We were lucky to catch up with Katrina Spagnoletti recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katrina , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is to empower women to start healing from childhood trauma. At the young age of five years old, I was abused by my uncle., I wish I could tell you that it was the only time, but unfortunately it was not, as a teen I was also abused for years by my step father. Those events created a very scare, insecure and traumatic life for me until I realized that I had the natural tools that I needed to heal and to live an extraordinary life. It’s a life that anyone who has voice can live, you just need to understand one thing “Your Past Does Not Dictate Who You Are, Untess You Allow It To”.

Katrina , 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 truly feel that as you get to know me, you will feel empowered and inspired from my brand as an Author and Speaker. As you should already know, my name is Katrina Spagnoletti. I’m a 59 year old mother, grandmother, wife, author, speaker. I wrote my first book “What My Mother Never Knew” on how I healed from childhood trauma. I am also the former Mrs. Florida 2020 and a international beauty queen. I entered my first pageant at 53 years old, competing with women 30 years my junior and at 56 years old, I was crowned Mrs. Florida American 2020. I never doubted my ability to win a beauty competition, even as I was competing with women younger than me, as I entered my fifties, because as I was healing from my childhood abuse, it only made me stronger and more confident.

I entered beauty pageants so that I could prove that being in your fifties, you are still beautiful and life is just beginning for you. When I was crowned Mrs. Florida, history was made. You see, I was the oldest women at that time to ever be crowned on the Mrs. Florida America stage and the first black women to ever be crowned on that stage as well. My crowning inspired so many more women to compete in pageants and it felt amazing to see these mature women win.

I really feel that what happened to me as a child set the tone to who I was supposed to become as an adult. Do I wish it never happened, of course, but part of healing is understanding that you can’t change the past, but you can use your voice to help others. That brings me to my book. 2020 was the year that the world stopped. As the world prepared to be shut in, I knew that it would trigger past memories and I needed to make sure I kept my mind busy. I decided to write down my story, so that hopefully it would inspire others to heal. I also understood that I wasn’t able to be in my community as I prepared to tell the Mrs. Florida judges how I made in impact. I knew that writing my book would help me in understanding how I became the queen that I am and that would be my platform to win. Writing my book was the hardest task I every had to accomplish. To go back and revisit those two little girls was devastating, but I realized I owed them so much. Those two little girls keep me strong through my abuse and now it was time to repay them by using my voice.

My brand came about as I was preparing to compete. Women over 40 realized that you can look great and feel great if you practice self love and belief in oneself. As I prepared myself to go in front of the judges, I showed my fitness routine, healthy eating and of course how I prepared to interview in front of the judges, on my social media platform. My audience started to see my growth as they followed my road to the crown. Women over 40 started to want to take better care of their health, mentally and physically and that made me work harder. Life is amazing when you believe in yourself and I was determined to show that.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building an audience can be a little difficult, because there are so may others who might be doing the same business as you, but it is possible. I Think that taking my audience on my journey to becoming an author was extremely helpful. I took them from the first thought of wanting to write my book, to revealing the finished product. I would create authentic videos of my everyday life while becoming and author. I saw the excitement from my followers of my progress and I even gave them the opinion of helping me pick my book cover. When I became victorious, they felt victorious as well and those same followers continue to cheer me on in my new endeavors as I study to become a life coach at the age of 59.

Creating content that will draw attention to your social media page has to be visually professional as well. We have everyday technology that can help you to create beautiful content that your followers will enjoy. There are amazing apps like, Instories, CapCut and much more.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Writing a book doesn’t have to be expensive. I researched, how to write a book and it gave me so many amazing options. I needed to decide if I wanted to self publish or send off my manuscript to a publishing company and I felt that self publishing was the way to go. As a self publisher, who never wrote a book, I really had to do my research. I knew a few authors who had self published, so I reached out to them to educate myself. I received so much wonderful advice about publishing on Amazon KDP publishing. Amazon has published so many books for newly published authors and authors who have written multiple books. All I needed was to upload my manuscript and cover/back of my book and it was free of charge. I really love Amazon’s publishing company and I wish that I would have designed my cover with them as well, but you live and learn. There are some incredible online freelance designers that will design your book cover for little funding or you can hire the top designers for more. I chose to spend about $200 to get my book cover designed, but I eventually designed a different book cover using the KDP publishing tool. As a beauty queen, you get amazing photography, so I decided to use those professional phots to create a much better book cover.

Editing my book was another experience in writing a book and I was blessed enough to have a husband who is an incredible editor of military proposals. He was my first go on editing my book, but I wanted a second editor, so I spent around $300 for a freelance editor. You can learn so much as you create your product and it helps you grow as a successful entrepreneur.

Contact Info:

• Website: KatrinaSpagnoletti.com
• Instagram: Katrina_spagnoletti
• Facebook: Katrina Spagnoletti
• Youtube: Katrina Spagnoletti
• Threads: Katrina Spagnoletti

Image Credits
Photographer: Carlos Velez Makeup Artist: Ali Lee Glam Photographer: Ashley Canay