Millennial Moment — Kay-Ten

Meet Kristen and Eileen of Kay-ten! It is a platform that women can come to, whenever they need a friendly reminder that they are allowed to feel imperfect as they gather advise to be more loving to themselves.

1 | Tell me about your company… What does your company do?

KAY-TEN is a lifestyle brand aimed to empower the everyday woman to have a healthy relationship with herself. We inspire women to be comfortable in their own skin, empowering them to love themselves wholeheartedly and to cultivate self-love. We do this by providing resources on personal development, relationship and home tips because we believe these are the core essentials that make up a fulfilling life. As someone who has struggled with certain insecurities myself and still do from time to time, I am hoping to build a platform where I can share my personal journey with women who struggle with the same things. Kay-ten is a place where women can come to, whenever they need a friendly reminder that they are allowed to feel imperfect as they gather advise to be more loving to themselves.

2 | How long have you been wanting to inspire women?

I started my journey of inspiring women by chance, 5 years ago when I was living in Armenia with the Peace Corps. Before joining the Peace Corps, I’ve never lived abroad, never traveled much and I felt that I was living in a bubble. I had this deep longing to see the world and stretch myself as an individual. So I took the leap in 2013 and spent three years of my life living in Armenia. During this time, I was assigned to work with a group of women entrepreneurs consulting them in their small business. I primarily helped them with marketing their products overseas but I soon realized that although they had a lot of great potential, they were limiting themselves by the negative things they said to themselves. Because I struggle with the same thing and was away from family and friends, I spent a good amount of time reading a lot of personal development books during this time. That was when I realized that by helping myself get over these issues, I in turn was helping my community and that was when I realized that I had deep passion to teach women what I’ve learned and also help them through their journey of self-acceptance, self-love and personally development.

3 | What are some challenges you have faced being an entrepreneur?

Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely journey and there are days when I can also have self-doubt with my progress and question whether or not I am doing the right things in terms of growing my business. For example, I wouldn’t consider myself a very tech-savvy person but throughout my journey, I had to teach myself things I wouldn’t normally have to do had I worked for a corporation. Since I’m not working for someone else, I don’t have a clear path as to what I have to do in order to get to my destination. Entrepreneurship is a lot of self-navigating. Which may be going down the wrong path and realizing it half way through and having to turn back. There’s been many times where I feel that I don’t know what I’m doing but I just have to figure it out. Another great challenge for me being an entrepreneur is being comfortable with taking risks. There’s no certainty in a lot of things that I do and that means there’s a lot of times where I have to master my emotions and negative thoughts and remind myself it’s part of the process.

4 | How much has social media impacted your business?

Social media plays a large role in my business. In fact, I’m able to connect with my audience on a grander scale and I am able to reach more people than I could without it. To be honest, when I first came back to the States after living in a small town, I thought that social media was a negative thing. I felt that people were constantly on their phones and they lost touch with humanity. However, my thoughts have changed after I saw how beneficial social media could be when you choose to make social media work FOR you. And that can be in all aspects of your life. I think that it’s all in the way you use social media. I have been able to connect with a lot of people since I started my business. For example, if it hadn’t been for Instagram, I wouldn’t have been able to meet you in person and get to know you. In addition, I was blown away by how many women messaged me privately to tell me that they are also going through the same struggles. I feel that social media gives you the opportunity to put yourself out there, build relationships across the world instead of limiting yourself to just one area.

5 | What motivated you to take the leap and start your own brand?

I probably had the chance to take this leap a dozen times in the past but the main contributing factor to me finally taking the plunge was when I watched a video on fear and it hit me like a ton of bricks that God forbid if I were to die tomorrow, I would have missed out on a dream that I’ve been telling myself I needed to do for a while. I wish I had a more dramatic story to tell you, but sometimes I feel that inspiration can be manifested in small ways such as watching a video or reading someone’s post/blog. I also believe that this is what motivates me to do what I do. I have had women message me telling me how they resonate with my story and it surprises me because I never thought twice about my personal story. When I step back to think about it though, I too have been inspired by those that I see on social media and I have been the one doing the messaging. Therefore, if I could change just one person’s life or inspire just one person, it would make what I’m doing meaningful to me. With that being said, one of my favorite quotes that I try to live by is this: “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”- Mark Twain

6 | What advice can you give to your fellow millennial entrepreneurs?

I’m fairly new in my entrepreneurial journey but if I were to give my two cents to someone who’s thinking of starting their own business/brand. I’d say, do it and stop overanalyzing over the details, go with your gut and dive head in.

When I first started my brand, I did a lot of overthinking. Instead of using my energy for implementation I would spend days thinking whether or not my message was good enough, or whether or not people would accept my message. I created stories in my head about what people would say about my venture, when really it didn’t matter in the big picture. This was something I was going to do anyway, so it didn’t help that I was putting myself down. I think what’s scary for me the most is that It’s so easy for me to say this because I actually need to heed my own advice but I’ve spent a lot of time in the beginning worrying and over-analyzing my plan of action when really all I needed to do is just do it. You’re going to fail God knows how many times. There will be nights where you have self-doubt, you question what you got yourself into but at the end of the day, you just got to keep pushing forward.

7 | Who is your biggest influencer or inspiration?

My biggest influencer is Lewis Howes. I first learned about him through his ‘School of Greatness’ podcast when I was living abroad and i was HOOKED. I was so addicted to each episode and I just agreed with everything he was trying to convey. He interviews a variety of inspirational thought leaders each week and I felt that I learned so much more about life listening to his podcasts than I did my years attending university. He opened my eyes to the possibility of an online business and I have him to thank for my personal journey.

8 | Tell me about your “you are enough” mirrors?

Truth be told, when I first came back from Armenia, I fell into a deep depression. I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror because I was so unhappy with myself. I felt unworthy, not good enough and I was just super focused on achieving external things, thinking that it would help me feel happier about myself. Basically I was trying to put cake on top of shit. (which never works in the long run by the way) I learned during this dark time that true happiness must first be generated from the inside. Which is what motivated me to create kay-ten to begin with. I knew that there must be other women out there, that felt the same way as I did, were super hard on themselves and weren’t given the tools to heal themselves. I did a lot of soul searching and mirror work during this time, in order for me to lift myself up again, which included a lot of meditation, affirmations and surrounding myself with the right people. My goal with these mirrors is to send the same message. What helped me heal was facing myself ( I was my biggest enemy at the time) and in more ways or not, most people’s biggest hurdle is themselves

9 | Do you have any promos that Bossfidence Babes can use to get your mirror?

YES! I am giving 50% OFF my mirrors until January 7. I’ve got a new shipment in, and I really need your help to make a huge influx in sales. I’m honestly not making any profit by giving 50% off, but I’m hoping this promotion will raise more awareness towards my mirrors ESPECIALLY the message I’d like to share behind it. And of course, Valentine’s Day is my mom’s favorite holiday and as a dedication to her, I really just want women around the world to be able to enjoy themselves during this time without having to feel bad that they don’t have a Valentine. Cause YOU ARE ENOUGH! Girl, there’s no need to feel bad because you can STILL get dolled up without a man and have a great time with your girlfriends. Don’t want to go out on Valentine’s Day? Than you can spend a relaxing evening at home, candles lit, mask on face and I’ll probably come over too and we can Netflix and chill together.