From SAHM to School Founder: Kate Kennedy’s Purposeful Reinvention

In this episode, Sharon Macey welcomes Kate Kennedy — writer, minister, nonprofit founder, and mom of four. Kate’s path has taken her from TV producer to ministry, to founding the Boyce Ansley School in Atlanta for children experiencing homelessness. Her debut memoir, Once Upon a School: A Story of Dreaming Big, Falling Hard, and Bouncing Back shares the grit and heart behind that extraordinary journey.

Kate opens up about her years as a stay-at-home mom, the identity shifts of raising four kids, and how “mom skills” became her foundation for leadership. Today, as Minister in Community at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and a doctoral student in creative writing and public theology, she continues to explore faith and purpose in new ways.

Sharon and Kate discuss the power of noticing just one person’s need, finding your voice, and the surprising ways motherhood equips us for leadership. It’s a conversation about reinvention, falling hard, resilience, and how embracing “just being” can be the most radical act of all.

[00:00] Introduction
[02:39] Meet Kate Kennedy
[02:48] Choosing to stay home and embracing motherhood fully
[05:13] Identity shifts and the crisis of “who am I now?”
[08:57] The moment that sparked the idea for a school
[12:05] Founding the Boyce Ansley School for children without housing
[14:00] Balancing family life while launching a nonprofit
[15:55] Transferable mom skills that became leadership superpowers
[18:40] Writing Once Upon a School and what the journey taught her
[35:44] Kate’s MORE and the power of simply being

Meet my guest Kate Kennedy:

Website: KateKennedyWrites.com

Instagram: @kate_kennedy_writes

Book: Once Upon a School: A Story of Dreaming Big, Falling Hard, and Bouncing Back.  Barnes & Noble:  https://go.sylikes.com/eY7COy6iyWhG (Also available on Amazon and Bookshop.org)

Looking for More? Join the Mom To MORE® Community and grab your freebie: 6 Ways To Reinvent Yourself Beyond Motherhood at momtomore.com

Follow @momtomore on Instagram, Facebook and now on Pinterest. @Sharon Macey on LinkedIn.

Keep an eye out for episode #47 of the Mom to MORE® podcast where Sharon joined by Leah Steinkirch, COO of Prowess Project. Coming soon - you won’t want to miss it ♥

• Episode Transcription

  Sharon Macey (01:45)

  Welcome back. Well, my guest today has an amazing trajectory and you will soon discover why. Kate Kennedy is a mom, wife, sister and daughter and an accomplished visionary and a dreamer of big dreams. Kate began her professional career as a writer producer for Turner Network Television before transitioning into a role of service and ministry.

  She is currently minister in community at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Kate holds a BA in communications from Wake Forest University, an MA in religion and public life from Emory University, and is pursuing a doctor of ministry degree at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary with a particular focus in creative writing and public theology. What an interesting combination, for sure. Yes, in 2018,

  Kate Kennedy (02:34)

  Yes.

  Sharon Macey (02:37)

  Kate founded the Boyce Ansley School for Children, experiencing homelessness in Atlanta. Her debut memoir, Once Upon a School, chronicles that journey. And no surprise here, folks, Kate was also a stay at home mom. So Kate, welcome to the show. I'm so thrilled you're here.

  Kate Kennedy (02:56)

  Thank you, thank you for having me. It is an honor.

  Sharon Macey (02:58)

  Thank you.

  I always like to start with what I call my essential mom question. And that is how many kids do you have and where did you raise them?

  Kate Kennedy (03:05)

  I have four kids

  they all grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. So I am still there. Two of them are out of college and back here. One is out of college in New York, which is fun. And then my baby, my one girl is in college right now. So she's home for the summer, which is nice. ⁓

  Sharon Macey (03:16)

  Okay. Yeah.

  nice, nice. OK,

  so let's talk about your mom journey. I think it is it was very typical for women our age, right, who dialed it back to raise kids. I'd love to know what that journey looked like for you. I'm I'm I'm guessing you did all the usual mom things that the classic what I'll call the classic Sam journey, right? Volunteering, making stuff happen. All that stuff is so in your blood.

  Kate Kennedy (03:48)

  So I was actually ⁓ planning to keep working when my first son was born. I just always thought I'll be a working mom. ⁓ I was a director of youth ministries at a very large church in Atlanta. that in case you don't know that that profession does not pay very much. Daycare was going to be more expensive

  than me staying home with my son. And I just realized I want to stay. I want to be here.

