Dennis
Hi there. Welcome to Uncommon Convos. I’m Dennis VanDerGinst. Unfortunately, my co-host Dana Watkins is not here today. She’s a little under the weather, so let’s all hope she feels better soon.

Dennis
Before I introduce our guest, I’d like to remind you all to do us a huge favor. And please be sure to register, subscribe and review Uncommon Convos on your favorite podcast platform. It’s completely free and we’d be so grateful. So now I’d like to introduce you to my good friend Kimberly Kurtenbach Furness.

Dennis
Kim is a professional actress, producer and director who’s worked on over sixty stage plays, twelve feature films, three TV shows and numerous commercials, over the course of the last twenty five years. She won Best Supporting Actress in 2020 from the Iowa Motion Picture Association and worked on two Emmy nominated documentary films as an executive producer and casting director.

Dennis
She’s a creative soul who loves to educate and entertain through storytelling, performance, teaching, caregiving in entrepreneurship.

Dennis
She’s passionate about mentoring and coaching kids of all ages on personal development and leadership skills and empowering women to be survivors in overcomers, and she herself has survived ovarian cancer. She is an adjunct professor of theater, an ordained minister, a scuba diver, a lounge singer, a former karaoke deejay, a clarinet player, a world traveler, writer, network marketing entrepreneur. And there’s so much more, and I’m sure we’ll get to it all. I mean, that’s a mouthful Kim, how are you doing today?

Kim
I’m good. Hearing that out loud, Dennis. That’s a long list.

Dennis
That’s a long list. A very accomplished list. So you ought to be very proud of it. And you know, the name of this podcast is Uncommon Convos. And the hope is to have conversations that are a bit out of the ordinary. So, you know, by by listening to that list and I can personally vouch that Kim is a bit out of the ordinary. And I mean I mean that in a good way, though. So, so now, you know, I’ve run down some of the obviously the vital statistics, but I want the audience to get to know you even better. Kind of like you’re going out on a date for the first time with the audience.

Kim
Ok.

Dennis
And and there are really four areas of inquiry that I think are necessary in order to do that. First of all, there’s Creative Kim. Then there is Business Kim, then there’s Survivor Kim. And then there is what I would like to refer to as Inspirational Kim. And I know that a lot of these aspects of Kim are interrelated and overlapped. But let’s let’s start by talking about Creative Kim first. You’re an actor, singer, writer, director, all that crap that I just outlined.

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
All that crap.

Kim
That’s right.

Dennis
So so when and how did this illness begin for you? I mean, when did you get that bug?

Kim
Oh, my goodness. Well, I was oddly enough, I was, oh gosh. I don’t know, probably eight years old. And I was watching Jaws at eight years old with my mother. And I just remember watching this film and watching the scene where all of the, all of the guys, it’s like Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, and they’re there in the boat and they’re talking and singing and and they just looked like they were having so much fun.

Kim
And I remember I turned to my mom and I said, I want to do that. And she was like…

Dennis
You want to be eaten by a shark?

Kim
Exactly. She’s like, you want to be a sailor, you want to be captain of the boat? And I said, no, I want to do what they’re doing. I want to be an actor. And so it’s very strange, Jaws of all movies. I probably shouldn’t have even been watching Jaws at 8 years old.

Dennis
Yeah, I was going to say, that’s some good mothering, mom.

Kim
I know, exactly. But nonetheless, that was it. That was how it started. And so she got me into Davenport Junior Theater, which is a wonderful program here for young kids that are interested in acting. And that was really where I started. And then when I was about 16 years old, because I, I loved it so much and she could see that I was very passionate about it, I auditioned for a high school for the performing arts out in Southern California, and I was accepted and got a scholarship.

Kim
And so when I was 15, almost 16, I went to California to go to this, this college prep school for artists. And and it was great. It was it was life changing truly for me. And that was really what what started it in.

Dennis
And that was Idlewild School of Music and the Arts?

Kim
Yup. It’s called Idlewild Arts now. But when I went, the school was only about three years old at the time, and it was called the Idlewild School of Music in the Arts, or we lovingly called it ISOMATA.

Dennis
OK, well, I think you might be the only person I know that has actually gone to a boarding school, you know, having grown up in a trailer park I didn’t know too many people like that. But, you know, I envision it like Hogwarts, except only for, you know, music and performance rather than wizardry and magic. Is that is that what it was like?

Kim
That was exactly what it was like. Absolutely. It was. It really was. I to this day, I tell people it was the two, two of the best years of my life because of the friendships that I made there. Those are lifelong friendships. I continue to be in touch with all of those people. It was up on a mountain. And so it was a beautiful place to be creative. And the kids were from all over. So I was the only Midwest girl from Iowa.

Kim
My roommate was from Utah. There were people from Japan, China, Germany. They were from all over these, you know, just very talented kids that were all very sure at a young age that they wanted to pursue this professionally in their future. So it really was it was just and the teachers, you know, they they became like your family. So, you know, we lived there. We had curfews, the resident dorm parents and the faculty were, were our were our family.

Kim
And so it really was a unique experience. And I am fully aware of what a blessing it was to be able to go there.

Dennis
Now, you know I mentioned, Hogwarts. But actually what I, what really comes to mind when I when I envision this is that whole scene from Fame. You know, when they’re I think they’re at an arts school as well.

Kim
Yes. Yes.

Dennis
So how were the days spent there? I mean, I imagine you still had to do, you know, the the reading, writing and arithmetic. But how do you, how do you divide that up as far as the arts?

Kim
So it was exactly like Fame. In fact, I remember watching that show as a child and thinking it was so cool. So when the opportunity came for me to audition for the school, I jumped at it because that’s what I had in my head. It was going to be like Fame. And so and that’s exactly what it was. It was a really rigorous program.

Kim
We would start at about 7 a.m. We were in the cafeteria, you had a half hour to eat by 7:30 you were in classes. So we did all of our academic classes from like 7:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Then we’d get like a half hour to an hour for lunch. And then after that we would start, start all of our arts classes. So we’d do, you know, singing and dance and acting and, you know, music theory. And we’d do that till about five o’clock and then we’d have about an hour for dinner and then at around six you would start rehearsals for whatever show you were working on or whatever.

Kim
And there were kids from different majors. So I was a theater and musical theater major, but there was the music department, the dance department, creative writing department. So you were, you were working with artists from all the different disciplines, you know, and so then we’d be in rehearsals till usually around nine o’clock and then from 9:00 until 10:00, 10:30, you would do your homework, you know, try to get your squeeze your homework in.

Kim
Because the academics were shortened, we had to go to school on Saturdays. So Saturdays we’d have a half day of academics as well to kind of make up for the fact that we didn’t have full academic days during the week. So Sunday was our only day off and they kept us quite busy. And then on top of it, we had a curfew. So we’d have to be, you know, if you were in honor dorm, that was like the really smart, overachieving kids. If you were in honor dorm, you could stay up until like 11:30.

Dennis
Do, you, you were asleep by nine then, right?

Kim
Exactly. I was not in honor dorm.

