Kat A. Lessin

So, you want to know more “About Me.” Great!  I used to have the polished “professional” page and it never felt right. It was also quite boring.  Although I would love to tell you my life story, it’s a bit lengthy so I will tell you the bits that matter most.

I was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, 2 months early, very sick, and close to dying.  Life didn’t begin “easy” for me. It was a journey of growth and perseverance from the start.  I always have this as a reminder in the back of my mind.  It is my firm belief that I was pulled into this world and given this life for a reason.  I believe we all have a purpose and unique message to deliver while we are here.

I grew up in a divorced home (or rather two homes), moving back and forth weekly between my two lives and families, which was difficult but I made the most of my situation (I didn’t know anything different).  I needed and used systems from that point on; I was organized by necessity, not choice.  While most children or adults would not be able to live in chaos like this, I did.  I was always resourceful growing up, always looking for strategies and solutions to problems and issues.

A Life Saved

At a very difficult point in my early life (age 10) I was depressed and suicidal. Stuck in darkness, I was given my first camera by my father who was a hobbyist photographer who always wanted to shoot for a living instead of his day job.  Photography literally saved my life.  I remember studying Annie Leibowvitz, Imogen Cunningham and Dorthea Lange, getting utterly lost in their art, their images.  I began to shoot black and white photography because that is how I saw the world at the time.  I remember having this intuitive “sixth sense” while people-watching. I always knew when a person would turn around and look at me.  This was very useful while shooting.  I always knew where to look.  I didn’t realize at the time that this was one of my gifts, one of my unique skills I was honing.  I remember being in the dark room and watching my art, my images magically (chemically) appearing, creating art, something from nothing.

I then decided at 10 years old, that I wanted to be a professional photographer — not just any photographer, but the best, most famous photographer…a rock star in the art world.  I remember at age 10 telling complete strangers that I was going to be a famous photographer and to look for my photos in Rolling Stone Magazine; it makes me laugh now because I now know where it leads.  I remember when people, especially adults, would be seemingly rude and tell me it wasn’t going to happen, and thinking to myself, “What do they know? They hate their lives.”

From 10 until 18, my whole life and existence was photography.  I was only an average student because the rest of the classes didn’t matter to my goal and vision.  In fact, my mom paid for the SATs and I never took them because I knew I sucked at tests, and I knew that it would never show how smart and gifted I really was.  I also knew the photography school I had wanted to attend since age 12 didn’t need stupid, false measuring SAT scores. Why waste my energy, emotions and thoughts on something I didn’t need to reach my goal?

Driven

I did apply to the photography school and I was accepted.  I attended and graduated from Brooks Institute with a BA in Digital Imaging and Commercial Advertising in Professional Photography, but something happened.  While in school I realized part way through that I didn’t need a piece of paper to tell me I was a great photographer. On top of that, I really hated my photography while I was in school.  School and the technical application of photography took the magic away, murdered my gift and killed the love I had found. The light burned out.  The love that had saved my life at 10 was gone, vanished into thin air.

I didn’t quit though. I stayed in school because I was compelled to complete the goal and vision the scared, wounded little girl wanted for all that time.  I wanted something to show for the passion I had carried and held tightly though my life.  But I knew I no longer wanted to “do” photography as a career.  I wanted freedom. I wanted to create my own rules, my own art, my own magic just not with photography – and I wasn’t sure how to get there after focusing on this one path for so long.  I had no plan B and didn’t know how to tell my mother the $100k she had just worked her ass off to pay for school was no longer needed.  The day I did tell her was amazing. 30 days before graduation my mother told me she didn’t care; she was happy I followed through and that I would be amazing at whatever I did.  21 days later, 9 days before my graduation, my mother passed away unexpectedly at 57.  Her death was major turning point in my life.

Life Is Short

After my mother’s death, I sank back into a deep depression only to pull myself back out. For the next 8 years I went from job to job, career to career.  And although I always worked really hard and would always get promoted, I would always end up leaving because I felt my true gift, skills, talents and unique message were never going to mean anything to the job, career or boss as much as these things meant to me.  I often found myself knowing more about business than my bosses and it would annoy me to a level where I would end up leaving, not wanting to waste my precious limited time and energy on someone else’s goals.  I realized I was never going to be free trying to live by other people’s rules, beliefs and dreams.  I was un-employable! Not in the traditional sense — I just knew that it was never going to feel right working for someone else.  I knew life is short. I felt I was wasting it and always ended up wanting more.  So, I left the last job for good and became self employed in direct sales, believing that it would provide the freedom that I longed for, only to discover at the end that this too didn’t feel true. Patterns show up in our lives for very real and very important reasons.

Decisions, Decisions

Several years ago, I was lost and unfulfilled again, except this time I saw the pattern and I decided to quit.  I decided to quit looking for what felt right outside of me and looked inward.  I looked at all the patterns in my life and started to pull them apart.  I had made the decision that I was done sinking and racing to the surface only to end up on the wrong shore.

I decided I was only going to do things that felt right and true, that were in alignment with my values and who I was at my core.

I decided I was going to be the artist in my life, designing it not just waiting and watching for life to magically appear.

I decided that I was going to use my gifts of questioning, intuitive listening and strategizing to create my ideal, authentic life and help others do the same.

I decided to pursue training — my coach certification and coaching credential — if people were going to trust me with their future.

Another Way

So often we believe the rules, beliefs and expectations that society has chosen to live by, not realizing that we can do it another way, our way, and be more wildly successful than when we weren’t being authentic and true to ourselves.

When I started to question those rules and live by my own values, everything became happier, easier and clearer — in alignment.

But what I also know to be true is that alignment and vision mean nothing without action.  You need to give up not being 100% true to who you are and your purpose will follow.  I had gained and claimed my freedom by taking action to design the freedom I had craved for so long.  Designing and creating your ideal life is not a passive, magical thing. It takes action.

So, that’s what I have been doing. I have taken action to live a life that is in alignment with the true me and I have since helped others do the same.  And the best part is that by helping my clients create and design their ideal life and business, I am in turn creating my own.

Passion and Purpose

I really am passionate about Lifestyle Design and coaching. To me, it’s the act of taking all the essential pieces that make up who you are and designing a business and life/lifestyle to provide that core unique message to the world, leaving it a better place than we found it. (It also helps that I am very familiar with psychology and I’ve done the work to  know who I am)

The fact is that I love Lifestyle Design and Coaching so much that I truly know that this is it for me. I found my calling and unique gift and I want people to use it to the fullest.  But fortunately, this light can never go out.

Design Your Future

For several years now, I have given this my all and I am grateful for the results.  I (and my clients) have found I am exceptionally good at it.

My current business is solely about this: Life is short. Why waste another minute of it being out of alignment as part of someone else’s design.

There are many ways to find your path and its all part of the journey and the process. I am really passionate about helping you design and create your own.