KO Your Brand

Katrina Owens (00:01.326)
Hey guys and welcome to another episode of KO Your Brand, the podcast for fame ready entrepreneurs. I'm your host Katrina Owens, top personal branding and public relations expert, founder of Knockout Directive, and I for one am absolutely thrilled to be here with all of you today. First of all, it's been a couple weeks since I released

the second episode where I basically said sorry for the first episode in my energy levels and I'm still getting used to this thing, this little podcasting thing that I'm doing. And I really appreciate all of the amazing feedback that I got after that second episode. I got so many comments and messages from followers, listeners.

friends, people in my community that reassured me that the energy was back in episode two. So if you're listening to this and you actually listened to the first episode and weren't sure how this was gonna go for me, same. But I'm feeling really good to be back with you all today. And I'm really excited for this episode because we're gonna do something a little bit different. The past couple weeks I have been sharing

a lot about strategy, public relations, what you need to know if you're a personal brand looking to get started using PR and fear not, that's going to continue. But what I would love to do today is actually share a little bit more of my origin story. We're calling this episode from fame hungry to fame ready because that's really been my journey.

Interestingly enough, think I had mentioned this in my event recap episode. I am always like so dead set on delivering value to my listeners, to my audience, to my followers, that I often forget that our story, my story also has value. I always feel like people just want tangible tips and takeaways, but

Katrina Owens (02:23.718)
I know that some of the most inspiring moments or realizations for me have been seeing myself in other people, particularly people that I admire and people that are willing to share the vulnerable parts of their story because there are so many vulnerable parts. Let's be real here. So that's what I wanna do today. I want to...

What's the saying? Every hero or every villain has an origin story and I'm pretty sure I'm the hero in this situation and not the villain, at least not yet. For all my Vanderpump Rules fans out there, yes, you're gonna learn this about me. Bravo Reality TV is my freaking weakness, guilty pleasure. I love all of the reality shows so, so much.

But Arianimatics in Vanderpump Rules, one of the most recent seasons says, you either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain. And I've always remembered that. So I'm not sure which one is my ending yet, but stay tuned because I think that's such a profound statement. And I'm sure she didn't like come up with that herself. I'm positive that's from something else, but.

It's a good one. It's a good one to sit with. So with that, I want to take you on a little bit of a journey and

Okay, Heather, fucking hell, this fucking webcam. my God, okay, like the loser sign, like that's the one that puts it in and out. That's insane. Okay. Like obviously, you know how to cut this out, but maybe this is also a fun blooper. So maybe like, my God. Like cut this part out, but like.

Katrina Owens (04:26.644)
maybe also make it into some content. Okay, we're done here. We're done.

Katrina Owens (04:36.248)
Okay, and we're back. Okay, so this origin story, when I was thinking about telling it, so I do all of my best episode brainstorming, like in the car, when I'm walking the dog. And I originally thought that this would start like towards the end of my corporate career, but I realized if I wanted to do it really like the justice it deserves, my origin story, my journey to fame starts when I was like two years old.

as most origin stories do. So when I was two, I was enrolled into dance class for the very first time. And I was a very, very shy child, okay? Which I know you guys are probably like, cannot picture it, but I was so shy, I like barely spoke. So my mom thought, okay, maybe it's a self-confidence thing, a self-esteem.

things, so like let's enroll her in dance class and maybe that will open her up a little bit. So two years old, I get put in this tap jazz introduction. mean, I'm two, so it's not super technical. This dance class at the studio in Kitchener, Ontario. Shout out Kitchener, Ontario. That's where I was born and raised.

actually a small town outside Kitchener, Ontario. It's called New Dundee for anyone that's listening to this and actually knows of New Dundee. No stoplights, but there was a liquor store. It's important. So anyways, I get put in dance class and I was so freaking cute that after my very first year, the dance studio used my dance photo, the one that was taken like after the performance,

and was using it as the advertisement in the Yellow Pages. Remember the Yellow Pages? So that was my first famous moment at Two, was this dance studio started to use me in their Yellow Pages advertisement. Because I was so cute in my tutu, and there was a boy in the dance class who also was cute. So it this cute little, it's burned my memory, this little photo of the two of us.

