Decade in Review

Happy New Year! It's almost the end of a decade. The year 2020 is all about seeing clearly (20-20 vision...get it?) Before we can have clarity, we must declutter and release emotional, physical and mental gunk that's been blurrying up our vision!

I have a few coaches' rituals I'll be following (Christine Hassler... Marie Forleo)... What about you? Here are some of the things I'll be remembering and either releasing or celebrating...

2009

Above is a photo of me on the "set" of ABC's The Bachelor. It was my first season as a producer on that show, and I got to go to St. Lucia as Tenley Molzahn's producer/handler. I took a pay cut and a lower title to work on the show. I had been a Show Producer for awhile, but for this show -- I took a segment producer position and was offered $1700 but I believe I negotiated and got $1900/week. I never do anything based on money, and of course, it was the best decision ever, since I met my now husband, while working on the show.

2010-2011

Combining these two years because it's filled with more Bachelor, Bachelorette & travel. We went to New York City for Ali Fedotowsky's season of The Bachelorette, where I got The Lion King on Broadway to work with us for a group date! It was a HUGE production. My husband and I were producing partners that season, and we produced a swimsuit calendar shoot with the guys in Malibu. I also booked all of the musical guests that season, including Jamie Callum (one of Ali's fav artists), Barenaked Ladies, and Joshua Radin with the Harlem Boys Choir performing on a New York City rooftop with the Empire State Building in the background! (I have a photo standing in front of the microphone with that view, but I can't find it.) That season, the show went to Iceland, Turkey, Portugal and Tahiti. I only went to Istanbul. In the Fall, for The Bachelor, I went to Panama and Anguilla and produced one of the most romantic dates -- Dinner and private concert with the band Train at The Hollywood Bowl. Also, I produced the episode where Seal performed for Brad and Ashley Spivey at Capitol Records...and later in an interview, Ashley tells me that "Kiss from a Rose" was her late father's favorite karaoke songs! It was a powerful moment that brought tears to my eyes. For Ashley Hebert's season, I produced the Far East Movement's performance and flash mob to "Like a G6", and we got to go to Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan (my birthplace). I loved being in Taipei. Although I left when I was 3 years old, everything felt familiar. I loved the people, the food and the culture.

2012

Biggest and probably best year of the decade. We got engaged and married this year. After dating for about a year and a half, we got engaged in beautiful Big Sur.

Five months later, we had a Chinese Wedding Banquet for a rehearsal dinner and then got married at an historic 1920's building in downtown Los Angeles.

After the wedding, we went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon! (Yes, full circle.)

We also bought a house this year! So much happened in 2012.

2013-2015

Michael's mom was diagnosed with ovarian and breast cancer, so these were mostly challenging years. Michael left The Bachelor, and in 2014, I did too. After getting married and buying a house, I wanted to "nest," so I took a full time job (and another pay cut) as Director of Development at AwesomenessTV, which was owned by Dreamworks at the time. Then, in 2015, I left to take a Vice President of Unscripted Development at Fullscreen, making the most money I've ever made...but also the worst job I've ever held. During this time, I did get to travel a lot, going to Thailand again for Sean's season of The Bachelor, and attending Sean and Catherine's wedding at the beautiful Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara. Here's a photo of Chris Harrison and me from the wedding:

2016

My mother-in-law, Hermine, and I at my bridal shower.

This was the most challenging year of the decade. My mother-in-law, Hermine, passed away. The picture above is from my bridal shower in 2012. Right before she passed, I left my job at Fullscreen. I learned a lot of lessons this year...one being to always listen to my own instincts, instead of listening to others and to stand up for what I believe is right instead of allowing fear to rule my decisions. It was also a year where my faith and trust were being tested over and over again...faith and trust in God, faith and trust in myself and trust in other people. The theme kept coming up. And I learned the lessons.

2017

2017 was a pretty good year. I got back into freelance production as a Senior Producer on probably my favorite show I've ever produced -- Better Late Than Never starring Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman. We went all over Europe with the show, starting in Germany with Munich, then Berlin...Vilnius, Lithuania...Stockholm, Sweden...Barcelona and Madrid in Spain and Marrakesh in Morocco. Henry took the selfie of us and the camel above!

