When Perfection Breaks You: Navigating Tragedies and Finding Success

Alexa Beavers: [: 00:00:00

She found a way, but eventually when a panic attack sent her into the er, that was a wake up call that told her something had to give. What followed from that was a slow and brave unraveling of old patterns. She was saying things that she once kept buried deep inside. She was asking for help. She was getting real about what she needed.

But still self-doubt was creeping in. And just when she doubted herself the most, there was a well-timed comment from an unlikely character that shook her awake. In this episode, Kelly bravely shares how letting go of perfection and doing it alone opened up the door to possibility, authenticity, and the biggest role of her career.

orporate communications at a [: 00:01:00

Kelly is also a speaker for women's empowerment groups, such as She is Fierce and has been a panelist for various communication conferences. Kelly is currently the chair of Women of Visionary Advisory Board for Flagler College, which aims to raise funds for deserving students as they maintain their undergraduate degrees.

Kelly lives in St. Augustine, Florida with her partner Chris, and their son Max. Welcome, Kelly. It's so great to have you here today on Transformation Unfiltered.

Kelly Kuecker: I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

of a messy moment as you are [: 00:02:00

Kelly Kuecker: Yeah, absolutely. When I was in my, I would say it was probably my mid to late twenties. I had a series of. Medical things happen with some family members and you're just getting into the workforce and establishing yourself at that point.

And then you've got all this tumultuous stuff happening in your personal life. And my father was diagnosed with cancer and we got him through that, right? He and went into remission. Just a few months after that, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and we went on a 16 month journey of just make, she had stage four terminal.

And that was a really hard time trying to get her through that. She unfortunately passed away and then my grandmother, six months after that got diagnosed. Luckily she's still with us it was just this crazy time in my personal life. From a work standpoint, while that was all happening, I was working a full-time job trying to establish myself.

of a team. I in between some [: 00:03:00

I was in a relationship with my, now, still partner Chris. He's wonderful. And it was just such a hard time. There's no other word for it, right? Yeah. Just hard

Alexa Beavers: I'm just gonna make an observation. You are here now. You've got a very great bubbly energy, and we're just talking about probably maybe one of the worst times in someone's life.

Kelly Kuecker: Yeah, for sure.

Alexa Beavers: And the, and also something. At a time when you're thinking, I'm just coming into the world of work and all of that stuff. And what I'm noticing about you is you're going down this, like a grocery list. Are you willing to just take a minute and help us join you on that?

I know sometimes the grocery list keeps us safe, but

pretty tumultuous time. I am [: 00:04:00

He's such like a storyteller and all this. And I remember the day he called me at work to tell me that he had been diagnosed. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Like you're trying to tie things up at work, you're going into such a great family time. And he called me out and he goes, this has happened, and he had esophageal cancer and I just remember just being so absolutely devastated. 'cause I had never been hit by. Anything like this before and just not knowing. 'cause you feel so helpless, right? You don't know what to do to help another person. And again, you're trying to live your life and this is one of your parents.

of his teeth pulled because [: 00:05:00

It's just awful. And here I am, obviously I've got a partner at home that. Sometimes you'd like to see them. It's very hard. But then you're also working, I was traveling about 40% of the time for work, so I'm in, Ohio at a school. I worked in higher education at the time and just trying to, present and share what people could do with this higher education if they came to our school and coming back home and.

Seeing my dad just deteriorate and he was losing a lot of weight. And luckily we came on the other side of that. And I was feeling so good.

Alexa Beavers: I really appreciate you breaking.

ving, figuring out what your [: 00:06:00

Kelly Kuecker: Yeah. It's such a conundrum. And also you're in, you're a mid my twenties, I wanna see my friends and I wanna have a life and I wanna do all the things. And again, you're. It was right at the kind of precipice of me becoming a manager for this first time. And it's oh, I really don't wanna let a ball drop at work.

'cause I want to show that I can do, the things and I can continue to progress in my career. And I really didn't want any of that to fall away either.

Alexa Beavers: Yeah. So you must have felt super relieved when dad came through it and you're like, yes, we made it. Breathe. Life is back to normal. Yep. So take us to the next step.

Yeah. Where did that go?