Katrina Owens (06:53.644)
So that was my very first introduction to fame and at two years old, wow, that's like history in the making, right? So as I carried on as I was growing up, I always wanted to be famous. I ended up being a competitive dancer, albeit not like the most amazing dancer, but I was good enough to compete. I was good enough to be on the competitive team, but I was like...

in the back row of the competitive team. Okay, so I was like good enough, but like I wasn't gonna make a career out of dance by any means. I also started to love like public speaking and acting. I started to do a lot of like student government stuff. I was never the one that was like firmly in the spotlight. I was always kind of a supporting actor.

And I think that's mostly because my confidence and self-esteem growing up was never like off the charts high. I had like healthy self-esteem and self-confidence, but not enough to put myself out there to try different things and all of that. And the first time I can really remember kind of stepping into a new version of me was when I went to university. So I went to McMaster, shout out McMaster.

Birthplace of the Arkells, one of my favorite bands. If you listen to Cool Girl Shit, the official KO Your Brand podcast available on Spotify, you're gonna find some of my favorite Arkell songs on it. I grew up, I mean, I went to school. I guess I did grow up. I guess like university undergrad really is your peak growing up moment. But went to McMaster during the rise of the Arkells. And that was really like the rise of when I started to feel more comfortable with

who I wanted to be in the world. So I was studying communications and at the time I was envisioning a public relations career that looked like Samantha Jones from Sex in the City. Or like if there's any Laguna Beach, The Hills fans, Kelly Coutrone, like public relations was my jam, fashion PR, beauty PR, that's what I had entered university thinking I was gonna do.

Katrina Owens (09:13.302)
And over my four years of my undergrad, I started to develop this love for sports and athletics. I went to lots of Hamilton Thai Cats games. Shout out to the CFL. I had like a brand ambassador job with an experiential marketing company. So I got to see a lot of really cool behind the scenes activations at some of these larger sporting events. Like at one point there was a Thai Cats game.

where I got to like drive a Subaru or whatever car onto the football field. McMaster was also a big football school. So we got to go to like lots of fun football games. I even briefly jaded, I wonder if he'll ever listen to this or when I become really famous, this episode might go viral at some point. So I should be careful what I say, but very briefly jaded this football player from

McMaster and actually we actually dated once I was no longer at school. I had graduated but we crossed the border into Buffalo to go to a Buffalo Bills game and on our way back crossing back into Canada, he gave his passport to the border agent and the border agent recognized him and I won't use his name here but was basically like having a little football talk with him at the border and I was like, wow.

This guy is kind of famous. So you can see how I was always kind of fame adjacent. In my last year of university, I remember really wanting to be the president of the communication society. I thought I was going to get it. I lost actually to a great friend of mine. So there was no hard feelings, but I was always kind of the supporting character. So anyways.

We've kind of fast forward but like my university career was really like me trying to find my way I was still like fame hungry deep down. I mean I dated that football player. I also dated Yeah, we can we cannot drop names on this podcast Katrina, but I dated a man who worked for the Toronto Raptors So I also got to like see a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff in that realm. So

Katrina Owens (11:38.956)
It was never me. It was always me trying to like find my way into the industry or into sports and entertainment, but finding it really hard to make a name for myself. So in my fourth year of university, I ended up getting an internship at golf Canada.

And you might say, that sounds like a job for someone who's really big into golf. And yes, it is. But I knew nothing about the sport, nothing at all. The most I knew about golf before getting that job was like who Tiger Woods was. And only because of the huge scandal that was his life for so many years, 15 years ago or whatever, right?

But I got that job because my amazing boss, Morgan, the woman who decided to hire me, saw something in me that I think I had been wanting a lot of people to see. She saw the spark, she saw the drive, she knew that she could teach me how to write about golf, how to interview golfers and do the whole thing. She knew, and she did it. She trained me, and by the end of that summer...

I knew everything that you could know about golf. So much so, a year later, when I graduated, I ended up getting a job with the PGA of British Columbia. So that was when, for those of you, I know most of my audience is actually based on the West Coast of Canada because I do live in Vancouver, British Columbia. So I actually moved out here.

at the ripe age of 21, because I got this job with the PGA and I knew no one. But this was the first time I really felt like I am following my dreams. I am working my way up to be a sports anchor. I think we talked about that on a previous episode that I really wanted to like be an Aaron Andrews or like have some sort of sports anchor position at some point. So I, this was really when that was starting to unfold, which was really cool.

