Growing Business, Healing Self, and Caring for the Planet with Shaylee King

You know, I really believe in the concept of like, you can't love somebody fully until you love yourself. And I was not in a place in my early 20s when I was going through college that I really truly loved myself enough to be able to put my dreams and goals and ambitions in front of me. Like, surviving was just the first thing that I needed to do, and it was a struggle to survive. Because I was dealing with not being healthy physically, not being mentally healthy, not having the capacity to do much besides go to school, work 2 different jobs, sleep, and eat. Like, keeping up with that was enough.

Welcome to Crafted to Thrive, the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses myself, health, I figured out the surprisingly simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that aligns with your health and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive.

I am excited to have Shaylee on the show. She is like ride or die client. She's an amazing photographer, as I mentioned in the intro, and just an overall amazing human being. I'm so excited for her to be on the show. No pun intended. We're going to dive in into many different topics of her life, like partially diving into the ocean and like swimming with sharks and also being just an amazing photographer. But anyway, welcome to the show, Shaylee.

Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

So we were talking right before this was on because we're both kind of feeling like physically off, like weirdness happening in the world. But hey, we are showing up how we can, when we can, doing what we can, right? And tell us a little bit about you and like your journey, your life. Tell us more about your life as just Shaylee in Hawaii and where are you planning to go with things.

Um, yeah, so my name is Shaylee. I am currently based on the Big Island of Hawaii. I I'm an outdoor guide. I work in the water, um, taking people out to swim with the manta rays. Um, I'm also a photographer here on the Big Island. I'm originally from Alaska, which is kind of where my journey started. Um, I've always just been a very outdoorsy, wildlife, adventure-loving human. And yeah, I'm currently on the Big Island to start to really work on underwater photography and outdoor education in the realm of the water.

Yeah. So Shelee does all of that beautiful water work with the things that she takes pictures of. But what else do you do, like, on land? Because you— I, you know, I know I could tell everybody, but you do some awesome stuff out of the water as well.

Yeah. Yeah. So I've been working as a photographer for about 5 years now professionally, where I do outdoor lifestyle and adventure commercial work. I also do a lot of farm-to-table photography and collaborations, as well as work with small businesses to support them in their endeavors for a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle.

Yeah, and she's so— like, I say she, Shaylee's so good at it. You guys probably hear me talk about her often. I never say name in the episodes when I'm talking about a client that's like doing nature things, usually I'm talking and referring to Shayna because she is boss when it comes to that, in my opinion. I think she is— that's a place in her life that she's extremely confident in. I think even though sometimes she feels differently, right? But it's interesting because it's a little bit different for you, I feel like, than when I talk to other clients who are like trying to get out of their job job because they hate it. There is a part of your, like, what you do, you enjoy it. Like, it's literally a part of your Shailene-ness, like being in the water and educating people. And that's just a part of who you are. And so, as well as being a photographer. So what has been some of the challenges you've experienced, like kind of being okay with being okay with being both of those type of people?