  I don't want to miss any of this and I know that it was quite the privilege but it was the best decision for our family. And I do think that that is such an important thing for women to realize that everybody's got their own journey and we really just need to respect each other's choices and their abilities and what's available to them. And so it was available to me to stay home and I wanted to do it and so I did. And I did all the things.

  I volunteered, I was the president. I joke that my children's, my children went to the same K through eight school, all four of them. So I was there for 20 years. And I joke that I was there for so long that they forgot that I'd already been president of the PTO, that I was president again later. But I did all the things. I volunteered at my church, I volunteered in the community, but I just loved being with my kids. And, you know, that was just, it was just a beautiful time. And I think they all appreciated.

  what we had when they were around. Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (05:12)

  Yeah.

  And then who knows, you know, when they move forward with their families,

  how, what, how would they experience will impact what they ultimately do.

  Kate Kennedy (05:20)

  Yes, yes, exactly. And I just wanted to be a good role model. there's lots of ways to be a good role model, but this was one way that I could do that. And I think I succeeded in it.

  yeah.

  Sharon Macey (05:31)

  I think you did too. I think

  you did.

  So I want to bring up something every stay at home mom can relate to, and that would be a crisis of identity. So Kate, stay with me for a moment.

  I know both you and I felt this during our time raising kids. It's when we try to square who we used to be and who we have become as a stay at home mom. And it takes many forms for women of a certain age, right? Our demographic. We were someone before we had kids, but where did she go? And over the years, I've come to realize that this crisis is really a portal because we're not because we're not

  starting over, we're starting our what's next.

  Kate Kennedy (06:14)

  I think that's a beautiful way to put it. I think that I try to think of myself and I'm not very good at it a lot of times, but I'm working towards it as always becoming, always evolving. Because once you're become and you're fully evolved, then like what's the point? mean, Life is about growth and development and working towards being your best self.

  ⁓ And I did. I had a terrible, terribly hard transition into ⁓ staying home with my kids. My husband went back to work and I remember just sitting at home and just crying and saying, like, nothing in his life changed. Like, he goes to work, he comes home, he does the things and I'm here with the baby all the time. And I don't think anybody understands, like, it can be lonely and, you know, it was a really hard transition.

  But then finally, I found my groove there and I did that. And then there was always, I think I would run into women who were working and it was always a hard conversation. ⁓ I think women really have a hard time with that decision. And so it's hard for them to talk about it because we all feel some level of guilt. If we stay home, we feel guilty for not working. If we're working, we feel guilty that we're not at home.

  And I think that's just a female thing, but sometimes we take it out on each other. know, and so then when I, when my kids were, were all grown and you know, I'm just a new empty nester and people were like, what do you do? And I was so out of habit. I'm a mom. How old are your kids? Well, they're 28, 26. It's like, okay, seriously, what do you do? And, and so I'm really having to kind of read, redefine myself again and figure it all out. And

  Sharon Macey (07:38)

  Mm, that's true. Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Kate Kennedy (08:04)

  It's not an easy journey. Definitely.

  Sharon Macey (08:06)

  No, but

  what's so interesting is so much of how we phrase it really matters. And you have done so much and I can't wait to jump into that. But I think depending on what stage we are in life, we rephrase what we are at that moment. And I got this from Neha Rush who wrote the book, The Power Pause, about leaning into family life. And I remember people saying to me when our kids were younger, so what do you do? And I would say, I'm just home with the kids.

  hard stop, right, to any conversation from that. What I should have said was, well, right now I have the privilege of leaning into family life and I'm raising the next generation of humans. What are you doing? And that really throws it back to someone to say, hey, I'm doing something really important and are you as well?

  And at the end, if we need to figure out a title for you, we'll work on that together.

  Okay, okay, okay.

  Kate Kennedy (09:01)

  Yes, yes, we do. We do still. That's a big thing that I write a lot about in my book is not having a title. And in the world, the world wants you to have a title. And Mom is not a title that holds a lot of gravitas in the professional world. And it should be because you write a job description for a mom who, you know, who's, who does that? Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (09:07)

  Yeah.

  And it should be.

  Right.