Dennis
Oh I was just teasing. I kind of presumed you were.

Kim
I was not, I was not. I had a few dalliances with the law, Dennis.

Dennis
Oh. Uh oh.

Kim
Yeah, no, I had, a me and a couple of my friends had snuck out one night and so we got reprimanded and, you know, told to get back to our dorms. And yeah, I was, I was demoted to regular dorm for the bad kids.

Dennis
Oh, wow. So out of curiosity, do you remember what your audition was or what you did for your audition?

Kim
Oh, my gosh, that is such a great question.

Dennis
Oh well thank you.

Kim
I don’t, I, I remember a, I did a monologue. I think the monologue was from Steel Magnolias. And then I sang a song, and I believe I sang a song from Gypsy, the musical Gypsy.

Dennis
Mm hmm.

Kim
And and, you know, I auditioned and I did not think, I did not think for a minute I was going to get into this school. I did it sort of on a whim. My aunt had told me about this school. It was a very, very competitive school. And she said, let’s just take you up there and have you audition. And so I did it really just for fun. And then within about a month, I got a letter saying that, that I was accepted. It was not, my family did not have a lot of money. It was absolutely unaffordable for us.

Kim
And so I was very fortunate. I was offered a good-sized scholarship and then my aunt and my uncle helped out with my tuition as well. So it was kind of a family effort to get me, to get me there.

Dennis
Yeah, well, you know, you and I have spoken before about the fact that sometimes you seem to get typecast. You know, it would be perfectly appropriate if you did some, something from Gypsy as a stripper that, you know, I think I think, she’s always a tart or a bitch or something. I don’t know why that is.

Kim
I’m always a drunk or a slut or something along those lines.

Dennis
So anyway, so you leave, you leave there and you go to to Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, is that right?

Kim
Yeah. Yeah.

Dennis
What were you studying there? I mean, I mentioned that you played clarinet. Were you there trying to learn more about clarinet?

Kim
No, no, no. I gave up, I gave up the clarinet in eighth grade because I wanted to be a cheerleader and I couldn’t do band and be a cheerleader. So I gave up my my clarinet days. But no, when I, So being at ISOMATA, it was a college prep school. And so one of the great things about it was that they, they really helped you to, to navigate looking for a college or looking for a university that you were going to go to to continue to pursue your your career in the arts.

Kim
And so I applied at like ten different schools, all very high elite programs for the arts at NYU, UCLA, the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where I attended, Juilliard, which was where I really wanted to go. And oh gosh, there was like, Boston Conservatory. Anyway, I got into all of them, except Juilliard, the one that I really wanted to go to. I auditioned for them and they told me, come back in five years when you have some life experience.

Kim
But Cincinnati at that time, and still is, the top musical theater school in the country, very select. Thousands of kids audition. They took twenty two kids that year and I was one of them. So at the time, I didn’t I wasn’t even for sure that I wanted to pursue musical theater, but it was such a great school that I knew I would be a fool not to go. So that was it. I, I was in and I was off to study musical theater at Cincinnati.

Dennis
But then you left and you went to St. Ambrose before you were done that in Cincinnati, right? Why was that? Were you missing Iowa so much?

Kim
Yeah, no. Well, yeah, kind of. So my parents, my parents divorced during this time and I have, I’m the oldest of four girls and my sisters and my family were in Iowa. And I just remember feeling like I, I wanted to be closer to them during this time. It was kind of a tumultuous time. And so I had been at Cincinnati. I was there for like a year and a half. And I just decided I was going to take a semester off. I was going to come home and and just be with my family.

Kim
And I came home and then I decided to stay longer. I actually got cast in a film, and that was what kind of took me from musical theater to the film industry. That was what made me more interested in starting to pursue film. And so I got cast in this film while I was here in Iowa. And and at the time I thought, well, I don’t want to not keep going to school.

Kim
So I auditioned at St. Ambrose thinking, well, maybe I’ll do a year at Ambros and I fell in love with it. It was a liberal arts program. They had a wonderful theater department. It was a small department. I was able to do more than just musical theater. I was able to do radio, TV, and of course, stage theater. And because I was kind of a big fish in a small pond there, I just had the opportunity to do a lot.

Kim
I was cast in every show and I just grew tremendously, not just as an actor, but in other aspects. So stage management, directing, producing. I just got to dabble in a lot more and loved it so much, I stayed.

Dennis
And I know that in addition to, to that concentration when you were in school, you are also a minor in theology, right?

Kim
Yes.

Dennis
And we mentioned that you’re an ordained minister. And I want to talk about your faith down the line here, because I know it’s an important part of your life.

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
But before we get to that. So what was the dream? You, you were hooked here with performing. You’ve done, you know, the stage stuff. You’ve got access to film. And then you had all this access in in college and all these opportunities. What what was it that you were dreaming of, of becoming or being? And then how has that dream evolved over time?

Kim
So I was dreaming of being Meryl Streep that that was my dream.

Dennis
Me too.

Kim
Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted, I wanted to I think, like a lot of kids today, you know, they all want to be YouTube stars. And for me at that time, I wanted to stand on that stage and hold an Oscar and give my Academy Award speech. And and so that was that was the dream at the time. How it’s evolved has been just a crazy journey.

Kim
I mean, I think that dream is still there. You know, I, you know, I certainly wouldn’t say no to any opportunity that would lead me down that path. But in doing, in dabbling in so many different things, I’ve really just, I fell in love with a lot of other aspects of the entertainment industry. I really fell in love with producing. I loved working, I knew I loved working with artists. I love, artists are amazingly interesting people.

Kim
And I loved working with them. And I really fell in love with television and film and and storytelling in general. And as an actor, you’re telling a story, but it’s limited to, you know, your character. As a producer or director, you’re, you’re telling the story on a on a bigger scale. And I really fell in love with with that aspect of it. So I’ve just, you know, over the course of my professional career, I just say I’m kind of a Renaissance woman.

Kim
I’ve been really fortunate to do a little bit of it all. And, yeah, and so that’s I guess what, yeah, that’s the path it’s been.

Dennis
And I know that path also took you back away from Illinois and Iowa, back to L.A. and Hollywood for some period of time. What was it that brought you to L.A.? I mean, obviously more opportunities, or it would seem to be more ideal. And when was that and what did you do when you were there?

Kim
Great. So after I graduated from St. Ambrose, I at that time was my my plan was to do musical theater and to do some film, and Chicago seemed like the best option at that time. It was close enough to home and and, you know, there was a lot of opportunity there. So I went to Chicago first, spent three years there and did quite a bit of theater. And I also did my first kind of, not my first but my second independent film while I was in Chicago and worked with a great director out there.

Kim
And I just, the, my, I was, the film bug was starting to take over the stage bug. Also the potential to make money in the TV and film industry is much it’s a much more lucrative path than stage. So I loved I love the stage.

Dennis
This is Business Kim starting to come through right now, but yeah.

