Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kathy Weyer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Kathy, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

The Heritage Art Park series are women’s fiction, but the stories focus on individual social issues.

My experience as a grief and bereavement counselor serves as the basis for the first book in the series (Stitches) – that of self-identity when the loss of a partner leaves a woman whose sole purpose in life was to support her partner.

The second book, Canvas, focuses on the foster system and how the foster children have no voice – the biological parents who have done things to lose their parents rights in the first place, hold all the power. These kids are angry but have to do what they are told (visit in prison, see people they are scared of…). This came from my work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).

The third book, called Pages, discusses domestic violence and safety for victims, and how often the abusers often don’t suffer consequences through the court systems. The stories of the victims, told through a former foster child.

The fourth, Trinkets, focuses on mental illness and addiction.

All existing four books focus on the social issue through a fictional lens with engaging women who form an artist colony and deal with other mid=life issues with a dose of reality and quite a lot of humor. I am hoping to get discussions going about how every person can make a difference in someone’s life.

Kathy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a late bloomer with a crazy quilt of a career. I began as an Executive Secretary in the early seventies, was stuck there because I was good at what I did. I’d quit a job to give myself a raise with a new one with bigger responsibilities, but still as a secretary without a formal education.

I married a man with three kids who lived on the other coast. Their mother died while we were on our honeymood, and I immediately became a mom of three adolescents. After they grew and left, I went back to college full time and got my Bachelors Degree in Psychology and went on for my Masters. I then became a Human Resource Director and realized my job was split between being a lawyer and a counselor. I focused on creating a job for myself to help employees improve job performance, then the recession hit.

I bounced around and finally began a coaching firm to help women entrepreneurs begin and stabilize small businesses and as an aside began to be a headhunter for clients who lost valuable employees. When I retired, I began to write a story about one of the houses at San Diego Heritage Park (boarded up and sad), and the Heritage Art Park Series was born. Stitches was published on my 60th birthday, and the fourth, Trinkets, was published last year on my 70th.

As I look back, my life has been in service, and my work reflects that.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience? Being a young female professional in the early seventies! We put up with quite a lot in those days, but saw it all as part of the game. I am glad the next generation has a place to go complain to, but we never even thought about complaining; we knew it wouldn’t get us anywhere, so we dealt with it ourselves, either by confronting in a calm, businesslike manner – and then resigning and looking for a better job.

Marrying at 25 and inheriting three angry adolescent kids was not an easy thing to do, but we survived. Forty-five years later none of us are wearing orange suits and we all still speak to each other and enjoy birthdays and Holidays together with grandchildren and spouses (spice?).

Life is good. Going through roadbumps gives you stories to tell and lessons learned.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Women my age were raised to think of other people first; to put our needs last. As long as we take care of ourselves physically and mentally first, the rest can wait. I’m not sure that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Retirement does not mean giving up. It gives us time to put our wisdom and energy into helping make our little corner of the world a better place in small and bigger ways.

The lack of civility since I’ve been on this earth has been mind boggling. We can raise the bar by having discussions about solving some of these issues with grace and strength. Confrontations needs not be rude. Problems can be solved without violence. Children can be respected and still guided. Seniors can be held in regard without being discarded. The mentally ill need not be put away and ignored. The disabled can help improve our world. All this can be done just by setting an example, not necessarily doing any hard work. Just be the change you want to see in the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kathyweyer.com
• Instagram: @kathyweyer
• Facebook: Just closed accounts due to lack of control over content.
• Linkedin: None
• Twitter: Nope – won’t contribute to Elon Musk

Image Credits

Susan Asato