Speaker 1: Carola. She's the queen of talking. He was sown your man.
Speaker 1: She's on the side. She got the scoop on one side.
Speaker 1: No one can do with quiet Carola, Carolin. No one
Speaker 1: can do with quiet Caroline. Caroline. Welcome back to episode
Speaker 1: four of the Influencer series. I hope you guys are
Speaker 1: loving this as much as I've loved doing the interviews.
Speaker 1: I've been learning so much from all of these babes. Today,
Speaker 1: I have Brooke Web joining me a K A K
Speaker 1: B style, and she talks all about growing your brand,
Speaker 1: staying true to your brand, also being vulnerable. She's been
Speaker 1: blogging lately about real things, and she says being true
Speaker 1: to yourself an authentic is so key, and just don't
Speaker 1: be so hard on yourself. Don't feel like you have
Speaker 1: to reach perfection is her advice. And I just love
Speaker 1: Brooks so much, so I know you're gonna love this interview.
Speaker 1: She is a mother of two. She also has a
Speaker 1: badass job, like at some bank position. She's like a
Speaker 1: major big wig at a bank and also a major blogger.
Speaker 1: She has two full time jobs. Brooke is incredible. I
Speaker 1: love her so much. Y'all get excited here. She has
Speaker 1: Brooke Web. Okay, I'm here with Brook Web KB styled
Speaker 1: otherwise known as kab styled. Yes, ma'am, I heared that
Speaker 1: out by paying you Benmo. That the k is Kristen. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I always get that question. No one seems to know
Speaker 1: what the case stands for, and why I don't go
Speaker 1: by that name? Actually, why don't you go by Kristen?
Speaker 1: I love bro Yeah, I don't know. My my parents
Speaker 1: just named me Kristen Brook and after so the Brook
Speaker 1: is after Brookshields and they like the ring of Kristen Brook.
Speaker 1: So back in the day when I was born, Brookshields was,
Speaker 1: you know, the queen. She was the queen, she was
Speaker 1: in all the movies and every one loved her. So
Speaker 1: they wanted to name me after Brooke. And they didn't
Speaker 1: like Brook Kristen. They like Kristen Brook. So that's what happened.
Speaker 1: You look like Brooke Shields. You think so such a compliment?
Speaker 1: Thank you. I always think people live into their names.
Speaker 1: So that's case in point. And you've got mad fashion style,
Speaker 1: so Jane, totally, this is fitting. Thank you. Little secret backstory,
Speaker 1: A little secret backstory. Now everyone knows. So we are
Speaker 1: in the middle of this Influencer season, Serious Influencer Season
Speaker 1: of Life and Influencer series on my podcast because lucky me,
Speaker 1: I fell into this group of girls. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't even know. I didn't know what an influencer was
Speaker 1: or how to even do this, because there's this whole
Speaker 1: social media thing happening where you can truly have a
Speaker 1: huge fan base, a whole business based on your style.
Speaker 1: What you blog about, your influence so you have tons
Speaker 1: of followers. Did you get into blogging and how did
Speaker 1: you get into style and making it a business for yourself.
Speaker 1: It's such an for me. It's an interesting backstory because
Speaker 1: when I graduated college, I didn't go to school for
Speaker 1: anything fashion oriented, nothing, you know, any anywhere in that realm.
Speaker 1: Actually went to school to be a venarian. Didn't stick
Speaker 1: with that clearly. Here here we are today. I still
Speaker 1: love animals, but I'm not doing anything with that. Um.
Speaker 1: But I graduated, and I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina,
Speaker 1: and at the time, my sister was working for a
Speaker 1: women's apparel company. It's a small company in North Carolina,
Speaker 1: not small in North Carolina, bigger in North Carolina. But anyway,
Speaker 1: UM applied and got a job with them, So I
Speaker 1: was allocating merchandise. You know, I was receiving the merchandise
Speaker 1: in the buyer who purchases a merchandise for a certain division,
Speaker 1: it comes in, I'm looking at it, I'm determining what
Speaker 1: stores receive it. So I started allocating merchandise in my
Speaker 1: first job out of school. And I've always had a
Speaker 1: love for fashion, So people would always come up to
Speaker 1: me and say, friends, you know, or family, where did
Speaker 1: you get that? What would you recommend for this? How
Speaker 1: should I style this? So I was constantly giving that
Speaker 1: fashion advice. You know, people turned to me for that.
Speaker 1: Um So, the combination of the two between working in
Speaker 1: the women's apparel industry after college and then my personal
Speaker 1: passion years later, you know, here this comes this whole
Speaker 1: blog thing. They collided. Yeah, well it was a little
Speaker 1: more than that. I mean, essentially, my best friend out
Speaker 1: of well she's in South Carolina now but at the
Speaker 1: time was living elsewhere. She's in South Carolina, she's a
Speaker 1: blogger and she was doing mostly food stuff and she
Speaker 1: wanted to incorporate style a little bit herself. So she said,
Speaker 1: why don't you, you know, dabble in this and maybe
Speaker 1: do a couple of style posts for me, which I
Speaker 1: did and it was received really well. Um, and then
Speaker 1: eventually more and more requests started coming to her like, oh,
Speaker 1: we would love to collaborate with you on this, and
Speaker 1: she was like, well, I'm not the stylist. I am
Speaker 1: kind of started handing off to you a little bit,
Speaker 1: she did, and then it got to the point where
Speaker 1: she was like, you know what, maybe you should really
Speaker 1: think about starting your own own website where you can
Speaker 1: house everything collaborations can come to you kind anctural thing. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was totally natural. It was I mean, I was
Speaker 1: dabbling in Instagram before I started the blog, so obviously
Speaker 1: I knew on Instagram that there was a market for it.
Speaker 1: I could see that, and I was following other bloggers
Speaker 1: at the time, and I was watching what they were
Speaker 1: doing and learning a little bit through that. And then,
Speaker 1: you know, contributing to my friend's blog gave me a
Speaker 1: better understanding of what a blog was and the behind
Speaker 1: the scenes of what goes into that content creation. So,
Speaker 1: you know, you put the Instagram activity that I was
Speaker 1: doing together and then the dabbling on her blog together,
Speaker 1: and it just resulted in, Hey, it's my time here's
Speaker 1: Kenny styled. Tell me about the behind the scenes stuff,
Speaker 1: because that is what I have found so fascinating learning
Speaker 1: about all. This is the world, like the financial world world.
Speaker 1: You could make a lot of money with brand partnerships
Speaker 1: with this the way posting goes. But how does it
Speaker 1: work to actually learn how to make money as a blogger?