Kelly Kuecker: At that point I accept this freelance job and then I decide, you know what, I'm gonna roll. I've always wanted to get my master's degree. I'm gonna do that. And it was wonderful 'cause it was virtual, but still, it's very intense. 18 months of work with your cohort and there's a lot of collaboration that happens if you do that virtual.

all around the country. And [: 00:07:00

And that kind of spiraled into, it had spread to her brain and her bones and all these other places. And it was very different from when my dad, because again, my dad's like me, he can laugh about things. I think we were just born with a happy gene. I don't know is that a thing? But we're just both very positive.

And my mom isn't, wasn't necessarily like that, but it was actually. It taught me a lot. Now I'm looking back on it because she was not a person that I would've been like, oh, she's really resilient and like a positive person. But every time she would go to a doctor's appointment and they would tell her something bad, and it was every time, right?

just being like, oh my God, [: 00:08:00

And I was like, this is so okay. This is not like my, this is not what you expect. Yeah, my mom and what a beautiful. Thing. And I just remember having, I just had some really great times with my mom during that. Like her last Thanksgiving I had to take her to a blood infusion. It was just her and I, we had sat there for four hours just talking and watching.

She loved to watch, like she called it spooky tv. So we'd put on like a. Some sort of dateline or like something like that. We'd watch it together, and we stopped by a Cracker Barrel and had Thanksgiving on the way. Thanksgiving seems to be a theme here, which I hadn't really thought about, but.

Had that and that was, she passed away in December. But that was like, we had a whole day together and it was so beautiful. But I just remember her, it was such a positive, like she just really turned everything into such a positive, even though it truly was a negative. And I think that's really impacted me just from there's always a.

A sunny side to [: 00:09:00

I was I just remember somebody in my cohort saying you can pause and like you can pick this up next semester. And I was like, absolutely not. 'cause if I pause. I, my life's gonna go on and I'm not gonna pick this up probably. And it's really important to me to reach this personal goal and I just have to figure out a way through, right?

Alexa Beavers: I just really appreciated something you just said, and I think there's little lessons everywhere when we can take space from things. The overwhelm at the moment in the moment was you couldn't even see through the.

a lesson. And you had these [: 00:10:00

And I can really appreciate how. That must have felt you even I want, I would love, and would you mind telling me your mom's name so she can join us here?

Kelly Kuecker: Sure. Absolutely. Her name is Linda.

Alexa Beavers: Linda. We're glad that Linda made it here because I think she Gave you a present. And your dad too, with the happy Jean absolutely. So tell me about Grandma, because I think this is still building up to even more overwhelm. So you're getting your master's, you're dealing with these huge. Life situations that in your twenties you probably were like, I would never even think to face that.

Kelly Kuecker: Yeah, and then so my mother passed away in December and you know it, it's hard to say it was the right thing, but she was struggling so much and it really, to see someone you love suffer was really hard. I had just finished my master's degree. I was still doing the freelance thing.

n over this team at work. So [: 00:11:00

And almost exactly six months of the day from my mom passing my grandmother. They found out she had kidney cancer. I just thought like, how can this be? How can this be,

Alexa Beavers: every time that you started to feel like there was a clearing and that you had been problem through the worst of it, a new thing popped up.

Kelly Kuecker: Yep, absolutely. And my grandmother and I are very close. I'm the oldest grandchild. I lived with her for a little bit as we were moving. At sometime. Her and I had just always been super tight. And so I was just like, again, completely devastated. From a personal standpoint, hers did not go quite as, she's still with us.

She is 90, gosh, she just turned 90, which was amazing in March.

Alexa Beavers: Whoop, whoop grandma.

tiful life, but she, luckily [: 00:12:00

We're just watching it, which was wonderful. So that was icing on the cake. Hers wasn't quite the journey that the others. But I think that really started some medical anxiety for me as a person just thinking oh my gosh, I've been through years of this turmoil and just oh my, you know what's next?

Alexa Beavers: Yeah. Tell me about that a little bit. The years of turmoil and almost maybe like after the first, yeah. Oh my goodness. Then you're like getting back on track then a second. Devastating life event. And then you're like, okay, I think we're getting there. And then another one, and now you're like, okay, after all this turmoil, it left me with something.

What did that, what did all of that turmoil leave you with?