Katrina Owens (13:45.794)
I did that job for a couple years, I think like two years, two seasons, and then I just wanted to be like, you know, a 21 year old girl. Because up until then, I was working every single summer, I would do internships, like, I'm sure the surprise is no one, but I was career driven for so long, and that is obviously how I got to where I am today. But I had met somebody when I was like 22, 23.

wanted to stop working weekends, wanted to be able to take like a summer vacation once in a while. So I ended up moving on from my job in sports or my job in golf to a different job in sports actually. Started working for the University of the Fraser Valley, which is a regional university out here in BC. And I was working in the athletics department. And I actually feel like this was when this like fame hungry

really dream driven Katrina died. And maybe she didn't like fully die, but she like really stepped behind the curtain. And I'm not sure what that was. The job was really hard. And I didn't love it. And I wasn't confident in myself or my expertise. And I don't know if that was because of my work environment.

There was a lot of coaches with a lot of personalities. Not uncommon for me to get yelled at for like setting up something wrong or like a glitch in the live stream. There was like one soccer game that I was running on like a gorgeous fall weekend. And I remember this like drunk neighbor who like lived nearby just like screamed at me because the music was loud and

no one, like no, not a single like referee, team member, given all of the males that were like working in the department with me, not a single person like stepped up to like kind of tell this man to stop screaming in my face. So it just like developed a lot of trauma in that job and it made me really small. And at the same time I was

Katrina Owens (16:10.658)
dating someone who wasn't quite right for me. I didn't know that at the time, obviously, but he was always someone who was kind of in the spotlight a little bit more than I was. He had more money than me. He was more self-assured. He had all of the friends. And I think I forgot to mention this, but when I moved to British Columbia when I was 21,

for that job, I didn't know anyone apart from who I was working with. So my whole social life became work and then whoever my boyfriend at the time would either like introduce me to or like make plans with. So it was codependent. It was a time when I really felt like I was just not in the spotlight and I told myself I didn't want

So after a couple years of working in that job, I eventually moved on to another job that I really loved. I really loved it. I was working for a regional shopping center and my actual position was with a larger real estate development company. And I loved my team. I loved everyone I got to work with, whether that was like the actual like coworkers I had, but also influencers in the community. We did a lot of community partnerships.

And I do attribute that job to a lot of the success that I have now when it comes to relationship building and creativity and all of that. there was this moment, a couple moments in that job that actually continued to put me even further behind the curtain. And I reflect on those moments because I think I'd already come into that job feeling a bit of a you know.

lack of confidence. I didn't have a lot of confidence when I started that job, although I know I could do the job. I wasn't someone who was going to come in and like rock the boat or try to stand out too much. I do remember a boss or superior at the time had kind of said like, you're not the star of the show. It's the community that's the star of the show. This job isn't about us. It's about the community, which are all like very

Katrina Owens (18:26.43)
nice sentiments, but I do think that those statements weighed on me more than I knew that they would. So as I was in that job, we hosted these amazing events. We would do like massive full scale dancer orchestra singing, dancing productions at Christmas time.

We do fashion shows, markets, all these different things. And we would run this really big Christmas show every single year. And one year there became an opportunity to find a new MC. And I remember thinking to myself, what a cool position that would be. But I knew that that wasn't my position to have. I mean, I didn't even.

pitch myself to it, who knows, maybe if I would have said, hey, I would love to do that. Maybe it would have been given to me, but I didn't have that type of confidence at all. So I ended up giving it to a friend of mine who I knew was gonna be so perfect. She has done a lot of MCing and hosting in her life and she had just moved here. And I mean, as soon as I knew the role was available, I immediately thought of her. And still to this day, I'm so happy that she got that role.

But I do look back on that moment as, yep, that was like something I wanted, but I just never felt like I was worthy of those types of opportunities. And whether that was self-inflicted or whether that was something that my employer, all of my employers kind of compounded on over time, who knows? But this is the origin story after all. So we gotta break it, we gotta break it all down. I gotta lay it all out on the table. So.

I was at that job for four years.