Kim
Bingo. Yeah, I just realized I was like, OK, you know what? They’re going to pay me a lot more to do this. And so I decided that if you want to pursue the film industry, you really do, at that time, you really needed to be in Los Angeles. And I loved California. I’d gone to high school there. I had a lot of friends there already.

Kim
So I saved up a lot of money. I was waiting tables, saved up a lot of money. And my boyfriend at the time, he was also interested in pursuing a career out there. And so we packed up a U-Haul truck and we moved across country to Los Angeles. And just by the time we found an apartment, we had like 80 dollars left in our bank account. And it was really, truly a starving artist. And I stayed there for ten years and did quite a bit.

Kim
I got my first agent in Los Angeles. I got my Actor’s Equity card while I was in Los Angeles. I got that working with Garry Marshall, which was really exciting, the late Garry Marshall, who was a wonderful human being. And so I just had a lot of firsts out in L.A. as far as my career went. And I did a lot of commercial work, a lot of voiceover work while I was out there, a couple of little things in TV.

Kim
And but the biggest thing was I started my own theater company while I was out there.

Dennis
And was that Curtain Box?

Kim
Yep, that was the Curtain Box Theater company. And so I started that with four other friends of mine.

Dennis
Well, let’s not go there because now we’re jumping into Business Kim.

Kim
OK. You’re right.

Dennis
I’m going, I’m going to keep you on point with this outline.

Kim
Perfect. Perfect.

Dennis
Because you’ve also stepped into a little inspirational, Kim, which frankly, I think you know, and maybe this isn’t a good thing if there are mothers or fathers out there who have kids who are interested in the arts. I mean, it’s an amazing thing. It’s an adventurous thing to go out to L.A. with eighty bucks in your pocket and, you know, end up there for ten years and try all the different things that you’ve done. I think it is amazing. It inspires me. I think it probably inspires a lot of other people to try new things and you never know what may occur. But of course, if you’re a parent, maybe, hey don’t listen to this podcast, this girl’s a nut.

Kim
That’s true, yeah.

Dennis
But anyway, while you were out there, I know, you know, like most underpaid actors and you mentioned, you know, waitressing and things like that. But I know you’ve done you’ve done some other very strange gigs while you were out there. Tell us tell us a little bit about those.

Kim
While I was in L.A.? Well, let’s see. I, the first thing I did when I got there was I got a job at Starbucks, so I was a barista for about 48 hours. And then I got…

Dennis
You really have that stick-to-it-iveness, right?

Kim
No, Dennis, it’s because, it’s because then I got a call from my temp agency. I had submitted to a temp agency looking for work. And then they, they reached out to me and said, hey, we’ve got a job answering phones at a place. It was a tutoring center in Beverly Hills. And they said it’s just a three day job. You know, you’ll go and answer phones for three days. And so I said, yep, sign me up, I’ll do it.

Kim
So because I wanted to do I wanted more of a nine to five job and Starbucks was like getting up at 4:00 a.m. and I wasn’t a big morning person. And so I took it and it started as three days. And they hired me after three days and said, we want you full time. And and that was it. So I fell into this really great job for this company. And over the eight years I was with them, I went from temp answering phones to the Regional Client Manager of the entire company, working with very high profile clientele.

Kim
So I was working with a lot of celebrities, a lot of athletes, you know.

Dennis
Do some name dropping here.

Kim
Do some name dropping.

Kim
Let’s see, Joe Namath was one of our, one of the guys that I worked with, him and his children.

Dennis
Now just so we’re clear, I don’t know if we clarified this, though. I’m sorry to interrupt, but…

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
This is to arrange tutoring for the children of these high profile celebrities and other folks out in the L.A. area.

Kim
Yeah, exactly. It was an elite service for celebrities whose kids either needed tutoring in a certain subject or home schooling or on set like studio teachers who would come and be on set for kids that were, you know, actors within TV shows and things like that. And so it was really it was really great. And my job was to interview, hire some of the, the teachers that we had and then to sort of play matchmaker. So I would meet with the client and their kid and then we would talk about what their needs were.

Kim
And then I would select the teacher that I thought was going to best equip them for what they needed academically. So it was it was great. I loved it.

Dennis
And you mentioned Joe Namath. So, by the way, those of you who are under 40 years old, he was he was a professional football quarterback. But but I know you worked with some other high profile clients that you’ve mentioned. I think some of them were kind of fun. Who were some of those that you can name? And I know you also had a, you had a you had to strictly adhere to the confidentiality order for a while. But, that’s no longer available. So as your attorney, I’m giving you permission to go ahead and spill the beans here.

Kim
Spill the beans. Yeah. Let’s see. I worked very closely with Damon Wayans and his family, delightful people. Just a really, talk about inspiring. They were very, very inspiring family to work with. And I got to work with all of his kids. As their teacher and also kind of coordinating their home schooling and test prep.

Kim
I got to work with Dakota Fanning, with her family as Dakota was kind of coming up. She was doing a lot of movies. It was when she was very young. So I got to work with her. Some of the teachers that I set her up with continue to work with the Fannings, you know, with as their kids went through school.

Kim
Gosh, we had lots of different clients. You know, I met all of…

Dennis
Anna Nicole.

Kim
Anna Nicole Smith. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Anna Nicole.

Dennis
I know more about her than she knows.

Kim
Yeah, right.

Dennis
You know, I do have to say, it’s kind of fun and funny and difficult to interview someone, you know. And we’ve done a lot of podcast where it’s somebody I know pretty well.

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
It’s harder, I feel, to prepare to do these types of interviews than it is someone you don’t know, because a lot of the, a lot of things I know you know I know. And you know I know I, you know.

Kim
Yes. Yes. I know.

Dennis
And so it’s hard to know, well, what did I actually ask, and what does the audience need to know? But so I know that you worked with Anna Nicole Smith.

Kim
Yes, and I keep, as you’re asking me questions, Dennis, I keep wanting to say, you know this already. Why you asking me this for.

Dennis
Yeah.

Kim
So Anna Nicole Smith. And that was, that was an interesting, an interesting client. And unfortunately, it turned out really tragic, actually, because she she passed away and her son, Daniel, that’s who I really primarily I worked with him some. And then I had a teacher that I had assigned to work with him as well.

Kim
And he was just one of the most lovely, lovely young man, just a doll of a kid. And but, yeah, both both tragically passed away. So that was kind of sad.

Kim
But yeah, Ron Howard, I believe we worked with him and his family. Danny DeVito at one time, his daughter I think he had some help with chemistry. Flea, Flea was my my my favorite one, I think.

Dennis
Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Kim
Yeah. Red Hot Chili Peppers. I did not, at the time I did not know who Flea was, but now I do. So I, I was I was learning as well. Yeah. So those are some of the people that I got to work with.

Dennis
You know, and as I said as your attorney, but oddly enough, there was a time when you were out there that you almost really did need an attorney. It had something to do with running late for an audition and almost running into a couple of other celebrities. So tell us about that story.