Kelly Kuecker: I think you lose a little bit of faith in, I don't know if it's in yourself, it's just I create, there was such anxiety in my life at that point, which I had never quite experienced, and it was manifesting in a, I just don't know what to do.

I think. Like I just didn't [: 00:13:00

Alexa Beavers: must have been like disconcerting since you just self-confessed that your dad gave you the happy gene. Yeah. So that side by side with your normal way of being. Yeah. What was that like to be like, wait, what?

Kelly Kuecker: And I don't even know if other people necessarily saw it as much as I felt it too, because I tend to just be a positive on the outside person anyway. But then I think it was funny 'cause I think my dad actually one day he owned a restaurant at the time. He's an artist and my stepmom is a chef.

And so they had this great cafe where my dad hung his art and sold it and he was front of the house of my. My stepmom was in the back, and I remember showing up one day and being absolutely just like in a pan, full panic attack. And I was like, I think I'm gonna have a stroke. It wasn't, it was just a panic attack, but I had never experienced what, and my dad was like, what?

y let's just calm down for a [: 00:14:00

Yeah. You talked

Alexa Beavers: about, so you said something, just a panic attack, and I have come to think that's something we shouldn't just pass off. Can I feel like there was something that you couldn't break through. So can you. You said a couple of things. Can you help our, help me know what it was like in case I need to know what it's like?

ds. But for some reason that [: 00:15:00

And I just couldn't. I couldn't get myself to calm down. I was so in my head that something awful was happening to me medically and my dad and Chris. I forced them to take me to the emergency room, even though both of them were like, you can just let's get you in the shower. Let's calm you down.

I thought, Nope, I'm going. Sure enough. I get there and they're like, you're like, everything's okay. Have you ever had a panic attack? I said, no. And so actually have been on some anxiety medicine, full disclosure since then, and it's been such an incredible asset to my life, right? Because it was just something that was so scary and.

Again, like when medical things are happening to you, things are happening in your body that you don't even know about.

Alexa Beavers: It's not all in your head, I think it's releasing all of those neurochemicals that have long-term and short-term effects on your overall health. And also, thanks for sharing that.

ng that we don't always talk [: 00:16:00

Kelly Kuecker: It's funny because, it does run in my family, but I had never.

Thought of myself. And again, I think that was a trigger point, but it really did teach me. And I live this way now. I'm a very open person and it taught me not to hold things in. 'cause I really feel like that can just eat away at you. And again, physical manifestation of holding onto feelings and things is a real thing.

And so sometimes people are like, gosh, you're so like. Open and just, sometimes I'm just like, I'm sharing, but for me that's just a way to release it, to help me maintain the happy, bubbly per, I just, I have to share things like, that's just my way and I know that helps me

Alexa Beavers: from what I'm picking up is you're letting the inside match the outside.

hat so many, I get exhausted [: 00:17:00

Kelly Kuecker: I think it's really important. Authenticity is one of those key tenets in my life that I think is important.

And you don't recognize that when you're younger, right? That comes, wisdom and age and all those things. They say it for a reason and it's true. But I really do feel like the more I can, even it's just saying something to a family member of just. Something happened at work today and I just need to say something to somebody and I try to be that safe person for anyone in the workplace too.

'cause you go through hard stuff and like you need to be able to vent and then it's over. It doesn't mean that it's. You're gonna carry it on, or it's something that, sometimes you just need that person that's safe that you can say something to and then it's done and you're good. And I do, really, I like to have somebody that is that for me.

s really important. So yeah, [: 00:18:00

Tell me. Yeah let's be transparent and open and honest with each other and we're all gonna be better for it.

Alexa Beavers: Don't keep it in. I don't know if you've ever listened to Brene Brown, but she says something that sticks with me and she says, name it to tame it. And that's what's really coming through to me.

Name it, detainment. Not only naming it, but don't try to hold it in when it needs to be processed in some way. And it sounds about you're that first people

Kelly Kuecker: in front of people, like it's okay to let them see that you are feeling a certain way or struggle or whatever that is. And I think that's a great leadership lesson too, right?

It's okay to be vulnerable and to ask questions and do all the things. So yeah, that's a big piece for me. In the midst of kind of all of the panic attack I was entering into a.

