I am honored to have the wonderful opportunity to uplift and inspire people on my radio show. This podcast was our special for Independence Day 2020 where we asked listeners to transcend history instead of chipping away at it.

This program was originally aired on KSL Newsradio’s Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson on July 3rd, 2020.

20 years ago George W. Bush stood at the NAACP convention acknowledging America’s faults and asked us to transcend this history, today a cry is uprising to obliterate monuments that reference this past. As Cardinal Dolan said, chipping away at memory is perilous. We must transcend not chip away history, and not let politics or elections cloud our vision of a better America. 

56 years ago today President Johnson signed the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark law against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Bringing the Founding Fathers vision that “all men are created equal” into greater practice. The legislation was initially proposed by President John F. Kennedy but was not signed until after his assassination. It was only a few years later when his brother Robert Kennedy addressed a heartbroken crowd on the continuing struggle for racial equality as he informed them of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior. Months later, Bobby was assassinated as well. We cannot forget the long-standing struggle for civil rights, human equality, or the historical sacrifices that became the martyrs of this cause. 

Boyd’s hope for America’s future is grounded in the idea that when we look to people instead of politicians, community instead of Congress, and culture instead of government control – our future looks very, very bright if we remember and transcend our history. So, while politics has failed: America will not!

‘Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson,’ Opinion Editor at Deseret News, takes you inside the latest political news and current events, providing higher ground for today’s discussions. Listen live Monday through Thursday from 11 am to noon at 1160 AM and 102.7 FM, online at KSLNewsradio.com, or on the app. Listen on-demand as a podcast on your favorite platform or web browser. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

Want more Boyd? Don’t forget to listen to his Deseret News podcast ‘Therefore, What?,’ sign up for his weekly newsletter, and follow him on Twitter.

Resolutions are very important to me.

I like setting goals, manageable and stretch, to push myself into being a better person. Even though I know I will not achieve all my goals, I believe that the process of goal settings helps me identify my strengths, weaknesses, and the opportunities I have to grow. And when I look back on my goals, it helps me to acknowledge all the things I have worked towards, learned, and accomplished.

I believe in goals so much I actually spoke about it on KSL Newsradio’s ‘Dave and Dujanovic Show’ with guests hosts Amy Donaldson  and Representative Steve Handy.

I discussed my philosophy on new year resolutions and they helped held me accountable for my goals by having me state them on the air.

Listen to the segment now:

My Goals philosophy:

• Create a variety of goals that are both realistic and ones that stretch you out of your comfort zone.
• Write down your goals to keep yourself accountable. Set specific numbers, and deadlines with your goals.
• Share your goals with others (when appropriate). You might be tempted to hide your goals in case you don’t hit/keep them.
  • Don’t do this! Share your goals with trusted individuals who can help keep you accountable, motivated, and help acknowledge the work you are doing.
• Check back-in with yourself as you doggedly pursue your goals.
  • Suggestions: write your goals in your journal to reread regularly, set a weekly reminder on your phone to ask how you are going, set time in your calendar each month to review your progress.
• REMEMBER FLEXIBILITY: Perfection is not needed, but flexibility is.
  • Don’t punish yourself for not being perfect. What we want is progress, so be forgiving and flexible with yourself. This includes allowing yourself to alter or even remove a goal.

That being said, here are my public 2020 resolutions.

My 2020 Vision:

1. Publish my own creative content regularly.

I have cultivated skills over the years that allow me to create content, shows, and things for others, but it is time I create my own content and thus followers. This means regularly blogging, social media posting, pursuing opportunities to write with KSL, and sharing my drawings. I would love to build myself to a place that I can get a Patreon account and a regular content cycle.

• Specifics: Write something each week: blog, article, short story. Start my own Patreon by April 1. Do the MerMay drawing challenge. Publish ‘Drama Princess 2: Ellie Auditions.’

2. Earn more & save more!

I have spend the last few years living hand-to-mouth as I finished up my return to school, started a new career, and embarked on a blended-work lifestyle. I can’t keep doing this and need to find ways to make more income and save for the future I want. I need to do this by marketing myself and my services better, creating content that will generate income (Patreon, self-published works, Drama Princess book 2), and pursuing other avenues of income. I NEED to save an emergency fund, and an ‘opportunity fund’ that would allow me to say yes to what life offers me.

3. Take better charge of my health.

I simply want to get healthier. This means working toward a healthy weight, going to the doctor appointments I have been putting off for ages, and taking better care of my mind. I have some amazing friends who are helping me be accountable for this one.

4. Build my faith in my faith, myself, and others.

5. Build better relationships with friends and family.

We all know what we want to do to better ourselves, we have to make the choice to better ourselves, ourselves.

2019 was a great year of creative growth and continuing to bloom amid trials. My goals for 2019 revolved around becoming comfortable with my creative voice and being able to afford to pursue opportunities. While I was not able to accomplish all I had plotted, I am happy with the progress I did make.

I am not going to share all my goals for 2019, but would love to hold myself accountable for some of my more public goals. Here I go!

2019 Goals

Radio Work

At the start of 2019, my work as a radio producer with The KSL Movie Show was new and intimidating. (It still is in many ways!) I really wanted to learn the show, find ways to organize it so we can runs smoother, plus-up the content of the show, and increase interactivity to add value to our audience. I also wanted to seek ways to showcase my skills and prove my worth at KSL while improving my resume for future career opportunities. This is probably the goal I have done the best as achieving this year.

I cannot begin to describe the pride and excitement I feel at what I have brought to the Movie Show and KSL. 

I developed a system of organization and templates that allows for quicker prep time, clearer communications, and just a more fun show for our audiences. The system has been adopted by many of the talk producers, so I must be doing something right! I cultivated great topics, guests, and relationships that have added variety and interest to the show. And expanded our show’s audience interactivity through the launch of the Movie Show Club, texts, Facebook group, and more. 