Kim
Yeah, that one was not work related, thank goodness. Yeah, that is probably my one of my favorite L.A. stories. I was out in Los Angeles and although I was working at the tutoring center, I was still an actor trying to pursue an acting career, so my agent had called me up and gotten me an audition for I think it was Days of Our Lives. And so he had sent me the script and I was really excited because this was a big deal.

Kim
It was a soap opera. It was going to be, you know, like three or four days of filming. And so I was headed over to the audition and I was running a little bit late this day. And if you know Los Angeles at all, there’s, there’s L.A. proper and then there’s the valley. And so I was in L.A. and I was flying over the hills to get over to the valley, to get to the studios.

Kim
And I’m, I pull in to one of the studio lots. And if you’ve ever seen them in the movies or been there, they have, like, that gate. There’s like a gate there where the arm goes down and the gatekeeper will check your credentials and let you in. So I pull up to the gate and I said, hi, I’m here for an audition. I’m auditioning for Days of our Lives. And I show him my little information pass and he says, Oh, you’re at the wrong lot. He said, you need to be over there on the Fox lot or Disney lot or wherever it was.

Kim
And and I was like, oh, crap. And I was like, OK, OK. I said, I’m so sorry. Like, I’m running late. I’m like, how do I get out of here? Because there was a car behind me in line so I couldn’t back up. And he said, well, I’ll open the gate and you just pull around, make a U-turn and come right out the other side.

Kim
And so I’m like, OK, great, great. So he opens the gate and I just floor it because I’m like, wanting to whip around and get out of there and get to the audition. And as I floor it and lurch forward there in front of me are two guys walking across the lot. And I maybe, I slam on my brakes and I maybe, I don’t know, 20 feet away from them and they’re both holding cups of coffee in their hand.

Kim
And I look and it’s Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise and they are on this, they’re on the studio lot because they’re filming Minority Report was what they were working on at the time. And I about died.

Kim
Tom Cruise gave me…

Dennis
So did they apparently.

Kim
Yes, exactly! Tom, Tom Cruise gave me the dirtiest look. And Steven Spielberg, he just kind of smiled and chuckled and like, you know, proffered his hand forward as if to let me go and to pull around. And but I sat there frozen because Steven Spielberg is my, I mean, if I could meet anybody, anybody, it would be him. And so I just had to sit there for, like, three seconds and just stare at him and take him in.

Dennis
So it wasn’t bad enough that you almost ran him over. You had to stalk him as well. So there could have been a piece of Americana up in smoke just like that. No more Spielberg or productions from Spielberg, no more Tom Cruise.

Kim
Exactly, and the gatekeeper, as I’m going out with the guy at the gate said, holy crap, lady, you just about took out the two most powerful people in Hollywood.

Dennis
Yeah, I could imagine. So eventually, and I know there’s so much more we could discuss about that, but I want to get through some of these other aspects of Kim. And so eventually you come back to Iowa and I know you had and have had lots of creative opportunities in Iowa, including Circa 21 doing the casting and teaching at, at Ambrose and and in theater elsewhere.

Dennis
So talk to us a little bit about about those creative opportunities that you’ve had since coming back to Iowa.

Kim
So when we made the decision we were going to come back to Iowa, at the time I was married and we, you know, living in L.A. is, is very hard. It’s incredibly expensive. And although I was doing really pretty well, actually, they always say you have to give L.A. ten years to make your break there. And it would had been about eight and a half, nine years at that time. But at the time, we just thought, you know what, we were looking to have a little bit more stability, you know, wanted to be able to buy a house, you know, perhaps start a family.

Kim
And so those things kind of factored into it. And so we came back to Iowa and and at that time, it was kind of bittersweet. I, I, I wasn’t really ready, I don’t think fully to walk away from Los Angeles. I still, it was like there were dreams that I wanted to achieve there that I hadn’t gotten where I wanted to be. But sometimes in life you have to choose, you know, you have to make, make choices.

Kim
So we came back and I thought, well, that’s it. That’s going to kind of put the the creative career, the acting and all of that aside, because God knows, there’s nothing going on in Iowa. And that was kind of my, my, my thought at the time. But lo and behold, here I’d been away for, like, you know, nine years. And I came back to a community that was just starting to really bubble up artistically.

Kim
And so as soon as I got back in town, I, denny Hitchcock, the producer over at Circa 21 offered me like three or four shows in the season, they were doing so I was immediately thrown back on stage and then I just started getting all of these great offers to do things. I kind of started to do voiceover work. And I went and started teaching at Davenport Junior Theater, which was where I had originally started taking acting classes as a child myself.

Kim
So I started teaching over there and I was asked to be president of the board over there. And so all of a sudden I went from thinking I was throwing this whole creative side of me aside. And in fact, it really, I really got to put it into fruition. Once I came back here to Iowa, there was just a lot of opportunity. And then the you know, the Iowa Film Commission kind of got rolling and I started to get involved in films that were being made here in the area.

Kim
And so it was it’s really been great. I, both St. Ambrose University and Augustana had me on board as a adjunct professor in their theater department and acting for camera classes that I taught. So it was just, you know, one thing after another. I was busy, busy, busy, creatively, more so that I think I was in L.A. And so I took my theater company, which I had started in L.A. and…

Dennis
Let me because that’s that’s the that’s the intro, but that’s now where we’re going from Creative Kim to Business Kim, because and I know there is a little bit of overlap as far as Curtain Box Theater Company, but so, yeah, now we’re moving on because this is, this is where I think the audience needs to really pay attention to, because, as I mentioned, this is part of our female entrepreneurs series. And so now we’re really going to dig in a little bit to the entrepreneurial spirit that, that Kim has to offer.

Dennis
So talk to us about that, about how that developed and where it’s gone since you first started in L.A..

Kim
Yeah, so while I was there in L.A., I with a couple of friends from an acting class that I had taken, we started the Curtain Box Theater Company. And it’s, it is a take on my name. However, it is not spelled like my name. It is spelled like “curtain” and “box”. And so we started it there. We produced three shows while I was in Los Angeles and we literally started it with all five of us sitting in my living room apartment.

Kim
And we took all the money that we had in our piggy banks essentially. And we threw it in the middle and said, OK, how much money do we have altogether? Let’s see if we can produce a show. And that was it. That’s how it started. Very, very bare bones. And so when I got back to Iowa, I sat and met with a friend of mine, Daniel Sheridan, and he sat down with me and said, Kim, what if we were to do something like that here?

Kim
What if you were to take your theater company and transplant it here and we start producing here? And I said, well, why not? Let’s give it a whirl. I’m very adventurous. I’m very much a you know, why not? If it if it fails, it fails if it doesn’t want a blessing. So so we jumped in and we started producing shows here. I did it primarily, you know, on on my own at that time. It was really kind of just me producing it financially myself. And that’s how it started. We did 14 different shows over the course of of my time that I’ve been here. So it was great. Go ahead.

Dennis
No. And so what are the goals for Curtain Box Theater Company going forward? What do you what would you like to see?

