Ok, it’s official! I have been blogging long enough to have Frequently Asked Questions!!! Haha.
I figured this was a great opportunity at the start of 2021 to answer some of the most frequently asked questions that I get and to simply share with you a little bit more about me! If you have any questions in addition to these, please go to the CONTACT part of my website by clicking here! I have really been enjoying getting to know more of my audience as I share tips for living a more sustainable lifestyle. I hope this year’s FAQ helps you get to know a little bit more about me and my journey.
Let’s dive in…
1. Who are you?
My name is Kylie and I grew up in the mountains of Colorado dancing and riding horses. I moved to Denver after high school to pursue a degree in Artist Management; however, in my junior year of college, I switched my degree to Public Health. You might be asking why such a drastic switch? Well, I had a professor in one of my Artist Management classes tell me that there are people already in the industry, with no schooling, making the same amount of money that I will make when I graduate… the difference will be that I will have student loan debt to worry about on top of being in an entry level position. That was extremely discouraging to me because I wanted to get a degree and make enough money to support myself comfortably after school. I mean I was already half way through college!
I did some real soul searching and decided that Public Health would be a great fit for me since I love to help people in many areas of life. And let me tell you, public health is EVERYWHERE. I enjoyed all of my classes and then sort of fell into a job at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes (BDC) as a student employee until I graduated college. Upon graduation, I was hired as a full time study coordinator within the BDC and worked there for three years. Those three years were incredible for my professional and personal growth.
I had my daughter as a senior in college and started my job at the BDC as a new mom. I mentioned that those three years working at the BDC were so important for my personal growth mainly because I was learning more about what I wanted to do for a living and how that would impact my family. Even until recently, I have dabbled in various jobs to broaden my perspective, but also to figure out what is best for me when it comes to my career.
While working at the BDC, I worked closely with other coordinators from various backgrounds and my best friend there at the time introduced me to the idea of living “consciously” and more sustainably. This was a completely new concept to me, but the more I started to explore, I decided to completely dive in. I haven’t looked back since. Which in some ways is so funny that I choose Public Health as my major in college because in a roundabout way having this blog and teaching people about environmental health through sustainable living is COMPLETELY an aspect of public health. It just took me a minute to get there. Haha.
I am still on this journey and my career in sustainability will develop as it should and all in good timing. 🙂
A couple more things about me:
- I married the most wonderful man and father to my daughter in 2018.
- Our daughter started Kindergarten this school year.
- We bought our first house in beautiful Denver Colorado in 2019.
- Gardening has become a new passion of ours, stay tuned for loads of gorgeous flowers!
- I will be attending BARD in the Fall of 2021 to pursue an MBA in Sustainability.
- We are expecting a baby boy in June of 2021 🙂
- I turned the big 30 this year! Whoop whoop!
2. What do you do?
I feel like I covered this mostly in the previous question, but briefly: I currently work in Cardiology Research as a study coordinator. This is not where I will be forever, but I am gaining valuable professional experience while I am here.
I work on my blog on the side and have been becoming more and more passionate as time goes on into pouring my time into this blog and helping others learn more about living a sustainable lifestyle.
3. Where does the “BEE” part of Kylie Bee come from?
I have always been Kylie “B” in some way; my last name growing up started with B and now my married name starts with B. I was terrified of bees in childhood, but have become so much more aware and appreciative of what bees do for our world. I have a bee tattooed on my arm. Finally, it’s always been a nickname for me. Growing up, several people called me Kylie “Bee” and more recently I have had coworkers call me Kylie “Bee”. So it just stuck and I believe it was always meant to be.
4. Where does your passion for sustainability come from?
My passion for sustainability continues to get stronger the more I learn about how human choices can negatively affect the environment. There are a lot of aspects to sustainability that come into play when considering impact on the environment, but I like to focus particularly on plastic pollution. The cascade of problems that stem from the production, use, and disposal of plastics is frankly incredible. It bothers me to know that a plastic bottle I CHOOSE to use for convenience sake could eventually end up in the belly of a whale. When I start to focus on the choices that I am making and the impact it can have on people, animals, and the environment as a whole, I can reduce a lot of the negative effects that many are experiencing.
