that you are because. Of unfortunate situations that you were put in. Yeah. But they also made you so damn strong. So It's true. Yeah. It's, it's true. And, and thought it's beautiful. So many things could break me, but they actually didn't. Yeah. I was surprised by the amount of things I can handle. Yeah. And then build. From that. Yeah. Like reborn and build on that foundation. It's, it's amazing what we can do and what we can achieve, what women are capable, churn, pain, capable of into power. That part. This is amazing. That's why I loved your first season of your podcast because you shared so many of those points. Mm-hmm. When you churn the pain into the power, and this is what helped you. I, I'm the same way. I went for a lot. So I grew up in Crimea, in Ukraine, and on black Seap and insula. Very beautiful. It's gorgeous. Like, it's amazing. I feel like one day when the things start being good again, like people will see how amazing it is. It's, it's very beautiful area. So I'm thankful for that because I grew up absorbing all this beauty. I grew up in a family. Um, my parents, teachers and then they became professors in university. So they, they were always busy. My mom was always like very career oriented. Super cool lady. I learned so many things from her because she was always driven, always had that energy, always. She was the best, the youngest, uh, to achieve all the awards, all the career steps, and it was amazing to learn from her and that's why I want to be. Same role model for my girls. Mm. And to be the one who will achieve, who will show them the pathways so they can do anything they want. So grew up, went to amazing school, um, gymnasium. It was school for the kids with special talents and Oh, cool. Yes. I didn't know that and I felt special because you are. Yeah. But it was cool because I had music education, I had all kinds of, like, we will learn different languages, German and French, by the way, not English as much as I should learn, because I never thought I will travel anywhere. Yeah. I never thought I will be living in United States. Like I, I could not even imagine that at that time. I was happy where I was. I always wanted to do something in communication. So journalism, because my mom was a professor in communications and literature and writing like she was good at it. So, yeah. But. Then when I was 12, I lost my mom. She, uh, died from cancer. And it was the pivotal moment in my life because everyone, I, I grew up in a happy family surrounded by grandparents, um, cousins, uncles like it, it was amazing. Together at the big table, everyone together during Christmas time, like it was special and cool. And then my mom died and everything changed immediately. Like everyone, I feel like everyone went through this traumatic, it was traumatic for everyone. Everyone, because she connected the whole family. Mm-hmm. She was this, she was the one water and chain who would like spin everything and everyth, everything was built around her. Like she would help everyone. She would connect the family. She would, she would create those gatherings for us. Like during New Year's or Christmas, like she would organize us all. She would message everyone to get together and then she died and everyone were shocked because she was only 37. She diagnosed it at 35 and. I felt like we didn't have therapy. We didn't have psychologists. Like, no, no one did anything. We just shut down everyone in their own way and we just didn't talk about it. Ever since, like mom died, everyone just went quiet on their own and pretended like it never happened. And I should know this. Your only child, right? Yeah. Okay. Okay. I was like, you've never talked about a sibling, but No, but I have cousins. Okay. And we were very close. We're still very close. They're like sisters to me and one of them living in New York, and she's like my bestie and my sister and my everything. We share everything. Can I take a girl's trip there? Yes, please. Yes. Yes. She has this Carrie, Brad shell style apartments. Yes. In Brooklyn. Stop it. So cool. Looks amazing. Oh, she's super cool. Feels amazing. Yeah. So, yeah, I, that's why we, we bonded a lot. Uh, she supported me and it was amazing. But n no, like all the grandparents, they dealt with this trauma on their own. And I cannot imagine like lo losing their child, like mm-hmm. She was the only child as well. Ugh. And then my dad, he was affected with it a lot. Um, he loved her so much and he just shut down. He didn't know how to help me, how to talk to me about this. Like we just all went quiet. But it was so depress and in challenging. So we were, we were also, were in a huge debt because cancer treatment was very, very expensive at that time in Ukraine. Like it was unbelievable amount of money. And we didn't have any money. Mom died. We are on our own. And I, I started to think like, how, how are we going to survive? And I, at 12, at 12, at 12 years old, at 12, not even a teenager yet, which is. It just breaks my heart for you because I'm sure you remember where you were when you found the news out. You know that she passed away and it's like you don't forget. No, no. Those moments when somebody you love that much is just like gone. Yeah. And your brain wasn't even fully developed. No. So just like, I can't imagine. Like, but I remember that very well. Like those memories. They like Yeah. Stay with you and haunt you for the rest of Where were you? Yeah. Oh, when you found the news out at? At my, at my grandmother's house. Okay. And my grandma call came in and told me it was like the whole world should not, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine. Moms are super important and you know, I think it's one of those things where we've talked about this on the podcast a lot, but it's. It's not your fault that you didn't know how to cope with it too. Yeah. And I'm sure there's a lot of Yeah, yeah. Guilt there or a lot of, could you have done more or whatever, but you were just a child and you need to know that. Yeah. I was so scared. And the thing is like I always felt like I should spend more time with her if I knew, because I always had this hope, like we will get over it. We'll get, yeah.'cause we tried all the treatments that are, that were available, it was 2005, 2004. Like there was not too much technology like it is now. Or even if we would be like here in United States, I'm sure they would save her. Yeah. Yeah. Because now I know the doctors, my friends is the doctor in oncology, radi. I know they would find the right treatment because. Right there. At that time we couldn't. And I also feel like yes, probably it's a destin, you probably, it's supposed to be like this and it's supposed to be that way. And I'm learning to accept that. It's hard though. But it's hard though. It's, it's hard though. And it was very unexpected for me because I still, I believed like, we could do it. We could do it. We could try another one, we could do another surgery, we could do this and that. And that's why we was, when she taught, she taught you to be that way. Exactly. And did not give up that Never, never. We will tell our kids that we are fine until the very end. I guarantee you that's what she wanted was for you to not be worried. She was, that she would send me, she's like, go spend time with