Speaker 1: I mean, for me, in the very beginning, there wasn't
Speaker 1: a lot of money to be made. I mean, and
Speaker 1: no money makes money. I don't think doing this out
Speaker 1: of the get go. Yeah, it's totally what it is. Yes,
Speaker 1: So you're how does it start from the trades to
Speaker 1: actually making money? Well, I think you get to a
Speaker 1: certain level where you have a certain amount of followers,
Speaker 1: you have a certain amount of traffic to your blog space. Um,
Speaker 1: the content obviously is very important. So the quality of
Speaker 1: your content um obviously is a reflection of you and
Speaker 1: the material that you put out there to the world
Speaker 1: to see. So if brands are saying, Okay, she's now
Speaker 1: at x amount of followers, you know her analytics show this,
Speaker 1: we really think her content is beautiful. Let's offer her
Speaker 1: money instead of just here's a free gift in exchange
Speaker 1: for a post um. So in the beginning, I was
Speaker 1: a yes woman. I said yes to everything. I did everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, all the bloggers I've interviewed the same at
Speaker 1: the beginning. You just have to because it's awesome. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: and it might result in the brand reposting you or
Speaker 1: you know, putting you in their newsletter or on their
Speaker 1: website or something of that nature. More eyeballs on you,
Speaker 1: on you, that's right, that helps you grow. Yes, So
Speaker 1: in the beginning I was yes, yes, yes, yes, And
Speaker 1: then I got to the point where I'm like, I
Speaker 1: am burning myself out and I'm really working hard to
Speaker 1: because I will always work with a professional photographer. So
Speaker 1: that was out of pocket. Yeah, that's always been an
Speaker 1: expensive mine. And I was creating this beautiful content and
Speaker 1: the stuff started calling up, like I don't need another X,
Speaker 1: or I don't need any more of this or you know,
Speaker 1: it's just coming in so fast, even makeup and hand.
Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, someone would give you a set of
Speaker 1: this type of hairspray, but you already have like seventeen bottles.
Speaker 1: You don't want to post about that again, that's right, well,
Speaker 1: and not only I mean you have to obviously the
Speaker 1: gifts are always appreciated, you know, That's something I'm always
Speaker 1: super appreciative of. But at the same time, it can
Speaker 1: become too much, like what do you do with all
Speaker 1: of that stuff? You can only post about you know,
Speaker 1: so many makeup items like you said, or so many
Speaker 1: hair care products, or you only need so many pairs
Speaker 1: of jeans. I don't know, whatever it is, you only
Speaker 1: need so much. So at some point it then becomes
Speaker 1: what was a hobby for me at the time it
Speaker 1: was an outlet, it was a hobby, started turning more
Speaker 1: into a business, and I started seeing that shift in
Speaker 1: the opportunities for earning income through you know, being an influencer.
Speaker 1: So that's what really, you know, I still say yes
Speaker 1: sometimes the things that are unpaid. It really depends on
Speaker 1: the opportunity, um exactly for your brand and lifestyle and
Speaker 1: for you and all these girls in this series are
Speaker 1: very true to who you are. You're only posting about
Speaker 1: stuff that you love or that you're interested in trying. Yes,
Speaker 1: and if you're not, then you're you just don't do
Speaker 1: it right and how you operate. Yes, everything fits your brand, well,
Speaker 1: thank you? Yes, I mean exactly, because you have to
Speaker 1: stay true to yourself. So, I mean, one tip always
Speaker 1: give people when they're first starting out is you need
Speaker 1: to find your voice. You need to figure out what
Speaker 1: makes you unique because there's a lot of us. So
Speaker 1: explain to me what your voice is like having you
Speaker 1: just find like, what does that mean? Exactly? Well? For me,
Speaker 1: my voice is I'm a mom of two. I've been
Speaker 1: a working mom of two for a long time, so
Speaker 1: I've managed t um well. I'm an h N h R,
Speaker 1: so I'm a vice president and HR for a bank
Speaker 1: vice president to full times. It's it's been, it's been, Yes,
Speaker 1: has been full time. So I mean usually you know
Speaker 1: the bank hours or what the bank hours are, and
Speaker 1: then the blogging hours are those two and then you
Speaker 1: have being a mom and a wife on top of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you are like bursting at the scenes. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: and losing lots of sleep while doing it looking fabulous, trying, trying.
Speaker 1: You know, that's what I need. All the I creams
Speaker 1: I can get, but we need to use your cream.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. Gosh, build me
Speaker 1: up a little bit. I'm feeling good about myself. Every
Speaker 1: watched your Instagram other day and I've been wondering how
Speaker 1: to curl my hair, and I always love yourself so
Speaker 1: happy because I haven't catching Instagram story where you actually
Speaker 1: doing it here. Yeah, and You're like, I curl all
Speaker 1: mine away from the face, and I was like, yes,
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. Some people like you need to
Speaker 1: alternate every other and I'm like, I was like, okay, great,
Speaker 1: dad doesn't I'm done. This is I feel like when
Speaker 1: you curl the pieces forward, it like it comes, you know,
Speaker 1: it hits me on the face, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: need it away from are always just magnes. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, thank you just so sweet. I appreciate
Speaker 1: that because like you have built up trust, I trust
Speaker 1: your opinion. So knowing that you said that, I'm like, awesome, Okay, done,
Speaker 1: i haven't worry about that anymore. I'm just gonna curl
Speaker 1: it all the way from it. And that's what people
Speaker 1: are looking for. I mean, those that choose to follow
Speaker 1: an influencer, they're looking for us to tell them here's
Speaker 1: what you need to do, here's what you need to
Speaker 1: do that, and you know, case close, that's it. Nobody
Speaker 1: wants to spend People want the bloggers and influencers that
Speaker 1: they followed to have done the work. Yes, yeah, we
Speaker 1: do the leg work. We tell you what's good, you
Speaker 1: read the benefit, there's there's a win win for everyone. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So everyone looks to us for that, and you know,
Speaker 1: they want to know what's trending or what's really popular,
Speaker 1: what the best curling iron is, or you know what's
Speaker 1: hot for spring this year. So those are the things
Speaker 1: that we as influencers do. We do the research, we
Speaker 1: provide the information, and everyone gets to, you know, take
Speaker 1: that information and do whatever they will with it, which
Speaker 1: is good, it's awesome. So how do you juggle it all?
Speaker 1: How do you like? What does the normal day look
Speaker 1: like for you? All of it at once? When I'm
Speaker 1: doing all of it, Well, let's just put it this way.
Speaker 1: So I have a husband who travels too, so he's
Speaker 1: not always here, but when he's here, he's beyond helpful.
Speaker 1: So when he's traveling, usually especially during the school year,
Speaker 1: I'm very busy in the morning with the kiddos. So
Speaker 1: it's the whole morning routine. I don't need to get
Speaker 1: into the nittygrede and that that would be boring, but
Speaker 1: it's you know, everything from just trying to get them
Speaker 1: out of bed, you know, just trying to get them
Speaker 1: out of bed to get to school on time. That's
Speaker 1: like my main focus in the morning. And get them
Speaker 1: fed both where I get them to school. Um, so
Speaker 1: we start there. If if I succeeded that, I know
Speaker 1: it's going to be a good day, I'm winning already. Um.
Speaker 1: I come home and I'm lucky with the company that
Speaker 1: I worked for. I've worked from home for nine of
Speaker 1: the almost eleven years and of work for them, which
Speaker 1: is a blessing. It is. It's such a blessing. You
Speaker 1: have your own like you can kind of working around
Speaker 1: your life. Yes, yeah, it's it's flexible to an extent.
