Trusting imagination to create change In early 2020, Lea Ketchum, now a trainer and mindset coach, found herself on the path of self-sabotage until she decided to change without looking back. She stopped drinking, started eating well and found her voice, a life partner and community. Ketchum started working out 30 minutes a day but soon realized that working out didn’t automatically fix everything — instead, it was a catalyst to eating better, feeling better and becoming more comfortable connecting with others. “My ability to dream and believe the impossible was integral in my life’s transformation,” Ketchum says. “I saw a woman who was at peace, happy, healthy, energetic, full of love, successful, financially free and so much more. I knew she was within me, because I imagined her existence, and I chose to do everything in my power to make her a reality.” Ketchum also recognizes that this transformation is never over. “As long as I live, there will always be more to learn, heal and grow with,” Ketchum says. “When we become comfortable, we stop making progress.” Business owner Lori Kendall also started a job in December 2019. She says she reached a new level in her life and career trajectory after starting sobriety in 2017. In March 2020, Kendall was laid off, which was like watching her hero’s journey crash and burn. After months of disappointment in her job search, she realized she was the only business owner who would always have her best interests in mind.
Lea Ketchum Kendall started Brand + Design + Create by using her imagination to propel the concept and business plan, taking a thought and slowly turning it into a reality. “(Creating my business) was scary,” Kendall says. “But also, it had that element of satisfaction, whenever you push yourself and find out what you can do.” She likens the first year of business to making the first pancake. “The first pancake is always messy and all over the place,” Kendall says. “But you have to make that first one, in order to get these nice, beautiful, well-made ones later.” Another Austinite, Samantha Connors, says March 2020 was a dark time with an uncertain future. As a health and wellness professional and lifelong competitive swimmer, she left her job at a sauna studio and changes came quickly — new jobs as a swim coach and real estate agent, a wedding and a new house. She hired a fitness and nutrition coach to get back on track. “I used to strive for happiness, but just as sadness and anger are fleeting emotions, so is happiness,” Connors says. “To be and feel whole is an entirely different concept… 2020 definitely made me reevaluate what and who was most important.”
Samantha Connors
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