your girls. Go spend time with your sisters. Like, I'm fine. All, all good. You don't have to sit and, and look after me. Like there it is an adult job. Like you, you, you have to, and I laughed. I came back. She was trying to protect you. Yes. And I came back at night and then I find out, I'm like, why I was not there. Why I, and I felt guilty for so many years for that. But, but she did that to protect you? She, she knew, she, she probably knew, she probably could feel it, but she always taught me to find another way, like. She there. There is no. Is not an answer. Like you always can find another if you want something. Mm-hmm. So that's why we'll keep finding another options. Another, yeah. But it's also important for me because now when I'm a mom and I'm 33 mm-hmm. And the closer I get to that age, it triggers me of course. But now I'm like, I'll do everything for my girls and I do as much as I can because you never know when is the last day, when is the last time. And I know it's not healthy to think with. That I can die early, but it can happen. Like now I learn to accept that as well. You be realistic. So I'm trying to achieve as many things as possible. Yeah. In this amount of time and live and sh like even you said this morning like, your girls were so excited to be with us just at breakfast. You're like, they really wanted to come. And it's just because, you know, and that's the thing, you carry that soul part of your mom with you, that soul part of being social and being an achiever and being a go-getter and there's, we've talked about this on the podcast, good and bad aspects of being an overachiever and being a go-getter. But I think the main core of that is like carrying that soul piece of your mom with you and now your girls have it where they're driven and they're watching you, which we're gonna talk about in a little bit. We went to TV station yesterday and I filmed an interview and they were like. Looking at the setup and everything, I'm like, absorb it. Look at it. Look, look how this works. Look how that works. Like learn. It's, it's interesting. And they, they love it. Sami just received a letter from American Poetry Society. Oh my goodness. And I'm like the Proud Mama moment because I would used to get those in Ukrainian society, poetry Society. And she now gets it here and I'm like, this is another level. I'm so proud. Yeah. So tell us a little bit after, so your mom passes away. Yes. Your dad doesn't know what to do. He's heartbroken. He's He's in shock. Yeah. He is completely in shock. And I feel like what happens, I was more resistant because I told myself I cried for a few days and then I told myself I, I cannot cry anymore. Oh. Like I prohibited myself from crying. Like, I was like, no, no more, because otherwise I would be shattered. Yeah. Yeah. So I closed all my emotions, suppressed all my emotions. And I started to think strategically like what, what we can do to survive. And I remember that we had mom's cousin in another, in another city, in another country, and I called her and I'm like. Please find him a job. Like I know you have this opportunity. I know you have connections. He needs a job. Another one, because he was a teacher, they would not pay him well. Like we, we had like, the shocking moment was when we went to a store and I see like, he opens the wallet and we have only like, uh, the currency in Ukraine. It's like freeness, but we have only the pennies. Like no paper money, no bills. No bills. And I was like, what? Yeah. And this is bad. So I called her, she found him a job. He like, within two days he flew to that city. So he flies away. And you're at home? Yeah. Okay. And I'm on my own. Wow. So how did that work out? Kind of walk us through that. It was, it was, it was not as scary as it sound because I was ready. I was like, this is the only way we can survive. Yeah. And we have the huge debt. We need to pay the debt. So he would send me the money. Uh, from out there once a month, and I would distribute that money to pay our, all of our loans and debts. And I would leave a little amount for me, like for basic food, like something super basic, like something like instant, uh, you know, like these, uh, super, super cheap, um, ramen. Ramen ram. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Ramen and a few sausages. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I would eat at school because we would have school lunches and I would visit my cousins, who is like my sister to me, because she was like, Kate, I know it's bad. Stay with us for a night. Like, we'll feed you. And then her mom would give me, um, each morning she would give them like, money for school, like just a little bit for lunch or like maybe some candies. And she would give me like 20 s. And I, I knew I would get it, and I'm like. Thank you so much. It'll last me for a few days. Like I, I can survive for a few days. So it was, it was good. But all the grandparents, they would deal with their own problems and trauma and health problems. So they would not be involved in my life. And I was on my own in an apartment for a while. How long, what were you doing? I know you told us you wrote like some poetry and did like some cool stuff. Yes, because I needed to figure out, it was not enough for me obviously to survive. I needed more. So I tried to figure out the creative ways of how I can earn my, and I was like, I told you, I, I was ready to go clean toilets or Yeah, I dunno, sell newspapers or do anything, but thanks God. I created this. I, I started to write poetry and I figured out you can earn money right in poetry. What kind of poetry did you write? I know we didn't even ask you that. It was curious. It was. I don't know even how to say it, but because it's in Ukrainian, right? Yeah. And I felt language so well, because I absorbed it from my mom. Like she was very skilled in this. So it was a poetry, like it was a young poetry society, something like this. And I would write and they would pay because they would publish it in books. Oh, wow. And it was like a whole book collection of those poetry pieces. So they would publish it and they would pay you. But also I got the scholarship from government because I won so many competitions for my poetry. So they would pay me once a month, I would receive. A huge bill at that time it was big money. Yeah. I could buy groceries, I could buy my makeup, I could buy all the things. And it was so, it was so satisfying to get money for being smart. Yeah. And it was the first time in my life that I'm like, I can do that. I can, I am smart enough to do that. And it's was so rewarding and I was like, I was driven. I like, I can do more. I can write even more. I can do this. Then it was time to graduate the high school. I graduated the high school. I got into university and, uh, to get my Was your dad around during this time at all? Back? He came back when I, when I just got into university. It was my first year. So from the time he worked 12 until he graduated high school, he was gone. Yeah. Wow. Almost. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It was scary. That's what I was gonna say. Were you ever afraid when you were by yourself, like analyzing it or anything? Was Yeah. What was Ukraine like? Like I mean, was it a safe place to be a child in an apartment? I, I lived into my apartment. I, I knew everyone. Did you have, did you have a weapon? No. Don't weapons over there. I feel like they don't. No, no. But the apartment was like, I knew everyone. Like, like it was, it was, it was amazing. It was life. Yeah. It was safe. Yeah, it was safe was, it was safe. And that's kind of how, where I grew up in the city too, it was so bad.'cause it was the city, but I always felt safe, if that makes sense. Yeah. I can't really explain it. It's just different. It's just different. I never had a weapon, but I also didn't live alone at 12. But yeah. Yeah. Bless. You know, it was different Now I think I, I cannot imagine my, my girls do the same. That part part. I cannot imagine that, that part. Yeah, for sure. It's, it's very different. But at that time, like, yeah, I knew everyone who were living around me. Like it was, it was dribble. I would wake up, go to school. Do all the things. Come back, go to my music school. Like everything was Oh, you went to music school play? Yeah, I was playing violin like a good girl. Oh my. She plays violin. Oh my, my gosh. That's beautiful. No, my mom sent out me for all this music lesson and for self for like, because she's like, you need to be busy. You need to fill up your schedule. Your schedule needs to be busy. You don't have to, you don't need to the all this spare time. Did your mom ever rest? No, she always never on was always your mom. Rest, always on it. Like she would if she's at, she would teach until, uh, like 6:00 PM then she come home, she would cook dinner and then she would write her, how do you call it? It's it, she worked on her PhD. Uh, huge word. Her. Uh, yeah, I know what you're, yeah. And she would write that. Yeah. And she constantly would work, work, work. Mm-hmm. But still, the house is super clean. The dinner is on a table. She did it all. She did all she was she did it all. Yeah. So she really did it all taught you structure your whole life until she passed, passed away. And you are, you were ready to go. She gave you literal life skills. Literally, like I wasn, like from the fact that she gave you that much wisdom imp perfect taste by the age of 12 imp perfect taste like that really says the. Mom that you had. Yeah, it's true. But also like now what, what I'm thinking about, it's so scary how our brain works and memory works now. It feels like a dream. Yeah. It doesn't feel real anymore. I get that because time passed like 20 years. Yeah. And it feels like, did it ever happen? Like I, I have it in me. I have part of her in me, but it feels so distant. Like, and even the fact that I lived in Ukraine 15 years ago, it felt like a dream. Like I don't remember understand very well my childhood roads or my apartment. It's all blurred now and it's what scares me because it, it feels like a dream. It feels like I'm another person now. Yeah. And it's, it's very, very weird sensation. Have you gone back? I went back a couple of times. Mm-hmm. But I haven't been there since 2014. Okay. So it's been a while. And with everything that's been going on recently. Yes. Yes. And it's also sad because I cannot go to her grave. I cannot visit my house. I cannot see my childhood photos. Like everything is there and I cannot, I don't have access to it. It's sad day. And now I don't have anyone there. Like it's, the house is empty. Yeah. Everyone died. Like it's sad. Like it's just us here. You're, but you're building something here, which is beautiful. It's true. You know, it's true. And you have, you have your girls and you know, me and Kristen always talk about with our kids too, like everything that we do is for them. And that's something my dad used to instill in me. He would look at me all the time.'cause my dad. Also is big heavy worker like her dad, big workers. Our dads were always gone working. And one thing my dad always told me is he would kneel down and be like, everything I do is for you and your sister. And when I look at you and me and Kristen, I feel like that's exactly what we're doing is we're doing everything to make sure that our babies are taken care of. And that's, that's what it's about. And setting an example that's not perfect. Yeah. But there's gonna be broken pieces, there's gonna be really sad pieces, there's gonna be happy moments, there's gonna be angry moments, there's gonna be all the emotions. Mm-hmm. But knowing too, that just because we've suppressed different things in our lives that have happened doesn't mean. That we have to pass that to our kids. We can teach them how to have emotions. We can show them what's, you know, what's what's real, and that it's okay to have emotions. I'm huge on that with my five-year-old. So your story is beautiful. Also. We do it for them, but we also do it for ourselves sometimes because we find in ourselves, in ourselves heal something. We didn't get. Opening our ourselves, finding our true self, like what we want to do. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What makes us happy and they see it by finding ourselves. We inspire them because they, hundred, they're like, and they can be them. What is that for you? We love like talking about dreams and you know, unlocking dreams. Like what are, what is Kate's dreams like? If you could envision the biggest dream for you. Your girls in your life, like what would it be if there were no barriers? What, what, what does Kate wanna do? Where would you live? What would it look like? All those things. What would it smell like? I want, you know, like pride, the sea probably smell like the sea home, right? Something beautiful, sea city, but also, I know it sounds maybe not right for many people, but struggling all the time with money. Always feel insecure about that. I want to be at that point when I don't feel. And I don't think about it at all. Girl. Yeah. Woo. She struggled a lot growing up too, with money. I want down, I mean, I still am now as a single mom. I'm a generous person. I understand. I understand. I'm a generous person. I love to give gifts. Yeah. I love to buy people stuff. I love to buy things for my close friends, for my relatives, I would help. I would send money to Ukraine a lot. Mm-hmm. Like, I would help everyone even, because I know I will earn it. I will have a chance. They don't have too many chances there. So I would send lots and lots of money and help everyone, but I don't want to think about it anymore. Yeah. I'm so tired of constantly feeling insecure, constantly feeling under the pressure. Especially now with the kids. Like, you want to be secure and it's not about like, I don't want super fancy cars. Like, I don't have those goals. No. I just want to feel, you don't wanna have to worry about it. Don't have to worry about it. Every day. I, I want to go to the grocery store. I can buy everything, whatever. Like, whatever, whatever we need. Yeah. That part. I don't need an excess probably. I, I just want to be able to. Feel secure for my family, for myself, but also be able to help all other people. Yeah. And I used to feel like I had this thought, I want to help everyone, but then I changed it recently. I'm like, I want everyone to be rich and happy so I don't have to help anyone. Mm-hmm. I don't want to be the SI want everyone to be happy. Mm-hmm. And successful. Mm-hmm. And that's why I help them in