Mm-hmm. Well, it's definitely been a journey of challenges, and now I feel like I'm really just starting to embrace those challenges and realize that the challenges aren't always bad, but they're a learning opportunity to grow. So to give you a little bit of context, I've always been a creative since I was little. I used to do a lot of watercolor. Photography has always been part of my life. My family has always been kind of sort of this half and half, like laborers and then creatives. And I think I'm a mix of both of those people. So when I went to school, I really enjoyed science and I loved biology. I loved chemistry. I loved a lot of different realms of science, and I also loved being creative and working with my hands, being in the studio. And I also struggled with ADD, but I didn't know how to manage my ADD. I struggled with depression and I didn't know how to manage depression. I struggled with a different learning ability than my colleagues in school, right? And so I had this balance of figuring out my identity through that. Trying to learn about the sciences and the things that got me excited about the sciences, but then also meeting that creative part, that creative streak in me that I always wanted and needed. So when I decided to go to college, I was trying to really figure that out, how to balance those things. The thing about college is that they don't teach creatives how to be in business. Um, so when I was going to Portland State University, I decided as a sophomore in college to go and seek an internship with the outdoor program that's there. And this internship that I worked in, you start off just as an intern, and then as you progress in your certifications and your experience and skills, you move up into a paid position. I wanted to start doing outdoor education and do the outdoor program because that's just kind of part of my personality. Growing up in Alaska, you're constantly surrounded by mountains and the rivers and the wildlife, and you're with the same types of people that just really love adventure and nature and the environment. And I was missing that when I left into the Pacific Northwest. I was missing that sense of adventure and outdoor lifestyle. So I started to work in that field where I used to take students out backpacking and climbing and rafting, and we would do service-based trip, volunteer trips. And we took students out and we taught them outdoor skills. We taught them communication skills and team building and I learned about facilitation and I learned about how to push my experience as somebody that just grew up in the outdoors and give that skill set or give those experiences in a safe way to these students. Some of my students had never even been in the woods before, never been on a hike, like didn't know anything about nature. And through that, I started to learn that people that fear something don't understand it. And that's a huge reason, I think, why there's this disconnect between nature and us, right? When you, when you fear something, you don't necessarily understand it, so you can't connect with it. When I was working with these students, out in the backcountry, I started to take my camera out there. At the time, I was shooting weddings and portraits and things like that. But it wasn't until I took my camera out in the woods with all these students and I started to document our experiences outside. And when I would go back and start to edit these photos and look at these images that I created, I started to realize the impact that these students had because I could see it in these pictures. I could see the way they transformed. I could see the way they connected with nature, and I could see the way that they connected with each other. And it was through their experience being present and being outside that really changed their lives. And that's what really made me start to shift towards an outdoor environmentalism, like community-based kind of focus. When I started taking my camera out and experiencing these things, I started to really focus more on my values and what I really wanted to do with my photography that made an impact and a purpose behind my photography. So I then started focusing on sustainability. The Pacific Northwest in general and Oregon specifically is very sustainably focused, very— just everything about it focuses on sustainability in terms of like our consumption and, you know, transit. And Portland specifically is like rated top in the city for— or in the United States for biking. So all these things really just kind of came together, and I started to push the envelope further in that realm. I actually traveled to DC for the first Science March in 2017, and I got to really experience an entire community of people that cared about the environment and cared for change. So that inspired me to keep pushing towards those dreams to make photography a real impact. Through school, I also learned how photography has made an impact historically, how the sciences and the art actually really depend on each other to create some type of difference or change, to connect people with sciences, to connect people with nature. Science needs art, art needs science. Photography is also a tool technically for documenting things and being able to slow things down, to be able to actually see things beyond our eye. So I've always known that photography is a huge tool and a very important aspect of the live— that the life that we live now.

Yeah, I think that's the thing that when we've worked together, what I've really enjoyed is your like kind of discovery of the fullness of that story. Like, I feel like this is the first time I've actually heard you say it all together that feels so cohesively and it makes sense. I feel like for the time of us working together, you were like, I don't know how these things fit, even though I know they fit, like to articulate it, it was like, a challenge. And I think it makes sense what you're saying, like how they kind of work together and how you fell into this. And I don't even want to say fell, like you really chose to take this path of like connecting the creative world and the natural world into being able to see it. I think the piece I'm curious about is how has it been a challenge right now? Like, so I know, I know this because I work with Shaylee. I'm her coach. But what has been challenging for you when it comes to telling your story, when it comes to marketing and telling people, or even telling people your story and how you see the world behind, like, the camera versus how everybody else sees it?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think the other struggles that I had through my journey was depression, and that's one of the reasons why I came to you, uh, and I mean, I, I didn't really come to you, I kind of discovered you, which was a beautiful journey in itself, but the fact that I found a coach that works with people that have chronic illness was very a new concept to me, and I realized like I need that through my journey As a photographer and an outdoor guide, I have always struggled with depression, and I've also through that have struggled with imposter syndrome.

Hmm.