  Right. it's so impressive. And those skills matter. And that's one thing

  I like to talk about is that all those skills serve as a foundation of what you will become later in life. Right. And we use all of those skills. I had a friend once who said, I learned everything I needed to know about negotiating on real estate deals from negotiating with my four year

  Kate Kennedy (09:33)

  Yes, yes.

  I look, I believe it because they can they can do some. I had my second son, he could do some serious negotiating with me. Yes, yes. How did that happen?

  Sharon Macey (09:51)

  And somehow they always managed to win. I'm like, no, can't be that way. Can't be that way. I

  know. I know. How did I just give in to a four year old? All right. So as we were just chatting about, raising kids can be difficult, right? Even in the very best circumstances. But to be homeless and raising kids, when was the moment when you realized you needed to do something to make a difference in your community? And I will add that you fought it.

  Kate Kennedy (09:57)

  Yes

  Yes.

  Sharon Macey (10:19)

  and you've pulled out every excuse not to do it. So what ultimately won you over?

  Kate Kennedy (10:24)

  You know, I, so as you said in my bio, I started a school for children without housing in Atlanta. ⁓ And

  I did that from my stay at home, mom,

  kind of place.

  my oldest son had started college. So, you know, my kids were

  a little bit older and I have one son who has, he's neurodivergent. He's got some, lot of learning disabilities and

  Sharon Macey (10:39)

  Yeah.

  Kate Kennedy (10:47)

  It was really difficult for me to just be an advocate for him in the school system. Even with all of our support, all of our safety nets, we could throw a lot of money at it. He went to a really fancy special private school and he had therapy, all of that. And it's still, I had to be there with him every step of the way to keep him from falling through the cracks.

  I think if I hadn't been home and been in the trenches with that,

  every day, all day long, I might not have noticed this need in our community if I had been coming from a more ⁓ professional kind of ⁓ business oriented kind of mind. But I saw a woman on the street, sitting on the street, she looked totally exhausted, she was literally sitting on the curb and her kids, had four kids running all around her in different states of dress. think one didn't have a shirt on, one didn't have shoes on.

  And I just thought, ⁓ how does she do it? I'm exhausted. And, you know, how does she do this? She and she looked utterly exhausted. And then I thought, what if one of her children has the same kind of issues as my son? How in the world is like, how's this going to happen? How is this going happen? Right. Yeah. How is she going to do it? And so because, you know, generational poverty is a tremendous problem in our country that I think people don't think about.

  Sharon Macey (11:58)

  How does she deal with it? Recognize it, deal with it. Yeah, advocate for them.

  Kate Kennedy (12:10)

  If you are born in poverty and you don't have all the opportunities and the entrees and the, you know, all of the privileges that we get just by going to good schools and, you know, knowing people who are in the working world, it's hard to break into that. And you need somebody to be there to give you a space. ⁓ And so I just couldn't let it go. I just could not let it go. And I did not want to do it.

  I told somebody somebody needs to start a school for these children who don't have housing because I feel like they're falling through the cracks. And it was actually Boy Sansley who I named the school after. And she said, yes, you do need to do that. And I said, no, no, not me. So just somebody, somebody needs me. I don't know anything about education. Like I'm, I'm just a stay at home mom. I don't know anything about this. And she was like, you could do it. Anybody could do it. You could do it. And she just kept.

  Sharon Macey (12:51)

  Somebody else.

  Kate Kennedy (13:04)

  kept tapping at me until I finally was like, okay, well, I'll just start asking questions. ⁓ And one thing led to another thing led to another thing. And I asked a lot of questions and a lot of doors closed in my face, but I just didn't stop. And we opened a school which is very successful for children that don't have housing.

  Sharon Macey (13:23)

  Which is extraordinary.

  Hey, Kate, we're gonna take a quick break and when we return, we're gonna dive into your book and we're also gonna dive into your mom skills. So don't go away.

  Okay, Kate, you are starting a business, but you still had kids and laundry and everyday mom life. And as you just said before, you were sort of fighting it all along the way. Like, no, it needs to happen, but am I really the person to do it? How did you manage all that before the school actually opened?

  Kate Kennedy (14:59)

  You know, I had

  a lot of guilt ⁓ with that and I really struggled a lot because I felt like and I think that I thought my husband felt like this too and my kids felt like this too and I think probably I felt it more than they did but they felt it a little bit that I had just gone out and changed the rules of our family life.