I have proven my value outside of The Movie Show through special projects like launching new shows, training producers, modernizing a legacy show, and improving my ‘talent’ voice. I have become a regular contributor the Fan Effect podcast, building myself as THE Salt Lake Fangirl. And I have a special sense of pride in my work with General Conference special programming. 

I am excited for all these developments and the opportunity to continue to grow my show and presence at the station in 2020.

Creative Work

In 2019 I really wanted to expand my creative voice beyond my work at KSL. While I had big dreams of writing blogs every week, short stories every month, a sequel to my Drama Princess book, and building myself into a kind of pop-culture influencer in 2019…. I totally chickened out.

Because, you know, talking to people is scary! 

But, despite the fact I didn’t keep this goal as fully as I wanted, I did push myself to do some cool creative things:

I went to several pop culture, artistic, screenings, and cultural events. I had planned on blogging and social media posting about these,  but didn’t for the most part. I did meet some amazing artists, see some great shows, and learn that I do have an interesting enough to follow, but I would need to post about them to make this possible. 

I e-published two of my short stories on Amazon. ‘The Salt Shaker and the Pepper Grinder: A Charming Short Story About Our Favorite Couple,’ and ‘The Rock, The Paper, and The Scissors: A Cautionary and Fanciful Tale of How Three Best Friends Became Enemies.’ 

One of the things I am most creativity proud of is becoming a special guest at Fanx Salt Lake Comic Convention. I had set the goal at the start of 2019 to be on two panels, not even knowing how I would go about such a thing, but I did it! I got to talk about my favorite place on earth on the Disneyland 101 panel, and I moderate my own panel on embracing your inner geek. 

Financial Goals

I knew 2019 was going to be a challenging financially for me. It really was an experimental year to see if I can earn a living through part-time contract work, creative earnings, and as a self-employed massage therapist. The answer was.. kinda?

The most important financial goal for me this year was to afford the dream Disneyland trip that a friend and I had been planning on for years, which I am happy to report that we made! My friend is an amazing single mother of two great kids, one of which has special needs. We both took on extra work and budgeted like crazy to take the kids to Disney before they got too old for the magic, and while her son with Muscular Dystrophy could still enjoy most of the rides and experiences. It turned into one of the best Disney trips I have ever had!  

Other financial goals revolved around taking care of myself better money-wise. Early in the year I took a course through my church on Personal Finances and Self Reliance that really emphasizes the importance of financial freedom. I understand the concepts, but could have done better applying them in my life. 

I worked at building an emergency fund, but it got drained often because of well…emergencies…and poor planning. I was able to pay off my massage school student loan (after 14 years!) due to hard work and one final donation from an amazing massage client. And I meant to afford to finally visit doctors this year, but besides an emergency dental visit, I managed to procrastinate those much-needed appointments. 

So, ya… I kinda failed the ‘financial experiment’ but am back in the lab redeveloping a plan to succeed in 2020. 

So… What Happened? 

At the start of this post I mentioned that 2019 was a year of growth amid trials. While I don’t want to give details about these trials, I do want to acknowledge them. I got a piece of news mid-summer that crushed me, forced me to alter my life significantly, and basically ruined the majority of the rest of the year. This trial forced me to move from a place of comfort to discomfort and I continue to grow because of it. I learned I can lean on trusted people in my life, that I am stronger than I thought, and progress means whatever I need it to mean.

My wounds are healing now. And in the future, I can help others because of the scars they left behind. 

2019 was hard, and wonderful, and terrifying all at once. I got to do so many amazing things! Meet awesome people, go great places, and overcome significant trial. I learned I need to trust my own voice and put myself out there even more as a writer, creative, and as a massage therapist in order to afford a better life for myself. I frankly need to earn more income to pursue the creative lifestyle I want, and help the people I want to help. 

As such, I am excited for the growth 2020 has for me, and excited to share my 2020 goals with you in another post. 

Thank you for your time. 

-KAH

Please note: All opinions expressed on this website are KellieAnn Halvorsen’s and do not reflect on the opinions, policy, or believes of any entity she work for, her clients, or any of her affiliations.

Thank you to everyone who attended my panels!

Hello My Friends,

You are invited to attend panels I will be a guest on for FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention in Fall 2019 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 S W Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 8410. I will be talking Disneyland, and moderating a panel that I pitched inspired by my story of pursuing my creative dreams and switching careers. It means the world to me to have people like you supporting my creativity and voice. You are welcome to follow my adventures at FanX on my social media.

You can purchase your passes, and save 20% with the code FANXKSL at https://fanxsaltlake.com/tickets/ 

Thank you,
– KAH

Disneyland 101: Everything You Need to Know for Your Next Trip to the Happiest Place on Earth

So you’ve never been to Disneyland, or you haven’t been for several years? Our panel will give you everything you need to know before you go. What attractions you should ride, which restaurants have the best food, how fast passes work, and how to make the most of your vacation. We’ll even give you the details on what you can expect at Halloween and Christmas.

Guests

• Valerie Cameron
• KellieAnn Halvorsen
• Tracy Mangum (Moderator)
• Amanda Provost
• Scott Renshaw
• London Reynolds
• Josh Twelves (Moderator)

Friday, September 6, 2019 @ 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm, in Room 250A

Geek culture is now mainstream, and many individuals are tossing their fears aside to embrace the stories and fandoms that bring them joy. Listen to pop culture experts’ tales and tips on taking the plunge into the geeky lifestyle you so secretly long for.

Guests: 

• Garrett Batty
• Andy Farnsworth
• KellieAnn Halvorsen (Moderator)
• B.J. Harrison
• Skyler Pinales
• Monica Moore Smith