Speaker 1: It's still corporate America. It's still a very busy job
Speaker 1: and a very busy role, but flexible that you know,
Speaker 1: if I need to pick up the kids early or
Speaker 1: I have a sick child. There have been times where
Speaker 1: I've been able to flex my schittle around that. But
Speaker 1: my day when I'm working for the bank is very busy.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm on the phone a lot, um conference calls,
Speaker 1: any type of HR function that you can imagine I'm
Speaker 1: doing throughout the day. Um, and then I wrapped my
Speaker 1: day and pick up the kiddos from school, and depending
Speaker 1: on what's going on the evening, they're both very highly
Speaker 1: involved in activities. And then you got to transport them around. Yes,
Speaker 1: so I'm a chauffeur, you know, turn in from an
Speaker 1: employee to now the show for and I travel around
Speaker 1: with them, take them to their activities, get them fed
Speaker 1: somewhere along the way. You know. I try and make
Speaker 1: dinners at home as much as I can, but I
Speaker 1: get them fed, which is a good thing. As long
Speaker 1: as they're eating, as they're not starving, they're good. Um.
Speaker 1: And then come home. You know, the nighttime routine. There's
Speaker 1: lots of things that go into that, and then after
Speaker 1: the kids go to bed, it's focused on k be styled.
Speaker 1: So you are working all What time are you waking up? Um?
Speaker 1: Usually not as early as people would think. I mean
Speaker 1: seven o'clock. Okay, so you're waking up by the time
Speaker 1: you get to the kve be styled part of the day.
Speaker 1: What time is that? Usually I'll sit down and start
Speaker 1: focusing on that around nine o'clock and then I'll stay
Speaker 1: I mean, I've pulled mornings. This morning, I was up
Speaker 1: until probably one getting that together. Creating content for today.
Speaker 1: You know things like that today, when you do a shoot,
Speaker 1: do you take multiple pictures that you'll spread out throughout
Speaker 1: like weeks? How long do you make a shoot last? Well,
Speaker 1: I shoot every week. Yes, so I shoot every week. UM,
Speaker 1: and that's no matter what, and you figure it out
Speaker 1: before you get there standing you have like a standing
Speaker 1: time with your photographer. We just know we shoot weekly.
Speaker 1: It depends on the weather clearly, or the day or
Speaker 1: what's going on, but we do shoot weekly and depending
Speaker 1: on the campaigns that I might be working on or
Speaker 1: the season. I mean, Easter is coming up, so today
Speaker 1: it was a lot about Easter content. Um. And I
Speaker 1: have a couple of projects that I'm working on that
Speaker 1: I had to shoot content for. So really what I'm
Speaker 1: shooting and how how long that will last just depends
Speaker 1: on what I'm working on. Um, Because I stay busy
Speaker 1: with with campaigns and things like that too. So about
Speaker 1: how how you get involved with campaigns, Well, I mean
Speaker 1: that's brands reaching out directly and a lot of times
Speaker 1: it's through their PR firms that their firms reach out
Speaker 1: and say, we're working on this campaign with x y
Speaker 1: Z brand. You know you were on our radar for that,
Speaker 1: do they reach out through your Instagram? You know, usually
Speaker 1: direct email, so you'll have like a relationship already. Sometimes
Speaker 1: or sometimes it's a brand that maybe I've never worked with.
Speaker 1: So I mean, for example, today one of the brands
Speaker 1: that I have a really long standing relationship with, I
Speaker 1: have a campaign coming up with them, and it's a
Speaker 1: travel post, so you know, um, give me tips on
Speaker 1: what I should do to plan for a trip or
Speaker 1: how to pack for a trip. So with your campaign,
Speaker 1: do you do like an Instagram post and then a
Speaker 1: blog to follow it? Yeah, so there's options usually there,
Speaker 1: you know, usually that is what it is. Usually it's
Speaker 1: a full blog post with full content, so there's a
Speaker 1: write up, there's five to seven images alongside of that.
Speaker 1: Most brands usually want the social post too, so the
Speaker 1: social amplifications where you're pushing on Instagram, you're pushing on
Speaker 1: your Facebook page or Twitter, Pinterest, penning on Pinterest. So um,
Speaker 1: there's you know, when we talk about my rates and
Speaker 1: how I package things, there's options. So a brand will
Speaker 1: have the choice. But a lot of times they come
Speaker 1: direct to us and saying, you know, we have to
Speaker 1: offer yeah, and here's here's what we're asking of you,
Speaker 1: and here's the rate that we are offering for those
Speaker 1: particular asks. And most times they do want the full
Speaker 1: blog post plus the social amplifications because that just covers
Speaker 1: all the bases. Yeah, so your full package. And this
Speaker 1: is the new wave advertisement in like fashion stylists are.
Speaker 1: It's the new way. Who's gonna look at a magazine.
Speaker 1: We can just scroll through Instagram and look at your
Speaker 1: favorite bloggers, your favorite style like stylish people, and they
Speaker 1: are telling you what to do, like I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with that over some random magazine ad, right, well, and
Speaker 1: it's more relatable, so you know, trust, you build trust
Speaker 1: to these influencers, like you said, like so when you
Speaker 1: post something like you have approved this, this is what
Speaker 1: you like, and you're going to break it down and
Speaker 1: tell the truth about it. Yes, and so then it's
Speaker 1: like that's the best way to find out. It's the
Speaker 1: best way to find out. And we've you know, we've
Speaker 1: tested it, we've warned it. I mean, instead of seeing
Speaker 1: a very editorial advertisement, you're seeing it on a real person, Yep,
Speaker 1: someone who may not be model status, which is life.
Speaker 1: That is life. It's way more normal, right, No, Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean you know, the normal mom can see me
Speaker 1: wearing something and see herself in that, or see herself
Speaker 1: experiencing something that I've done with my children or that
Speaker 1: we've done together as a family. That's right, not letting
Speaker 1: yourself go as a mom still being functional, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, but still absolutely fantastic, sweet, it's still amazing stylish.
Speaker 1: But also it's just like you're saying that mom could
Speaker 1: see this, and like I could wear this. It's not
Speaker 1: out of my reach. Yes, And you know, moms, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: a lot of moms have, you know, that mentality that
Speaker 1: they have kiddos and they have to sacrifice for their children,
Speaker 1: which is simply not the case. It's look at you,
Speaker 1: you're sacrificing all day, but you're still but you're wearing
Speaker 1: yourself out, but you're making it a priority. Yes, always
Speaker 1: really appreciating you because I'm the same way. I don't
Speaker 1: have children, and I can only and that not yet,
Speaker 1: but when I do have kids, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: want to just drop all my stuff that I'm bringing
Speaker 1: because it's so great and it's so fun, and that's
Speaker 1: your outlet and it's your income, but it's also a
Speaker 1: huge part of who you are so I love that
Speaker 1: you car about time to thank you. It's so important.
Speaker 1: I mean, in my opinion, your better mom or a
Speaker 1: better parent if you have something that you're passionate about
Speaker 1: and the fuels happiness for you in a different way. Obviously,
Speaker 1: my children give me so much happiness and joy, but
Speaker 1: there's so much more to me than just being a mom.