So depression has been a journey for sure. I think one of the reasons why depression has been prevalent in my life is because when I started getting older and started really discovering how The world we live in today is in a lot of distress in a lot of ways. There's a lot going on in terms of climate change and just the reality of where our environment is today really put me into a difficult place. And that's not the only reason. I mean, just growing up, you know, life is hard. I had a lot of teachers and professors that put me down because I had a different learning ability. So I definitely struggled with thinking that I wasn't good enough or I wasn't smart enough or I wasn't fast enough at learning. So that really brought in my imposter syndrome and just struggles in life that happened that really put my business on the back burner. And because I didn't know how to take care of myself, I had a difficulty struggling to even like function in life. I didn't treat my body well enough. I didn't do the things that I now know and have learned how to balance back then. You know, I really believe in the concept of like, you can't love somebody fully until you love yourself. And I was not in a place in my early 20s when I was going through college that I really truly loved myself enough to be able to put my dreams and goals and ambitions in front of me. Like, surviving was just the first thing that I needed to do. Mhm. And it was a struggle to survive because I was dealing with not being healthy physically, not being mentally healthy, not having the capacity to do much besides go to school, work two different jobs, sleep, and eat. Like, keeping up with that was enough. And my financial journey has been part of that too. I've always been just kind of paycheck to paycheck. I didn't grow up with a lot of money. We— I mean, we, we were good, but we were like living that basic middle class, lower middle class lifestyle. And I didn't really have the financial education to, like, be going through school by myself and going through work and just learning how to use my money in a way that could support a business. So now I have really learned how to balance all those things, and it's through the concept of, like, Baby Steps that I've really learned to cultivate a lifestyle with healthier habits that actually align with the values that I want to have in my own life and the values that I want to have within my business.

Yeah, I mean, that's a really good point. I think oftentimes, just going back to the point about living with depression and anxiety, like so many— I actually have a really good friend and I was talking to her recently and she was like, I just realized that depression and anxiety, like chronic anxiety, are chronic illnesses. I'm like, They are. Like, they are. I mean, if we were to look up the definition of a chronic illness, it's something that affects the way you take care of any aspect of your life for 3 months or more. How many of us have had that at some point in our life, right? And so I think a lot of times the world puts a lot of expectations of where they think we should be and how we should be doing something. And then we take those things and perceive that that's how I'm supposed to be, even though I'm going through all of these things that are happening in my life that deals and, you know, kind of affects my mindset, affects my health. And to your point about school and like learning about your craft and all of those different things, it's absolutely wonderful. But when does the like hands and feet of how do you combine all of those things together so that they actually work and you're not playing seesaw all of the time of doing everything on this side and not taking care of everything on this side. And I feel like that's where I met you, Shaylee, was at a moment of I realized I have all of these juggling balls of things I need to do, but I have no idea how to throw them in a jar and survive that. And to your point, the baby steps is a part of that. What I found working with you, Shaylee, is like acknowledging that the power has been you aligning your gifts that came to you naturally that didn't have anything to do with school, and then bringing those things into the rest of your life as if like that is your gift, those are your strengths, and you've been able to kind of hone them and grow in them, but how to use them in a way that actually aligns with what you want. And I'm curious to hear, like, what has been some things that we have worked on together that's really helped you to kind of feel more empowered and confident and like showing up for yourself personally and in business?

Oh, so much. There have been a lot. I think the first thing that comes to my mind is the just questions that you've asked me. You've challenged my mindset. You're like, is this true? What evidence do you have that says you can't show up online or that you can't even eat healthy, right? I'm like, I don't have time to cook. Is that true? Or are you just not making time to cook, right? Like, I know that sounds so simple, but when you're stuck in depression and anxiety, and when you feel just like the world is against you, you get into a headspace that you actually start to like believe those things are true. You actually start to believe that you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, you're not capable enough. And I think I just needed somebody to give me the energy and the time and space to challenge those beliefs in a professional way too, right? Like, my family and my friends, they want to support me and they have tried to support me and keep me, um, accountable for the way I'm thinking. But like, also they don't necessarily know how to do that in a way that I need. As a working with a business coach, there's a level of separation, the non-bias, right? And just the capacity to help, right? Even though friends or family want to help, they have their own stuff going on, and that's Totally okay. But I think I just, I needed somebody to really sit me down, hear me out, and then be like, is that, is that real? Is that true?