Katrina Owens (20:36.91)
So was at that job for about four years and then the property that I was working at, the shopping center that I was working at sold to new owners. And it all happened like really abruptly, honestly. And although over the course of the four years, I don't think I was like ever like totally happy in that job. I was really appreciative of it.

and I really loved the people that I worked with and I thought I had a cool opportunity and I was pretty complacent, honestly. I mean, I made okay money, I had good vacation time, so it was fine. And up until that point in my life, fine was like good enough for me.

And I can't remember if I've ever mentioned this in an episode or not, but it's something that I talk about a lot on social media or like in my speaking engagements and stuff. But before I became an entrepreneur, I never made a vision board. Some of you might be like, what the fuck is a vision board? Just in case you don't know, it's like, to me, a vision board is a visual collage or representation of all of the goals and like things that you want to achieve in your

life for your year or whatever season that you're making it in. So up until I became an entrepreneur, I never made one, although I knew what it was. I knew people that I would have vision board parties and all of that. But I never made one because I actually never thought that my future was up to me, which is a crazy thing to say. But I always thought that the amount of money that I made, the amount of vacation time I could take,

None of that was up to me. It was up to my employer. So what was the point of like making a vision board of all these things that to me just didn't seem quote unquote realistic, which is a word I don't use anymore because I opt not to be realistic at this point in my life. It only holds me back. So that's a word that I've eliminated from my vocabulary, but.

Katrina Owens (22:53.62)
I was realistic Katrina for a very, very long time.

It's important, obviously, for all intents and purposes of this show. It's an important thing to know about me. So the property sells to new owners. And at the same time, a friend of mine, a dear, dear friend of mine had started working at a different company. And she asked me if I would be interested in working in their marketing department. And this all kind of happened like in the same

two week period of us finding out that this property had sold to new owners. So I was like, yeah, I'm not sure what's happening with my current job. So yes, I'd be interested in learning more about that one. And what ended up happening if I would have stayed at the property, the job that I was at doing the property management that I had been doing, that new company had offered me like,

I think it was like the same salary, maybe a decrease. It was definitely a decrease in vacation time and they were gonna demote my title. So I was a marketing director at the company that I had worked at for four years and the new owners were like, we don't have marketing directors in our company. It's just not like a title that we recognize. So we're gonna demote you to like a marketing manager. And that, although like, do titles really mean anything?

I don't know, up for debate. mean, now that I can call myself whatever I want to, I think those titles mean less and less, but at the time it was really important to me. And I just felt like, well, I worked at this property, at this shopping center for four years. So like, it feels wrong to just demote somebody and take away that title that I had felt that I worked so hard for.

Katrina Owens (24:56.29)
So anyways, this other company that my friend was working at was hiring. I ended up interviewing and getting the job and I negotiated my salary and all of the things. That was in December of 2021. So I started that new job and it was fine. It was fine. And once again, that was the bar, right? And I mean, like anything, there are always red flags.

And I need you guys to know something. I love my parents so much. And I need to preface this statement by saying that because obviously as we become entrepreneurs, there's this duty to be self-aware and to acknowledge all of these parts of us that have been conditioned since we were children, since we were born. And I love my parents so much. I don't know if they listen to podcasts or ever listen to this, but I do need to acknowledge a lot of this kind of childhood conditioning.

that isn't anybody's fault, it's just things that I have picked up through how I was raised. So one of the things that I always remember my parents saying is like, well, it's work. It's not meant to be fun or like, you know, it's a job Katrina, like it doesn't need to be like whatever amazing experience you're making it up to be in your head. And those are not their words, but that is kind of the conditioning that I had where a job is a job.

It's not meant to be like fun and sparkly and rainbows and unicorns every single day, but you should be so happy that you have a job and a well-paying one because there aren't many people out there that can say that. And that's a totally fine perspective to have. And that's the perspective that I had for a really long time. Like, I should just be so grateful that I have this job. So I was so grateful that I had the job that I had.

So grateful that I kept taking on more and more work because I am type A perfectionist, high achiever, over performer. Any task you give me, I will do it happily with a smile to perfection. So that's what I did at this new job that I had started. was carving out a name for myself at this new company and they could see that I was a workhorse. I was gonna say they could see my potential. Actually,

Katrina Owens (27:22.402)
I think they could see my potential. That'll be important as the story goes on. I think they could see my potential, so they just kept giving me different tasks, things that were not even in my department and all of that. And then one day, I got a job offer.

not because I was looking, but just because someone else was looking to expand to their company and they knew I had a great reputation. They knew I was good at my job. It was someone that I had met at a previous time in my life and they offered me a really amazing job offer.

