Everyone Has A Story

I attended the Southeast Entrepreneurship Conference this past Friday and Saturday and was very impressed with the speakers and content. The one common denominator with all of the speakers was simply that they all had a story to tell on how they got from point A to point B. Some were stories of how they started their business while others were stories on how they came up with ideas, concepts or came to work for the company that now employs them.

Everyone has a story that makes them unique and memorable. By telling your story people will remember you. You will make a lasting impression whether it’s business related or leisure and if you don’t mind I want to share my story. This is something that I have never fully done, but am now ready to do.

My story, although I find boring and maybe a little sad, is a unique one. It’s a story that starts with a dead end job, loss and then the path to kicking ass and becoming as successful as I can. My story is not complete because I’m only a few steps down the path, but I would love to share some of it with you.

October 2006 I was teaching Preschool (and loving the job) for sometimes more than 12 hours a day. I loved the kids in my class. I was a damn good teacher, my kids were loved no matter who they were, what they wore or what they did (good or bad). Of course there were the challenging kids, but sometimes those become the favorites that we were not supposed to admit that we had.

Aside from teaching Preschool I was a typical 25 year old in Arnold, MO; going out on the weekends with friends to the local pub, bar or even into the city to hit up some clubs. I loved being around people, making them laugh, meeting new people and having a good time. This all literally changed in the matter of moments with a phone call saying my Grandma had passed away. This was the first death in my family that hit me hard, but thankfully just a week before I had flown down to Florida to surprise her for her 80th Birthday. That week was one of the most important weeks in my life.

We talked a lot that week about family, her past, my future and recipes (because what Italian family doesn’t talk about cooking?). I was my Grandma’s Princess, so it was hard to get that call and pack back up to head back to Florida to say my final goodbye. I changed when that happened. I started playing things safe. I thought before I reacted to things. I started to become a person no one would recognize.

That Christmas which was only just a few months later, my whole family was finally all together, My Mom, Dad, two brothers and myself. I stayed for two weeks doing the whole family thing. I remember one of my bosses telling me that I should do a Daddy/Daughter day while I was down here so I did. My Dad and I were very close and had always had the same smart ass sense of humor and attitude which meant most of the time we got along, but sometimes we would butt heads. Once again I had no idea how important that trip would be.

A month after I got back to St. Louis I ended up very sick. Sicker than I had ever been. Sick to the point where they were asking if I had a Will and who they could talk to. I had been rushed to the hospital with a blood oxygen level of 79. I was scared to death. I had no idea what was going on. I was being poked, prodded, my shirt was literally ripped off of me and heart monitors were placed all over my chest. I was there alone. No family, my friends were briefly notified and I was terrified. I was dating a guy and he seriously thought that it was a lie and it was my way if telling him I didn’t want to date him since we had a date planned for that night.

I had never felt so alone in my life and that does something to a person. With so many friends and family and to still feel alone? It’s not a good feeling. I had 3 visitors the entire time I was there. My dear friend Chrissy visited me after work and even brought me some pajamas on her way to work. She kept me company and kept me occupied for a while. My diagnosis was pneumonia. I was coughing up blood and the doctor said if I had waited any longer I would have most likely died in my sleep. My fingertips were blue and purple. I was very sick. At 25 they almost sent me home with an oxygen tank. I missed two full weeks of work and even more in the months it took to recover.

That was in February of 2007 and that’s when I stopped living my life. Pneumonia scared the shit out of me. I was afraid to get sick, in other words I was traumatized. I kept getting sick, had to see specialists and it sucked. During this time I stopped going out and pretty much shut myself off from the real world and immersed myself into a Virtual World called Second Life. I became intrigued with the platform and how real world businesses were using it to brand products and services. I ended up getting a REAL job in this virtual setting creating branding and marketing campaigns for businesses.

In Second Life I couldn’t get sick. In Second Life it didn’t matter that all of the steroids I was on for months had made me gain weight. It didn’t matter what I did or who I was at all in the real world because at this point I was Sadie Pippita, Brand Strategist. I got to do AWESOME things like organize virtual fashion shows to raise real money for Breast Cancer Awareness, throw concerts with real performers to raise money for Relay For Life and so much more. It was amazing.

By July of 2007 I was fully healthy and kind of going back out and doing things with friends. I was still teaching, but getting ready to quit one of my teaching jobs so I could  focus on my Second Life branding job.

I finally quit one of my jobs and went full time teaching a new group of kids. My first day with my new class was August 20, 2007. Why do I remember that day? That’s the day I got a phone call telling me that my Dad had passed away. That’s also the day that my world came to a crashing halt. It hadn’t been a year since the death of my Grandma and now I was to deal with this? It felt like a cruel joke. It just wasn’t fair. To this day I’m still extremely emotional about my Dad. I miss him because I know he would have been my sidekick in what I am doing now. Much more loss happened in a matter of months; my Aunt passed away, the guy I was seeing turned out to be married, I ended up back in the hospital with pneumonia and then my Nana died.

By February of 2008 I was done, done with St. Louis, done with teaching, done with being sick and done with losing people in my life. In March I packed up a Uhaul, strapped my ’98 GrandAm to the back of it and moved to Florida. I only knew family, but it didn’t matter because I was done with everything. I still had my Second Life job, but that ended a year after me being here. My Mom lost her home to foreclosure and I had to do something quick to start generating money that wasn’t coming in anymore since my Dad passed. Someone had to talk to lawyers, banks and be around during the day and that was me. That’s how I started doing Social Media for other people.

It’s something that I am very much passionate about so I began mentoring and consulting others on it. These led to gigs which eventually led to paying clients which now leads to me writing this blog post after spending an awesome weekend with some of the most amazing people in the Tampa area. I have clients, I get to speak all around the bay area about Twitter, Facebook and many other platforms and continue to stay passionate about my job because it’s only a job if I allow it to be. It’s my life, my world and something I enjoy. It’s what helped me when I felt like there was nothing else in the world to hold on to.

I fell into entrepreneurship and am so happy I did. I hated computers in school, slept during my marketing classes and spent 9.5 years teaching kids ranging from 3-5yrs old. I was determined to be freaking amazing in what I do and that’s easy if it’s something that you love.

I LOVE my life, the people in it and am happy.

You see, I thought I strayed off of my path when in all reality I was on the path all along. It took me going through so much stress, loss and pain to show me that I am a strong woman that can do ANYTHING she sets her mind to do.

So……..

What’s your story?

Social Brand Strategist & Interwebs Addict, Blogger, Lame joke teller, St. Louis Cardinals fan (woot! woot! 2011 Champs!!), Twitterholic, Second Life Resident (Sadie Pippita), entrepreneur, CEO of KiMedia Strategies - Tampa Social Media, Startup Weekend Tampa co-organizer and Chihuahua owner.

Kim has 402 awesome posts.

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