About Me

Hi, I’m Kaytie! Get to know me 🙂

College Educator

During the day I’m a college educator, aka a college academic adviser. I help students plan classes to take for their major and help them plan classes to explore different majors if they’re undecided. I can talk about funding resources to help you pay your way through college, I can have the difficult conversation with your parent about the importance of college and if college is even something you need. You know trade schools are still a thing, right?

I think I’ve had almost every conversation possible regarding college classes and pursuing a college degree. Yes, community colleges are “real college” and they actually help you save money if you’re not solely looking for that university social life experience. Yes, gap years are a thing and I think they are life saving (and money saving). No, I think standardized testing does not accurately reflect who is and is not ready to take college classes (I’ve seen it firsthand).

You get the idea.

That Domestic Lifestyle…

I’m also a full time mother, wife, and dog mom. Straight out of college I got my job as a college academic adviser. Almost a year later I met my partner via an online dating site. Yes, those actually work for some people. It was my first date through the dating site and I can say that site was spot on cause I never went back. I don’t know if I was just lucky or what but I’m definitely grateful. I have a partner who is a feminist, who respects and advocates for me, who treats me like a Queen, and who supports me in everything I do and try.

Throughout our years together we combined households, and by households I mean our dog and cat had to learn to get along and live together. Right before my cat passed away we adopted a dog together. He was my furbaby and therapy pup while I was grieving the cat I spent my entire childhood and adult life with. Yes, I know. She lived a very long life. Skip ahead a couple years and we found out I was pregnant. Surprise! I think we talked about kids once or twice and literally a month later I’m pregnant. I am very fortunate and very lucky. My entire life I grew up around women who were unable to conceive so I am ever more grateful I was able to have an easy and healthy pregnancy from start to finish.

Now my partner and I are navigating parent life and the 24/7 surprises, heart melts, and more it introduces.

Professional Development and Hobbies

I am a part time podcaster and blogger. Sometimes I find that being in my particular job for 5+ years starts to become too comfortable. I want to be challenged, to learn and grow new skills. That being said, I have looked into as many professional development opportunities as I can at work. I feel like I’m running out of those opportunities, or at least I don’t know of other opportunities. For context, I’ve asked my boss, their boss (Dean), Deans of other departments, the individual who’s in charge of employee engagement and professional development, and other directors and faculty at other colleges across my state. They all gave me ideas and I’ve executed all of them, no joke.

So I thought about blogging and podcasting. Did my research, started slow, Google searched tips on planning ahead, and more. It was definitely a learning curve but I’m so grateful I did it. I feel more fulfilled and I’m excited to add more content. Now, I don’t have any plans of the podcast either being groundbreaking or turning into a social media influence. I have a hard enough time advertising others to listen and subscribe *cringe*. I’m doing this for me, if others want to listen they can.

Disney

I love Disney animated movies… and most Disney content, if I’m being honest. I also love superhero shows and movies (I’m sorry but I like DC superheroes a little more than Marvel superheroes).

People at work and in my masters degree program all knew me as the Disney person. The person to go to about anything and everything Disney. It seemed weird at first to only be known for one thing but later on I attended a workshop where we had to mention things about ourselves in an icebreaker. I purposely didn’t talk about Disney. Later on I came across someone who also attended that workshop and they said, “oh I remember! You’re Kaytie! You eat pie a lot.”. And I was like…. “uhm… yes… yes I am.”. Wow, how did they remember that? Why that specific thing? Do I prefer to be known as the Disney fan or the pie eater? These are hard decisions, but I choose Disney.

As part of my masters degree program I created a professional development workshop on the social oppressions of Disney villains in Disney princess films. It gained a lot of ground fast. Faculty, staff, and administrators found it fun and different. It became the new thing to mention wherever you go. My coworker mentioned going to a job interview at another college and mentioning the workshop. That hiring committee, at another college, knew about my workshop! I was in awe.

It’s also what gave me the idea to make a podcast. There’s a lot of Disney specific podcasts out there but I haven’t found one that talks about the topics I talk about in mine.

More, More, More!

If you read all of this, wow, thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to read bits of my story. There’s a lot more to read in between the lines which I plan to blog about in the future. Thank you for visiting!