Kimberly Romano shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Kimberly, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
During the week, I begin my day by getting my son ready for school. I drop him off by 7 am and, since I’m NOT a morning person, there is no waking up even earlier than 5:45 am to ‘have me time’. And I’m very okay with that. Because by the time I come home, I lean into my me time. I go for a walk and either listen to music, a podcast, or nothing. Then I tap into what energy best supports my intentions for the day, and plan my work day. Being an entrepreneur gives me the flexibility to determine what I focus on during the day based on my energy. And when I really lean into this (which on some days can take a lot of surrender), I experience the most productive and creative days. I’m not met with resistance, and everything flows.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Of course! I’m Kimberly Romano, your energizing strategist, bringing personal brands to life. By seeing the real you and how you’re meant to move in this life, my clients shed who they think they should be and become visible and paid for who they truly are.
If you ask my clients, they will tell you that I don’t just take pretty photos. They will tell you that they stepped into a space where they felt safe to be seen. When they look at their photos, they say, “This feels like me.” They will say they broke through limiting beliefs that have held them back for years. They will say that after working with me, they experienced a shift that sparked a big change in their clarity, confidence, and visibility.
They will say, “This isn’t your average branding photoshoot, it’s an investment in your evolution.”
My entrepreneur journey began in 2007 as a traditional wedding photographer. Not exactly how I wanted to start my photography business, but after a horrible experience with my own wedding photographer, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Then, in 2010, I started working for a luxury Indian wedding decor company, providing marketing images for them. This launched me into capturing Indian weddings and my most creative season.
By 2019, missing my son’s baseball games on the weekends swiftly ended my journey as a wedding photographer. I fully embraced what I fell in love with the most when I entered the Indian wedding scene – supporting other women in business as a personal branding photographer. Fast forward to 2023, I was burning out doing what I love, and that’s when I found Human Design. Leaning into this self-development tool is what helped me overcome burnout and shed the version of me as a business owner I thought I needed to be to find success. Through Human Design, I have found my own rhythm and path to success that feels like a homecoming.
Now, I’m passionate about sharing this same clarity and confidence with other entrepreneurs through readings, my monthly membership, and yes, personal branding photography.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Oh man, my childhood was quite a journey, just as many of us experience. I moved around a lot (every year until I reached high school). I was constantly “starting over,” and making friends became difficult for the new girl who was redheaded, had a freckled face, and wore glasses. All I wanted was to be included.
But I never was. I was the kid who was easy to bully and pick on and often rejected. By the time I hit middle school, I had had enough and was ready to try a different approach. So, I pretended to be whoever they were so I would be accepted. I performed, pretending to be interested in the same things as them, even if it made my skin crawl. And because it worked, in the beginning, I latched onto this way of being for years because I finally felt accepted. It didn’t matter that they didn’t accept me for who I truly was – I was just finally a part of the group.
After years of doing this, I completely lost who I was. Even after having the same friends for years, I never felt a close connection with them – for obvious reasons. I eventually realized that even though I was ‘included,’ I had never felt so alone.
Now, I’ve shed who I thought I needed to be and reconnected with who I truly am. I no longer believe I have to adapt to others’ beliefs, interests, or perspectives in order to be accepted. To truly be accepted, I have to show up genuine. Now, I have a much smaller circle, but here, I get to be myself without shame, judgment, guilt, or fear.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
First, I want to state that, through healing the wound of performing to be accepted, I have gone back to the 6th-grade version of myself. This is one of many steps I took to heal this wound, which allowed me to shed every version of myself that I thought I had to be to be accepted.
Here’s what I told her:
“I know you’re lonely. I know you’re scared that you’ll be rejected again if you don’t pretend to be interested in the same things they are. I know you are worried that showing them your personality will make them laugh at you and think you’re weird. But I want you to know that you’ll never be fully included if they don’t see or love you for who you truly are. That means nothing about you. It’s just showing you that they aren’t your people. Your people are out there, and the only way they will find you is if you keep showing up as YOU. Not who you think you need to be. Know I’m with you – this older ‘sister’ version of you…I see the beauty in you, and so will others. Let her shine, and I promise it will all be okay. I’m here with you every step of the way.”
We all have childhood wounds, and often we look externally for healing. But the reality is, the only one who can heal our wounds is you. That doesn’t mean you have to go at it alone. It just means we need to become who that younger version of us has needed all along.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
Strategy and logic create success when making decisions in your business.
We need strategy and logic in our business; however, intuition is the most essential tool for strategy. Leading with strategy and logic (our minds) is technically not very logical. A logical thought is to use as much data as possible to make a strategic decision/plan. Most of the data comes from our bodies/intuition.
Now, this isn’t all spiritual ‘woo’…it’s science. Our nerve pathways send data from our body to our brain and from our brain to our body. Our vagus nerve is the most significant pathway to transfer data through its fibers. And 80% of these fibers send information from our bodies (specifically our gut, heart, muscles, and immune system) to our brain. This is called afferent signaling. This only leaves 20% of information from our brain into our body.
Therefore, by leading with our brains to make decisions, we are missing 80% of data, which isn’t very logical if you ask me.
But this isn’t our fault. Society, especially in business, teaches us to lead from our minds. For many, this causes confusion, doubt, and disconnection from the senses, which guide us to the most aligned direction. And with all the external pressure we can feel as entrepreneurs, it can be challenging to trust that gut feeling or unexplained knowing of what to do because we are afraid of failure.
Let your intuition guide you, then use your brain to create a framework. If you’re unsure how to do this, let me show you.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Oooooh, yes, and this all ties into being something I thought I needed to be to find success.
When I pivoted my business in 2019 from Indian weddings to personal brand photography, it grew faster in one year than it had ever grown before. I went from $27,000 in sales to $120,000. As a wedding photographer, my best year (and most challenging) was when I hit $70k. So you can imagine my excitement when I broke six figures.
But then, I panicked. I had never reached this level of success before, and I was worried it was sustainable. I was working my tail off, doing 2-3 photoshoots a week, and was becoming burned out doing something I loved. I needed to find a way to sustain my financial success, so I turned to both my clients and their desires and my mentors. This led me to create offers I thought I should do, but the reality was that none of these offers were aligned. It all came back to that same childhood wound of, ‘This is what I’m supposed to do to feel success.’
It wasn’t until I redefined what success looks and feels like for me, combined with following my intuition, that I finally let go of who I thought I should be (which only gave me closed door after closed door) and tapped into my intuition, which has led me back to who I came here to be. I have genuinely found clarity, confidence, and success, and I am seen and accepted for who I really am.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ksromano.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberlysromano/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimberly.romano.92
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheConsciousBusinessHub
Image Credits
Photography by Kimberly Romano (images with holding cameras)
Photography by Sara Kane Photo (edited by Kimberly Romano)