Speaker 1: So balancing that and you know, navigating that in life
Speaker 1: is so important because I really feel so much more
Speaker 1: fulfilled as a person and I feel like I'm a
Speaker 1: better mom to them when I'm happy, you know. I
Speaker 1: mean that's just kind of goes without being said. But
Speaker 1: you have to take the time to figure that out. Yes,
Speaker 1: And I mean that's incredible to figure out all day
Speaker 1: and you still make time for events, you still make
Speaker 1: time for your friends, you still make time for so
Speaker 1: much stuff. I can always be a better person that
Speaker 1: I mean, there's always always am like there's more. I
Speaker 1: need to be doing more, or I need to connect,
Speaker 1: I need to do this, I need to so I'm
Speaker 1: always feeling as much as I do, I always feel
Speaker 1: like I can do more. And that's just me. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just my personal you know, I don't know I
Speaker 1: feel like I can always be better, So I'll always
Speaker 1: feel like that. Though, what do you wish you would
Speaker 1: have known when you were first getting started in the
Speaker 1: blogging world that you know now that like you wish
Speaker 1: someone would have told you that would have been like, Okay,
Speaker 1: if you just don't do this, but you do this,
Speaker 1: it's going to help you out in the long run.
Speaker 1: Don't waste your time on this, even though you might
Speaker 1: think you should really put your energy on that. You know,
Speaker 1: like little tips that you wish you would have known. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the biggest thing for me is
Speaker 1: just to stay true to yourself and like stay focused
Speaker 1: and don't let the setbacks set you back, like what
Speaker 1: would have setbaut me? Friends, Well, I mean you weren't
Speaker 1: selected for this campaign, or you were denied for this,
Speaker 1: or you weren't included in this, or you didn't get
Speaker 1: invited to this. So mean, there's you know, there's all
Speaker 1: of those little things that come along with it that
Speaker 1: could make you feel like you know your steps behind
Speaker 1: everyone else. So it's all about perception. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: all perception because it's all on social media and it's
Speaker 1: all who knows what the truth is anyway, that's right.
Speaker 1: It's all the highlight reel. Everybody has a highlight reel.
Speaker 1: So what's behind that? You know what I mean? I
Speaker 1: love them. Don't get discouraged, Yeah, don't get discouraged. Don't
Speaker 1: let the setbacks really um limit you from moving forward
Speaker 1: with your passions and your desires, because it can. It
Speaker 1: can get in your head and it can mentally drain
Speaker 1: you and then your second guessing and you're wondering if
Speaker 1: this is right? Should I be? Should I not be? Comparison?
Speaker 1: Why am I? You know, why am I not being
Speaker 1: invited when she is? Or you know, things like that,
Speaker 1: So to compare especially so easy. Although I do feel
Speaker 1: like this group that I've happened to meet out are
Speaker 1: so kind to each other. Yes, and we've got a
Speaker 1: nice little group of friends supported friends, I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a great experience, and we won't let you have anything
Speaker 1: other than great experience. I could promise you. You did well.
Speaker 1: We did too with you. I mean, we truly hit
Speaker 1: the gold mine with you. But it's true. I mean
Speaker 1: I hear it through friends that I know the outside
Speaker 1: of Nashville that are in this industry. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's true. I mean there's a lot of unfortunate's women,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean women can either lift each other
Speaker 1: up and be supportive or they can tear each other down.
Speaker 1: You can go one or the other way. That's right,
Speaker 1: and usually it does. So I choose to lift other
Speaker 1: people up and be supportive. And you know karma, right,
Speaker 1: I mean you it comes back. You do that and
Speaker 1: you um live your life that way and that's going
Speaker 1: to come back tenfold. So you don't do that and
Speaker 1: you treat people poorly and you get that back too,
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. So I choose the positive because
Speaker 1: you're fourishing. So you said, don't get discouraged if you
Speaker 1: feel left out. But what's a tip to do that?
Speaker 1: You would say, definitely do this. You put yourself out there.
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you suggest people putting themselves out there?
Speaker 1: Reaching out, reaching out? I mean I connected to and
Speaker 1: how do you find these people to talk to? Well?
Speaker 1: I mean you on for example, Instagram, you can easily
Speaker 1: search our hashtag Nashville influencer or Nashville blogger and so
Speaker 1: many different posts will come up. So you can just
Speaker 1: direct you know, direct message any of those people. You
Speaker 1: can reach out and say hey, I'd love to grab coffee,
Speaker 1: I'd love to pick your brain. You can email them.
Speaker 1: I mean there's so many people that I've met that
Speaker 1: have reached out to me over the years just through
Speaker 1: that avenue. Yes, So I mean putting yourself out there
Speaker 1: is key. Otherwise, if you're gonna be left behind, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a no. Or you're gonna be left behind wondering
Speaker 1: what could I have done? And I say put yourself
Speaker 1: out there, go to events. You might not know one
Speaker 1: single person, but you're going to meet people. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then that person might include you and something that they're
Speaker 1: doing or something that they're hosting, And next thing you know,
Speaker 1: your little network is really expanding. Um. Collaborating, Collaborating has
Speaker 1: been I didn't know about collaborating at all until because
Speaker 1: I wasn't like the MUSA world. I wouldn't really collab much.
Speaker 1: But now I've kind of switched over to this other side.
Speaker 1: It's like collaborations are amazing because you end up sharing.
Speaker 1: Fan bases. You share are not fan bases like audiences.
Speaker 1: Whatever you do, yeah, things are called like people. It's exposure.
Speaker 1: It's exposure for both for everybody. When it shows that
Speaker 1: you support one another. So it's just a total win win. Really,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a win win. So I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: don't let the setbacks put you back and then put
Speaker 1: yourself out there. I mean, really just go for it.
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid um to do that, because otherwise you're
Speaker 1: going to be left wondering all the what ifs, what
Speaker 1: if I had done this differently? You know, and you
Speaker 1: don't want to be left doing that. So what do
Speaker 1: you like to blog up? Um? Well, it used to
Speaker 1: all be style. I mean for me, that's where it started.
Speaker 1: That was the main passion for me. And now I'm
Speaker 1: really evolving because so much. To be honest, yes, there's
Speaker 1: so much. There's the layers. It's like the onion, right,
Speaker 1: you pull it back and ars layer after layer after layer.
Speaker 1: But I think I was realizing too for the last
Speaker 1: several years, like I'm blogging about fashion, there's only so
Speaker 1: much you can say about an outfit. And I like
Speaker 1: to write and I like to share and I like
Speaker 1: to get personal, and you can't really get personal about
Speaker 1: an outfit, you know what, I mean, what you could say.
Speaker 1: So there came a point last year where I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm feeling um unfulfilled. I needed more.
Speaker 1: There was more of me. When I wrote posts that
Speaker 1: actually had meaning, I felt alive and I felt rejuvenated.
Speaker 1: And so I just made the determination like I'm going
Speaker 1: to create more meaningful, um, more relatable, you know, share
Speaker 1: more parts of me, welcome people into my home, share
Speaker 1: my home that Yeah, how you style your life, and
Speaker 1: it can be much more than just close how you
Speaker 1: live your life, you know. Yes, So I mean there's
Speaker 1: so much more of that to come, and I'm really
Speaker 1: just getting started. I feel like it's so exciting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so exciting. I'm honestly feeling like the future for me,
Speaker 1: because I'm shifting a little bit, is a little bit unknown.