Kim
So, well, I don’t know if I’m going to jump into another area here or not. So we we did really well. We were really thriving there for a while. And then I went through a divorce and at the time for me, I, you know, I had gone from a two income household where my husband was really, he had a good job and he was the primary bread earner in our family. I’m an actor in Iowa. So, you know, I wasn’t making the big bucks by any means, but I didn’t have to either, because he between the two of us, we were doing just fine.

Kim
So when we divorced financially, it put me in a really bad place. And I could not afford to keep producing and doing what I was doing with the Curtain Box because it was more of a labor of love. I’m really proud to say that the company never lost money. We always either broke even or made a little money, but it was never enough really to pay myself. It was, it was a passion and a labor of love.

Kim
So I had to really put that aside for awhile. Now with it, within the Curtain Box Theater Company I had also started teaching. I had started doing classes for kids. And one of the things that I started was a class for children with autism and using the tools that we use as actors and communicators and storytellers, using those tools to help children with autism learn how to better communicate, learn how to function, you know, within, you know, peer groups.

Dennis
Now you’re going into Inspirational Kim.

Kim
OK, I know I told you I’d start moving into that, but that was just one of the other things we did.

Dennis
Yeah, and I do want to go into that. But before we leave Business Kim, because again, it’s that entrepreneurial spirit that that you’re talking about, the passion, you know, the the passion project that you had with Curtain Box, and, and continue to have, but it’s also driven you forward in a completely well, at least seemingly a complete departure from Creative Kim, and that is Yoli.

Kim
Yes.

Dennis
A network marketing company.

Kim
Yes.

Dennis
And so I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with with Yoli. I was not that familiar until talking to you a bit about it.

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
So so tell us all about that and how that has evolved for you over the years, because she’s kind of a big deal as far as Yoli stuff goes so.

Kim
Well, I, it’s so it, it’s the strangest story. It just shows you that you never know what life is going to throw at you or what, what paths, you know, God’s going to cross for you. But the one thing the Curtain Box taught me was it was my first adventure into owning my own business. And like I said, although it wasn’t a huge moneymaker for me, I learned how to, you know, start it from the ground up on my own.

Kim
And so during this time I, so I go through this divorce, which was devastating, not only emotionally devastating for me, but financially as well. And then in the same general time frame, I was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer. So it was an incredibly low point in my life. In fact, I think it’s the only time, I’m, I’m very much a people person. I’m very positive. And it’s the only time in my life I can really remember just feeling like I didn’t know what I had to live for.

Kim
And that sounds kind of dramatic, but it really was where I was at. I felt like I was having to find myself all over again. And so during this time, my former sister-in-law comes to me with these, this, these products. It was a health and wellness company. Supplements. And she had to used these products, had these wonderful results. She came to me and said, hey, I think you should try this.

Kim
She knew that I was really depressed. She knew that I was obviously I was dealing with a lot of health issues and she had used them, had great results. And she said do it. And she said, by the way, I’m going to do it as a business and I think you should do it with me. And I was like, yes, I will try the products. Absolutely not. I am not doing the business because I had in my mind, network marketing was one of those things.

Dennis
The pyramid schemes.

Kim
Yeah, their going to rope me into one of those things and no thank you. So I had zero desire, I mean, zero desire to do the business. However, I could not deny that at that time I was financially on the verge of bankruptcy. I had medical debt that was up to my ears. And as an actor and an artist here, I was simply not making enough to get myself out of the the place I was in. So I started the products.

Kim
The products were unbelievable. Really, truly unbelievable. And I, I and that really turned my mindset around, what they did for me as far as just overall foundational health. And during my cancer journey, you know when I was going through chemotherapy and everything, It was just great to keep myself strong and healthy, keeping my immune system strong and healthy. And that’s really what those products do. So I fell in love with the products and my sister in law said, do this business with me.

Kim
She said, I love it. She was an occupational therapist. And I thought, why is she doing this? She has a great job. She makes great money. Why does she want to do this, but she did, and she felt very passionately about how it was helping people. And that was what I realized, that it had, it had helped me tremendously. And so I said, OK, fine, I’m on board, sign me up. Whatever I had to do, I’ll be a distributor.

Kim
And that was it. In the beginning, it started out, as you know, I was making a little bit of money here and there to pay for my own product. And before I knew it, it was some nice side side income. And by the time I’d been in there about three years, I had built it to well over a, well over a full time income. More money than I have ever made previously in my life. And that just blew me away.

Kim
And I really saw the the gift and the blessing that a good network marketing company can afford people.

Dennis
So if I remember correctly, you have literally like hundreds of down, the people that…

Kim
Yes.

Dennis
Yeah. That kind of report to you or however that works.

Kim
Yeah. Yeah.

Dennis
All over the country, right? Yeah.

Kim
Yeah. I have teams. Well, my primary team is probably here in the in the Quad City area, but I have a team in Los Angeles that’s that’s starting to grow. I have one small team in San Diego, Missouri, just got somebody in Ohio going. And and it really is so great. It’s it’s it’s actually very creatively fulfilling as well, because part of when you’re in a company like Yoli and your goal is to help people with their health and wellness and their financial goals, you know, your your sales tool is your story, you know.

Kim
And so you really are it is about not only sharing your own story with people, but then helping them find and discover their story, what’s their overcomer story? And everybody has one. There’s nothing all that special about me, really, other than I just I feel like I learned how to tell my story and as as both an artist and then as a businesswoman and an entrepreneur.

Kim
And I’m really, really proud of what I was able to build through Yoli, because I always say the you know, the cherry on top is that I went through this horrible divorce and thought, oh, woe is me. I’ll never be able to support myself. What will I do? And now I, yeah, now I make more money than he does.

Dennis
You know, yeah. And you and you you mentioned also your your cancer scare. And in fact that’s when you and I met was when you were first becoming aware of that diagnosis. And I shared with you my own cancer story. And and this is where we’re talking about Survivor Kim, having survived that divorce, having survived the ovarian cancer and then coming out on the other end triumphant. You know, you’ve, like you said, making more money than you had ever made before through Yoli and and still able to have the flexibility through that kind of a business to be able to pursue your your creative interests, including Curtain Box and the teaching.

Dennis
So let’s talk a little bit more about that cancer scare, because I, having been there, having had friends and my mom recently passed away two years ago, but it seems like it was yesterday, I know that there’s so many people that go through that and how devastating it can be personally and the impact that it can have on you, tell us how you first became aware that you were having problems and what what got you through that whole process.

Kim
Sure. Well, so when I first became aware of it, I was doing a show, I was doing a stage production, and in the production, I played a drunk.

Dennis
Well, that typecasting again. There we go.

Kim
I know. So, yeah. I was playing a character and my character throughout the course of this hourlong show was drinking. I was, you know, water, but I was supposed to be having a cocktail. And so by the end of the show, I would have to pee so bad. And I would think what is wrong with me that I cannot drink, like, you know, a small glass of water over the course of an hour without feeling like my bladder is going to burst.

Kim
So that was the first sign that I had. And then shortly, the night that that show closed, I went home and I, at that time, I was, I was living in a house and I had two roommates because I was, you know, as I mentioned, did not have a lot of money, and so I had two roommates living with me to help me pay my pay the rent. And and I woke up with really intense pain in my abdomen.