Potentially moving into a new job and some other things are happening from that,

Alexa Beavers: As we just weave our way through this story, there's this overwhelm and you still push through. You were like go.

And then suddenly, you said [: 00:19:00

You show up in your dad's beautiful cafe, artwork, all that stuff. It's the same kind of place where you feel like you might wanna be happy, but you were really struggling so.

Kelly Kuecker: Yeah, and there's, it just became a family environment there. There were so many patrons that became friends to my dad, to us.

We would go every Friday night and have a dinner and see the same people. It's just a great little hometown, hole in the wall, place to eat. And so I had decided to make the transition from my previous job to something new and had been applying and trying to figure out what my next move was.

ought. After, talking to the [: 00:20:00

And I'd also been offered a job that was an in-between, like maybe baby step to that. And I remember and I had about 24 hours to make the decision. 'cause I had gotten both of these offers and I thought, okay, I'm just gonna take like the interim one because I'm just not sure I can like.

Again, I'm just not feeling, I don't know where, like I can take on. Maybe, or I'm doubting myself about what I can take on. Yeah. It

Alexa Beavers: sounds like you had been through a lot and still powered through and found the sunshine where you could got your masters plugged away and before you knew it, you had a great opportunity in front of you.

And what I'm hearing is that you had nothing left in your fuel tank to consider taking on something that might have been in your own mind, a stretch.

abeth, who had become family [: 00:21:00

And Chuck very unassuming. I didn't really know anything about his background at the time, and he's got this long beard, like biker looking guy. Super, the most incredible couple. Very supportive and lovely to, to my dad and stepmom. And I remember going in there and I was just trying to talk to my dad about it.

I'm like, I have to make a decision today. Like I don't know what to do. And I remember Chuck going, will you take. You take the other job and it was like,

Alexa Beavers: so you're taking advice from the biker guy. He's a nice guy, but he's like rough around the edges a little.

Kelly Kuecker: I'm like, okay, Chuck, thank you.

And he's no. You take you, you absolutely can do that. Take the other job. And I'm like, but Chuck, you don't know anything about it. He's it doesn't matter. Like you take the harder job. And I'm like, but what if I can't do it? He's like, why couldn't you do it? I'm like, oh, I don't know.

in, I don't understand, like [: 00:22:00

Alexa Beavers: was like looking at you like you had two heads and he's saying obviously you can do it.

What is happening here?

Kelly Kuecker: And he is then do this stuff all the time. Like, why would you even doubt yourself as a woman? And I thought, So I went home and I remember thinking about it and talking to Chris about it. And finally he and Chris was like yeah, absolutely. You take this job. Like I don't understand why we're talking about this.

And I'm like, why is it like, thank you everyone for believing in me, but I'm the one that actually has to execute. And I just remember thinking that night, you know what? I can do it. I've been through hard things. I can do hard things. I can do this. I'm just gonna do it. I'm gonna bite the bullet and do it.

And I just called the next morning, I said, absolutely, I accept all this stuff and. It did take time, right? As I started into that new position, and it was it was a pivot from what I had been doing. But still the same, I was going from a marketing and some others to a more communications role and there was a lot to learn.

newness. But, and I remember [: 00:23:00

Like And that's the time, right? To ask the questions and to absorb as much as you can and fig, like that's how you figure it out. And also you don't have to do things the way the last person did it. I think so many people go into this job and think okay, these were the shoes I had to fill.

'cause you've heard about what we've done. So learn how to you're really gonna progress this, position forward or the company forward, whatever that may be that you're sitting in. Yeah.

Alexa Beavers: This is really good. A couple things that stand out to me.

hold it in. And so then you [: 00:24:00

I don't know about this. So you were getting it out and that gave Chuck the opportunity to jump in. Which is so rich, if you hadn't been ready to be like, not just gutting it out, but gutting it out loud. Yeah, and here comes biker Chuck, and I don't

Kelly Kuecker: think Chuck even knows he's done. I'm gonna have to share this with him because I don't think he even realizes that he was the pivotal person in such a minute, like it was probably a 10 minute conversation. He's probably never thought it about it again. But what a pivotal piece. Just hearing an external person that didn't really know me. Just question why you know you, your family. Absolutely. You could do the, and that's what family does and that's great.

