Kanesha Lee Baynard ’94: Transitioning boldly toward opportunity
Kanesha Lee Baynard ’94, founder of the Bold Living Today community, realized her mapped-out plan for her life had taken a detour and she needed to reposition her GPS coordinates for a new career track. Determined not to see relocation from Chicago to Boulder, Colorado, as a dream crusher, she and Tahllee Baynard ’97 moved for a job offer he received after graduate school.
She recognized that not having a job gave her time to think about what she loves to do, what would be good to do, and what she knew she did not want to do. And that’s when she began to understand how to look at transitions as an opportunity.
Read Baynard’s Four B.O.L.D. things to remember when you’re navigating a transition
“Because I wasn’t so stressed out and pressured to get something and thirsty to have something work out, this great job landed into my lap,” Baynard says of a part-time position teaching English to linguistically diverse adults with preschoolers. “I told Tahlee, I’m gonna block plan this job! I know it’s this much time. I’ve chunked out my time. I know this is not forever.”
Eventually she moved into higher education. And then came another sudden transition when Tahlee took a position in California. By then the mother of two, Baynard took a year off to focus on family and began the process that eventually resulted in becoming a full-time consultant, author, creativity expert, and productivity specialist.
Her mom life is what jump-started her new career. Baynard was helping her high school daughter, Bella, navigate her college search. When a friend found out how she was tracking all the information, she asked Baynard to present to a Girl Scout troop, and that led to other troops until she was in demand on the library workshop circuit—which led to an interview on the “Dr. Oz” show.
“I didn’t have a beautiful, formal business plan. I had a bunch of sticky notes to get started. I tell people, don’t let the logistics stop you from moving, don’t figure all that out by yourself because that will stall your genius, the part that you’re actually good at,” she says. “Know your craft or what you do, and lean on that. Package it in a way that it’s going to serve you in the moment. It doesn’t have to serve you forever.”
Today she provides keynote presentations and workshops, provides one-on-one coaching, and runs the Bold Living Today online community to help people disrupt unfulfilling patterns through creativity.
