We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kylie Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kylie below.

Kylie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Naming anything is hard, but this one came easy. The full title of the & Lived podcast is actually: I Killed Myself and Lived to Tell the Tale.

It’s the story of how I ended one life and started a new one. Just a few years ago I was deeply unhappy, ready to peace off the planet—but instead of ending my life, I put an end to the parts of my life that were killing me. I broke up with my ex of eight years, got a dog, sold my house and bought a new one, sold my car and moved into a van, sold my business, chopped off most of my hair off, and lost 80 lbs in the process.

It’s a story of transformation, of hitting rock bottom and deciding to change your story instead of closing the book. Sometimes, you don’t need to end your whole life—you just need to put an end to the parts of your life that are suffocating you. That might mean quitting your job, leaving a toxic relationship, or moving somewhere new.

If I can do it—&LIVE to tell the tale—so can you :)

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For those who don’t know me, I’m Kylie Williams. Once upon a time, I wanted to kill myself.

On paper, I had it all—CEO in my twenties, running a six-figure business, in a long-term relationship, seemingly at the top of my game. But the truth? I was drowning in obligations, living for everyone else, and completely neglecting myself. I spent my life managing other people’s emotions, shape-shifting into whatever version of me made THEM most comfortable. Until my body started breaking down under the weight of expectations I never consciously agreed to. I wasn’t living—I was surviving, and only barely at that.

But I didn’t choose to end my life. I killed off everything that was killing me instead.
What I share on the & Lived podcast isn’t about willpower or forcing change. It’s about meeting your shadow, rewiring your mind, regulating your nervous system, and unraveling the shame and self-abandonment that is keeping you stuck.

That’s what led me here—not just to podcasting, but to coaching, writing, and having the hard conversations that actually change things. It’s not about hustling harder or manifesting your dream life. It’s about unlearning. Rewiring survival responses. Setting boundaries that let you stay in relationships without losing yourself in them.

That’s what I’m most proud of—the relationships I’ve lost and then rebuilt in a way that actually feels good. Because boundary setting isn’t about cutting people off. It’s about staying in connection without abandoning yourself. And let me tell you—learning how to do that changes everything.

Now, I help others do the same. Whether it’s through the & Lived Podcast, my eBook, or one-on-one work, my message is this: You are not stuck. You are not broken. And you don’t have to keep living a life that is killing you.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that putting others first made me a good person.

For years, I gave until there was nothing left of me. I thought that was love—that being drained, exhausted, and stretched thin was just the price you paid to be a good friend, a good partner, a good person. I believed the best way to care for people was to pour every last drop of my energy into them. But here’s the thing—when you give from an empty cup, it’s not generosity. It’s survival. It’s people-pleasing, codependency, and self-abandonment disguised as kindness.

You can’t be mad at people for draining you if you keep handing them the straw. And when I gave from that place, it wasn’t unconditional. It came with strings—resentment, burnout, exhaustion.

I had to mend the holes at the bottom of my cup and learn how to receive—not just love, but rest, joy, care, and support. I had to stop giving direct access to my energy reserves, stop saying yes when I wanted to say no, and stop handing out straws to anyone who wanted a sip of my energy.

Now, I only give from my overflow. Because that’s when giving feels genuine—when it’s not depleting, but abundant.

The goal is to be a fountain, not a drain. To be so full that my cup overflows—so that when I give, it’s not out of guilt, obligation, or survival. It’s from a place of true abundance.

Setting boundaries wasn’t about cutting people off. It was about staying in connection without abandoning myself. It wasn’t saying, I won’t give to you anymore. It was saying, Here’s how I can give to you—and still feel good about it.

That shift changed everything.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The version of me that existed five years ago no longer exists.

I died when my relationship died.

In 2020, the world was unraveling, and so was I. Things weren’t just falling apart—my life was being ripped down to the studs. Everything felt uncertain, unstable—like nothing was guaranteed anymore. And in the middle of it all, I asked myself: Is life even worth rebuilding?

And the answer was no.

Not if it meant rebuilding the same life. The one where I woke up to alarm clocks I hated, in a house I felt trapped in, serving clients that drained me, chasing an “American Dream” that never actually felt like mine.

But the problem was, I wasn’t sure if a life I actually wanted even existed. I had only seen glimpses—strangers on the internet living nomadically, working remotely, designing lives that looked nothing like the script I had been handed. I had no proof that I could have that too.

I just had hope.

Hope that I wasn’t trapped. That a different way of living was possible for me, too. So I started acting as if it was real.

And now? Here I am. No longer waking up to alarm clocks. No longer dreading the Salt Lake City snow. I’m writing this to you from a remote beach in Baja, Mexico, where I now spend my winters—building something entirely new, centered around joy. One choice at a time.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @andlivedpodcast / @kyliewillwander

Image Credits

Nicole Ahart @nicoleahart