Plastic was created about a century ago and most of the plastic that has been produced since then will last in our environment until long after we die. I mean… I don’t want to live among trash!! I don’t want my children to live among trash!!
I have always loved learning and sharing with others what I learn. The more I learn about companies and people that are trying to create products that have minimal impact on the environment and are healthier for our bodies, I can’t help but shout about them from the rooftops. Sustainability is important and our choices matter. Period.
5. Who’s on your team?
Currently, my team is mostly me. Haha. I take a lot of my own photos and I write all of my blog posts (I do want to feature guest posts on my blog eventually).
The other people that are vital to my team though are my husband, sister, and daughter. I like to call my husband “my editor” and he helps me on the photography side of things. My sister occasionally helps me with editing and photography also. My daughter is featured in a lot of posts or mentions because being a mom is a big part of my life. I am proud to be a mom, sister, and a wife to such incredible humans and they have a lot of influence in my life. I want to live a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle for them. They are also my WHY and my driving force behind what I do with this blog.
6. What is your mission?
My mission is to provide consumers with a sustainable alternative to conventional products that we use on a daily basis.
While experts in the sustainability space will accurately point out that the “most sustainable” alternative is to buy less and use less (which I completely agree with), that generally tends to fall on deaf ears which happen to belong to the people that need to heed this information most. Mainstream society follows trends and what’s popular regardless of the environmental or health cost associated with it. Those are generally hidden effects that are easier to look by or ignore.
People will continue to buy what they need to accomplish a task regardless of the impact. So why not try to guide people towards products that will accomplish the same task, but have less impact on the environment and our health? I have said time and time again that our hard earned dollars will drive the market and our individual voices will create change. So basically purchasing a more sustainable product and teaching consumers to ask the questions like “where was the raw material for this product sourced?” or “Do the company’s work with suppliers that hold others accountable for fair labor laws?” or “Where does the waste from the production of this product actually go?”, WILL DRIVE SUSTAINABLE CHANGE.
Because let’s face it, I have heard from many people that converting to a more sustainable way of living is not a judgement free zone. Many people believe they will be shamed for using a product that is less sustainable than the one the leading experts are using, but that just might be where they are in their journey to becoming more sustainable. WE HAVE TO PRAISE PEOPLE FOR MAKING SMALL CHANGES otherwise resentment will set in and people will go back to their old ways of “using what works” even if it has a negative environmental impact.
So basically, I’m calling a spade a spade and saying, while living a minimalist lifestyle might be the most sustainable approach, the majority of mainstream society just isn’t there and is not willing to sacrifice convenience and comfort for the betterment of our world and the people in it. They just aren’t. In an effort to lead people in the right direction by recommending companies that are at the forefront of this sustainable change, people will eventually begin to become more conscious consumers, which may actually lead to the end goal of living more minimalistic.
Instead of judging people for not being sustainable, I want to help them see products in a different way to become a more conscious consumer. I want people to see that the sacrifice for the environment is worth it and they don’t necessarily have to sacrifice convenience or comfort to do so. Money drives the market, our voices put pressure on companies to make positive change, and praise encourages consumers in the direction of a more eco-conscious lifestyle. That is my mission.
7. What are your goals with this blog?
I imagine my goals for this blog will change and grow as I do and as time goes on, but for now, these are my goals in summary:
- To add lots of valuable content and resources to thekyliebee blog.
- To start working with brands that I align with on campaigns, product releases, press releases, etc.
- To make this my full time job, not just a side hustle because I am all in! 🙂
And that’s a wrap for now…
This was a really fun blog post to write! Not that I don’t enjoy writing all of my blog posts, but this one was a bit different from the normal. I hope this Q & A post helped you to learn a little bit more about me. Like I mentioned in the beginning of this post, if you have other questions, please let me know by using the CONTACT page on my website!
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Until next time,
Kylie Bee