So I started doing some homework because the job that I had now been offered was quite a big salary increase in comparison to the salary I was currently making. And then I realized after doing some research and talking to a couple different mentors and people I had respected in the field,

I realized that I was being really fucking underpaid and like really underpaid for the industry that I was working in and the job title that I had. And I do believe that that was due to a history of me being underpaid for the work that I did. I think I started my career in the sports industry, which is a 100 % underpaid industry. When you work in the sports industry, people want those jobs. Those jobs are sexy.

people would kill for those jobs. So there's an opportunity for the people that provide those jobs to underpay the people in the lowest tier of the company. So I think from the day I left university, I was underpaid because I was so eager. And then I continued to be underpaid because no one ever said, hey, Katrina, you're underpaid. And that, like I know now that

Katrina Owens (29:30.56)
it's actually mandated at least provincially here that you have to include like the salary range and jobs. But that wasn't the case for me for like most of my professional career. So I had no idea what I was supposed to be making. So I just think I had gotten so comfortable settling for less that I didn't even know what I was supposed to be paid. So when I got into this job, I had negotiated my salary, but I had negotiated that far too low.

So knowing this and actually not wanting to leave the job that I was at, I took it to my employer and I said, hey, look, this is a job offer that I received totally out of the blue, was not looking, came from a friend. But I have found out since then that by all industry standards for like the job title that I have, the functions that I do, I am underpaid. And I want to stay here.

So if I stay here, I'd like to be paid more and also receive a promotion. I wanted a title increase to reflect all of the things that I was doing, because I wasn't just doing like one job. I was doing like three different jobs, setting up different departments at this company. So they're like, okay, hear ya. They actually like took it pretty well. So didn't really think anything was wrong. They're like, okay, no problem.

And then they said, we want you to do the homework, run the financials for your department and make sure that we can afford to give you a raise as well as hire you an assistant. And looking back, it is fucking crazy that you would ask someone who was like a middle manager.

to let go run the financials for an entire department to figure out what kind of raise you could afford to give me. But game on. I did the homework, obviously, over performer. And I found out, hey, we can afford to give me a raise and hire me an assistant. Cause I had run all the numbers. So I, in a couple of days later, once I had done all this homework, I presented it to my, my

Katrina Owens (31:56.482)
boss and the owner of the company and I was like hey look this is the research that I did this is what I found out no it's actually not possible to pay me as much as this other job offer but I do enjoy working here so I'm happy to settle for x amount instead which was about halfway between what I was currently making and what I had been offered

They said, okay, thanks so much. We will take a look at all of this and let you know. Okay. So I felt great after that. And then Gabriel and I went away for the weekend. Gabriel is my dear partner. He is an entrepreneur himself. He owns a landscaping company. So that's a very proud thing for me to share. Our household is literally run off of our two businesses, which is really cool. So at the time he had been self-employed for maybe

who I guess it maybe wasn't that long, two years. We had just moved into our home that we bought together, both our first mortgage. And I will say it was my salary that pretty much made it possible for us to buy this house because I was the one with like, you know, a secure job, stable income, employed, whereas he

hadn't been self-employed long enough to really prove that that was super secure, even though he was doing so well. So anyways, we go away for a weekend. I'm using my little vacation time to like have a short little trip to the Okanagan, which is a gorgeous region of BC, if you're not familiar. You should totally visit actually. For all of my American listeners, because I know there are so many of you, I'm so proud to say that

I have an international personal brand that is actually like very far reaching. So to all my American listeners, you gotta come visit the Okanagan region, wine country, and just like spend a weekend or a whole week here. Cause it is like nothing I've ever seen before. So anyways, we're on this vacation. We have our dogs with us. It's right smack dab in the middle of this whole salary negotiation thing. So I'm sure.

Katrina Owens (34:17.526)
that that was all I could talk about. Like, you know when a situation is just like at the forefront and it's all you wanna share, I'm sure that's where I was at. So at the end of the trip, we're like getting ready to go home, packing up the car, we check out, and then we start to hit the road. And I don't even think we had pulled out of the resort yet. When Gabriel mentions to me, have you ever thought about starting your own business?