Later in the year, my cousin got married, and we celebrated with a girls' weekend in Palm Springs and then the wedding in Dallas. My best friend, Carla, brought her boys out for Thanksgiving, and while Michael and I were in NYC for work, his brother Peter, sister-in-law, Kate and our nephew Sam came out to see a Broadway show, so we all met up!

Clockwise from top left: Palm Springs backyard pool, Tina's Bachelorette Party, Tina's Wedding Family Picture, Thanksgiving with Carla and the boys, Cousins at Tina's Wedding, December in NYC

2018

2018 was a year of weddings! In March, my brother got married and I attended Christine Hassler's Signature Spring Retreat where I met all of these amazing women! I felt like I had met a soul family at this retreat.

Clockwise from top left: Brother's wedding in March, Christine Hassler's Signature Retreat, my Financial Freedom for Freelancers Workshop, Friend Amy's shower & Friends Chris & Stephanie's Wedding

In May, our nephew got married, and in August and December, friends got married. It was also the first year I transitioned full time into my business (turned down 3 TV producing jobs) and held a great workshop for all of my fellow creatives!

2019

Some of the highlights from 2019:

From left to right: Integratron, Inside Integratron for Sound Bath, Speaking Virtually Row 2: Packed Stress Less, Do More Workshop, Women In Business Webcast, Small Workshop for Women Writers Last Row: Dinner with a few of my Dallas Travers Retreat Participants, Janet Jackson concert afterparty, Family shot in Sicily

So much has happened this year. As a financial coach, I spoke at SIX live workshops this year and was featured on webcast interviews, a YouTube interview that went viral and a podcast. I graduated from a very rigorous 9 month personal financial planning program through UC Berkeley, and I'm teaching mini-courses on the Marigold Confidence App for Women as well as part of The Limitless Collaborative, where I offer my Financial Freedom for Freelancers signature course and hold live Q&A sessions once a month with the four other coaches. I also attended Dallas Travers' Business Retreat this Summer in Portland.

For fun, I went to the Integratron for a Sound Bath on my birthday in February. Michael, our cousins, and I stayed at a beautiful airbnb in the desert. I attended amazing concerts this year, which included Avett Brothers at The Greek, Janet Jackson's residency in Las Vegas, meeting John Williams at his Hollywood Bowl Star Wars Anniversary show, The Cure, The Pixies and others at the Pasadena Daydream Festival! Seriously, it was a dream come true this year to see The Cure, my all-time favorite band.

Last but not least, I spent two amazing weeks with Michael and the Mazzara family in Sicily. There are three other blog posts about it, so I'll spare you all the details. However, suffice it to say, it was a trip of a lifetime.

My intention for the next 10 years is to be more present, to be more intentional and to really listen to my gut and to my heart...to be more fearless in going after what I want. I learned that there really is NO wrong decision. All decisions lead you to where you need to go. Sometimes, we have to take the long way around to learn what we truly need to learn. I'm releasing perfectionism. I'm releasing my grief over those who've passed and the what-ifs of life. I can still love those who've passed without having to be in extreme pain about it. As for the what-ifs and mistakes, I can say, I tried. I tried my best, at the time. I've learned my lessons, and I would do it differently if there is a next time. However, if there isn't, I am Ok with my decisions and how it all worked out. I am also releasing harsh criticisms of myself. I know this is a work in progress, but the older I get the more I allow myself to just be.

Now if you read this entire blog post, thank you! It's definitely a super long one. It took me about 12 hours to write it all. I actually love reading about other people's Year in Reviews or Decade in Review, so I thought I'd share most of mine. In the interest of not boring you too much, I did try and give you the highlights (and lowlights). Please let me know what you think and if you did a decade in review, please feel free to share your links in the comments! If you didn't do one, what are your intentions for this next decade? What did you learn from the last decade? What are you going to release?