Speaker 1: But because of that's so exciting. Like, you know, the
Speaker 1: collabs may change because I'm doing different content. There's always
Speaker 1: going to be that style component, though, Like I never
Speaker 1: wanna forego that. You know, I can style a entertain
Speaker 1: you know, show someone how to entertain at home, but
Speaker 1: here's what you wear when you're doing it. So there
Speaker 1: will always be the outfit to talk about, right, But yes,
Speaker 1: it's beyond the outfit, and I'm feeling fulfilled taking the
Speaker 1: outfit into situations and yes, exactly, the well put Yeah,
Speaker 1: so the outfit is still centerpiece. Yeah exactly. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: you know, I'm lifestyle is what I would say, with
Speaker 1: a very heavy style component. So it will become much
Speaker 1: more of a lifestyle brand. I want it to be
Speaker 1: a place where people come and say, Okay, I can
Speaker 1: find out, you know, in Nashville where I should go
Speaker 1: if I come for a weekend. I can find out
Speaker 1: from Brook you know, if I'm planning an Easter brunch,
Speaker 1: how I should what I should plan for or what
Speaker 1: to do for that. So just different, you know. Or
Speaker 1: she really was feeling something moved her and she really
Speaker 1: needed to share that with us, like I'm feeling inspired
Speaker 1: and anything about stock could just from heart, and it was,
Speaker 1: and that's how I started. I wrote a post really
Speaker 1: from the heart. It was very simple about you know,
Speaker 1: the comparison and how that kind of took a grip
Speaker 1: on me last year, how it overcame that but it
Speaker 1: needed to be spoken. You know. I just started realizing, like,
Speaker 1: there's one me. There's no one else in this world
Speaker 1: who is me? So you know, spower, it's my superpower. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I just was like, you know, focus on that
Speaker 1: and always remind yourself that everyone is their own self.
Speaker 1: There's everyone as individual. I can't compare myself to you
Speaker 1: because I don't know the true story. I don't know
Speaker 1: the backstory the highlight room. That's right, we say, but
Speaker 1: we don't know really like what is going on. Everyone
Speaker 1: has struggles, you know, no matter what they put up
Speaker 1: on different and they're all different. That's the thing. I
Speaker 1: used to think everyone had the same struggles as me,
Speaker 1: or no struggles. Really actually just think I like not
Speaker 1: realizing not only are my struggles just for myself, that
Speaker 1: no one else would even think these things about me,
Speaker 1: But then they have their own that I would never
Speaker 1: even imagine to think about them. Most of the time,
Speaker 1: it's not even what someone would think. The struggles are
Speaker 1: hung one. No, it's so true when someone tells when
Speaker 1: someone tells you their story, you're like, WHOA, you know,
Speaker 1: I would never guess that. I would have never And
Speaker 1: that's because a lot of people choose to withhold. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not Things are personal to a certain extent,
Speaker 1: and most people aren't going to put it out there
Speaker 1: for the world to see and digest and pick apart.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think It's great that you're willing
Speaker 1: to talk about the tough subject to talk about that,
Speaker 1: because talking about it and saying, wait, we all do
Speaker 1: have struggles actually is so freeing for people who are
Speaker 1: living trapped in their own mind. Oh my gosh. Well,
Speaker 1: not only was it freeing for me, but I got
Speaker 1: so many messages from people saying I've been feeling, Yes,
Speaker 1: thank you, I've been feeling the exact same way. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you wrote this post because it really
Speaker 1: hit home for me, and I was reading every word
Speaker 1: saying she's basically writing about me in my life. She's
Speaker 1: writing about me right now, and that just you know,
Speaker 1: made me feel like okay. Like for the longest time,
Speaker 1: I felt like I felt alone, you know, because I
Speaker 1: wasn't willing to talk about it and I wasn't quite ready.
Speaker 1: And then once I was willing to talk about it,
Speaker 1: everyone was like, hey, you know, like me too, me too,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, there we go. It is the whole
Speaker 1: comparison thing. I had to do a lot of therapy
Speaker 1: myself in my twenties, and then I feel like my
Speaker 1: podcast interviewing people has healed me so much because I
Speaker 1: talked to people who I look up to an admire
Speaker 1: and then we talked about their stories and I really
Speaker 1: I realized everyone has and it just makes you feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I need to stop trying to put up this front
Speaker 1: because we're all just trying to do the best we can.
Speaker 1: We're trying to do the best that we can and
Speaker 1: we're trying to yes and be as happy as we can.
Speaker 1: And you know you have to. I mean, that's a
Speaker 1: huge part of just anyone's everyday life. You just posted
Speaker 1: about that. Yes, you need it. If you didn't read it,
Speaker 1: need to back and read it. That takes almost bravery
Speaker 1: to put that out there. Did you feel a freedom
Speaker 1: when you did it? I mean I felt like you know,
Speaker 1: as I was writing it there, I probably held back
Speaker 1: a little bit because it was just I really wanted
Speaker 1: to just like go black and it all be on
Speaker 1: paper and tell everyone, you know, exactly I was feeling
Speaker 1: and how miserable I was feeling at times, and how
Speaker 1: down I was feeling. And I mean this was not
Speaker 1: just from comparison, yeah, and feeling left behind, and you know,
Speaker 1: I mean there were a lot of things going on
Speaker 1: at the time. But then I stood back and I'm
Speaker 1: like looking at myself from the outside, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: what is the root call of this? You know, where
Speaker 1: is that that route coming from? So I had to
Speaker 1: think about that, what what did you find the route? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean I think I just allowed myself to get
Speaker 1: caught up in the nonsense and called up in yep.
Speaker 1: And you know, I wasn't super focused on my faith
Speaker 1: at the time. I wasn't praying as much as I
Speaker 1: normally do. I wasn't turning, you know to my faith
Speaker 1: at the time, um as much so that I know
Speaker 1: had something to do with it. And really, I mean,
Speaker 1: I just was allowing myself to be an unhappy, like
Speaker 1: woe is me person and that is not like me
Speaker 1: because I've never been that way. So going through that
Speaker 1: phase of life was tough. Not to say, I'll never
Speaker 1: go through that again, you know, but I'm glad that
Speaker 1: it was a short stint. I came out of it,
Speaker 1: and I'm feeling in a much better place now. I
Speaker 1: kind of when I first opened this, and I am
Speaker 1: such a baby, I wouldn't even consider myself an influencer
Speaker 1: because I don't really know what is but I'm learning.
Speaker 1: But like even like fashion, when I first was realizing, oh,
Speaker 1: I can trade do post for clothes and like do
Speaker 1: some trades. And then I started kind of getting stucked
Speaker 1: into this world too, Like I felt not into like
Speaker 1: a depression, but into this really weird, dark, deep wormhole
Speaker 1: of just social media stuff and like you said, comparing
Speaker 1: and all this stuff and feel like, how I ever
Speaker 1: get to this level or how does this person do that?
Speaker 1: Finally I was like the same thing, faith, God, like
Speaker 1: guid faith, you have to take this from me and
Speaker 1: just just keep leading me, give me the ideas and
Speaker 1: then open the doors for me and I will do it.
Speaker 1: But otherwise you could get lost in that. You get lost,
Speaker 1: and then you you know, I would. My self worth
Speaker 1: was in a number. It was in how many lights
Speaker 1: I was getting on a picture. It was you know,
Speaker 1: how many new followers I got in a day, how
Speaker 1: many people visited and commented on this blog post. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I got no comments on this one, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, my self worth started revolving around something that yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: like I needed. It was almost like I was looking
Speaker 1: to all these stray jurors for validation and really, you
Speaker 1: have this incredible actual real life. It's easy too. It's
Speaker 1: easy to forget that. It's easy that you do, to
Speaker 1: get lost, to get lost striving in this other area
Speaker 1: that is such a real thing. It is a real thing,
Speaker 1: and you too, you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: and I always remind myself of this here at home
Speaker 1: with my kids and my husband. It's what really matters.