I love that you say that. Everyone says that to me. I really should become like the questions coach or something like that. I don't even know if that's a thing. Like, nobody would know what that is, but I feel like it's And I don't know, you tell me. I feel like it's not that family and friends don't have the best intentions usually, right? I find that the challenge is that they don't know how to create space for the safety that's required for you to actually be vulnerable and say, well, even though you're asking me that question, No, I don't have evidence. No, I feel this way. No, all of these things and allow space for that. That's something that I'm constantly— everyone that I work with is like, is it okay for me to say this out loud? Is it okay for me to say that I feel like crap? And then I'm like, no, all of these things we have in our head. I'm curious to know, how did you feel feeling like safe or what helped you to feel more comfortable being able to show up in the space to be you and to be that kind of vulnerable?

I mean, honestly, I think it's just a coach is like a therapist but not a therapist.

Makes sense.

Like, like, the therapist can't say certain things and they can't advise you on certain things, whereas a coach can, and vice versa. A coach can't say certain things and can't diagnose you with certain things, right? And so having a coach is this funny mix between having a therapist, having a, a professional consultant, and having like a friend too that will challenge you in ways that will push you forward into a more successful lifestyle, right? Like going back to the family friends thing, my friends don't understand my prices and why they're the way they are because they haven't experienced the things that I have experienced or that you have experienced. We understand the value of our work because we have gone through the blood, sweat, and tears of the work, and we see little bits and pieces throughout our experiences that make up why that price is that price. Whereas maybe a friend doesn't understand that a gallery of images is going to take me anywhere between 5 to 8 hours just to edit. Mm-hmm. And the capacity that that takes for you to do that. Mm-hmm. Plus the shoot, plus the taxes, plus all of your other expenses, plus your talent. Mm-hmm. So although friends and family will try to help you, they might not understand fully how to push you in a direction that will be better for you in the long run so you can actually have the life you want to live.

Imposter— and the imposter syndrome piece to this though is real, right? Like, I'm always upfront with y'all. I'm like, it's not that I don't have this stuff. I'm like, I have imposter syndrome too, but that's why I have coaches. That's why I invest in my own being coached. But I also feel like it's powerful to have someone on the other end to see something that you don't believe. This is something, it sounds really bad when I say this, but when y'all say, oh, I can't, or this is not, I don't believe you. Like, I just don't believe you. I'm like, I love you as a person, as a human. Also, I know that you have stuff going on, but it's not necessary. I don't necessarily believe that you believe that. Oftentimes you don't see it in a certain way and you just need to figure it out. So we were talking about this before, about the feeling of being not good enough and not feeling confident enough and not all of these things. And this is your favorite because you told me this before the show. Like, how have you been able to overcome the thoughts about I'm not good enough, this is not me when it comes to showing up in your business and being your authentic self and doing the thing that you do?

I mean, I think one of the biggest things, like, with imposter syndrome— two things, one of which is that you told me to start creating an evidence bank. Now, have I created an evidence bank every single time and actually put it on paper? No, but I took notes in my head and sometimes on paper through reflecting, through mindfulness, through journaling, just reflecting on an experience. To actually celebrate and acknowledge when somebody gives me a good review instead of just thinking, oh, they're just trying to be nice. No, it's their real experience. And I learn to actually see it and then believe it. Mm-hmm.

Receive it.

