You might already know a lot about me, I have been sharing a lot of my thoughts and my life on the internet for years at this point. As I continue to create content and share I thought it’d be fun to take it back to the beginning. Who I am and how I got here. It’s often the thing that I’m most curious about when I meet people, or even seeing people at their peaks I wonder about their path to this point. If it was genuine and difficult, if they earned it or if it’s what they really want.

I was born and raised in a small town in Illinois about 80 miles outside of Chicago. Ottawa was a great place to grow up. It’s every definition of a small town on the intersection of the Illinois and Fox Rivers. A lot of the restaurants still only accept cash or check. The public and private high schools rival but stopped playing each other in the 80s because it got too ugly (the year my mom was there).

My dad had started an electronics company with his dad when he was in high school from their basement and grew it into a large company and that they eventually sold. He and my Mom met on the river when she was home visiting from college. She was hanging on a bench in the park with her girlfriend and he pulled up on his boat with his friends to ask them if they wanted to go for a ride lol.

My mom became a teacher (still is) and so when they had my brother and I, she always stayed home with us in the summers and met us at the bus stop after school. My cousins spent time at our house too for the same reason so I was always around all boys all the time. My brother Andy is two years younger and I have all boy cousins ? .

Ever since I can remember I’ve always dreamed up something in my head and then figured out a way to execute it. Once I got an idea I couldn’t let it go always trying to push myself to innovate each time. For every birthday and Christmas I wanted to re-do my room. I’d always ask for new bedding or paint for the walls or a new inflatable chair ?  Everything I wanted to do was very creative driven. I’d make a mess of my mom’s kitchen on baking projects, painting, making furniture in the garage, you name it. I wanted my own computer so I could make videos.

My parents put me in everything too — I took piano lessons, dance from the age of 3, played the flute and taught myself guitar. I played baseball with the boys until I could play in the girls league and eventually played travel softball for years. We’d go to long weekend tournaments and have the best time. I’m left handed and I enjoyed playing first, but also had a stint in pitching. I always felt like I could do everything just with medium skill but wasn’t great at one thing.

Once I got to high school I had to make some decisions. Dance slowly disappeared and basketball was much more of a commitment in high school so that took a lot of my time. I hated practice but loved the social element. One thing most people don’t know that happened to me going into high school — Cheerleading tryouts were the spring before freshman year and my friends were all trying out and told me to do it with them as a joke. We found out the Friday before spring break who made the team. I made it and the girls who wanted me to try out with them didn’t. That was a lonely spring break lol because they didn’t talk to me.

Facebook was just becoming a thing when I was in high school and it wasn’t really used for what social media is used for now. I feel pretty grateful that I got through my youth a little less connected than today’s. I still had some experiences since we did use AOL instant messenger.

I was super young and my “boyfriend” had sent me a message on AOL breaking up with me but I had my away message on and I didn’t see it!! because you know it was only on your desktop computer at home that’s on sleep mode, haha. Anyway, I was at a softball game and went to Subway with a bunch of my friends after the game. He was there with his family and was ignoring me and I hadn’t seen the message ???

We laugh about it now because in a small town you have to see your ex’s and people you’re fighting with a lot more than you want. Lol if you need some education Sam Hunt’s “Break up in a Small Town” is a great picture. Back to high school, I had a great time. I was a cheerleader for football season in a town that celebrates homecoming like you’d picture it in small town USA. I played basketball, designed the yearbook, and my favorite was fine arts club. It was basically a group where we were all silly and put on a yearly festival for 3 days of class with performances, musicians, and skits. Think SNL type skits but relevant to the angsty feelings towards our administration lol.

I loved my teachers in high school. I was so grateful to finally have people who understood me as a creative and encouraged me. If anybody from OHS ever reads this, I’m referring to Mrs. O’Fallon, Mr. Gross, Mr. Cartwright, Mrs. Carroll and Mrs. Hocking and we don’t deserve them.

It was my relationship with my high school teachers that motivated me to want to become a high school teacher myself. I knew that I could connect with teenagers and help them figure out what they want out of life and believe they can actually go get it. Most people I knew went to The University of Illinois, but when I visited it didn’t feel like home. I realized Iowa City was only a 2 hour drive from home so I decided to check it out.

As soon as I stepped on the campus at University of Iowa I saw the next 4 years flash before my eyes. I was sooo excited — majoring in English and Journalism I couldn’t get to that independence fast enough. I had a good time in high school but I also felt like an outsider. I didn’t ever feel like people understood me and I was often just settling into what everyone else was doing too because being inconvenient is not easy.

I graduated from college and moved back to Illinois to get the Illinois Teaching Cert figured out so I was working at a brewery and taking classes a few days a week. I felt like I was forcing it trying to become a teacher and it didn’t take long before I was asking myself what I was actually doing there and why I was doing that. I can’t really tell you what made me decide, but it just came to me that I wanted to move to Colorado.

Ky and I were dating at the time, it had been about 2 years at this point. I brought it up to him and I know he didn’t think I was serious at first but now he knows that when I have an idea I can’t StOp ThInKiNg AbOuT It!!!!!!! I had been to Denver once in college for a long weekend to a Red Rocks show. There were way more teaching opportunities (like 4x than in Illinois at the time) and I was ready for something new.