And I was like, fuck no, I am not a business owner. I'm a corporate girly. I'm going to work my way up and whatever company I'm at, that is my journey. So funny to say that now, because like, could never could never be me. But at the time, he was like, well, what if you just, you know, set up a company and started doing some side work?

and then you could like start to build some like tax-efficient wealth on the side. And I'm like, yeah, like that's interesting to me. And then I said, I actually like know what I would call my company if I had one. It would have to include the word knockout because my name is Katrina Owens, my initials are KO. For so long, people have called me by my initials. So I just feel like knockout, such a powerful word.

like I equate it to like bombshell, crushing it, stand out, kind of famous spotlight driven if you ask me. And so then we're like workshopping the second part. We were like, is it knockout creative, knockout studios, knockout agency? And we ended up landing on directive. I actually have to give the credit to Gabriel. He came up with the word directive because he's like, no, I think you tell people.

like what's best for their marketing. I really think that that's like probably what you would be doing if you had your own business. Like, my God, that man was so intuitive. feel like, why can't he be this intuitive now? Like, on, man. You know, like I'm ready to get engaged any moment now. doesn't your intuition sense that one? Anyways.

Katrina Owens (36:43.704)
So we have this conversation and we're playing around with this imaginary business. And then he says to me, you know, this friend of mine who I went to university with actually has a marketing company and she was just recently on a billboard in Times Square. And that's when he lost me. That is when I immediately said, well, that could never be me.

and then I burst into tears. I...

Katrina Owens (37:20.098)
Okay, Heather, I'm just gonna re-record that part because my internet connection did a little unstable part, so I'm just like not sure where that lost, where that cut off or if it cut off, but it's such an important part of the story. So let me just re-record that part and then you can cut this out if it was duplicate.

Katrina Owens (37:39.116)
So we're driving along, playing like imaginary entrepreneurship business setup. And then he says to me, know Katrina, I went to university with a girl who has a marketing company and she was just on a billboard in Times Square.

And that's when he lost me because my self-esteem and self-confidence was so low. Remember, not a vision board in sight that I could not even fathom being a business owner, but let alone having a billboard in Times Square. Like now we're getting far too unrealistic. So I said, that can never be me. And then I burst into tears.

I burst into tears because I realized in that moment how poorly I thought of myself.

Katrina Owens (38:42.346)
I could not see any of my potential. I certainly didn't dream big.

Sure, business ownership I could kind of see, but anything beyond that? No, far too big. Far, far too big for the world I was living in at the time.

So that kind of stuck with me. Honestly, I didn't really think that much of it at the time. I remember kind of maybe having that experience and then like kind of like the times square part. Obviously I kind of like hid away back into the shadows of my brain.

Katrina Owens (39:26.274)
And then I went back to work.

I went back to work that week. I opened up my email inbox one day and I had this like calendar invite that was just like meeting. And I naively thought to myself, this is it. This is when I'm gonna get the breeze. Yes. So I walk into this meeting with my boss, it was just me and this other person. Feeling like, okay, I'm now ready for my next chapter with this company. I've given so much.

Surely they will reward my efforts and here we go. Let's fucking go.

So sit down and my boss pulls out this list that she had made of all the things that I had done so terribly wrong in my job.

Katrina Owens (40:20.952)
I blacked out for most of the conversation, honestly, but one of the things I can remember was I had like filmed an Instagram reel and the charging cord for my phone was visible, like in the corner of the video for a split second. And so she said that because she could see the cord, I was like not detail oriented. She told me she felt like she was managing a manager, which I mean, when you're a boss, you do manage.

the people below you, so like that kind of felt like a moot point. She went through this whole like list of things and then she said the phrase that would change fucking everything for me. She looked me dead in the eye and said, Katrina, I just don't think you're worth a six figure salary plus commission.

And in that moment, I knew she was wrong.

And that was the very first time I was so sure of my value that it gave me the confidence to walk away from that job.

I got up and I said, I'm going to have to think about everything that you've just said to me today. I'll let you know how I'm feeling tomorrow. Took my computer, couple of things and I went home. Before I got home, well actually before I even left the parking lot, my friend who worked at the company with me was actually like chatting on the phone in the parking lot as I was driving away.