  Dinner used to be ready at night.

  I mean, not gourmet, but you know, something was ready every night. And now a lot of times it wasn't. was, you know, I just wasn't there. I wasn't there. I wasn't doing, was, you know, behind on the laundry. Just, we all had to, everybody needed to pitch in in a different way. And they were super proud of what, what I was doing and very excited. But I think there was this underlying, wait, moms changed all the rules.

  And it's making life a lot harder for us. My husband included.

  Sharon Macey (15:45)

  Interesting. Interesting. Yeah.

  Kate Kennedy (15:50)

  Yeah. So that was really difficult. My goal was never to be running a school. I'm not an educator. don't. I do now, but I didn't then know very much about, you know, like the science of reading and how to run a school. My goal was to get something up and open and then have people, you know, that were specialists in the field.

  running the school and I could be out in the community talking about it and raising the money and all that kind of stuff but that wasn't an everyday you know 7 a.m to 7 p.m job but that was not the reality of what happens when you open up a a fledgling non-profit you don't have any money to you're only the founders willing to work 100 hours a week for free and that was me so I did yeah

  Sharon Macey (16:35)

  For free, exactly. That was, okay.

  Before we hop into the book, let's talk about mom skills. Because clearly you have a ton of skills that you honed while raising your kids and then merging all of those into starting the school and this movement, which is extraordinary. And motherhood offers an extraordinary number of transferable skills.

  Kate Kennedy (16:54)

  Yeah.

  I always tell people that superpower is that can get things done. And I think that was tremendously tested in staying home and having four young kids and a husband that traveled a lot and worked a lot. And ⁓ I get stuff done. And so I think that I honed that skill when I stayed home with my kids. And then definitely that came into ⁓ great ⁓ use when I was

  opening a business. And, you know, I think that just being able to expect the unexpected and deal with the emergencies and the crises and, you know, when you're home with your kids, you kind of never know what's going to happen day to day day to day. You just never know because they're kids and they, you know, they do their thing. And, you know, that was very true with the families at the school, too. When you don't have housing, you live crisis to crisis to crisis.

  So I was really able to kind of lean into that with them ⁓ because I had been home with my kids in the trenches with them for so many years.

  Sharon Macey (18:06)

  And did your

  kids get involved in the school in any way?

  Kate Kennedy (18:08)

  They did. They were so excited ⁓ and they talked to their friends about it. My niece ⁓ got me an invitation to come speak at her school. It's been really cool to see them really lean into this as well. It's funny, my oldest son, when he went to college and he was in college for this whole time, he had... ⁓

  taking me off his Instagram. He's like, mom, I'm in college now. don't need to follow me on Instagram anymore. I'm like, OK, whatever. You're in college. And he did. And it wasn't until his girlfriend said, your son posted the nicest thing on Instagram about your school. And I'm like, he did? And so she showed it to me. And I was like, that's so. It was.

  Sharon Macey (18:42)

  This is not cool. Yeah.

  And you

  didn't even know.

  Kate Kennedy (19:01)

  No, and how proud he was of his mom and how great the school was and donate to the school and all that kind of stuff. And it was just it was just incredible.

  Sharon Macey (19:09)

  Yeah, you know that they're going to be proud. They saw the hard work that you put into it and then what transpired. So,

  Kate Kennedy (19:14)

  Yes.

  Sharon Macey (19:16)

  let's talk about your book.

  here it is, Once Upon a School. Kate, I gotta tell you, it is such an extraordinary read. It read like a novel

  It's a powerful heartfelt read. It is raw. It is beyond inspiring. It explores racial inequality, generational poverty, the power of community and resilience in a huge way. Totally held my attention. I just was like every chapter. I just couldn't wait to move on to the next chapter. And I tell you, I was viscerally feeling your desire to do the right thing from reading this book.

  Kate Kennedy (19:44)

  Thank you.

  Sharon Macey (19:52)

  and change the trajectory of these kids and their families' lives while learning how much you didn't really know. So, I mean, really, what a humbling experience, right? I also will admit I love the quotes that you had at the beginning of every chapter. And I'll share with you one of my favorite quotes, which was not at the beginning of a chapter. It was actually in one of the chapters. And it was from a gentleman named Bob Goff.