different ways now too. I love that. Like finding a career, finding a job, securing something. Like securing a job or opening a project, inspire them because I feel like I want you to be successful. I don't want to constantly save someone, even though it feels good for me, it doesn't feel probably good for them. I want them to be confident. Success. They have to do it on their own. Exactly. Yeah, you can. And I don't mind helping. I love it, but I feel like it's not sustainable. People want to, it's not to. And I want to be surrounded with all these successful people. Yeah. And happy people. Everyone should be happy and successful and don't worry. And as much as I can impact that and help everyone, I will. If I'll see any opportunity, but I love that. That's beautiful. I don't want to worry about money anymore. I'm tired. I'm so tired of this. You'll get there. That's why I'm building it. That's why I'm never stopping until that point. And I feel like, yeah, but probably it'll, with my projects, I'm always like, we can do it better. We can do it more. We can people of Greenville. I want to grow it. I want to grow At this point, she, I can tell us about people at Greenville. Tell me and Kristen about it. Say it, tell about it. Anything about it. Saved me. It saved me. Oh, if not this project, I, I dunno where I would be mentally. Why did it, did it find you? Like how Tell I don't know how this happened. People of Greenville. Yeah. I, I was a journalist in Ukraine, right? Uhhuh. Yeah. So I had this passion to share stories and do this, but I didn't know English at all. So I'm like, how I can do it, how I can still show. I was behind the camera asking people weird questions and 15 years ago, they're like, why do you need my interview? Like, what's going on? Who, who will watch it? Like Brittany Owens was one of the first ones. She's like, are you sure people need, like, why are we filming? Like, why are we doing this? But I felt like this urgent need to do this. And I just started, I started to film the stories. It was not where I wanted to be. It didn't look good. Just not, it didn't look good. But now is where I am finally proud of, but I want to grow it more. So I started to share the stories and it helped me. It saved me because first of all, I could fulfill my need, my passion, my creative thing, right? I could do, I could keep going with my journalism skills. Another thing, I don't feel like a stranger anymore because I learned about all these stories, all the people, and I found so many friends through this project because we would start talking with them even behind the camera, outside of the video. Yep. And we would connect and I would hear their story and they would hear my story and we would bond. And that's how I found, we met most of my friends, we were friends. Yes. Yes. She reached out to me and she was like, Hey, I wanna do an interview on you. Mm-hmm. And I was like, I don't know why, but let's go. And I was like, at the pit of my depression, I mean. You saw what I looked like and I was like, what the hell? Let's go. Can't get any worse. Yeah. But that was a powerful moment for me, girl. It was a powerful moment for me because I saw you and you're like, oh, it's a video interview. And I'm like, yeah, but I can, we can reschedule. Let's do it another, and, and you're like, no. Well,'cause I was so now we're doing it insecure. This is how it looked like. Okay, let's do it. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, she's so powerful. She's so, because I would not do it. I was like, yeah, let's reschedule. I didn't know it's a video interview. Let's, let's figure it. But you're like, no. Well, we're going to do it. Yeah. And then she did it, and then she brought, she brought the girls, and I remember we shot, but um, her youngest was like, you know, even younger. Mm-hmm. And so, uh, we had to stop a lot. Mm-hmm. And then, um, she couldn't use that footage and then we re-shot again and did another one. But I remember when she walked in and had, um, the girls with her, I was like, this is my person. Yeah. Kind of like how you were when you walked in and saw Brody when we first met, I was like, this is my kind of person, a real person. Mm-hmm. She's, she trusts me mm-hmm. To let her kids come in mm-hmm. To my space. Mm-hmm. And that meant a lot to me because I feel like when you allow somebody to meet your kids or bring them into that kind of space where you have your kids, like that's a really. You know? Mm-hmm. Like kind of cutoff zone is when people meet your kids. And I was like, okay. Like she really cares about people. Mm-hmm. And I love that. She just so unprofessional. I don't care. I mean, we're unprofessional. We're unprofessional. Extremely. I mean, I was gonna tell you to bring your girls here earlier when you were like, I'm gonna drop them off. I like, I thought you out there, right? Yeah. We're gonna put them on the iPads and sell. This is why actually go a lot with, to different projects. To different videos. They, they go a lot. And I'm so thankful for people who get it. I think it's who understand that, think it's important that they see that. That's amazing. Yeah, it's true. And I think, but not many people understand that. Let's be honest. Not many people understand that. Many people were like, oh, why? Why do you think? It's also how I was raised though, like in the city, that's kind of a culture thing. That's true. You just walk into people's houses. Like even when I met her and stuff like, you know, I'll walk into her house and just open the fridge. Even my other friends. Like, that's just how, like, I feel like those cultures in the city, that's how you're raised. Like you're so close together and you just get to know everybody so well. So, yeah. So even leading into our next kind of topic, you know, I know me and you personally have talked about perfectionism. Mm-hmm. And how you struggle with that. And I know me and Kristen both struggle with that. So how do you, how do you do it all? And I quote, how do you deal with the pressure and the need to be perfect in all things? So I'm having to let it go. How, how It's, it's a lot of internal work, but it's, it's been my theme lately, like the last couple of months. I'm like, I have to my project now, let's go back to my project Now. I'm in front of the camera now, and it's, it's a huge, it's out of comfort zone completely. I was not prepared for it, but Kyle pushed me in the right direction. He's like, you need to be in front of the camera. I'm like, are you sure? Are you sure? Because it's, yeah. Kyle is a like, really awesome video videographer, dresses. He's a videographer. He does everything. Actually, he does social media as well. He, he has so many things, but he believes in my project. He helps me a lot. He films all the videos. His team handles the whole production well, and he cares. I mean, he's so great. His wife is so great. He's amazing. Um, he's very kind. Yeah. He learned a lot too from Hunter Harrison. Mm-hmm. Hunter is. You know, an amazing person and I, and so I think it's, and that I didn't even realize that. Yeah. When she filmed me, you were not on camera. You were like asking me questions and filming me, and so that's a big change for you. It's a big change. I'm very proud of you. I cannot look at myself, Kyle, and