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

Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I can honestly say I feel like my whole life has been a risk. I have never been someone to back down from a challenge and when told I couldn’t do something I tend to want to prove that person wrong …and possibly gloat about it as well. I attribute this attitude to softball. When I first started playing in third grade I was on the single worst team that got mercied every game and it taught me many things about working and effort. My dad was my coach (also for soccer) and he taught me that if you don’t try you will never get any better. Between him and my mom instilling that I can do whatever I want as long as I try I became so confident that I never believed I could fail. However as I have gotten older and learned more about my severe ADHD and also being on the spectrum I find myself needing a reminder that I am Kelly MotherF-ing Kademian and I used to never have fear.

My risk taking behavior shaped my entire life including work. From the start of my career I never walked the “normal path” I always did things that were outside of the box. In college I majored in just about everything from physics to drama….physics really had to do with my freshman advisor trying to get more STEM women back in the day but I thought “Hey why not, maybe I will like it”. When I finally decided to major in business administration and political science I convinced myself I was going to become a lobbyist until I realized that I am not someone who can kiss butt!

After college I worked in retail for the next 5 years in fashion merchandising because that was a passion of mine in high school and I stayed with it until I decided it was time to be like all other North Jersey 20 somethings and work in the city.

I moved to a whole new career field in hospitality with absolutely zero experience in events or tourism. But I made a decision to try and I started helping plan corporate events and individual travel packages. In fact I planned a large collector of a particular fun watch brand popular in the 80s & 90s 1920s prohibition style weekend and pitched ideas I had no idea how to actually create but that didn’t stop me. This lasted for about 5 years and I took an internship at a PR firm that led me back to retail merchandising for another 6 years.

Then I decided it was time to work for myself that included jobs in sports writing, social media management, music journalism, after school art teacher and vintage shop owner. Each career pivot was a risk but I jumped in head first with little to no safety net except for the support of my parents with their if you think you can then do it attitude. My dad did the same thing over 40 years ago when he opened his first print shop. No one thought he would succeed but I now run that shop.

I think I always knew that I would end up running our family business but I was not aware that I would be taking over and then losing both parents within 3 years. Every day I take a risk running this business because I sometimes have to fake it til I make it. I say this because while I grew up in this industry I was not in it day-to-day for about a decade and I don’t know everything about printing anymore. My dad was just starting to teach me how to use the digital printer when he suddenly passed and now I can pretty much fix most issues because I just tell myself I can figure it out.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I run Monarch Printing, it is the 4th reimagination of my family’s printing business. I facilitate the printing of pretty much anything from business cards to banners to t-shirts to training manuals. I grew up in the business and remember making labels at 5 years old. Now I am about ready to teach my nieces and nephews how to make package labels. I love this business because I get to do a lot of creative things for family and friends before I offer them to customers.

Secondly, I have a vintage business that is about to be relaunched that will include some hand made items as well. This is where my creative outlet lives these days. I fix and mend vintage items, rework some, and use others to create new items inspired by vintage pieces. I love old things because they last, it puts less things in landfills, and these unique pieces start amazing conversations.

If that is not enough by the end of the year I will also have a coaching practice with two of my very best friends that will be fashioned in the memory of two very special women, our late moms. We believe that we had been given the gift to have had my mom and my friend Rosie’s mom (who is also my friend Kara’s mother in law) teach us to be strong, moral, good people. To teach us boundaries and that you must believe in something and have conviction. We want to take what we have learned from them and share it with people who are looking to take charge of their lives and create healthy habits and boundaries.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

At some point in my 20’s I thought people had to like me to be successful. I mean this in the sense that I became a people pleaser and would always say yes no matter what. I would work extra hours, unpaid to be a company woman. This was a far stretch of who I had been and who I am today. I got lost in trying to “fit in” the mold of growing up in Bergen/Passaic County NJ where you work in the city, meet your husband, get married, have 2-3 kids and stop creating new life chapters for the ones that have been written over and over again. I will never forget the day (and by day I mean 1:45 am phone call on a Sunday morning) where a group of German tourists were screaming at me because someone in my office forgot to book their transportation from JFK to their hotel…it was a 56 passenger bus during the peak of holiday season in the city. I knew that this was not the life I wanted, this was never going to be ok, and I wasn’t ready to get married to anyone or be responsible for another human life.

Within a year I quit that job to work as a 29 year old intern at a PR Firm. I started a whole new life and was not embarrassed at all over my choices to start something brand new. Unlearning what I had been taught over the last 5-6 years because that was what my friends were doing took some time but I returned to hippie self who believes that life does not have a perfect timeline and that you can do whatever you want at any age….Fun fact whenever I see articles talking about what to wear in 30s, what to give up in 40s, etc I report it for hate speech because this type of talk puts people in boxes that they feel are their whole lives instead of teaching people that no to lives are the same and we need to celebrate people who are willing to ditch traditional timelines for what makes them happy.

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

I think I might be one of the most resilient people on the planet. I never lay down and die. I may get lost here and there but I always find my way back. Does this come from my family, partly. Does this come from not walking the traditional path, sure. Does this have anything to do with being and ADHD squirrel, yep. But it also has to do with Vera Wang. I think most people are familiar with the fact that she changed her whole career at 40. That has stuck with me since I heard it in the 20-ish years ago. Everytime I see her she looks younger and I personally believe it is because she does not limit herself.

In my mind even if I fail, I tried and can pull something from the experience. I know that sounds so sugary sweet but as someone who fails frequently because of my post nominal four letters I need to have compassion for myself and I do so by finding something that I can pull from my failure. I also don’t think things are life in death in anything I do, I am not a brain surgeon I am allowed to make mistakes. Yes these mistakes can cause problems but nothing is insurmountable. I also allow myself time to sit in my failure and mourn it, I don’t think a lot of people do it that way either that don’t think about it or the sit and waste away in it. I believe in that happy medium of ok be sad but tomorrow we fix the problem. Bouncing back with full confidence might be my super power

Contact Info:

• Website: https://monarchprintinggroup.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550320990693
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-lynn-4062827/

Image Credits

These are all my personal photos