  Kate Kennedy (20:00)

  Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (20:19)

  who was called a recovered lawyer, which is hysterical, my husband's that too, and a writer. And he wrote, this is so powerful, he said, quote, we don't need to do what we're merely capable of doing. The trick is to figure out what we were made to do. Talk to me about that.

  Kate Kennedy (20:23)

  Hahaha!

  Yes.

  Yes. Well, you know, as I, as I said earlier, I, my superpower is getting things done. And so you, you put a problem up for me and I can pretty much solve it. I can just figure it out. That's just, that's just what I do. but every problem I've learned is not for me to solve. Every crisis is not for me to attend to. Every need is not for me to try to fill because when that's your

  core, you feel like I'm able to do it so I should. But that will eat you up very, very quickly. I'm a big fan of the Enneagram. I don't know if you're familiar with the Enneagram, but it's a personality typing. It's very ancient.

  you can look it up. I talk about it a lot in my book, but it's nine different personality types and I'm a three. And I love it so, the three is the achiever.

  And I love it so much because it says, that's my core. And if I use that gift well, it benefits me and it benefits the world. If I use it in a

  dangerous way or in an unhealthy way, then it tears me down and it tears down the world. you know, so it's, but it's the same thing. And so for me, it was that quote means a lot because I feel like there's a lot of things that I can do that just aren't mine to do.

  Sharon Macey (21:44)

  interesting.

  Kate Kennedy (21:55)

  Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (21:55)

  and to

  be able to figure that out. Talk to me about some of the obviously challenges in starting this school. Some of your like the highest highs and the lowest lows.

  Kate Kennedy (22:06)

  Yes, well, I mean, just the fact that we opened the school, I mean, I can still remember the first day of school when we opened the doors and the kids were there, like ready and they wore uniforms, so cute and they had backpacks and they were there. And then the next day they came back. And then the next day they came back and I was like, wow, this is, wow, like it's this really.

  Sharon Macey (22:20)

  Yeah. ⁓

  Wow, yeah,

  just wow.

  Kate Kennedy (22:34)

  Yeah.

  And so that was amazing. But then we always had struggles. I the families were living crisis to crisis and each of their crisis was like a crisis of my own. And that was just so difficult. And then it's hard

  found a nonprofit. It's just really hard work. And it wasn't what I expected. so it got

  really kind of dicey and I ended up having to walk away and I think that that was the most ⁓ difficult thing I probably have ever done in my whole life. ⁓ But you know maybe it was mine to build but it wasn't mine to to run forever. ⁓

  Sharon Macey (23:16)

  I can appreciate that. You like began

  the legacy and now you sort of passed the baton, right? To somebody else. Yeah.

  Kate Kennedy (23:20)

  Right, to an actual educator who knows how

  to run a school. And they have money now to pay somebody. So, you know, that's great.

  Sharon Macey (23:28)

  Nice.

  You had the school and then you wrote the book.

  Kate Kennedy (23:31)

  Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (23:32)

  What did you learn about Kate in doing all of this?

  Kate Kennedy (23:36)

  A lot. A lot.

  Sharon Macey (23:39)

  We're ready.

  Kate Kennedy (23:40)

  it's been a real journey, a real journey for me. And I think Going back to the stay at home mom thing, when I first started this journey and telling people what I wanted to do, I mean, I have a whole story in the book about how I met with a woman, and I told her, I mean, and I had a budget and a, you know, a strategic plan. and like all everything that I needed. And she was like,

  What's your title? Like, what do you do? And I was like, I'm, I'm just a concerned citizen. And she said, ⁓ I think you're in over your head. And that was that.

  Sharon Macey (24:06)

  I remember that, yes, yeah.

  Kate Kennedy (24:14)

  need titles. We need a title, but every title, I felt like an imposter, felt like an imposter. And then I had people telling me I was an imposter. I had one, one gentleman say to me,

  Sharon Macey (24:12)

  We need titles. Because that's the

  Kate Kennedy (24:26)

  look, I have an MBA from Harvard and you seem to think you know what you're doing. But again, I have an MBA from Harvard. I ⁓ was like, yeah, whatever you think must be the smartest way. Well, his way was not the way. I knew what I was doing. I was having success all around me. But it was really challenging for me

  Sharon Macey (24:35)

  Well, excuse me. Yeah.