or his, uh, team, they send me the new video each week and I'm like, I cannot, I cannot look at myself. You'll be able to eventually, but I need to learn to let it go. You'll, yeah. You have to. I hope so. One day you'll, you'll, I used to hate my voice every time I heard it. I would like. Literally cringe. And then when I started dating, I had all these guys be like, I love your voice. I love your voice, I love your voice. And I was like, why do they all love my voice? And then eventually I was like, I love your voice. Kristen voice is a little bit different. And then I learned to love it, but it's'cause people made fun of me. Oh, back in the day for it. So you know, like eventually you're gonna look in the mirror and realize that you're a 10. Yeah, I have like, you're a beautiful, I have incur. I feel like I'm the ugliest girl in the world. What are your insecurities? Tell what? In the devil? What are they? You sure? Everything. I think starting, starting from my posture, oh that's, I mean, look at ours, my skin, everything. Oh, I can disassemble myself like for an hour and tell you everything. Like I look at myself in each video and I'm like, I'm the ugliest. Like I don't know even who will ever look at me. I literally just left it coffee and so bad. Like it's always like she is. Literally stunning. Like, you have the most beautiful eyes, you have no makeup on right now, and you almost, almost this nature. You no, you literally are like absolutely gorgeous in your hair. Like all, and you're, it's not just that though, like you're such a beautiful soul, you know what I'm saying? Like you're just, you got it all, honey. And eventually you're gonna realize that, and I cannot accept nice words when people say nice things about me. I'm like, you'll, but you. It's because of situations. You just to be nice that you've been in for a long time, but eventually you will. That's what I was about to say. Yeah. I didn't wanna say all that, but seriously, eventually you will when you are, you know? I hope so, because now I, you need people who breathe good into you. When you hear the opposite for too long, that's what happens. Mm. I thought I was a four when I got divorced. Mm. Oh yeah. Tell her about that. I thought I was a four. About how your friend asked you, what'd she say? Yes, Maria, my friend Maria came and sat on the couch and she looked at me and she asked me on a scale of one to 10, um, how pretty I thought I was, I said I was a four. And she looked at me and she was. Kristen. Yeah. She said When you walk in a room, everyone notices you. And it's not just because you're beautiful, because you are,'cause you are the prettiest girl in the room. But also it's because the energy that you carry when you walk in energy. Mm-hmm. And it took me a long time. Mm-hmm. A long time. But then I would be like at the gas station or like at the grocery store and I would notice like men physically looking at me. I'm gonna be honest, I never noticed that before. Oh, sorry, Josh. Yeah. I got Italian for a second. We got, we went really, really far. I did before. Did good. Before I was a statue. Yes. But it took a long time. It did. But when you're, when you've gone through trauma, especially like you have. Mm-hmm. And then if you've been in unhealthy relationship, which I don't know if you have, but you know, when you have those kinds of things, it wears on you as a human. Mm-hmm. Like all of that beauty and everything, it's almost like it's wiped away. Yeah. And it's underneath something. But when you get away from whatever that is. It literally like it, it grows and you see it and you'll realize it. You will. And especially when you're around people. Mm-hmm. Someone who are gonna just be like, hello, girl. I mean, we compliment each other every day. You also, I feel like women, I compliment women every single day. And to me, if women aren't complimenting other women mm-hmm. Like, and I get that people just don't do that. I understand. But it goes a long way, you know? It's true. It does. That's why I'm thankful for people like you in my life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I feel like the more I open up and share what I'm going through, the more Right people show up in my life. Amen. Amen. Amen. And now I have the most amazing people in my life. Like we mentioned, Kyle Hunter, you girls like. Josh right there. Like I, I'm now surrounded with such an amazing people. And a few years ago I couldn't believe I will be surrounded by people like this. Well, and I can't wait for you to honestly feel like this just came to mind for you to realize that you're actually the gift, not just all of them, and not just all of us, but you're the gift and you're a gift to all these people that you are interviewing and helping and growing their, you know, growing their social media. You know, um, I think specifically with your, um, social media business mm-hmm. That you have, it can look like, you know, oh, well they're paying you. Right. And so, you know. If they're giving you a gift'cause they're paying you. Yeah, that's great. They're paying you, but you're the gift, you're the talent. You're the one that is helping these people grow in ways that they never ever could. That's true. And that's the true gift is your talent and your creativity. Um, and that is what I really feel like is gonna just take you so far in, in life. And it's, it's, as you do that, me and Kristen talk about this a lot, that, and me and you have talked about this, that self-help that, that deep soul searching of. Mm-hmm. Why do you feel this way? Why do you feel like you can literally disassemble yourself? Yeah. Because that's, that's actually not normal. Yeah. No. And not healthy. No. And I remember looking at myself in the mirror four years ago and mm-hmm. Like thinking to myself like, you're so ugly or disgusting, you're all these things. And then once I started getting therapy, I learned that's just not the way it should be. It's really unhealthy to think that, but it's also not your fault. No. You know?'cause we also live in this culture where they're like, shut up. Right there. The reason we all wanna be perfect is because we live in the the culture of social media where they're like, shut up and be perfect, or don't say anything at all. True. And what I love about S3 is I feel like we're really changing what it looks like to live and to grow and to be successful and to do things different. And kind of be that oddball out, you know? Mm-hmm. Because you're not from here. Kristen's not from here. I definitely don't feel like I'm from here. You don't seem like you're from here. Um, and I think that is a gift, you know? And a lot of times we can put ourself in this category of like, gosh, why do I feel they need people like us? Yeah. Yeah. It's like, why do I feel so alone? And it's like, no, there's people out there, they're up that are gonna connect with us and that we're gonna relate to. There's not a ton of creatives and people like us, so you do have to go out and really seek, you know, those kind of people. When I was reading something this morning about negative people, every time you let somebody negative into your life, like it affects you in so many ways mm-hmm. By how they talk and how they act. And, um, it, it affects your productivity, it affects