Katrina Owens (41:59.404)
And I pulled over and like motioned to her like get in the car. And so she pulled into the passenger seat or like jumped into the passenger seat. And I turned to her and I told her everything that had just happened. And she looked at me and said, Katrina, you never have to go back there if you don't want to.

And I really appreciate that moment. my God. I'm not gonna cry during this, but I so deeply appreciate that moment because that really was like the permission that I needed.

to make a change and to stand up for myself.

Cause if you haven't guessed it by now, I was like your corporate good girl. I've called myself that before, like perfectionist type A, eldest daughter. Like I always held myself to such a high standard and I had never been in a work environment where that was unnoticed. And you know what? It's not that I think it was unnoticed in this environment. I think it was noticed and they didn't like that very much because

I think they realized I could be the star. I think they knew, like I said earlier, I think they saw my potential, the potential I didn't quite see yet. And they didn't want to give me that much power. So I left that day and I knew I was never going back because I just knew I was worth more than that.

Katrina Owens (43:40.878)
So as I'm leaving, remember calling pretty much everyone in my fucking phone book. Obviously I'm talking about a hypothetical phone book, because this was only like two years ago. It's not like I was having a little book. I went through my phone and I called all of the people that I knew knew me better than that. I called Gabriel. I called my best friend. I called my boss from the job I had before.

And everyone just reassured me like, they're wrong. They're wrong and you know they're wrong. So I spent the rest of that day emailing any personal connections I made at that job for my personal email, just saying like, hey, I'm no longer with this company. Here's my personal email. I like cleaned up all my files, saved anything that like I felt like I needed to save on my own computer.

And then two days later, I drove to the office before it opened. I drove to the office before it opened, dropped off my laptop, cleaned out my desk, and left a resignation letter on my boss's desk. And I never heard a single peep from that company. They sent me like my last paycheck in the mail or whatever, but like no one has ever spoken to me like since then.

I mean, obviously like my friends from that company have, but no one like that managed me or owned the company. So that tells you a lot. Tells you everything really that you need to know about that situation. And that's when Knockout Directive was born. And I'd love to tell you that that like instant like.

Moment of confidence was what changed everything, but we all know that it doesn't happen that fast. I had the confidence to leave that job, but I was still not ready for the spotlight.

Katrina Owens (45:46.678)
I started my Instagram for my business. Obviously I started pulling together some marketing materials and this is, I did not think that personal branding and PR or PR for personal brands was what I was gonna focus on. I had no idea. So I just started doing like any kind of marketing task under the sun. Social media management, brand and web design, PR management, general marketing consulting, SEO, digital ads.

Two things I had no business doing, honestly, but I did them anyway. I did whatever people wanted to hire me for. And at the same time, I started growing a following on Instagram. And they realized the more that I showed up as myself and when I could show clients or potential clients who I was, that's what drew people to working with my company. It was me.

Still is, I was the magic. And there was this moment in the first year of me working in my business where I was doing public relations management for a woman who had a business similar to mine. She had been in business quite a bit longer than I had, but she had hired me to do PR outreach to like podcasts and publications.

And when I was doing that, I realized that I could easily start doing it for me too. Because in that moment I was like, well, there's nothing particularly special about this person. I am crafting the special storylines and making her sound special for all of the, the podcasts and publications that she's going on. I am crafting the brand. So I started leaning into developing my personal brand even more.

And then I started pitching myself to podcasts and I started receiving speaking gigs. I did not pitch to them. I just received them organically because I was working on my brand. I was working on showing up. I was really focused on cultivating relationships, making relationships with people that could elevate my business or could help me. I was doing the work.

Katrina Owens (48:08.706)
And the more I grew my personal brand, the more I was like, hey, I feel kind of famous right now. And my very first speaking gig ever, I'm gonna talk about it on like a pulling punches episode because it deserves its own like little highlight reel itself. But that was my very first speaking gig I received just two months.

into running my business full time. It was through a friend of a friend who referred me to this opportunity. And when I got up in front of that room of 200 people, my God, it lit a fire underneath me where I was like that two-year-old girl that was in the phone book with her tap shoes on and her tutu, she's in there and she wants to feel that famous feeling.

And that's when it all started.