  Yeah. Yeah.

  Kate Kennedy (24:49)

  to figure out who I was and my worth. Because again,

  I'm just a stay at home mom.

  Sharon Macey (24:55)

  First of all, we have to get rid of the word just. I was a stay at home mom, proud, because

  Kate Kennedy (24:57)

  Right, exactly.

  Sharon Macey (25:02)

  first of all, as a stay at home mom, you're never home. So yeah, and.

  Kate Kennedy (25:04)

  Right. Yes. And you know,

  I don't want to have to call it something like people call it, or was CEO of the household. And for me, just, I want to claim what I did. I was raising tiny humans. and that's really important. Yeah. Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (25:15)

  Yeah, raising the next generation of humans, for

  sure. So in the book, you had an anecdote about the color of the shirts that the kids were wearing. Tell my listeners about that, because that was really interesting, a perspective that you didn't have before.

  Kate Kennedy (25:26)

  ⁓ yes.

  That

  was such a turning point. And I always say now, I started saying this when I was at the school and I really always embrace it now, you don't know what you don't know. And that doesn't mean you were wrong or your heart was not in the right place. It just meant you didn't know. I think it's Maya Angelou that says, do what you know and when you know better, do better. So that is exactly what happened with the shirts. So we had them in uniforms because we just.

  Sharon Macey (25:53)

  Hmm.

  Kate Kennedy (26:00)

  that we thought that would be helpful to the kids and we provided them for free. And the shirts were blue, light blue, and the shorts and skorts were navy blue. And so after the first, and they had the little logo embroidered on them, they were so cute. And after the first ⁓ quarter, we had a parent meeting. And the parents were kind of like, you want to meet with us? Because the first thing I didn't really think about is,

  When you are unhoused and you are taking your child to a public school, you don't really have a voice. You're embarrassed, you don't, you know, because you're not, don't want to, you don't want to be found out. And a lot of them don't want to be found out because they're scared that they'll get turned over for defects for not having stable housing, which is the Department of Family and Children Services, and their children will be taken away. But we had a meeting and the parents all came and they really formed a little community because they were all in the same, in the same position.

  And we said, what could we do better as we move forward? And they all looked at us like, are you kidding? I'm not going say anything. I don't want you to kick me out of here. And we're like, no, really, what can we do better? And finally, one mom said, the shirts are really difficult. We had originally picked white, sorry. We had picked white because we thought that they could bleach the stains out and the shirts would last longer.

  What I didn't know was or think about was that if you're in a shelter, you don't have or you're living on the streets, which we had, you don't have access to the washing machines. You don't have access to bleach. That's not a thing. So the shirts were just getting dirtier and dirtier.

  And they said they wanted to switch to Navy shirts and because it would hide the stains. And we were like, well, that makes perfect sense. And so we did.

  when the Navy shirts came in and we handed them out, the parents were like, wait, you listen to us? You care what we say? Like you weren't just joking? And it was a real turning point in the school, I think, because the parents were like, wow, we really have a voice here. Like we're really a team and that was really special. Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (27:59)

  I just,

  especially for people who are living under such hardship, to be able to realize that they matter and that their words and thoughts and their ideas matter. How beautiful is that, Kate?

  Kate Kennedy (28:04)

  Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Yes,

  yeah, yeah, I wanted the school to be a place where everybody felt their own worth and dignity.

  I really tried to say, teach me what I don't know. Like, you know, I want to teach you what you don't know and let's work together. Let's be a team. And we were. We are. Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (28:28)

  That is so that's so beautiful.

  So your school went from kindergarten through. OK.

  Kate Kennedy (28:33)

  So we started with a pre-K and the plan was

  to add one grade every year. We were just very, very slow and go through middle school. So this year, ⁓ the ⁓ nine kids that are still at the school who started in pre-K in 2018 graduated from the fifth grade and will be the first class of our first middle school sixth grade next year, which

  Sharon Macey (28:38)

  Right.

  I love

  that it's expanding.

  Kate Kennedy (29:01)

  It's

  so exciting and there's a school right across the street, ⁓ Cristo Rey, which is a Catholic school that has ⁓ lots of schools around the country, but they serve underserved children and they send them to college. If you go to a Cristo Rey school and you want to go to college, you will. And so we have a partnership that our children will matriculate to Cristo Rey if they would like when they graduate.