your appearance, it affects so many things. And so, you know, I just, I think it's important to know, like, you know, that term, like, it's okay to not be okay, but don't stay that way. You know, you have the power to heal yourself and to get that help. And there are so many people Yeah. That can help you do that. And that's gonna help you really heal from a lot of the stuff that you went through that nobody can relate to. So you can truly be on that like, pursuit of happiness, you know? Yeah. And I think you would literally be in front of the camera as a journalist and you would, I mean, you would. Not like you don't kill it now, but if you could truly come into yourself and realize your power, how beautiful you are inside and out and everything in between. I'm take her and this is Amy. Literally I can, I literally, like I was sitting here like 20 minutes ago just staring at you. You, I could see her on like the red carpet. That's why I see you a red interview. But I could see you like out there in the field, like literally like interview. I can do anything. I feel like I can do anything. I'm not, you can do anything. I love that about you so much. I can do any type of journalism. Entertaining. I am. I can like experiment and do all kinds of things. Yeah. Or. Detective and like do the things and do investigations, journalism, investigation. I love. Cool. I can, I can do anything. Cool. But it's also like letting go step every step matters. Like now I'm, I'm still posting the videos. Yeah. I do not edit them. I still post them. Even if I don't like how I look. Like the videos amazing. Like how does Amazing job. Mm-hmm. But I don't like how I look like, so I'm just still posting because otherwise I would not grow. I would not grow my project. I would not get out of my comfort zone. And this is where the growth starts. Yeah. So I'm like, Kate, let it go. Any photos, anything, I'm just doing it. We're not in a big city. Like, you know, there's certain things that I created, creativity, create, I don't even know how to say that word. I don't Creatively, creatively, just creatively. Creatively. I just work Four shift in row. We were Mercy. Sometimes it takes brain. Brain is two. It's yes. I needed that. But there, but you think about it and you're like, but I'm in Greenville. Like if we were in like New York, yes. Certain cities and things like that. Kate loves New York. It would, I love New York, but this is my gosh girl. This is another thing that I, I. Realized I always wanted to move out of here, right? Mm-hmm. Because when I moved here, I'm like, I'm uncomfortable. This is not where I want to be. I'm, I want to go to New York or to the bigger city. We traveled a lot in United States and I explored different areas like Boston, la, like all these, like big cities. But then I came back, especially with the family, I realized this is actually a safe, affordable, nice place. It is. And I love the idea that Hunter just shared with me recently. He said they need people like us here. Mm-hmm. Our community need people, creative people. Mm-hmm. People with the big vision here. Mm-hmm. And then we'll be able to build all the amazing things here. And we already are we already building it here? Yeah, we are already doing it. And it's amazing to see the growth that we were able to create. And now I kind of, I believe in it honestly. Yeah. It'd be really cool if there was like a, I was just thinking about this. You and Hunter could like do something like this or you could. Where there was like a hub for creatives where we could like get together and just chat. Yeah. Go to cry. Just, yeah. Like brainstorm, go. Yeah. And just hang out That I love brainstorm. Yes. Hang out and share what we're doing. Like have Josh there, like all these creatives. It'd be cool to have something like that here because it would push us to actually start our projects that we've been talking about most of our lives that we haven't done. Right. When people behind you are like, yeah, duh. Why wouldn't you do that? Because you tell other people things that you wanna do who aren't creatives and they look at you sideways. They shut down too. I'm not Shut it down. They're like, you wanna do what? I'm like, yeah. I wanna do. That's why it's important to be surrounded by right people and then create something together, collaborate together. I love if we collaborate. We, we don't, we don't fight each other. Collaborate and listen. Yeah. Josh was one of the people who called me and said, Kate, I want to help you with your project. And he helped me a lot. Yeah. And it was amazing. It was. Eyeopening experience. Yeah. And that's what it's about. And that's what's cool about, I will say, with this community in Greenville, it is really cool that there is this hub of like really cool nifty mm-hmm. You know, creatives and you know, then you're talking about Brittany Owens earlier. Mm-hmm. Her and Lucas, like, they're so freaking cool. You know what I mean? How, you know how we met with Brittany, right? No, this is to your world. Like you were wearing different clothes when you moved here, right? Oh yeah. So when I moved here, I was. In completely different outfit. And I was walking out of Starbucks and she was walking out of Starbucks and she looks so stylish and I noticed her immediately. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, she's my person. Mm-hmm. And it was 13 years ago. Oh wow. That's so cool. Or maybe like, yeah, 10, 10 years ago. She was one of the, one of the first for sure she was different. Love it. And she just moved from Raleigh that time. And we have similar cars. We have the same limited edition car seat for our babies. And we had girl who like very close in age, and I'm like, she has to be my friend. So I opened the window in my car. You said she has to be. That's how I felt with Chris. I was like, we ought be friends. We have to be like, and I was, I was super shy at that time. My language barrier was huge, but I'm like, I have to say at least something to her. And she looked at me like I opened the, the, the window. I'm like, please, I, I, I don't want to be weird, I remember this, but please can we like, maybe have a coffee or something. Like, we have girls, we have like, look at us, we have to be friends. And she looked at me like, but then she was. Open enough, like open-minded enough to say, yeah, let's give it a try. How brave of you though? You're amazing. But I knew, I, I, I needed her in my life. Like I knew I needed this kind of person, but it was very brave of her to respond to that unusual request. Let's see. Like, yeah, and then we met for coffee and girls had a play date and since then we became friends. I love it. And it was very interesting experience. Yeah. I never did something like this before, but look at us like so many years after and we like, she, their business grow and my business is growing. We evolving in so many different ways. Everybody growing and it's so amazing. That's witness that. Yeah. And it's, it's amazing. Yeah. I'm so proud of them now. And like Brittany's sister, like I got this necklace made from her like two weeks ago. She made it. Oh, I went to Little Washington. Yeah. It's called More Charms is her sister. Yeah, it's Brittany's sister. She has a sister. Oh, I love it. I'm obsessed with her brunch