Speaker 1: I mean, life is so short, right, it is so short.
Speaker 1: We don't know, you know, when our time is. There's
Speaker 1: only one person that knows that. So to go through
Speaker 1: life being so sucked into, you know, the focus, you know,
Speaker 1: a focus on external things that really you can't control.
Speaker 1: Can't control these things, and to put so much of
Speaker 1: your time and effort into that not to not to
Speaker 1: be filling a return. You just have to have peace
Speaker 1: with it, and you have to separate yourself a little
Speaker 1: bit and say, you know what, I'm doing the best
Speaker 1: I can here, best I can be as much of
Speaker 1: you that you're willing it to get, sacrificing everything else,
Speaker 1: your family. And that's why, like if you're a single
Speaker 1: actually Houston said that she's like, I'm thinking on this
Speaker 1: work and I have two kids and a husband, So
Speaker 1: there is no excuse for a single blog around there
Speaker 1: who has no commitments to not be killing it right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: doing all these other things, but you can't sacrifice the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. So tell me how you found
Speaker 1: that balance and how your faith plays a part of that.
Speaker 1: Because I love talking about faith. I think faith would
Speaker 1: make every If we all had faith faith, the world
Speaker 1: would be a much better be a much better place.
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more. Um, So, just telling me about
Speaker 1: your faith and balance. Yeah, I mean obviously you know
Speaker 1: I turned to God for a lot of things, and
Speaker 1: I pray about a lot of things. Um have you
Speaker 1: felt God work miracles in your life? I have you?
Speaker 1: I mean, your miracle is a strong word. This is
Speaker 1: a strong word for me. Have you seen God make action?
Speaker 1: Here's here's what I will tell you. So I have
Speaker 1: felt and this is not This is certainly not patting
Speaker 1: myself on the bag or building myself up or making
Speaker 1: me seem like, you know, I'm better than anyone. But
Speaker 1: I've had this. It pains me to say this because
Speaker 1: it's almost like you are. You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I've had a blessed life. I will say that I've
Speaker 1: had a very blessed Almost sounds gross, but yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1: It's true, I haven't had a lot of really tough
Speaker 1: things happened to me in life. I haven't had a
Speaker 1: lot of really major setbacks in life. You know, everything
Speaker 1: with my husband panned out perfectly the way it was
Speaker 1: supposed to. You know, our children, our home, I mean
Speaker 1: these aren't home. Can be materialistic, but you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Like the timing of my life and my
Speaker 1: life as a wife and won it has had a
Speaker 1: wonderful flow. There haven't been very many interruptions. So for
Speaker 1: me to ever not be super appreciative and grateful for that,
Speaker 1: it's tough because so many people have it, you know,
Speaker 1: way worse, and um, so I really try and focus
Speaker 1: on that. Like God, it's being thankful. Yeah, that could
Speaker 1: be blessed. But they choose not to see their blessings. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: and that's part of it. You've got to see your blessings.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes we ever look them, right, God saying this is
Speaker 1: this is your season of life. I'm here standing right
Speaker 1: beside you look at the blessings in front of you,
Speaker 1: but you're like, where are they? You know, actually it
Speaker 1: feels like a hard season. Yeah, it feels like a
Speaker 1: hard season. And He's like, no, no, it's right here
Speaker 1: in front of you, you know. So, I mean there
Speaker 1: have been moments like that throughout my life, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think about our daughter, who, um, you know,
Speaker 1: had surgery at one point, and you know what that
Speaker 1: was telling us and us as a family and where
Speaker 1: our focus was heart surgery? Yeah, um, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that that's been one of the most difficult things
Speaker 1: that I personally and that Peter and I have gone
Speaker 1: through together. But she's great. Um, So we've we've definitely
Speaker 1: had those moments throughout our marriage and we've I've had
Speaker 1: them personally prior to being married and being a mom.
Speaker 1: But just staying focused on you know, what you're grateful for,
Speaker 1: and being well you know, grounded in your faith and
Speaker 1: also being well grounded in and everything every aspect of
Speaker 1: life has kept me focused and kept me moving forward. Um.
Speaker 1: How do you apply that to blogging now? Just adding
Speaker 1: your faith into that. So, like after you wrote that
Speaker 1: about comparison, how did you how did you change the
Speaker 1: way you were thinking that put put you in that
Speaker 1: place to changing it to the freedom place to your
Speaker 1: honestly you through prayer, just go to God and say
Speaker 1: I turn this over to you. Take this you know,
Speaker 1: and I still have moments where I'm comparing. I still
Speaker 1: have it. I mean, that's silly for anyone to think
Speaker 1: that you can never not right. There's always gonna be
Speaker 1: those moments it looks good, yes, or you know whatever
Speaker 1: it is or um. I still have those moments, but
Speaker 1: I will just you know, like I said, when I
Speaker 1: was through that that kind of low in my life,
Speaker 1: I wasn't really turning to God very much. I was
Speaker 1: just kind of going through the motion of every thing
Speaker 1: and a little bit better about things, and so hanging
Speaker 1: on stuff because you find a thing, yeah, a little grudge,
Speaker 1: little grudges I find out whenever I'm in my spots
Speaker 1: and I'm like, how do I get this place? Wh
Speaker 1: I'm just piste off it everyone because I've just decided
Speaker 1: to let things and to let myself be left out.
Speaker 1: But then I'm like, like you said, no, it's not
Speaker 1: it can touch yes. And that's been a big part
Speaker 1: of it, honestly. I just you know, if if I'm
Speaker 1: feeling down about something, I'll either just put things away, well,
Speaker 1: I will put things away, and then I usually just
Speaker 1: pray about it and I'll say, you know what, you know,
Speaker 1: you've blessed me with so much, and here I am
Speaker 1: I'm focused on something so silly, something so trivial, something
Speaker 1: that really, in the grand scheme of things, don't matter.
Speaker 1: And honestly, when you sit down and you think about
Speaker 1: what's going on in our world and you really do
Speaker 1: stuff to think about that on a daily basis, that
Speaker 1: keeps you centered. It keeps me centered. So I'm trying
Speaker 1: to be very aware and more conscious and make that
Speaker 1: conscious effort to the big the big picture. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: just understand that, you know, I have two young children
Speaker 1: who need me as a mom. You know, if I'm
Speaker 1: called up and being bitter about things that don't you know,
Speaker 1: aren't directly related to them, but I'm taking it out
Speaker 1: on them, that's not fair to them. Or I'm you know,
Speaker 1: taking it out on a husband or upset about something,
Speaker 1: it's not fair to him, you know. Really, then you
Speaker 1: check yourself too, does this even matter? You know? Worried
Speaker 1: about it? No? And when you ask yourself that no,
Speaker 1: it doesn't always know, Yeah, it doesn't really matter. So
Speaker 1: that's very wise and aware of you, because a lot
Speaker 1: of humans don't think about that, don't step outside themselves
Speaker 1: ever to look and see like, what could I change
Speaker 1: about myself to make this situation better? Because I have
Speaker 1: realized it is always the way I think about things.