That's when I realized that feeling famous isn't about like being Kim Kardashian level celebrity. It's about growing a brand and business that people recognize. People love to like look at your content and they love to hear from you. Maybe you have a podcast that they love to listen to. I realized that famous

was just growing a business that people knew about.

Katrina Owens (49:46.796)
And that's how I landed here. I went from a career where nothing was supposed to be about me. And to be honest, in that very last job that I had where, I mean, I don't think I can say I was pushed out because I left on my own terms, but I think they were pushing me back behind the curtain.

Katrina Owens (50:15.682)
So it was so amazing to start to recognize that as a business owner, I'm allowed to be in the spotlight. As a matter of fact, it's in my best interest to be in the spotlight. And that's what makes me so passionate about the work that I do.

Because I think all of us crave that like famous feeling, that recognition, that confidence. I think all of us want it deep down. Studies show one in two Americans claim that they wanna feel famous, at least just a little bit at some point in their lives. One in two, and if you ask me, I think 50 % of those people are maybe lying to themselves because I think there's a lot of like,

around the word famous. I think it triggers us in different ways so there's that. But I do think when it comes to like natural human desires we all have that like fame craving a little bit. I'm willing to say I wanted it more than most people but for so long I felt like a supporting character. Never the main character, always a supporting actor.

But not anymore. Main character energy over here every day, baby. That's what I've been so hard. That's what I've been working so hard on. And to be honest, people think it comes from the outer. People think it comes from having thousands or millions of followers or millions of dollars or millions of, you know, years of experience, but it's not.

It comes from being so good at what you do, but knowing that what you do is so in line with your gifts. And I have to attribute me finding my gifts and feeling confident in them to a lot of the inner work that I do when I do that in the living in balance space, which is a mentorship program that I've been in for over two years.

Katrina Owens (52:26.286)
I'll link it in the show notes if you're interested. But when you are just so honest with yourself about what your gifts are, and when you can see just how much you sharing those gifts with others can also have a major impact on those around you,

Everything changes. Your perspective changes.

So I wanted to share my origin story because I mean, obviously every hero, every villain has one. But I think it can resonate with so many of us out there because so many of my clients come to me because they're tired of being a hidden gem, a best kept secret, feeling like they're doing all this amazing thing, all these amazing things and not getting the recognition for them.

And having gone on that journey myself, that's what I help bring to the forefront. If you want to feel famous, feel famous being the key word, that's the work that you would do with me. And that is the type of inspiration and information I aim to bring to this podcast every single week. I want to show you just how easy it is to start feeling famous for your work.

All you have to do is be willing to trust yourself enough to take the leap.

Katrina Owens (54:01.71)
And let's be honest, I know that's not easy either. Self-trust is probably my journey for 2025, but I'm working on it. I'm happy to say in this moment as I record this, I trust myself more than I have ever had ever before. And that's a powerful place to be. It's an ongoing fluid relationship, but that's an amazing place to be.

Katrina Owens (54:30.38)
So I hope you love this episode. Thank you for giving me like the space and the time to share that. I didn't actually really expect that I was gonna take it all the way back to childhood, but that is when it started, know? Fame craving Katrina, fame hungry Katrina, she was always there.

Katrina Owens (54:52.098)
So it's so beautiful now to be able to heal that inner child part of me that all she ever wanted was to be the main character.

And once I realized that we can all be the main character in our stories, that's when everything started to change. So with that, let's call it an episode. I hope you loved this as much as I loved sharing this and putting it out there. My horoscope. So one last thing before you go. I am...

I recently realized that you can put your birth chart into chat GBT and have it create a personalized horoscope for you based on your birth chart plus everything else that's going on astrologically in the universe. And so now I have it create daily horoscopes for me. And it is also kind of linked into all of the work that I do. So it knows obviously that I'm a personal branding and public relations expert. So.

Chat GPT, my good friend, actually said, this would be a great week for you to share your origin story on your podcast. So that's the episode. That's where the idea came from. And I hope you liked me switching up the vibe a bit. Next week, we will be back with more PR, personal branding, action items, and tangible takeaways, I promise. But obviously, if you're gonna get close to me and learn from me, you gotta know where I came from.

So if you like this episode, please rate and review this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Please follow Knockout Directive and KO your brand on Instagram and I will see you next week.