We recently connected with Kelly Harris and have shared our conversation below.

Kelly, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Tell us the story of how you came up with the idea for your business, and what made you believe it would work.

If you had told me a few years ago that my entire business would be built around storytelling, I probably would have laughed. Back then, I was a mom building a business in the margins: naptimes, late nights, and stolen moments between packing school lunches and refereeing sibling squabbles.

What I did know, even then, was that whenever I shared something real — a messy story, a hope, a hardship — people responded. Not just with likes, but with messages that said, “I feel this too.” “Thank you for saying this.” “This made me move.”

And I started to realize something most marketing advice never talks about:
People don’t buy because you’re polished. They buy because you’re real.

Then came a season that changed everything — grief, motherhood, moving, identity shifts. And instead of disappearing, I wrote. Email by email, story by story. I didn’t have a strategy; I had truth. And those “little emails” turned into a 250-page book.

That’s when it hit me:

Story isn’t the cherry on top of marketing. Story is the strategy.

I wasn’t trying to be loud. I was learning to be heard.
And suddenly, women kept asking:
“How do you tell stories like that?”
“How do you sound like you when you write?”
“How do you share real life without oversharing?”

That’s when I knew:
this wasn’t just my personal process — it was a method.

So I built a business around it.
Not content calendars — clarity.
Not shouting for attention — building trust.
Not forcing a brand voice — finding your real one.

I believed this would work because it already was working — first for me, then for my clients. Story isn’t a trend. It’s human. It’s timeless. It’s how we build connection, credibility, and confidence.

And in a world where entrepreneurs feel pressure to perform, I’m here to help them lead with who they are — not just what they do.

Because your story isn’t a footnote in your business.
Your story is the business.

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’m Kelly Harris, a story-first marketing strategist, author of The Stories That Build Us, and founder of Kelly Harris Creative, where I help founders turn their lived experiences into marketing systems that build trust, connection, and sustainable sales.

I didn’t set out to be a marketer. I set out to survive a season that forced me to rebuild everything, motherhood, grief, entrepreneurship, identity, all at the same time. At a point when most strategic advice felt impossible to follow, I learned to build my business around the only thing I never lost: story.

I began sharing honest, imperfect stories in emails that I wrote during nap time, between client calls, in the middle of real-life chaos. Those emails grew into a community, then a method, and eventually a book. What surprised me most wasn’t that people read them. it was that they replied. Not with “great email!” but with “me too.” “I needed this.” “You said what I’ve been feeling.”

That’s when I realized something powerful:

Story isn’t content. Story is connection. And connection is what converts.

Today, I help coaches, creatives, and entrepreneurs build marketing rooted in who they are, not who they think they have to perform as. My work goes beyond content calendars. I help clients build story systems that clarify their voice, attract aligned clients, and build trust before the pitch ever happens.

My offers include:

6 Weeks To Sales Everyday — a 6-week program to build a complete story-based marketing ecosystem

VIP Days & Fractional CMO Support — for founders who want messaging, content, and strategy done-with-them or done-for-them

Email + Content Systems — turning real stories into nurture sequences, newsletters, and brand assets

Speaking & Workshops — on story-driven marketing, authenticity in business, and building a brand in the middle of real life

What sets my work apart isn’t just strategy. It’s humanity. I believe your lived experience is your marketing advantage. That the moments you thought would break you often become the stories that build you. And that business isn’t built by shouting. It’s built by showing up real.

I’m most proud that I didn’t wait for life to be quiet to start because if I had, none of this would exist. I built this business with four kids at home, in the middle of losing my mom, packing up a home full of memories, and choosing to believe that my voice still mattered.

And now I help other women do the same. I help them build meaningful businesses without silencing their story or sacrificing their life. I want people to know that you don’t have to choose between family and ambition, motherhood and leadership, or storytelling and strategy. You can build a business rooted in truth and that truth can become your most powerful marketing asset.

Because your story isn’t just something you tell.
It’s something you lead with.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn was that success only counts if it looks “polished” and follows the traditional path.

For a long time, I believed the lie that real entrepreneurs scale in a straight line — clean timelines, perfect launches, organized funnels, shiny momentum. I thought if I couldn’t check those boxes, I wasn’t doing it “right.”

Then life got loud. I became a mom of four. We moved. I lost my mother and was navigating grief. I was building a business in bursts of time between school drop-offs, client calls, and bedtime stories. Nothing felt polished — but everything I was creating was real.

And here’s what I discovered in that season:

You don’t build a meaningful business by waiting for life to be quiet — you build it by choosing to show up in the middle of the noise.

I stopped trying to perform entrepreneurship and started practicing it. I stopped trying to sound like the experts and started sounding like myself. And the moment I did, my marketing became more powerful than any strategy I’d ever tried.

The unlearning wasn’t easy. It meant letting go of perfection, timelines, and the myth of “balance.” But on the other side was clarity, connection, and a business rooted in truth instead of performance.

My story didn’t fit the mold — and that’s exactly why it works.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot in my life and business came when I lost my mom.

I was in the middle of growing my business, homeschooling kids, and trying to find my footing as a founder. I thought that once things finally felt “stable,” I’d pour my energy into scaling and polishing everything — the funnels, the offers, the brand.

And then life shifted in an instant.
My mom fell. And just six days later, she was gone.

Grief didn’t care about my timeline or my plans. It rearranged everything — my priorities, my capacity, and my perspective. For a moment, I wondered if I should pause it all. The world felt too heavy. My brain too foggy. My heart too fractured to be “in business mode.”

But in the quiet moments of that grief — during paperwork, packing memories, and caring for my family — I wrote.

Not polished marketing. Not “strategic content.”
Just truth. Raw, honest, unfiltered truth.

And that writing became chapters. Those chapters became a book.
That book — The Stories That Build Us — became the heart of my business.

I didn’t plan the pivot. I didn’t map it into a content calendar.
I followed life. And life told me:

Your story is the strategy. Build from where you are, not where you wish you were.

I stopped chasing perfect systems and leaned into a simple truth:
Entrepreneurship isn’t just business. It’s life. And life isn’t linear.

The pivot wasn’t about quitting or pushing harder. It was about choosing a new kind of strength:

– writing while grieving

– showing up imperfectly

– letting my story lead

– trusting that real connection beats strategy alone

I would never have chosen the circumstances but I honor what they built in me. They gave me depth, a message, and a business rooted in humanity, not hustle.

That season didn’t break my business.
It became my business.

And it’s why I help women today build brands that are grounded in truth, not performance. Because when life shifts, and it will, your story can still carry you forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kellyharriscreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyharriscreative/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kellyharriscreative
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-harris-creative208/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGKEcdSwNq_gA9Ab6Fnrgqw

Image Credits
Paige Rains Photography