Kim
And I thought, well, I thought, gosh, maybe it’s my appendix. So I went downstairs to my roommate’s door and I knocked on his door. And I was like I said, Don, something’s wrong. I, somethin’s I got a really bad pain. And he said, OK, let’s take you to the E.R. So I got over there, they did a CT scan because they wanted to make sure it wasn’t my appendix.

Kim
And the doctor came in with his oh, so wonderful bedside manner and said he said, wow, he’s like, you have the biggest tumor I have ever seen on your ovary. And then he proceeded to say, you know, gosh, he’s like, you’re so young.

Dennis
Did you ask him, well, how many have you seen on my ovaries?

Kim
Right. I know, but I just kind of in shock. I was just sitting there with my jaw on the table and and he said, Oh, I’m so sorry. You’re so young. It’s, you know, do you have you know, you might want to think about your, getting affairs in order.

Kim
And I was like, what? And I was like, what are you talking about? I said, what is it? What is it? And he’s like, oh, it looks like cancer to me. He’s like, well that looks bad. So he had just not good bedside manner. And my roommate, my poor roommate, he’s thinking we’re going in for my appendix. And all of a sudden they’re telling me I have, you know, stage three ovarian cancer. Well, they didn’t know the stage at that time.

Kim
But, but so I’m, of course, crying and upset and he’s trying to comfort me and tell me it’s going to be OK. And then the, and so anyway, so that’s how I found out and the journey from that moment on absolutely changed my life. As you know, anybody who’s gone through any illness where, you know, it’s life threatening and where you feel like you’re being told that you’re most likely not not going to be alive and then within a couple of years.

Kim
And that’s kind of what they told me in the beginning. And so I, you suddenly just see the world through a completely different lens. Like every day that you get, every every minute that you get you, you cherish it and you see it as this gift and you realize how much we take that for granted every day. Just every day, we take that for granted. So it was, it was really a life changing experience.

Kim
So as awful as it was to get and be diagnosed with cancer, it was truly one of the greatest blessings of my life for what it did for me, what that journey did for me as a person. So I ended up I had to have surgery and they removed it. It was the size of a basketball. And at the time, I remember they were like, how could you not notice this? And I’m like, I did notice it, I just thought I was getting fat. So I was like, I don’t know, I just.

Kim
And so they removed the tumor. They were pretty sure they had gotten most of it. But they had me I went through four or five rounds of chemotherapy. I lost all of my hair. As an actor that was probably one of the more traumatic things as well. So here there was this other instance of something really traumatic for me, as silly as that sounds. And it was such a gift because I, you know, being an actor in an industry where it’s very, very much based on your beauty and your looks and then suddenly to have that taken away, have you know you’re losing weight and you’re you don’t look very good anymore and you’re your hair’s falling out.

Kim
And it really made me just focus on what beauty really is, the beauty of what’s inside that. That was far, far more important. Like, if I’m going to die, I don’t it’s not about my, what’s on the outside, because that’s going to crumble and fade and it’s about what’s on the inside that continues on. So that’s really the one of the big parts for my faith journey, where my faith in God and how that really got me through it and got me seeing the world quite differently.

Dennis
I remember reading something about this story that was in, it was an interview that was in one of the papers. And I recall being really taken by something that you did at that time. First of all, for everyone, they should know this is, of course, where we segway from, Survivor Kim into Inspirational Kim. You were very public about your journey with cancer and really used social media to sort of journal through that. And I think that was a huge inspiration to so many people.

Dennis
I know I found it very interesting and, and inspirational. But you also said, I believe that when your hair was falling out, I think your roommate maybe or someone was going to, to shave your head and you took it and said, you know, I’m not going to let anything happen to me. I’m going to take control of this myself. And ya sheared it off yourself, right? I mean, that that’s a I think an important people for, it’s important for people to know that they’re not alone.

Dennis
And you can take control of your situation even when it seems like things are spiraling out of control, which obviously it does when you’re facing cancer or some type of life threatening illness or or a situation like that. So so now we, of course, segway into Inspirational Kim. And you had started to talk about your work with autistic children and I cut you off.

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
But I know, you know, that you you have and continue to do that and teach your private students as well.

Kim
Yup.

Dennis
And of course, everything, in order to become successful in network marketing business, you have to inspire and motivate people there as well. So tell us about some of that work, some of the work with the autistic children and how it is that you inspire and empower people, because I know it’s also your goal to empower women in some way. So let’s talk about all that.

Kim
Yeah, sure. So at the time, I was, it was, it was after the divorce, but before the cancer, if I remember right, I had a woman come to me who worked with, worked with children that were autistic. She was not an actor or an artist. But she approached me and asked if she could meet with me because she wanted to talk to me about what I thought the skills of acting and how that could help children with autism.

Kim
So she and I met and the two of us, together with her skills and mine, we put this program together to start working with kids. And we started real small. We had like three kids, I think, in the beginning. And and it was just, it was just so great. I learned far more from these kids than I ever taught them. Not only the, the kids themselves, but their parents, you know. The challenges that these kids deal with and work with and watching them navigate, that was really just amazing.

Kim
And so we started this program. We did it for about five years. I even had got a grant from Royal Neighbors of America for women entrepreneurs or women in business, got a grant from them to continue the program and keep it going, because after my divorce, I was really struggling to keep, these programs weren’t big moneymakers for me. So so we kept that going for about five years.

Kim
And then eventually Davenport Junior Theater, which, you know, I sort of I have a heart for that organization, I went to them and said, hey, I’d like to pass this on to you, because I knew that the city of Davenport had had better funding and they could they could take it to another level. And so they did. And so I was very proud of what we we did. We got that program started. And I believe it still continues to this day with with Davenport Junior Theater. So but I’m very proud of that.

Kim
And yeah, I you know, I think, the, the biggest thing I remember after my divorce and then the cancer and then financially everything falling apart, I remember sitting there thinking, God, why, why what what have I done that I have to go through this? And it’s so funny now, looking back in retrospect, and I realized that that was absolutely a part of God’s plan for me, I had to go through those things because the blessings that came out of each one of those trials and each one of those challenges far outweighs the, the challenge itself.

Kim
One of the biggest things for my cancer journey was, I cannot even tell you, in fact, it’s kind of hard to talk about it sometimes because it does make me get a little teary. The people in the community who rallied around me during that time, it’s still, it was the greatest gift. I had the producer over at Circa 21 and the head of the theater department at St. Ambrose got together and put on a huge benefit to raise money to help me with some of my medical bills.

Kim
And I mean, so many artists and actors and singers from the Quad Cities came together, put on this three hour show. They sold out the house. I mean, they sold tickets for, I don’t even know what, 100 bucks a pop or something, filled the theater. And then on top of it, before the night was over, they had raised like $15,000 for me in one night, this benefit.

