Meet katie
This lovely young lady is a traveling model, and I met her when she came to Memphis for photoshoots. Our shoot went really well. I loved just about every photo making it hard to narrow them down. After her shoot we started chatting about life, and it turned into an easy 3 hour conversation. After I finished editing her images I thought she would be great for the Project Strength interviews.
1) Please share a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do, and what are your passions?
I am born and raised in Tyler, TX with is far east Texas. I grew up with a few different interests but the one that I fell in love with the most was modeling and acting. As I like to say my first love was modeling, specifically runway and editorial work which allowed for a balance of discipline but also creativity. My new found purpose is helping others overcome and grow into their best self. I’ve begun my journey as a holistic nutritionist and personal trainer provide the best advice and service for people. I also have utilized my own person experiences to spread awareness about abuse and the different forms it can take via my book.
2) In your own words, what does strength mean to you? Please feel encouraged to use personal examples of situations in your life where you were required to demonstrate your strength.
I think stretch is a lot of things and comes in different forms. Strength doesn’t mean you never cry or show emotion, to me that shows fear. Strength to me is resilience, being knocked down but getting back up, having courage and bravery to try something, watch it fail and try again or try something new. True strength is following your dreams!
3) What would you describe as the source of your strength?
In all honestly I’m not sure where my strength comes from. But if I look back at my life and analyze it, as a kid my strength came from my anger. I was observant, bullied, abused and neglected. I had a sense that I deserved something better and I’d beat it out of you if I had to. Later as my life continued I realized violence and anger wasn’t the answer to all my problems, it was only curating the exact life I was desperate to get away from. I had something to cling to though, something that gave me a purpose and I was able to see that. My purpose was proving my own worth to myself through my work and desire to help other people. My strength truly comes from within myself and so does yours! You just have to find it.
4) What keeps you from giving up?
My answer to not giving up is simple. I don’t want to and people expect me to.
5) Please share something that you never imagined you have the strength to do but you managed to accomplish anyway?
I think there are a lot of thing that at one time or another I lost sight of, felt depleted and thought wouldn’t come true. I had a lot of people try to make me believe I was worthless, wouldn’t ever make it or make anything of myself and I proved to myself that I can do anything by not giving up. I never expected to write a book, I just wanted to write my truth. I never thought I’d have the impact that I do on people and I can say now with all of me, all certainty that I am a pillar of so much within my community and that’s absolutely priceless.