Happy New Year! May 2020 and beyond be filled with Love, Laughter & Wealth in all things that matter to you! With so much Gratitude & Love,

Previous Comments

Karole L. Foreman Another fantastic blog, Katy. You always manage to inspire, reassure, and kick-start my motivation to trust and to stay the course. What I appreciated about this blog was how you laid out the trajectory of your personal and professional life. It's all a process, often circuitous, but what wonderful opportunities and experiences it's brought you and, of course, eventually lead you to this extraordinary place where you get to create for yourself and help others to do the same. What also stood out for me was the fulfilling personal relationships you've created and nurtured. I feel like that's a big part of my life that I need to work on. I am often so busy (or overly busy) with work, I have missed out on some personal life events. Have a joyous, fulfilling, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

December 31, 2019, 12:26pm

Katy @Karole L. Foreman Thank you so much for writing this Karole! I was feeling vulnerable afterwards...like did I share TOO much? Your comment is soooo needed for me today. Thank you for reading and for writing this. Happy New Year!!!

December 31, 2019, 01:13pm

Madeleine Enjoyed your Financial Freedom for Freelancers workshop and reading your decade in review. Happy New Year!

January 1, 2020, 08:57pm

Katy @MadeleineThanks, Madeleine for reading and attending!!! Happy New Year!

January 1, 2020, 11:53pm

Annie Hi Katy! Thank you for sharing your decade in review with me (us). You did amazing work gathering your thoughts and images. Kudos! I know how much work it is to create such synopsis of life. I’m sure it is an inspiration for many readers. Personally, I had great plans to work on my own Decade in Review: make a list of landmarks (did it for 2019), write a blog, shoot a video, write a letter to myself as if it were 2030. My husband Dan & I also had (you see where I’m going) also planned to work on our big white board and update our 5-year plan, shoot some videos for our youtube channel and budding business….January 2nd…and 5% of this is done! So. I’ve had to work on my guilt of not doing enough and I think it’s a good thing. Closing down the past decade with a clear acknowledgement of my guilt mechanism (which was definitely a theme for the last decade) clears the way for a new m.o. for the decade to come. Guilt is out the window! (I’m sure it’ll pop up once in a while but I recognize it pretty quickly now). Dan & I did verbally looked back at where we were January 1st, 2010 and OMG---3 lifetimes have gone by in the last decade! In January 2010, I was in the midst of surviving a dramatic life-threatening bout with illness. I ended a 4 year (about) unhealthy relationship with a homeless drunk who was the love of my life (at that point). I extracted myself from another parallel unhealthy relationship and took off on my own across the continent with no money and shaky health. Wrote a memoir. Moved back home with my mother. In the last 5 years, I met Dan (the real Love of my Life). Married him within 3 months. Moved 14 times (mostly from hotel room to hotel room up and down the east coast), experienced Dan getting cancer and healing, and both of his parents passing away. In 2018, I had an epiphany that my soul’s work was to redefine what it means to live with a chronic illness for all the women out there (in my case, 40 years of it) and to start speaking publicly about it. We moved to Colorado (with big mountains, where my heart resides) and we’re still there! In the last year, I overcame a bunch of fears, addressed serious debt issues (with the first coach I ever hired in my life, an amazing person named Katy Mazzara—check her out—working with her changed our life!), decluttered and lightened my (our) load both in the US and Canada, became a US citizen, closed Dan’s parent’s estate, navigated through Dan getting a concussion, continued to navigate my own health issues, deepened our love, lived in joy, Dan’s past decade is just as dramatic! So here we go 2020+10! We’re enthused, excited, for this next year and decade full of vision and promise. Love, Annie

January 2, 2020, 01:15pm

Katy @AnnieHappy New Year, Annie & Dan! You both are such amazing people and letting go of the guilt is absolutely your mission going into this new decade. You're one of my favorite people to work with and I know there's lots of adventure and love ahead! I can't wait for the day you both start your retreats! I'll be the first to sign up!

January 2, 2020, 01:46pm

Joanna Shapiro Lovely post, Katy! Thanks for sharing your stories and Happy New Year!

January 2, 2020, 01:46pm

Katy @Joanna ShapiroHappy New Year Joanna! Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

January 3, 2020, 06:48pm

Happy New Year! 2009-2019