We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayte Demont a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kayte, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
This one comes from my parents, specifically my dad. My dad is also a people-loving, empathetic, passionate and silly individual. He’s always taught me that giving back (in his case often financially as he’s a fundraising consultant for non-profits), was the most important He also taught me that relationships are what gets you furthest in life and if I were to learn anything from him, it was to do something I loved so I never felt like it was WORK.
Aside from the fact that we look eerily similar to each other, I think what I really inherited the most from him was his focus on people and relationships. I’m proud and grateful for the fact that both of my parents like hosting and taking care of people. On the surface that might look like elaborate parties or campaigns, but ultimately, we really just want people to feel accepted and included. We want people to feel loved.
To me, that is extremely generous (especially in the world we live in now), and it’s truly what drives me in both my personal and professional life. Ultimately, my goal is for people to feel like they have found a brand and a community that accepts them and welcomes them for who they are. If I can be that for even one person, I feel like I’ve succeeded.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’ve been in the creative and social media world since it became a thing. Through trial, error, and straight-up hustle, I was able to build several brands throughout my career thus far. However, when the pandemic hit, I knew I needed to pivot and incorporate a different passion: helping people feel good about themselves. Thus, WCKD Collective was born.
Put simply, our mission is to help people discover themselves through personal styling, slow living, and a true community. Many of our people identify as queer and never had a safe space to explore their appearance. Many of our people identify as cishet and just want to be more creative with their self-expression. The diversity of our inclusive community makes me exceptionally happy and I believe that creating spaces like this can change the world.
We just brought on a second stylist that’s available to help with personal styling and outfit curation! Both online and in person!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
How to communicate with people and express empathy. At the end of the day, we are all just trying to do our best and how you approach a situation can be a make or break.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I’m currently looking for anyone who wants to get into content creation or fashion to join our WCKD Collective ambassador program! We’re also open to any other forms of collaboration, specifically in the LGBTQ community. No experience necessary!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://wckdcollective.com
- Instagram: @wckdcollective
- Facebook: facebook.com/wckdcollective
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaytedemont/
- Youtube: youtube.com/wckdcollective
- Other: Tiktok – @wckdcollective
Image Credits
Nish Rahman, JADE, Tenessa Thomas, Michael Tucker