Your friend's the same. But having this external force will come to find out. Chuck was the chief legal officer of a humongous company for 30 years.

Alexa Beavers: Oh my gosh. In disguise at the

like, oh, Chuck, act like he [: 00:25:00

So I'm gonna have to share this with him because I don't think he even knows. And that was what, 11 years ago? Something like that.

Alexa Beavers: I love that advice and or hope or confidence came from a very unexpected place, and now we know that place was well founded, yeah. And then, you went back home and you got another go do it.

And you did it. So through that, you learned a lot of really important lessons. You started talking about some of them, it's okay to ask for help. Oh, it's okay to let it out if it's inside you. So tell me more about how this has supported, the additional lessons they've gotten.

w what? I just need to be my [: 00:26:00

Like I'm a very friendly, open integrity is really big for me and just like sharing that with my team. I want my team to know me on a personal level. I know them on a personal level. And just really cracking that, like how do we, support each other in that way? I know their love languages of just how do they like to receive?

Feedback. And it's so important. I've had two of my team members have been with me for almost 11 years, like since I came on. So do we just have like a long term, friendship, relationship, workship, whatever that may be, and I really care about them as people. I think the more you know.

ing. And, I've had people on [: 00:27:00

And, we absolutely all banded together to do what we could to help. You know everybody 'cause that's important. But had they not shared that, had we not known them on that personal level and had that like authentic connection with each other. Maybe would, we wouldn't feel as apt to do that.

And some of these people I have met in our team are, I would consider lifelong friends.

Alexa Beavers: Incredible. And let me do double click on something here. Oh earlier you were talking about how the stress that it caused when you were not being authentic, essentially.

Yeah. You were holding things in the outside, has to look a certain way and. You after six months or so in this new job, you gave yourself permission to, you're like, just, I'm just gonna be me. Yep. What changed? What did, what would, what did people see different at when you made that decision switch?

Kelly Kuecker: I think I hadn't worked in a big global corporate company before and.

S [: 00:28:00

Alexa Beavers: they're the filtered ones. We're transformation unfiltered. There might be another show called Transformation filtered out there, but I, what you're picking up on is our filters.

Kelly Kuecker: Yes. Absolute. Keep talking and and I was like, okay. We're like, I remember I could, we're our executive floor. You had to be in. Black suit jacket to even go up there for a long time. And we've progressed. We're not a company like that anymore, but it was just very, everything was very buttoned up.

And again I'm a kind of bubbly, fun person. I don't like to be buttoned up all that much. And I was trying to come across as this very professional and, have everything together person. Then I just realized, I don't like, I gotta ask my team things. They still teach me so much.

and things like that. So we [: 00:29:00

So it's okay for them to let me let my guard down and hey, I can learn from you. And you can learn from me. And we're a team and we can support each other in that way. And I think before I was just coming in trying to be like, okay, this is, we gotta get this out today. And this is our li laundry list of things to do.

And it was just so robotic and again, buttoned up and maybe

Alexa Beavers: tiring. I would be checkered out at the end of the day.

Kelly Kuecker: It's not how I I thought, oh, I can't, yeah, I can't do this. This is, these are not my people. Like I don't even feel like I know them. And then it's like. Let it all. Nope.

Okay. We're gonna let that mask come off. And, I also feel like I wanna learn everything that my team does, so I can do it too, because I want to be there to support them. So I wouldn't ask my team to, do something that I haven't at least tried to figure out how to do as well. Not to say I'm doing it on a daily basis, but Hey, let's learn this together so we can figure it out.

ike I'm a person that is, is [: 00:30:00

Like we all contribute and what am I bringing to the table? What are they bringing to the table? How can we mix this up to make something really incredible?

Alexa Beavers: Beautiful. I think that you're, what you. Brought to this place is a lot of moments where you overcame, overcame, were able to gut it out and you know through that it took a lot of your energy.

Yeah. Then everybody else saw what you're capable of, but you couldn't see it anymore. Then you had this great opportunity and you needed a little kick in the pants and luckily there were growth along the way because you got to be like I'm gonna talk about this with somebody I trust. And it opened the door for pe others to rally around you.

