When you’re going through a hard time, there’s nothing better than a big, bold belly laugh!
Today, I am so excited to bring you someone who has been filling our hearts and homes with laughter for over 30 years. She’s an Award-winning Actress, a Best-selling Author, and a title you might not know, Master Coach – Kim Coles.
Kim started making people laugh in high school.
“I remember looking at the landscaping going, I’m going to be teased for being the fat girl, but if I’m the funny girl, I may be able to get people to laugh with me instead of at me.”
She didn’t even know where it came from – this 70’s television humor – but she would perform! Her funny walks and silly voices went a long way. It made her popular. She found her “thing” at age 14.
After Kim “dropped out of college about 100 times” (something else we have in common) she started plus-size modeling. When Kim was asked to be in a beauty pageant for plus-size women she agreed. But then, she realized she needed a talent! She joked, “I don’t sing or play a concerto, but hey! I know how to swing a baton!”
She had this skill from her band days so she decided to impersonate a very enthusiastic baton twirler! During the pageant, she ripped off her dress and was wearing a little sequin outfit, she had sewn sequins everywhere!
As a size 16 girl twirling her baton, she won first runner up. The audience fell in love with Kim and praised her for being her authentic, goofy, perfectly imperfect self.
And it didn’t stop there, Kim took her act to the stand-up stages and performed not one, but FIVE different Miss America contestants, spinning around and changing characters. This unique and hilarious act landed her an audition, then a role on hit FOX TV series, In Living Color.
Authenticity
People resonate more than ever with authenticity. We gravitate toward it. When I first met Kim, I was like, oh my goodness I LOVE her! I need to have her at Brilliant.
“If I’m trying so hard to be something else, I’ve spent way too much energy. It’s exhausting. It’s easier to do you. To learn what you need to learn and be the best version of you and then go and put that out. And you’ll be surprised what you’re magnetized to.”
Unlike many success stories, it was a steady rise for Kim in the beginning. She went from pageants to stand up right onto the screen. Even after she lost her job at In Living Color, she was invited to be on Living Single (straight to offer!) and thrived on that show for five years.
The Traffic Jam
And then, there was a traffic jam. The work just… Stopped.
“I was like, there’s a jam here! What’s going on? Have I lost my mojo?”
This unexplained and unexpected lack of work caused Kim to fall into a deep depression. It used to be so easy. She only knew a steady level of success. What was she going to do now?
Kim and I have a sister soul connection and this quote she says is living proof (because it’s something I’ve been saying for YEARS),
“What if everything that has happened to you has actually happened for you?”
Kim says, “I went all the way to my version of bottom, whatever that is.” She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t working. She just wanted to make people laugh. And it got to the point where she told God, “I”m good. I’ve had a good life. I can leave now.” It hurt that much.
Then, Kim thought about her awesome parents and how they didn’t deserve a daughter who checked out. So she became determined to find help.
Gratitude Saves the Day
When Kim got into therapy, she was immediately asked what she was grateful for.
“I was like, lady, didn’t tell you I was depressed?”
She now uses this moment in time as part of her one-woman show. She jokes that she was ungratefully grateful, and had to make a gratitude list every day. Then after about two weeks, things shifted.
“Finally, I think God said, Ok, let’s send you some things to be grateful for.” What about that puffy cloud, what about the fresh air, what about all those things, I could put all that on my list. I started feeling better.”
Storytelling from Kim
Kim tells us to look at our triumphs, our mistakes (which aren’t mistakes, they’re lessons) and infuse them together to find our why.
“Every person who started their own business started it to fix something. You’ve heard the saying, ‘We teach what we most need to learn.’ Then someone turned it around and made me go, YES! That’s it! They said:
What if we actually came here to learn what it is that we need to teach?
BOOM SHAKA LAKA!
“What if you learn all the yummy stuff, all the yucky stuff, what if it happened to you because you were meant to heal it and you were meant to help other people navigate it?”
The Four C’s
Kim has ingeniously broken story structure down into a program of, what she likes to call, the Four C’s.
- Challenge
- Choice
- Consequence
- Conclusion
There’s something so magical about getting out and meeting people. I couldn’t have found this connection with Kim on a Facebook Live. I’m all for getting yourself out there online, but nothing can ever take the place of being in the same space and feeling that energy.
So check out my sister from another mister at KimColes.tv.
So what did you get from today’s amazing interview with Kim? What were YOU put on this earth to learn so that you can now teach? Let us know in the comments and share the love by sharing this video!
Dream it. Live it. BE it!