  Sharon Macey (29:28)

  And these kids have aspirations, right? I know you've

  probably talked to the kids a lot. What are some of their aspirations?

  Kate Kennedy (29:33)

  ⁓ yes.

  they want to be everything. They want to be doctors and they want to be lawyers and they want to be engineers. And I mean, they have no thoughts that they're not going to go to college. They're not going to do all the things like the world is kind of more open to them than it was was before. There's a family that I talk about extensively in the book on the Stinson family, and I'm very close to them.

  Sharon Macey (29:46)

  that they can't. Right, yeah.

  Kate Kennedy (29:59)

  And they have nine children. I know, I know, married couple without housing, nine children, their story is in the book. It's absolutely incredible. But their twins, their youngest were the only ones that came to the Ansley school because it was where we had grades for them. And but one of their older children graduated from high school this year. And the mom said she's been watching her ⁓ younger siblings talk about their futures.

  and she ⁓ wants to join the army so she can serve a couple of years and then she wants to go to ⁓ school to be an ultrasound tech and you know she's got aspirations whereas their family has never done any, never gone to college, never done any post, most of them graduate from high school like they've, homelessness to homelessness to homelessness.

  Sharon Macey (30:53)

  I love how it had filtered up, right? From the younger kids to the older kids realizing your life doesn't have to be this way. And it's going to take a lot of fighting and clawing to get to where you envision yourself to be, but it's possible. And I think

  Kate Kennedy (30:55)

  Right, yeah.

  Right.

  Sharon Macey (31:09)

  that's the same lesson for any, any mom who's like, okay, where am I going after this? Right? Cause we know we're not done

  Kate Kennedy (31:14)

  Right.

  Sharon Macey (31:16)

  when we become empty nesters,

  it's not going to be easy. Nothing in life that is worth it is easy, but you just have to, and the tenacity that you had to put one foot in front of the other, despite all of the challenges that you had once the school opened and the diversity of opinions, you should be doing this, you should be doing that. It's all in the book, folks. It's really an extraordinary read, you know, and all that you've learned about the power within Kate during this time.

  Kate Kennedy (31:21)

  Right.

  Thank you.

  Mm-hmm.

  Yes. Yes.

  Sharon Macey (31:45)

  Blew me away. apparently

  that someone said in the book that that is like your mom was like that and that's who you are and that nobody was surprised that you would do this because you were like your mom's daughter.

  Kate Kennedy (31:51)

  Yes. Yes.

  Yes, exactly. Exactly. And it's so exciting because now actually I have my three sons of all are all in the financial world, which is where my husband spends his time. That's his expertise. And but my daughter ⁓ is studying to be a counselor and a child life specialist. And she's, you know, working anyway. She's she's. so it just makes me so happy to see, you know, to see my kids like really take this passion.

  ⁓ and do their own things with it, which is thrilling. Yes.

  Sharon Macey (32:29)

  That's so powerful. All right, so for everyone listening,

  people who have spotted an injustice, how can people foster change in their own community?

  Kate Kennedy (32:40)

  you know, there's a lot of different ways to do this. I think I look at it as like top down to bottom up. And there's a lot of people out there who are who are, you know, fighting the institutions, fighting the, you know, like really protesting. And that is all great work. That is not, again, my work to do right now. I am more of a kind of a bottom up kind of person, which means I started this journey by just noticing one woman. And then I talked to one woman and then I talked to some kids.

  And then I talked to another one. You know, I started it by building relationships with people that I thought, you know, really felt worthless and were really slipping through the cracks and the privilege that I had. And I was able to, you know, share that and use that to help them, you know, find a new path for themselves. So I think just talking to people, I mean, a lot, you don't know what you don't know again.

  you see someone who's struggling, why are you struggling? Like what is, what's keeping you down? What is the roadblock? Is there something I can do, you know, to help fix this for you and everybody else who's having the same problem? Because nobody, no problem is just singular for one person. ⁓ So.

  Sharon Macey (33:51)

  And I'm sure

  you don't wake up,

  one day and go, I'm going to be the founder of a nonprofit. ⁓ Because that's one of the, aside from being a stay at home mom, that's one of the hardest jobs on the planet as well.

  Kate Kennedy (34:00)

  Yes.