Kim
And I got to sit there in the audience and watch all these people get up and sing songs to me or tell stories about me. And they presented me with an award, an achievement award for things that I had done in the artistic community here in the Quad Cities. It was just, it was it was like attending my own funeral.

Dennis
I was going to say, you’re being eulogized in front of you.

Kim
Yeah, it was! It was unbelievable. It just such a gift to hear these people say such wonderful things about me. And like I said, you can tell I still get really teary even when I think about it, because it was just it’s easily in the top. Three greatest experiences of my life was that night. But I saw also the power of community, the power of what people when people rally together, what they are able to do and accomplish.

Kim
And and I remember they presented me with this check and I even though I desperately needed all of it, I’m also a firm believer in paying it forward. So I remember telling Denny Hitchcock that I would take half of it and then the other half I wanted them to give to the NormaLeah Ovarian Cancer Foundation, which helped other women who were also going through ovarian cancer and to donate it to them. Because I just believe when God blesses you, it’s your, it’s, he blesses you so that you can be a blessing to others.

Kim
So that was, that was a huge thing. And just individually, the people that came to my house and brought me food and and I started, the reason I started to share on Facebook, and then it became a social media thing. I didn’t intend for that in the beginning. I just I had so many people messaging me at the hospital. How are you? How was the surgery? What did they say? Is a cancer? And the only way I could respond to all those people was to put a post.

Kim
So I remember just thinking, I can’t answer all these phone calls and all these text messages. So I just posted on Facebook, hey, I just got out of surgery, you know, or whatever, you know, looks like things look good. And just like after like after like after like after like after like and I was like, holy crap that people care. And so that was it. I decided, well, OK, I guess I’ll, I’ll chronicle this journey.

Kim
And being a single woman at the time also it was just, it was such a lonely time and I and yet at the same time I never, I never felt alone, I had the most incredible support system. And and so I think that’s why now, given the fact that I am in good health, I’m five years, sorry, seven years in remission. And so I really feel very passionately about empowering other women to overcome because I know it’s possible.

Dennis
Sure. Well, as I said before, I think anyone who’s facing that or those possibilities needs to hear this type of of story, needs to understand that it is possible. And I know your faith is a cornerstone of who you are. I mean, you were a theology minor in, so, and so that predated your your misadventure with cancer, I guess. So, you know, and I, I’m sure that this is an area that we could probably talk about for quite a bit. But I don’t want to, to, do that and not be able to get to some fun games that I warned you about.

Kim
Oh boy. Okay.

Dennis
So, so, so, so we’re going to we’re going to talk about some silly stuff to and so I want to kind of move into some of the the sillier stuff, because one thing that I know about you that I at least, speaking of women and empowering women, this is a good segway into this. Because I know that you and so many women I’ve talked to, especially lately, are just obsessed with these true crime shows.

Kim
Yes.

Dennis
And Dana, who’s not here today, is also she loves watching that stuff. And I just I don’t I don’t get it. Why? I mean, it seems to just make people paranoid and scare the hell out of themselves.

Dennis
What is it? What is it that about those shows that you and so many other women have had seemed, and I don’t know if this is a recent thing, it just seems recent to me. But it seems like everyone that’s what they want to do. Every woman I know, that’s what they want to do in their spare time.

Kim
You know, I mean, I was thinking about that recently, actually. I think, I do love them. I love it. And I think what it is that I love about it is that, first of all, I love seeing justice take place. So even though they are these kind of horrible stories about serial killers or whatever, it’s in the end, they they they always get them.

Dennis
Do they?

Kim
Yes.

Dennis
It seems like sometimes it’s like, this person’s missing watch out, you know. And the next thing you know, somebody is knocking on Kim’s door. Oh, my God, how did they find me?

Kim
Yes. No, they most of the time, 90 percent of the time on these TV shows, at least, they they do indeed find them through DNA or, you know, fingerprint analysis or handwriting analysis or they have all these great things how they can catch people. I don’t know why anybody commits a crime anymore, because how do you get away with it?

Dennis
They don’t, apparently.

Kim
They don’t. Yeah. So, yeah, I really love that. I love, even though it is, it does kind of stress me out sometimes to watch it, I love in the end to how they get them. How do they bring these people to justice? And just knowing that especially in a world lately where it seems like there’s just one bad news story after another, I love watching something bad be, justice take place.

Dennis
Gotcha. Well then, I, I guess I get that. I get that.

Kim
And I love the psychology of it too. I am very intrigued by what, what, what, what has to be going on in a person to do something like this.

Dennis
Like wear their skin. And yeah, I often wonder that myself.

Kim
I know it’s just interesting, Dennis.

Dennis
OK, ok, we’ll leave it at that. I still, I don’t know that I’m ever going to really get it, but…

Kim
I’m an actor, Dennis, so I like to like you know study people and study interesting characters.

Dennis
Yeah. But not all women are avid actors studying. Their just scaring the crap out of themselves. But anyway that’s my two cents on it, folks.

Dennis
So, so you know, we’ve talked obviously about how inspirational you’ve been and how you’ve influenced people in a lot of different ways. I know we we haven’t really touched on, you know, the private teaching and tutoring that you do now, but you do that as well.

Dennis
And but who are your inspirations? Who are your influences, whether it comes, or whether it has to do with your creative flair or your, your business acumen? Who is it that you look to to kind of motivate you and, and kind of set the bar for you?

Kim
Right. Well, on a personal level, I would say my grandmother was, she was really, truly one of the most amazing human beings. And I think what it was it inspired me about her was that she also, she’d had a lot of challenges in her life. She, her her father had committed suicide. She struggled with alcoholism for several years. She, her house burnt down. Her and her husband, their home burnt down, and they had five children. They had to literally start over.

Kim
So there were all of these things that my grandmother had experienced in her life. And she was also a poet and a writer. She wrote. And I loved the way she used her creativity to navigate through those difficult times. She also was a pretty, relatively wealthy woman, and you would never have known it. By the way she dressed or the car she drove. I mean, we, sometimes would be like, grandma, you got you know, you’re you you don’t need to wear…

Dennis
Put on some pants, Grandma.

Kim
Exactly she’d wear like these these old kind of crappy t-shirts. And we’d be like Grandma, go get a new outfit. You know, she just, but it wasn’t that she couldn’t she had plenty o’ money. It was that she she it wasn’t important to her. But the money and the time that she gave to others was unbelievable.

Kim
I remember people sometimes calling late at night and I was fortunate enough to live with my grandma for a few years when I was in college. So I remember sometimes she’d get calls in the middle of the night from some of the families that she helped to care for, lower income families, and they need diapers for their baby or something. And she would go out, this you know 70 year old woman would be, I’m going to get in my car and I’m going to drive downtown to second street and I’m going to get some diapers. And I’d be like, no, grandma, no, you’re not going out at 11 o’clock at night. But she just she didn’t ever think of herself.

Dennis
And she, she’s gone now?

Kim
She is gone.

Dennis
OK, so then I’m going to ask you this question.

Kim
Yes.

Dennis
Who, living or dead…

Kim
OK.