We had a big garage sale and moved out there together about a month later — I’m sure people thought we were nuts but I didn’t consider what anyone else thought? We were moving in together for the first time and moving across the country. I set up a nannying job before we got there hoping I’d never have to work it (I was very honest with the mom that I was looking for a job and she was ok with it).

I applied for teaching jobs every day all day. I didn’t care though because that meant there were that many that were available! I couldn’t get an interview!! I’ve talked to so many educators here now and they are like wait wut. we missed you???? Looking back now, it’s because that wasn’t my path.

My friend from Iowa was working at this tech company in Des Moines that was just about to open a Denver office so she connected me to the team and I got my first job. It was a professional development program for new grads that rotates you through different parts of the company. A great idea in theory, but it wasn’t executed that well. I was able to jump in on a growing Denver office and helped run the place.

Managing a growing office of 30 to 200+ is an interesting role to play and it taught me a lot. People are idiots, even the ones with fancy titles that you think are super smart. We once had to address a toenail clipping problem in the conference rooms. I once got an email from a developer in San Francisco titled “URGENT PLEASE READ: NEED BANANAS” with an explanation that his offer letter stated there would be healthy snacks *daily* and the bananas ran out this morning. lol yeah.

I worked for 2 companies on site before taking my remote job in 2017. I was fascinated by what motivated people to be at work and when you take the cold brew taps and free lunches away… what is that world like? When you think about the companies that have gyms on site and free lunches, etc. you have to wonder why do they have this much stuff? Start up life is a grind my friends and these fluffs on site just make working the normal 15+ hour days not so bad. I actually don’t have a problem with it because those investments imply that they care about the people who are grinding so hard for them.

When you take it remote it is definetly possible to have that same fun experience at work but it takes creativity and an open mind. I’m actually thankful to this part of my life for teaching me to do more with less. Since I’ve quit my job I’ve been able to consult for some companies on this very thing – creating an engagement strategy for today’s world. I love it!

I started cassidyeats around the time I was about to move to Colorado but I didn’t ever show my face. It was a food journal for ideas and to keep me accountable. I was silently trying to figure out my relationship with food. I was always bogged down by the stress of my jobs so I didn’t put much into it but the more I became engrained in my career, the more I channeled this fun effortless energy into this platform.

I worked all day thinking about what I could cook later to share or ideas for posts to help other women get through the relatable feels in trying to change your lifestyle and become healthier. I knew that people made full time lucrative incomes off of this type of thing, but there was no way I thought it could be me. It was a balancing act for sure, trying to use 2% of what was left of my brain energy on something I loved so much.

Once I started talking to Oprah’s team and realized that I was being recognized for this everything started to shift. I was being recognized at such a level for something I cared so deeply about and felt like I hardly had to try to have fun with. Why would I do anything else?

Just as I’ve cultivated community and build excitement in my last few jobs, I know that it will always be worth it for me to pour my energy and love into THIS community. A lot of people ask me how I made the financial decision to jump. I didn’t.

I’ve heard advice given to people who want to quit their jobs to work for themselves to save 6 months living expenses and blah blah. You could do that, but that’s not what I did. My energy could not flow fully into this until I got rid of the other thing. You figure out what your absolute minimum living expenses are and go — if you need to pick up a part time job pick up a part time job.

I’m not afraid to do what needs to be done. My “income as an influencer” isn’t what I rely on to pay the bills but like I said on last week’s show the more and more I pour into living my authentic life and what feels good for me the more I’m reaping the benefits. So I’m trusting myself and just going for it. There’s no magic number to have in your bank account or being rich, maybe some would call this stupid.

But I know everything is going to be okay — I pick up shifts at whole foods packing prime now orders if I need to. Don’t be above the dream.

The last time I felt this unknowing excitement for the future was right before I moved to Colorado. I had the offer for the new job but was still holding onto the hopes for a teaching opportunity to come up. I remember having this realization and saying to Ky, “For some reason I like the uncertainty of the tech job. It’s totally up to me what happens.” Here we are, almost 6 years later.

I feel the same same right now. I got safe and comfy in the security of a job with benefits and people telling me what to do, but I’m uncaged and excited to be here because it’s totally up to me what happens and I’ve never felt more free! So what’s happening now? I left my job in early July — since then I’ve launched this podcast, my new website, started working with my friends at OXBStudio, and have been doing some fun consulting projects on the side for companies who need help going remote.

There are some exciting things in the the works but it takes a lot of work to get them going. I don’t want anyone to think that what I’m doing is easy – that everything just fell into my lap and everything is hunky dory. It takes a lot of time management and so much behind the scenes to make it all happen. One way I’m able to get it all done is be unapologetic about my boundaries. If I don’t create the space for myself to think and move my body, detach from screens and use my hands to create, I start to lose myself.

If I zoom back and look at the big picture of how the last 5 years of my life unfolded you can see that same pattern. I did what I thought I was supposed to because it was easier than being inconvenient. All that said brings me to Here – right now – what’s next? no idea. but I’m so glad to have you with me in the passengers seat!!!! prepare to be entertained, laughing, and well fed!!!!