A Word from Our Founder
Hey, Sis!
I'm so excited to be on this healing journey with you! I am Coach Kay, your sister in Christ and Life Coach. I am also a proud Mississippi native, SC resident, Beaufort educator, and a 2024 Ms. Congeniality Petite USA awardee. In 2018, I moved to Beaufort, SC from Okinawa, Japan, carrying the weight of years of trauma and grief while in the throws of trying to leave an abusive marriage. Beaufort County became my safe space to begin healing, reminiscent of the community I desperately missed after a series of misfortunate unforeseen events uprooted our family from our Mississippi home and the loving community that nurtured me. After, graduating from Tennessee State University and navigating tumultuous years in Okinawa, the warmth of the Lowcountry embraced me upon returning to the USA.
As an educator at Battery Creek High School, the community supported me through the challenges of leaving an abusive marriage in 2019. Their kindness helped me heal, prompting me to apply for the Ms. Petite USA title to represent South Carolina or Mississippi. Ultimately, I was awarded the 1st runner-up position for SC and would have been honored to represent my Lowcountry home. However, I have been even more honored to represent my original home state of Mississippi in the 2024 Ms. Petite USA Pageant, marking this title a heartfelt and triumphant full-circle moment.
As Ms. Mississippi Petite 2024, I have been collaborating with organizations in the Lowcountry and Mississippi Tri-State Area, offering essential resources and training to empower women and girls to rebuild their lives back to a healed and whole place so they can be empowered to heal others. Having gone through the hardships of divorce, I understand the struggles of leaving an unhealthy situation with only the clothes on your back and your precious life. I also recognize the challenges of tending to mental and physical wounds that often require financial assistance—an obstacle many women in today's world find difficult to overcome. Yet, with the kindness of others, access to resources, funding, and innate tenacity, rebuilding is possible.
With love and gratitude,
Coach Kay