We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kae Ricketts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kae, appreciate you joining us today. What’s one of the most important lessons you learned in school?

The most important lessons I learned during my schooling had very little to do with the academics. During my undergraduate studies, navigating learning differences… academic probation… and an unplanned pregnancy were the undercurrents of my time at Bentley University. Yes, I graduated with a dual degree- Bachelors or Science in Information Design and Corporate Communication and a Bachelors of Arts in Media Arts and Society, and crossed the stage with my three month old son in the audience, but I also got a crash course introduction to what resilience means. So much of who I am today was informed by my experiences there… learning to give myself grace, to advocate for myself, to embrace all the parts of who I am (flaws and all), and that checking a box is NOT a requirement to succeed. I learned so much more than what was on the syllabus!

A few years later, when I was introduced to the brand new Healthcare Masters of Business Administration program being offered at Simmons University my initial interest came from a place of wanting career progression. I had been working in the hospital space for some time and had started to carve out a path for myself by becoming the administrative supervisor of a pathology laboratory overseeing all of the non-clinical operations.

When the admissions team from Simmons came to the hospital campus to recruit for the program, it was only a few months after we had received my husband’s devastating cancer diagnosis. At that point he was still working his job while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments. We were trying to go on with our lives, but there was so much uncertainty. There had been some bumps along the way including emergency hospitalizations and days when he was too weak to keep up with the status quo. Deep down inside, I knew that I needed to take the necessary steps to ensure I could provide for my family, regardless of what the future would hold. It was a tough decision to make, I would be willingly adding additional complexity to an already complex situation. I was the sole caregiver for my terminally ill spouse, I was working full time, raising a young child and now I was considering throwing myself into a rigorous MBA program. I still think back to that time, ten years later, and I have no idea how I managed to get through it.

There were some difficult conversations, but we made the decision that I would apply for the opportunity to be a part of the inaugural cohort of the program and do what I felt I needed to do. I wrote about my unique personal situation in my admissions essays and was accepted. I was very transparent with my professors and classmates from the start and every step along the way. As the semesters progressed so did my husband’s illness. There were many days when I would find myself taking my lunch break in his hospital room while doing my homework assignments or working all day, then going to class, just to rush back and spend the night in a recliner or pull-out couch by his bedside. I was committed and he was my encouragement and biggest cheerleader.

Unfortunately, my husband lost his three year battle just a few months shy of my graduation. The spring semester had just started and we had a mandatory full day lecture session for eight hours on a Saturday. He passed away on Sunday morning. I took a few days off from classes, but was even more committed to finishing strong and honoring his wishes and more importantly the collective sacrifice we chose to make. It was a tough final stretch, but my professors and classmates held space for me, gave me grace, and most importantly they cheered me on in my husband’s absence.

Coming out of the program, I had a shiny new degree and some letters behind my name, but I also had an unshakable awareness that I could absolutely do the hard things. I had a new understanding of what it means to make sacrifices for the greater good and a deep appreciation for the power of being vulnerable and transparent with your community. My classmates chipped in and bought me a frame for my diploma and each signed it with congratulations and well wishes.

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 am a Multifaceted mother, strategist, and coach with a passion for helping creative entrepreneurs elevate in their lives and businesses without forcing them into a one-size-fits-all approach.

As a career professional and neurodivergent serial entrepreneur, I have been able to launch, pivot, and grow my businesses while navigating several challenges and adversities. I know a thing or two about how to maneuver through life’s obstacles while still empowering myself and others to go after what they want.

I give back and create impact by sharing what I wish I had learned sooner, and building the resources that I would have benefited from along my own journey.

When you really think about it, we are all complex and layered individuals. You are allowed to be multi-passionate, multi-purposed, and multi-talented. My goal is to use my skills, expertise and experiences to inspire others to be their unapologetic, goal-getting, don’t-put-me-in-a- box selves while celebrating their ability to show up loudly and proudly in the spaces and places that they operate in each day. I have become the go-to business strategist for Multifaceted entrepreneurs who want to embrace their authenticity, find direction and build their businesses in alignment with the aspects of who they are.

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

One of the most important and most transformative lessons that I’ve learned was that I do not have to check a single box in order to be “successful”. Transitioning into the corporate space from the melting pot of the hospital environment was a bit of a culture shock for me. I was working at a fortune 100 company and was pretty much the only person that looked like me in the space as I was occupying. I definitely was faced with a little bit of imposter syndrome at first, but cross paths with an amazing leader who encouraged me to embrace the uniqueness of who I am, and that my differences were my strength in this new environment, where many people had the same thoughts and lived experiences. This really gave me the encouragement and validation. I needed to step into power and show up as my true self in the workplace. It was with this transition that I started to get more involved in what was called employee resource groups within the company. These groups were created around different affinity identifications and were created to increase connection and engagement with these different groups throughout the business. As I found myself getting more involved, there were even more opportunities for involvement as I resonated deeply with multiple groups.
There was a group for employees of African descent, a group for women, a group for millennials, a group for working parents, a group for individuals with disabilities, and the list went on. I had varying levels of engagement with the different groups, but one day when I was writing up my performance evaluation and summarizing my different levels of involvement. It occurred to me that I could not check just one box. I was very much all of these things. This really opened my eyes to the fact that I can be more than one thing and still be me. This perspective has really changed the way I look at the world around me as well as the opportunities in front of me.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

My business and revenue sources are just as multifaceted as I am. I provide my clients with a holistic approach to an end to end business start up experience. I help you get unstuck and go from idea to “I did It!” with a business that’s structured to scale. We work through brainstorming and ideation, to business set up, to identifying funding sources to help you scale.

My core service offering is the bespoke strategy coaching that takes into account all the aspects of your personality, education, career, family etc. to help strategize and support an action plan to get you to your next level. The Entrepreneur Community membership provides access to resources and accountability along your journey.

From there, I offer add-on, done-for-you business set up services where my team helps you get all your ducks in a row so you can have a strong business foundation that has been structured with the idea of scaling in mind.

Once your business is up and running I offer “brand in a box” packages that include strategic marketing collateral design and product printing to help you bring your brand to life. This could include things like logo design and web page build out along with corresponding merch that you can use to create brand recognition or to sell to customers as your very own revenue source.

I would say that my newest service offering will be the most impactful to date. It is my business loan broker service. I know personally, over the course of my entrepreneurial journey, there was no shortage of ideas or concepts, but the biggest bottleneck was my decision to bootstrap my business funding which meant that there were serious limitations to my ability to invest and scale. I have now curated a network of available funding sources that allow me to serve as a matchmaker, taking your properly scaled business profile and the details I know about you and your business and connecting you with funding avenues that meet your unique needs and situation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://multifacetedenterprises.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_multifaceted_mama/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@multifacetedaf
• Other: multifaceted.community

Image Credits

@byfenaphotography
@byalexjoachim
@d4thegreat