Kelly Kuecker: Yep.

n just bring that and, be at [: 00:31:00

It opened the door for your whole team to be brave enough to do that too. Yep. It's that's amazing.

Kelly Kuecker: So important. And you come energized, not every day, right? Some days are draining 'cause that's just life. But you come out of it energized, knowing you've done something good and you've lived up to what makes you feel good inside, as opposed to just oh, okay, I'm home.

I can be myself now. You've been doing that all day, so it's okay.

Alexa Beavers: How wonderful that you can be yourself and you've learned so much by, being your authentic self, being a whole human leader. And when I say whole human leader, you're saying, Hey, you are a great employee and there's so much more to you.

Tell me what's important to you. Tell me what you know.

Kelly Kuecker: Let yourself be you. And there's value in looking at, I've had executive and leadership coaching, right? Obviously that's such an important thing. And just having somebody reflect on. Areas where you can do better at certain things.

So I've gone through that [: 00:32:00

I wanna be like them. That's okay, but like you have to do it in your own way. And again, what feels authentic to you. And I think that, there's some integrity behind that as well because, I don't think if you're trying to emulate what somebody else is doing. There you just lose a, you just lose a little bit of yourself, I think, and I just, again I'm not saying I'm the greatest leader.

I'm not saying I still don't have things to learn. I, you have to learn to manage up and there's all these things that I'm always still working on, but I do feel like I'm a lifelong learner and I really do try and I try to take feedback. It's not fun, but I do receive and I ask for feedback. My team knows that they can give it to me.

ve to learn. And I've worked [: 00:33:00

Alexa Beavers: Yeah.

Kelly Kuecker: One

Alexa Beavers: thing I'm gonna back us up.

I love the way you're just saying, I'm gonna be unfiltered on the way out. But what you just did is you, what are, what's coming to me is by being yourself. You're creating an openness. And that openness lets things flow both ways. It lets you share what you're capable of, what makes you, and it also creates maybe a little bit of scary vulnerability because that means if information flows one way, it you've truly opened up and said, Hey, it's gonna flow both ways.

Yep. You said it's a little scary but how has that impacted you as a leader by creating that flow and openness instead of that? Filtered wall.

Kelly Kuecker: Yeah. I think it's important 'cause I get very real time feedback from my team of this doesn't make sense, like what you're asking me to do.

ar your perspective and like [: 00:34:00

Kind of meet in the middle. Some things are just, we absolutely have to do this 'cause our, leadership team is asking us to do this and. Let's take this feedback, or think about this as we're moving through with a different campaign. And then sometimes it's oh, you're right.

Hey, maybe we offer this suggestion before we start executing. So I think it just opens up a good dialogue of all kinds of things, right? I, sometimes I have to ask people to do let's, we're gonna write this. And it's oh, this just doesn't make any sense. Or like, why are you asking me to do this?

And they feel comfortable just to pop that back at me, I think so we can, instead of just doing something and it not being a great product that they're coming out with 'cause they just don't understand or they don't feel like they can push back or ask questions. I, my SVP is wonderful too, of having an open, I'm pinging her constantly, which it probably drives her crazy, but she's very great at.

And so she's really emulated [: 00:35:00

And I can do that. But again, I think that all centers around like we've got this way to. Communicate that I know oh, this may make somebody uncomfortable let me take this one, or, I understand why we're not getting what we're trying to get out of this deliverable, and it's because this person doesn't feel.

Connected or they don't feel like they understand the material or whatever that may be. 'cause we write, we are communicators, we write a lot of things and sometimes they're like, Hey, write this. And you don't know anything about what you're writing. You gotta

Alexa Beavers: get curious. Yeah.

Kelly Kuecker: Experts. So

Alexa Beavers: What I appreciate about your journey is you've been learning every step of the way, and once you start to practice something like, maybe I shouldn't hold this thing inside. Yeah. It leads to the next lesson.

ying to be somebody I'm not. [: 00:36:00

What you're are is your interdependent. Yep. And your team has your back. And you have their back and your SVP will be like, I need help. And then sometimes you'll be like, I need help. Yeah. And isn't it so nice to go through life? Not by yourself.

Kelly Kuecker: Oh, it's wonderful. I'm not a lone wolf by any means.