Speaker 1: It does not change my thinking. I can change my environment.
Speaker 1: It's not like, well this is happening I used to think,
Speaker 1: and I still get caught up this, Like we were saying,
Speaker 1: when things go bad for me, it's because I'm thinking
Speaker 1: things are happening to me. But really I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I have power to make this whatever I wanted to
Speaker 1: be in my mind. When you can control your response
Speaker 1: to those situations. So either you're going to be the
Speaker 1: bigger person and you're gonna really power through it and
Speaker 1: you're gonna come out on the other side, or you're
Speaker 1: gonna let it tackle you and you're gonna waller in
Speaker 1: it and you're gonna woe is me and you're gonna
Speaker 1: be down and out. I mean, we all have that
Speaker 1: choice when faced with tough things, and we're gonna have
Speaker 1: tough circumstances arise throughout our lives. So what do you
Speaker 1: want to do with it? Yeah, And it's easier said
Speaker 1: than done, right. I mean, it's so awesome that you're
Speaker 1: sharing your real struggle with people, because someone would look
Speaker 1: at you and be like, she has the perfect life,
Speaker 1: like from but then to get to go deeper and realize, Okay,
Speaker 1: she has a perfect life, but also it's perfectly imperfect
Speaker 1: and here's her and here's her stuff. It just makes
Speaker 1: people feel like, Okay, I don't have to go off
Speaker 1: a bridge day. Well know, and you know, things like
Speaker 1: I keep touching your leg. I'm like, you know, things
Speaker 1: like you know, anytime IM gonna post something on Instagram
Speaker 1: through stories and I talk about addison or the challenges
Speaker 1: with the kids, or you know, I'm frustrated about this,
Speaker 1: people are like, thank you for being so real, because
Speaker 1: so many people don't talk about those things, or something
Speaker 1: so silly like showing my bathroom floors, which I just
Speaker 1: don't like. And I'm like, I would much rather be
Speaker 1: able to get on Insto stories and share this picture
Speaker 1: perfect white, bright, clean looking bathroom and my bathroom is
Speaker 1: not that you know, so I'm showing the real meat
Speaker 1: and people. I mean, something so silly is that people
Speaker 1: are like, oh my god, thank you, You're so real.
Speaker 1: You know, things like that that you don't think other
Speaker 1: people are looking for from you, but they totally are. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean they want to see me without the makeup.
Speaker 1: They want to see me when I'm just at home,
Speaker 1: when you're doing stories, like you're like, this is what's
Speaker 1: happening right now? Yes, like face mask wants once a week,
Speaker 1: I swear by it. So I love that broken. I
Speaker 1: think that's not I think that's so how because it
Speaker 1: makes you not only someone that they love their style,
Speaker 1: love their lifestyle, can relate to and like look for
Speaker 1: inspiration and also love for inspiration on just like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're all just trying the best we can. Here's my struggles.
Speaker 1: I'm sharing them with you. Feel free to be human
Speaker 1: and let's just all try to do this together. Yes,
Speaker 1: Like at the end of the day, when you lay
Speaker 1: your head on your pillow, do you feel good about
Speaker 1: yourself today? Do you feel good about you accomplished? I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, And there's so many like we were talking
Speaker 1: about earlier, so many people are struggling and just you know,
Speaker 1: social media. I mean we talk about teenagers how social
Speaker 1: media is just impacting teenagers. Well, it impacts everyone. Anyone
Speaker 1: who's out there on it, experiencing it, being a part
Speaker 1: of it. We all take that and think about our
Speaker 1: own lives and compare our own lives and you just can't.
Speaker 1: You just you know, try your hardest deadlies and that's it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's all you can do. Okay, I'll talk to you forever.
Speaker 1: Something I have to wrap up because we're gonna end
Speaker 1: up talk for almost forty five minutes. We could go
Speaker 1: on forever. You'll probably have other things to do that
Speaker 1: I don't know what, but be here with you. I
Speaker 1: don't either. Okay, So what's a piece of advice? Like
Speaker 1: I like to end all my interviews with leader life,
Speaker 1: what is some inspiration? Actually I want to ask you
Speaker 1: a few questions like this because I's like you have
Speaker 1: great answers. What does love mean to you? Oh? My gosh,
Speaker 1: love is unconditional for me. I mean, love is something that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, stands the test of time. I mean that
Speaker 1: sounds a cliche, but it's so true. Like someone some
Speaker 1: love is something that will never falter for me, that
Speaker 1: just is rock solid, has roots dug deep in the ground.
Speaker 1: You know that you can't it won't, will never waver.
Speaker 1: It's unconditional love. That what is darkness? M M gosh,
Speaker 1: that is such. That is such a good question. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, darkness is to me is a lack of faith.
Speaker 1: I mean, darkness to me is lacking that spiritual awareness,
Speaker 1: lacking spiritual well being, lacking the love for yourself, the
Speaker 1: love for for me, love for God. Um So, to me,
Speaker 1: darkness is just the lack of that spiritual well being
Speaker 1: in overall faith totally and like you said, the lack
Speaker 1: of love. True, the lack of love. The lack of love.
Speaker 1: I mean, we all need so much more of that,
Speaker 1: and that's you can see that in our world right now,
Speaker 1: there's so much of that missing. Faith and love, right
Speaker 1: two things that are missing totally totally. Why do you
Speaker 1: think why do you think people are unhappy in the world? Like,
Speaker 1: why do you think people because I feel like everyone
Speaker 1: has good in them, starts good and then something happens
Speaker 1: along the way. Why do you think people hit that
Speaker 1: spot where they get bitter and they don't want to
Speaker 1: be helpful or they like they're angry, Like what what
Speaker 1: happens to someone to make them get there? Do you think? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean everyone's situation is different, but I think hardships
Speaker 1: play a part in that. I think, um, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe unfortunate circumstances or if you don't have for me
Speaker 1: being a parent, I think have overall Like, okay, so
Speaker 1: I have two children right that I'm raising my husband
Speaker 1: are raising. Um. The love in the home is so important.
Speaker 1: And how you choose to parent and and love your
Speaker 1: children and raise them and and still faith in them
Speaker 1: is so important. So it starts there for me. So
Speaker 1: if we're talking about the root of two human beings
Speaker 1: that are being raised by too, you know, unconditionally loving
Speaker 1: parents who have a love for one another, who will
Speaker 1: always show that to our children, who have a faith
Speaker 1: in God, who have that relationship with God, and we
Speaker 1: demonstrate that to our children. That's the root and the foundation.
Speaker 1: So if you're loving them through their difficulties, through their setbacks,
Speaker 1: you're teaching them along the way, You're instilling that faith
Speaker 1: along the way. Um, it helps set them up to
Speaker 1: overcome that. A lot of times I think that that
Speaker 1: people probably don't have that foundation. So yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: like a shell. You know. The tough things happen, they
Speaker 1: build a show you know, UM, and start becoming to
Speaker 1: your point bitter, unhappy, UM, looking for some sort of
Speaker 1: self love from other things or substances or you know,
Speaker 1: external components. And really it's it's it starts years and
Speaker 1: years and years. Yeah, I think it starts coming with you.