and yeah, like I literally was like, here's the charms, just go wild with it. And she like made this in like 10 minutes in little Washington, which if y'all don't know what little Washington is, it's like a very small little town. Um, but it's beautiful. It's on the water. It's so cool. And yeah, just such a creative, you know, and I'm so proud of them. There's so many of those. So, yeah. So what are you, you know, what are you saying no to now? Yeah, that's what I wanna know. And its like, what is it, what are, what are you saying there? To, what promises are you making to yourself? I like my job. My state full-time job, um, at the end of, at the end of December, and I promised myself to say yes to everything, any opportunity, everything, because I needed money. I needed to build everything from scratch. So kind of from scratch. So I say I'll, I'm like, I say yes to any meeting, any opportunity, everything. And I did it for a month. I gave myself a month. So I said yes to everything. There is no words to express how much. Time I waste. I was gonna ask you on empty, empty meetings, empty promises. Oh man. Made by different people, all the things. And now I learned from that experience, I learned like sometimes you need to say no to some meetings when you already know it's not going anywhere. Mm-hmm. When you already feel you, you can feel it, you can, you can just feel it, you. Mm-hmm. And now I basically scan very well, like any meeting, like, do I really need this? Do I really need this opportunity? What, what it will gimme in the future. Like, not even money wise, but is it to growth or not? Mm-hmm. If it's somewhere in the same, if I'll stay in the same place, or if it doesn't give me the growth, like for my project or for my business. No. Like, it just, it just know immediately. Because I don't want to waste their time. I don't want to waste My time is precious now. Yeah. Time is everything now for me, because I have so many things going on, so many projects, so many videos, so many different, different types of work and gigs that I do. Photography, gigs, videography, I need to edit tons of stuff. Mm-hmm. So I learn to scan it. For time efficiency. And if it's not something valuable, I say no to meetings or cancel them sometimes. Yeah. I mean, I'm so bad with it. You're allowed to cancel what you want.'cause I have to, I have to. There is time limit and I need time for my girls. I need time for other things, for projects. And I just, I'm saying no to many meetings or many opportunities that doesn't fit what my vision, my big vision. So what are you doing for yourself right now? For myself? Yeah. I don't know. Besides projects, that's a s besides work, how do you de-stress? I don't know that coffee, coffee, coffee is my distress. I drink a lot of coffee and it at night it's, it's my guilty pleasure. Lots of coffee. Are you like your mom? You just work at night after the girls go to bed? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone go to bed. I work until 2:00 AM 1:00 AM. I'm at that point when I drink a Red Bull and I can pass out after drinking Red Bull because I'm so tired. Yeah. Like it doesn't do anything for me. Now you have to find a balance. Mm-hmm. I have to you, but I don't have time yet for that. I mean, I exercise. Right. Exercise and help me. I weight. That's, that's good. That's helps me to recharge. Mm-hmm. I go to Foundry Barbell. Mm-hmm. So Skyler and what she does. Karen Skyler another strong business. Yes. They're awesome. Again, I surround myself with the best people now. Mm-hmm. And I'm so proud of this and I'm so happy about this because this has helped me to keep my brain sane, to, to stay healthy. Mm-hmm. To stay fit. I need to be strong because mm-hmm. With all the amount of pressure and work and everything I need to stay healthy and strong. And the way they do it, it's, it's incredible. It helps me a lot. So this is, yeah, this is probably one of the biggest things. Yeah. Exercise and lifting weights and staying. This is nego non-negotiable. I love that. And I know, I know, I know, I know Skylar. I know I missed a couple of workouts. He messages me. Skylar still, he's fine though. Sky, he's, he's amazing. He's not that kind of trainer, you know what I mean? Like, he's, he's a real trainer. Like, he's like, people have real lives and real stuff going on. They're gonna, I skipped a few, and I like, I feel guilty. I'll, they're gonna tell you anyways. Diet's the most important part, so there's that. Yes, yes, that's true. So it's true. So let's like, kind of wrap it up, Kristin. Yeah. Um, I do wanna ask this one last thing, one thing, because I think it's important. Oh. If there's one thing you want the women listening to hear today, especially those juggling personal life and big dreams, like you have big dreams, big goals, you're working really hard right now. Mm-hmm. What do you wanna tell them? Like if they're, you know, the balance is a good thing, but also I was discouraged so many times when I started to do what I do because. Many friends and many people outside of my friend group, they told me like, it's impossible. You either need to be a good, stay-at-home mom and take care of your kids. Drop them, pick them. Um, spend time with them, cook clean, or you need to be a good professional. You cannot have both. And I've heard it so many times and I said, no, I'll reveal that I can do anything. Love it. And maybe I would be love it a more successful in my professional life if I would not bring my girls with me to every interview. No tough cookies or my work cookies. Tough cookies. Yeah. Maybe I will succeed more in a profess, oh, maybe I'll be a better mom and wife. And my house will be cleaner than it is now. Yes, I know it, but I'm still making it impossible possible. And this is what I wanted to say. Like it's possible. And. As long as you believe in it. And as long as you have this vision, everything is possible because you'll find the right people who will support you. When you bring kids to your set, you'll find the right people who will find a job opportunity for you that will allow you to have the flexibility. You'll find the right people who will help you to clean your house sometimes and just show up at your doorstep and say, what do you need today? Yeah, let's, let's do together. Yeah. You'll find the right people. As long as you have this vision, you need to trust yourself and don't let anyone to make you believe like it's impossible. Because I cannot tell you how many times I've heard this, like, you should just get a, uh, day, put them in daycare and just do your professional life. Like it's so unprofessional to bring your kids to work. It's so unprofessional. And as long as I heard that I would change the job, I would, I would move around, I would find another way. I'll find another gig to supplement that in money wise, but I would not give up and I'm still doing it. And I, and at my husband's job, he's friends is like, so she's staying at home or she's with kids? Oh, she's staying at home or she is a at work and he's like. Both. Both. And they're like, how? And he doesn't know. And I dunno how sometimes, but I know I have the vision. Yeah. That's probably the drive that I have. You, I have a vision. You also, like with your mom and stuff, I think you probably really wanna spend every second you can with them. That's true. Mm-hmm. That's true. And I don't blame you when, but I also, I cannot just sit. No. And like, I, I don't blame women who pick either one of those options and For sure. No. Like, if it works for, I, I was, I was not happy when I was just staying home and I stayed home for five years. But at that time, there's no way I could do that. I was taking, I was taking classes. I would still study, I would still learn English. I would still do something. I just couldn't stop. It didn't feel right for me. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I never judge anyone for any choice. Like, whatever you're doing makes you happy. Please do. Right. If they like it, I love it. But also, don't discourage me in my, in my situation and tell me that what are you doing is not professional or it's not right, or it's not. So I, I just throw to post, I don't know what box I'm, I'm, I'm fitting in. I don't know. Am I stay at home, mom? Am I career mom? I don't know anymore. It's, I think you're Kate. I'm just Kate. I think you're Kate. I'm just Kate Kerr. Yeah, you are Kate Kerr. You, you are Kate Kerr. You know, I think it's just important and, and you're doing it because you're doing it this way because it's your intuition. This is inside what you feel like you need to do. Mm-hmm. And like even with me, like. So I know for Kristen too,'cause I watch her kids, I watch her, her oldest son, 17 has his own business, does all these things. He wouldn't have done that if he didn't see her open to businesses. Yeah. My daughter, she literally graduated from pre-K a few weeks ago and I was in Greece and so I missed her graduation and they asked her what she wanted to be when she grow, grows up and she said a fashion designer and I always wanted to do that and I never thought I could, but because she's seen us with our fashion and is involved with makeup, she watches me do my hair, she watches me pick up my outfits. I talked to her about the podcast. She was in the car with us this morning. Mm-hmm. She built, makes her own clothes now for her Barbies and wants to open her own business. And so it's the intuition that we all have, which makes us do it differently. And the people that don't get it don't need to get it because we are such a rare. Breed of humans. You know what I mean? We really are. And so I special, we're very lucky. We're very lucky. And we are different, and we're meant to be different. Like we are Dr. Seuss books. We are not. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? We're not like Punky Brewster. My whole childhood people looked at me like I was crazy. You know? I've dressed weird my whole life. And then Yeah. You know, like, but I feel lucky that I'm like this. I'm such an odd, strange, how amazing. It's crazy person. How amazing. It's, but you know what? I'm so thankful. Mm-hmm. And you should be too. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. I'm so thankful that you came on here with us. Yes. Like, you were, you're so fly. You were the first. You were the first. And I feel like Thank you so much. You were the perfect first, because, um, I don't even think I can talk anymore. Just kidding. Like you, I mean, you are just. I can tell number one, your girls are gonna be, they're wonderful and they're gonna be so wonderful because of you. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. And just seeing someone like you in Greenville,'cause you know, I'm not from here either, and like, just having a little peace of home too is nice. Mm-hmm. You know, and I'm, um, I just can't wait to see what you do. I'm so excited for you. Yeah. And I'm so excited to watch you grow and to really like come into yourself.'cause I really, number one, pray that that will happen. And I know that it will, but also like, I feel like we're gonna watch it and I'm really excited for that. Thank you. Front seats. Front row seats. So tell, tell everybody how they can find you. How can they find you? How can they find people of Greenville? Where are you at on socials? People of Greenville is everywhere. On every social media platform. One word, one word. People of Greenville. It's on Instagram and Greenville doesn't see IE Everywhere is proved pretty much. Greenville doesn't see, I feel like I see you of Greenville because I have all this Greenville, always Greenville dot Sea on Instagram. Yes. Everywhere you see this blue logo with white words, people of Greenville, that's us on LinkedIn, on YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram. Now, TikTok. I'm are, I'm getting, I'm on. Yeah. Gosh, that is ruthless. You're ready, girl. But I don't even have words. That's, but yeah, why not? Why not? Why we need to be everywhere. Please find us and support us because likes and shares and comments and all of that, and all the amazing stories, because with the stories, I want to promote the community. I want to inspire someone, because each interview I filmed, each story I filmed, it impacted me. Yeah. It inspired me in many, many ways. I've heard the phrase or something that helped me to keep going. Well, you've inspired me today a lot. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. And you're gonna inspire so many people by doing this for us, so thank you. I know, you know, we're all nervous. At first. You were a, I'm a fan of your podcast, but you, you are just like you. You were born to be a journalist. A hundred percent. Yeah. I can't You were born to be in front of the camera too, by the way, just to let you know. Not just, not just there's that. No, no. You were born, but yeah. In front and yeah. I just hope the women that watch this are. Inspired to do more. Um, yeah, there's, I don't know why I keep bringing up Hunter. He, I hope he watched this episode. He probably won't, but, um, he, we'll send him a link. He has, he has in catch on the wall, it says, can it be better? And, um, I truly believe that is the key. Everything can be better. Our mental health, our physical health, um, our creativity, our gift. Like we are individual people and we each have gifts. And if we're not using our gift, we're wasting our gift. And, um, more women, specifically, women, need to be inspired to use their gift because so many women have been knocked down, kicked around, made to feel insignificant, made to feel, um, just normal. And no matter what a woman's gift is, every single woman has one. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? That's, that's why we were created, you know what I mean? Um, because we're needed. And I just hope that you've really instilled. Some depth into it. Doesn't matter exactly what you've been through or what, and you didn't even share half the stuff. You know what I mean? Going on behind the, the scenes, there's always so much, you know? Um, and I really hope that all these people that you're filming and doing work for realize that, uh, they're actually not the gift, but you are the gift. And I don't mean that in an ugly way. I just mean, you know, you really are such a gift and thank you. Um, yeah, it's been a blessing. Yes. Having her on. Yes. So that's gonna wrap it up, you guys. That is season two, episode 13. Crazy. Yay. Woohoo. Wild 13 with K Ker, AKA a k, KAK, a doer of all things. Um, and so until next time guys, bye bye.