  Yes. And I do think there's people that do that. And I will say, I think that that can be a roadblock for people when they say, I'm going to be the founder of a nonprofit. And they anxiously search for a nonprofit to start. they don't start with, going to, you know, I see a need in the community and, you know, sometimes you're just trying to push a square peg into a round hole because you want to start a nonprofit. ⁓ And, and so, yeah, cause it's not.

  Sharon Macey (34:29)

  I think it

  needs, just like you, needs to start with someone sitting on the curb, clearly having difficulty and then finding out how you could make it better for them.

  Kate Kennedy (34:30)

  easy.

  Yeah, because

  the first thing you do is say, there someone in the community that's already doing something that could help alleviate the situation? And if so, then you need to help do that. And if not, then maybe it's time to look at starting something. And that was kind of where I fell into it. Yeah.

  Sharon Macey (34:46)

  Right, right.

  Yeah.

  There you go.

  I love that. Such a great story, Kate, really is.

  Kate, I want to ask you, you are a minister

  So talk to me about that because that seems like such a natural next step given what you did with the school and so inherent to who you are.

  Kate Kennedy (35:12)

  Yes, and I think the school, I mean the school is, was such a ministry for me. I've always been very, ⁓ very religious, very faithful and I had already gotten a couple of degrees and it just has always been a big part of my life. So I'm finding new ways to ⁓ formalize that and cement that and like you said, I'm getting my doctorate right now.

  creative writing and public theology, which in public theology

  is standing in the gap between the church and the world. ⁓ How do we find God and the world? We all use different language for God, but for the most part,

  it's there. God is there, we just all have different language. And sometimes the church makes the mistake of thinking that it's God.

  And then it makes mistakes because the church is really just a bunch of humans seeking God so public theology kind of calls everybody to the table

  Sharon Macey (36:06)

  So interesting. I look forward to following your trajectory there and

  hearing some of your sermons online. So thank you for that.

  Kate Kennedy (36:12)

  Thank you. Thank you. Yes, all my sermons are on my website.

  Sharon Macey (36:15)

  unfortunately our time is drawing to a close, but I have a question that I ask all of the incredible moms I interview. And that is this. Since this is the Mom Tomorrow podcast, Kate Kennedy, what is your more?

  Kate Kennedy (36:17)

  Yeah. Yes.

  goodness. My more is right now, this is new for me and it's kind of my word for the year, is just to be. Because I learned through starting the school that who I am is good and enough. And who I am just on a regular day does a lot of good stuff in the world. So I don't need to strive to do more, more, more, more, more. I can just be and it will all be okay. It will all be good.

  Sharon Macey (36:37)

  Hmm

  I love that. That's beautiful. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. And please tell our listeners where they can find you online. Folks, everything is going to be in the show notes where they can buy your book. Tell us all.

  Kate Kennedy (37:06)

  Yes,

  yes, so I have a website, KateKennedyWrites.com and on there is all the information. You can get in touch with me. I love to talk to people if you want to reach out, if you're thinking about starting something or you have a need in your community or you know, and want some advice, I'd love to do that. And my book is available, all the online places.

  Sharon Macey (37:11)

  Mm-hmm.

  Kate Kennedy (37:28)

  several independent bookstores. You can get it at Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com. And my favorite website to point out is Bookshop.org, which is an amazing nonprofit ⁓ website. They support independent booksellers. So you can order your book from there and you can say what independent bookstore in your neighborhood you'd like the money to go to. yeah. On Instagram, I am Kate Kennedy writes at Kate Kennedy writes.

  Sharon Macey (37:38)

  Okay.

  I love that. I love that. And then on Instagram, you are?

  Terrific,

  Kate Kennedy (37:56)

  would love

  Sharon Macey (37:57)

  Kate, thank you again for your time. Your story is so extraordinary. I'm so grateful that you shared it with with our listeners. The book, an incredible read, folks, I highly recommend if you want to be inspired, get this book, because it's going to it's going to knock your socks off.

  Kate Kennedy (38:15)

  Thank you. And thank you for what you do.

  Sharon Macey (38:17)

  I'd like to read another five star review and this is from Sapna Rad. And she wrote, as I move into the next chapter of my life, this podcast has been a lifesaver, a must listen for moms. Well, thank you so much for your kind words. And if you keep writing those five star reviews, I'll keep reading them.