Speaker 1: I totally agree with you. Okay, And what does the
Speaker 1: world need? No, Well, I mean we're talking about love.
Speaker 1: I mean I think that's a huge part of it.
Speaker 1: I think I think we need to talk about God more.
Speaker 1: I think we need to stop being need to talk
Speaker 1: about our faith and now get some gross thing. I
Speaker 1: feel like it's getting better. Actually, that's a benefit of
Speaker 1: social media is a lot of people express their faith
Speaker 1: through social media like cool people. And I feel like
Speaker 1: that is a positive thing. Oh, it's a d percent
Speaker 1: of positive things. We need more people doing that and
Speaker 1: incorporated into life like God on a shelf. Ye. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just your normal everyday well being. It's normal. You know,
Speaker 1: your persona, it's my persona. You know. It's interesting because
Speaker 1: some people I see on their Instagram or wherever I'm looking,
Speaker 1: you know, Christ follower, and I don't feel like I
Speaker 1: need to profess that to anyone because I just live it, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I don't need to have a title beside my
Speaker 1: name that says Christ follower. You know, God is my savior, Jesus,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like that's I just live that. So,
Speaker 1: I mean a d percent. We need to feel more
Speaker 1: comfortable talking about our faith, you know, and we're people
Speaker 1: are going to have different faiths and that's fine. We
Speaker 1: need to be open minded. We need to be um.
Speaker 1: We need to be appreciative of other faiths and other beliefs,
Speaker 1: you know, belief systems and other opinions. And we need
Speaker 1: to be respectful our kids respect. But then like when
Speaker 1: adults trying to have conversations and they disagree, people just
Speaker 1: fight yell at each other, like politicians are the worst.
Speaker 1: Like adults can't comment, like we tell our children too.
Speaker 1: I know what I think parents are not all parents,
Speaker 1: but I think parents can do a better job us
Speaker 1: included of continually teaching that respect. I mean, we live
Speaker 1: in such a fast paced society now and there's so
Speaker 1: many external distractions and so many things that can get
Speaker 1: a child's attention and pull it away and you know,
Speaker 1: create them to or create that mentality that they are entitled,
Speaker 1: you know, And so we all can do a better
Speaker 1: job at teaching respect, love for you know, your neighbor, um,
Speaker 1: you know, talk about faith more, um, you know, in
Speaker 1: the car line, dropping my kiddle out, pray out, loud
Speaker 1: for them every morning, you know. I mean it's you know,
Speaker 1: they need to feel that for me. They need to
Speaker 1: understand that's part of who I am. They need to
Speaker 1: feel that from their father. So I mean, I think
Speaker 1: the world needs a lot of things, but if it
Speaker 1: comes down to it, you know, respect, faith, love, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and just appreciation for human beings. Appreciation for
Speaker 1: one another and love for one another is so important.
Speaker 1: I totally on that. Yeah, what's the best advice you
Speaker 1: were gone? Oh my gosh. Be true to myself. I mean,
Speaker 1: stay true to yourself. You know. That's my mom has
Speaker 1: always told me to that, my dad too. Just really
Speaker 1: be who you are and don't try and be someone
Speaker 1: that you're not. So um, I've always try and live
Speaker 1: by that. I don't try and you know, I don't
Speaker 1: consider my myself a fake person. I don't consider myself
Speaker 1: ever trying to create something that's not or you know,
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily consider myself a super outgoing person. I'm
Speaker 1: very personable, but you know, sometimes you are made to
Speaker 1: feel like you need to be like the life of
Speaker 1: the party. Just gotta be you. You just have to
Speaker 1: be you. And yes to the to the route from
Speaker 1: the top to the bottom, everything about you down to
Speaker 1: the core. You've got to be who you are and
Speaker 1: don't be ashamed of who you are. Right you are?
Speaker 1: You are? Yeah, and there's so many everybody so different,
Speaker 1: so you need to be proud of who you are
Speaker 1: in variety. Yep. So don't you saying how boring? Would
Speaker 1: life be so boring? But like you said, to figure
Speaker 1: out what makes you great and then be that. Just
Speaker 1: let that be who like, focus on what's great about you,
Speaker 1: not with what what you're lacking, and always work to
Speaker 1: be a better version of you always, I mean, because
Speaker 1: we never get it. We're never done that. He has
Speaker 1: never done improving. No, no, I mean we all can
Speaker 1: be better people, right, so be you, stay true to yourself,
Speaker 1: but always be a better you. Try and strive to
Speaker 1: be a better you all the time. I love that.
Speaker 1: And lastly, leave your life. This whole thing has been inspirational,
Speaker 1: but just leave some inspiration. Maybe what you want to
Speaker 1: tell young bloggers, what you want to tell anyone? Just
Speaker 1: like what it's what you have learned over your life
Speaker 1: that you want to share with people. I mean you
Speaker 1: kind of said it this whole time. Yeah, yeah, except
Speaker 1: that perfection is not something that's achievable. I think for
Speaker 1: a lot of my life I've chased perfection, maybe because
Speaker 1: of you know, the expectations of me growing up. Um
Speaker 1: my parents did a wonderful job raising me, but you know,
Speaker 1: there was always expectations through school. I had a very
Speaker 1: high bar that was set for me. I met that,
Speaker 1: but you know, there was always the expectation of more.
Speaker 1: And perfection is just not achievable. So work towards being
Speaker 1: the best person that you can be without trying to
Speaker 1: achieve perfection. Right. I love that. I feel like people
Speaker 1: need to know that, Yes, well, it need to need
Speaker 1: to really believe it because self grace and then get
Speaker 1: everyone else grace. To give yourself grace and give everyone
Speaker 1: else grace. I could not agree because listen, I mean,
Speaker 1: we're you know, we're not perfect. We will never be perfect.
Speaker 1: God did not create us to be perfect. That's exhausting.
Speaker 1: It's exhausting. You can't let down lest you feel all
Speaker 1: the time when when perfection is what you're striving for,
Speaker 1: because like you said, you'll never get there. No, it's constant.
Speaker 1: It's like you're chasing, chasing, chasing, it's right there, it's
Speaker 1: right there. It's right there. But you're never gonna get it,
Speaker 1: I mean, and that's okay, because who is perfect? Right?
Speaker 1: Not a single person that I know. I'm sure not
Speaker 1: a single person that right, So why even strive to
Speaker 1: to do something or achieve something that's really not achievable?
Speaker 1: So just stay true to yourself. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: that's my overall you know mantra what I expect people
Speaker 1: to be. Be good to other people. I mean, really
Speaker 1: be kind and be gracious and be humble. Um, so
Speaker 1: be the best person that you can be while doing
Speaker 1: all of those other things, and stop trying to be perfect.
Speaker 1: Just stop trying to be perfect. Broke, everyone, you're amazing
Speaker 1: so much for all of your information, your wisdom, your heart,
Speaker 1: your talent, everything in your time. So welcome. I know
Speaker 1: that you love that episode so much. And Brooke, how
Speaker 1: inspiring is she? She's pretty amazing. I'll get excited. We
Speaker 1: have so much more of the Influencer series going on.
Speaker 1: It's not ending anytime soon, So more of your favorite
Speaker 1: influencers giving you all their tips coming up next week