Meet Shay Kent

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shay Kent. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shay, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

Nervously I waited for him to answer to phone. It was 7:45 in the morning, a time I never saw unless I stayed up all night. I was a 25 year old college drop out waiting tables and partying my life away while simultaneously searching for my purpose and a career I wanted to start.

“Hello, this is Paul,” the voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Hi Paul, it’s Shay. Uh.. Thank you for offering me the management position at the restaurant, but I won’t be able to take it. In fact, I quit. I’m sorry I won’t be back in.” My heart was pounding hard, ‘did I just seriously blow up my life?’ I wondered.

I needed that job, I was broke.

I knew that what I needed more than a job right now, was a career that I loved. One that I has always longed to be in and yet felt that it was out of my real of reality.

I burned the bridge, so to speak. There was no going back, no more playing it “safe” making decisions from a place of “this is how it should be” to a place of “I’m going to make my dreams happen, no matter what.”

A few hours later I was at the Colorado Film School enrolling in their BFA program. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. What I did know was that if I had said yes to the management position, then that’s as good as my life was going to get. I would be in a job I didn’t like forever.

My desire to follow my dreams of working on TV and Movie sets outweighed my desire to “stay safe” any longer. Staying safe had gotten me a job that barely allowed me to scrape by, a small apartment I shared with a roommate and a longing to do something different with my life.

Over the years I have found time and time again that when I take a calculated risk that is in alignment of my true desires that it all works out in the end. I have had to create a strong trust in myself to follow my desires through the risks to enjoy the rewards.

PS- My first job out of film school was on AMC’s The Walking Dead, followed by American Idol, Mythbusters and feature films starring Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Stop dreaming about your dream life and start creating it! Shay Kent is dedicated to inspiring 1 million women to start living their dream lives now. When you increase your trust in yourself, live authentically, are bold, brave and charismatic you will uplevel your life in ways that you only thought as fantasy. Her book, ‘She Is You: Unleash The Confident Successful Woman Within’ is a great first step for those looking to embrace their inner greatness in a slower paced manner. For women who want guided results faster, She Is You The Course is available. It is a self-paced online learning system designed to help you become the successful, well-rounded individual you envision for your future.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Tenacity- Following your dreams can take time and failures will happen. Never giving up is the catalyst for success. A simple mindset shift from thinking when you don’t get the outcome that you wanted you have failed, is really just learning. You’ve learned what’s not effective in getting to that goal. Pivot, re-adjust and go again. You don’t fail if you learn something.

2. Unwavering Faith In Self- There will be people in your life who will say things like, “That’s a big dream, are you sure you want to try that?” to more bluntly saying, “You can’t do that. That’s unrealistic.” What they are really communicating to you is that THEY cannot do what you are doing. These statements have nothing to do with you or your abilities. They are insecurities of the person saying them. Don’t let that derail you.

3. Community- Seek out other like minded people and spend time with them. Go to networking events, join associations, get a mentor and do whatever you need to in order to fill your life with people who are doing what you want to be doing, who are a few steps ahead of you and who will motivate and inspire you.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

As a new mom and business owner there are definitely times when I feel completely overwhelmed. As if the next next DM or email is going to completely push me over the edge, where even checking my FaceBook page seems overly draining. I work diligently at avoiding getting to this state by making sure to get sunshine on my face daily, go to the beach and put my toes in the sand or decompressing with a book and a hot tea at night.

Sometimes though, like when I’m in the middle of a book launch, my self-care tactics fly out the window and I’m running on coffee fumes. That’s when I take a solo weekend vacation. My amazing husband takes on solo-parenting and I disappear for a few days to unplug, get a massage, eat some tasty food and catch up on sleep.

The best advice I can give you, is to do whatever fills you back up. For me it’s disconnecting and having quiet. Some people like to do extreme sports, or run marathons, or see live music. What works for others may not work for you and that’s ok. Find whatever makes you feel the most like yourself and do more of it.

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Image Credits

Anna Faiola

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