I have to have a group of people surrounding me at all times. I am like an extroverted extrovert, for sure.

Alexa Beavers: Yeah. I think you've created a great place for yourself to thrive and to support others in doing that. If you could sum it up in a key takeaway for somebody that's 15 years our junior starting out.

What advice would you have for them?

if you're at your first job, [: 00:37:00

It can, like I pick your brain for a little bit about how you got there. And I'm not saying I'm, at the top of the food chain in our organization. It's wonderful to be able to share and help. I'm a really big, again, creating a network. I think that's so important. 'cause you never know.

Six degrees of separation, right? You never know where that's gonna lead you or, and who you've connected with and why that's important. And I would also say yes to just every opportunity. I'm such a yes person. In fact, sometimes it gets me in trouble 'cause I overextend myself. But I love, like I say yes to a lot of philanthropic stuff.

'cause that's important to me, I say yes to even if something, maybe again, I, it's new at work, I'm like. So here, send it to us. We'd love to figure it out. We're working through ai, right? That's a huge hot topic right now, I think just across many industries, and it's oh, all right, let's, like, how can we figure out how to do this?

ise my hand and try to, test [: 00:38:00

Alexa Beavers: yeah.

Kelly Kuecker: I love to network. I love to meet people. I love to talk, I love to share. And I think saying yes to I speak, locally, and that's brought me such joy, but also brought me such great connections with people. 'cause people reach out and they're like, oh, something you said really resonated, or, yeah. So I rarely say no to opportunities. So

Alexa Beavers: let me say something. You just won an award that we often give in our kind of facilitated sessions. With leaders and stuff, you won the Segway award, which means. We're gonna ask how people can network with you. You're like, make you're the poster child for networking.

Makes a huge difference. People does. And how can people find you?

ully we all are. So I'm just [: 00:39:00

But I love to chat with people. I often people reach out and say, can we have a phone conversation about X, Y, Z? Yep. Absolutely. If I have time I'll do my best to make it happen. 'cause I love to, to talk and share and like I said, you never know. I have to tell you just one funny story about a six degrees of separation before we end, because this is one that failed, but I think it's worth mentioning.

When I was four, my uncle was dating a somewhat famous actress at the time, and I was convinced that I was going to be an actress. As most, gregarious four year olds are, and I remember. He was bringing her to dinner at our house and we lived in a small town in Georgia and my mom had put me in this beautiful, like very buttoned up dress and, be on your best behavior.

And I was like I understood networking at that point. I said, this is, I can't just be in the stress and be like, I have to come out.

Alexa Beavers: This is my moment mom

audition that like, I didn't [: 00:40:00

Night count of my mother's and I had a hat and heels of hers again for, and the door opens and I bust out just singing and dancing ready to meet her. And my uncle was so mortified. He like said hello. We met her and then he turned around and left and we didn't even get to dinner with her. But I tell you what.

I knew about networking then I thought, this is my way into Hollywood. It didn't work out. But that's okay. 'cause not all networking leads you, that wasn't my path. But

Alexa Beavers: what was nice is you were fully, you in that moment. You weren't hiding anything. You were able to be yourself. And I think that.

At the end of the day, you probably slept still pretty good at night because you're like, I took my chance. You had the confidence to take your chance.

Kelly Kuecker: Yeah. Yep. Shoot your shot and see what happens.

Alexa Beavers: Exactly. I really appreciate that we got to spend this time together. I could talk with you for hours and hours.

h base on a couple of things [: 00:41:00

We're getting our masters, we're seeing that job. We're then also switching gears to be fully present with family members who need us most. Yep. Yeah. And dealing with grief and, all of that is life. And it can be exhausting and hard. And you don't have to do it alone. And when you found out that you didn't do it alone. Little glimmers came out, when you started opening other things opened, and that might've been the network at the restaurant, and it might've been the network in action because you were then showing yourself a little bit and asking for help and saying, what do I do? And even when you can't see it, somebody else might see.

ple all around you. And that [: 00:42:00

If you've enjoyed this conversation with Kelly Keker and all that we've learned and this beautiful story she shared with us today about living and transforming. 'cause you're unfiltered in all the best ways, then please tune into Transformation unfiltered on your favorite podcast platform.

We'll see you next time.