Dennis
…would you like to spend an afternoon with, and it can’t be your grandma…

Kim
OK.

Dennis
It can’t be Jesus.

Kim
OK.

Dennis
And it can’t be Steven Spielberg.

Kim
Oh gosh! Wow. OK, so living or dead, I get to spend an afternoon with them?

Dennis
Yeah.

Kim
Oh gosh. That’s so hard. There’s so many great people. I’d love to spend an afternoon with. Wow. I guess, you know, I think I might choose, Mary Magdalene.

Dennis
OK, again, still sticking with that typecasting again, I see.

Kim
I’m telling you, right? No, I mean, I mean, Mary Magdalene’s kind of cool. I mean, think about it. Here she hung out with, like, these 12 apostles and Jesus and they’re you know, they’re all over the place and they’re causing a big, you know, you know what, the big ruckus Jesus caused, and she’s there in the mixed, the midst of it all. You know, I just, I’d love to like hear like, what was going on?

Dennis
I get, I get that she was a tomboy or something.

Kim
Yes, yeah, yeah. But I think she’d be good.

Dennis
Yeah, I mean, that’s that’s an interesting choice.

Kim
Or, or, or Matthew McConaughey, you know. One of the two.

Dennis
OK, well, yeah, they’re quite similar in a lot of ways. So…

Kim
Two totally different reasons.

Dennis
So along the similar vein, what’s what’s the best advice you’ve ever been given, and what is the best advice you, you think you could give someone?

Kim
Oh goodness. Well, the best advice that I could give somebody. I don’t know this, it’s it’s actually a kind of a quote from a song, but I love it. It’s when you look at yourself, tell me who do you see? The person you’ve been, or the person that you’re going to be?

Kim
And I love that because I think the advice I would give to people is keep keep focused, keep forward, keep looking forward and keep looking up. At least for me, I try to keep my eyes on what I think God has planned for me. And I keep looking forward. I try not to spend too much time looking backwards on mistakes that I’ve made or challenges that I’ve been through. But looking forward as to what what is the what what am I here to do with the rest of my days. So I guess that would be it.

Dennis
So so would that be what you’d want something akin to that on your tombstone or in the eulogy that you’ve already witnessed?

Kim
Yeah, yeah. Right.

Dennis
Yeah, yeah.

Kim
I mean, I hope people would say about me, I think one of the things I am most proud of, Dennis, is the friendships that I have. And I think, you know, you and I, Dennis, we’ve talked about this and we have this in common. I think, you know, I’m not I’m not I’m not married. I don’t have any children. And the the friendships that I have accumulated over my life are truly deep, wonderful, eclectic, just the different people. And that is one of the things I think I’m most proud for.

Kim
So I hope people will remember me as a as a really great and loyal friend. I work very hard at staying in touch with my friends. From elementary school to the friend I met last week. You know, I really do put time into my relationships.

Dennis
And I’m sure that they will, but let’s hope that they are not going to have to remember you for a long, long time to come.

Kim
That’s right. That’s right. I hope not.

Dennis
So now I, we come to the point where I want to play our game with you. Would you rather?

Kim
Oh gosh. OK, ok.

Dennis
All right. So would you rather be a billionaire but never be able to perform again or live at a poverty level, but be known world over as a great performer?

Kim
Oh, gosh, Dennis, you’re killing me. OK, be a billionaire, but never be able to perform again? Or be a poor, poverty level and be known the world over? Man, that is so hard.

Dennis
You realize that you’re not getting graded.

Kim
Sorry, Dennis, I feel bad because if I have a billion dollars, I can do a lot of good in the world.

Dennis
Sure you can.

Kim
But but also, if you have the world watching you or knowing you, you can also do a lot of good in the world.

Dennis
Absolutely.

Kim
If you’ve got the ear of the world. So I guess I’m going to go with poverty level and being known the world over.

Dennis
All right.

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
OK, so now we get a little sillier.

Kim
OK.

Dennis
Would you rather have a full blown mustache for a year, or permanently hairy legs for 10 years.

Kim
Oh my God. Permanently, wait a mustache for one year?

Dennis
Yes.

Kim
Oh, God.

Dennis
Or hairy legs for ten years.

Kim
I gotta go with her legs for ten years. I can I can cover them up at least.

Dennis
With pants.

Kim
Yeah.

Dennis
I should have made that were more difficult like forever and have to wear a bikini always.

Kim
My heart rate is kind of racing a little bit with the stress of these questions.

Dennis
Oh they get better. OK, so would you rather clog a toilet on your first date or your first day on a new job?

Kim
First day, first day on a new job.

Dennis
OK.

Kim
Oh my God. I’m going to pee my pants right now. I’m about to pee my pants during a podcast.

Dennis
Would you rather have a nose that never stops growing or ears that never stopped growing?

Kim
Oh, my gosh. Um. Oh, gosh. OK, I’m going to have to say ears because I’ve got a lot of hair, I might be able to kind of cover the ears up with my with my hair.

Dennis
Fair enough. Alright. Alright. Would you rather fart every time you laugh or laugh uncontrollably for 30 minutes every time you fart.

Kim
Wait, say that again.

Dennis
Fart every time you laugh, so you’d be farting right now, or laugh uncontrollably every time you fart. So maybe you just farted and that’s why you’re laughing.

Kim
No, I guess I’m going to say fart every time I laugh.

Dennis
OK.

Kim
Does it matter?

Dennis
Not really.

Kim
They are both equally bad.

Dennis
OK, the last one. And to me this is the best one. Would you rather accidentally send a dirty picture to your boss…

Kim
Oh God.

Dennis
Or a sexy voicemail to your dad.

Kim
Oh, God. Oh God. Dirty picture to my boss, for sure.

Dennis
I’m with you.

Kim
I haven’t sent a dirty picture to my boss before, but I have sent a suggestive text to a coworker that was embarrassing.

Dennis
Was it an accident?

Kim
It was an accident. An accident! Yes, totally an accident.

Dennis
Well, I’m still waiting for it. Never arrived.

Kim
Sorry Dennis.

Dennis
But anyway. Well, that, that’s all, that’s that’s it. We got to wrap it up now. I could go on forever, but this was a lot of fun.

Kim
Yes, it was.

Dennis
And I appreciate you being here, Kim. We’ll probably have to have you back again, go over some of the stuff that we didn’t get to go to that I know so many other stories about you that we’ll, we’ll have to share at some point.

Kim
I love it.

Dennis
So for now, I want to thank you all for tuning in again. Be sure to please subscribe or register for Uncommon Convos on your favorite podcast platform so that you know you’ll be alerted every time we have a silly person like Kim on, and every time there’s a new episode available, it also helps us out too. So be sure also to check out our other podcast, Legal Squeaks.

Dennis
And if you have any comments or guests that you would like to suggest or you simply want to watch this video version of this or other episodes, and you’re going to want to do that I’m sure, you can go to uncommonconvos.com and follow the links.

Dennis
Tune again next week for another Uncommon Convos. And in the meantime, have a great day, stay safe, and I love you all.