And the other thing is, you know, one day we were talking about imposter syndrome and showing up online because I'm like, I'm not a social media person. I don't wanna be online all the time. But through photography, like, that's my platform. In order to get my work out there, I have to show it. I have to be able to convey it in a way that feels good, that I can really put it out in the world, because we live in such a visual world, and photography is something to be viewed, right? And I was telling you that I was having such a struggle showing up online because, again, going back to I'm not good enough, or my work's not good enough, I'm not as experienced as this other guy that's traveled the entire world and has all this gear, right? Like, you see other people online and you compare yourself to them. And then one day you, you talk, you're telling me that you thought it was pretty interesting that I'm having a hard time showing up online because of this imposter syndrome, that it's scary, that it's a big thing, that it's all these things that I was spiraling into in my head. And then you're like, but you swim with sharks. Yeah, that analogy was like— I'm like, you right, you right, Nikita. Yeah, I do swim with sharks. Yes, I do. And then when you think about the fact that I swim with sharks out here in the waters And then I say, why can't I post a picture online? If I'm out here swimming with these sharks, why am I having such a hard time posting a picture of that shark that I'm in the water with? So funny.

Yeah, it's perspective. Nothing changed, right? Nothing like literally changed. It's not like you did like a thing. It's not like we went on some kind of meditation journey or something, or like it was literally just for you. It's like, I literally did not see that that way. And now, wow. I see it. It's like, oh, that makes a lot of sense. And I think that's the, that's the power of having a coach. I remember after we had that chat, you were like, so I started posting, and then you started showing up doing lives randomly, and then you were like, hey, someone reached out to me. I'm like, yeah, that's— yeah, like, it's, it's strategy. Like, this is the thing, I think people focus so much on the strategy Like, that's important, but the mindset or the thoughts behind the strategy have more power of creating anything than the actual strategy. And I think for you, we've seen that because a lot of the work we've done together is majority mindset. You have, like, you tell me ideas, I'm like, that sounds great, that sounds great. It's usually the mindset that's like, but I don't know, right? And I want to know, like, what has been fun for you in this process of discovering what you are already awesome at? Like, what has been fun?

Yes, I definitely want to tell you what's been fun, but you made me think of this though, is like, when terms of mindset and imposter syndrome just now when you're talking, I think my past experiences of always having other people around me doubt me is what I really let get into my head in terms of mindset. I mean, constantly growing up and in school and, and just my peer, the people around me, anytime I did something or said something or, or had an idea, right, like it was very rare that somebody believed in that idea or didn't discredit what I had to say. So now I have like broken down those like chains in my head that I can't, because like you said, you're like, I know you can. So just even the belief in that I can has made me recreate and completely like shed a skin that I've had on me for so long. And that is really powerful as a creative entrepreneur.

Y'all should see her. She'd do her happy dance.

I— yeah.

So how much more fun is it to show up in this skin?

So much more fun. It feels like I'm a light feather just flying around, stoked on life. I feel way more, like, authentic and who I've always been. Like, I've always been who I am today. But now I've— it's like the light is at the end of the tunnel kind of thing, you know? Like, I was in this tunnel for so long, and then the tunnel slowly started to open up and open up, and now it's like I see it right there. There it is. All that light is right over there. So it feels really good. And the creative things that I have been doing that you helped me start was like, I remember when we were first starting to work together, I was like, oh, I gotta be good at the business stuff, I gotta be good at the money stuff, I gotta be good at the back of the house stuff, I gotta be good at taxes, which is like all the stuff I hate. All the, just all the stuff that I despise in business is what I was focusing on. And then one day you were like, Can you just go take some photos for fun? You reminded me just to be who I am and go have fun with it and go actually practice putting my thoughts and ideas and visions into life. You were like, stop working on your finances right now. That's why you're stuck, because you're focusing on stuff that you hate. And you fought me on that.

You was like, but no, Nikita Williams, but no, I have too. And that's like, look, I love you, but listen, like, it's not helping you. Sometimes we hold on to things so tight because we think that's the fix. But oftentimes what I find with myself included is that the things that actually do feel a little bit easier and fun helps you do the hard stuff. Like, we want to do the hard stuff because everyone says that's the stuff that you're supposed to focus on. That's what has to be, quote unquote, perfect for you to succeed. What they don't tell you is that the fun stuff, the messy creative part, the trying to figure out how you show up in the world, is what makes the hard stuff easier. Why are we focusing on the money and you ain't even got the business? Like, what? Right? It was like, we don't need to focus on this. It's not like we have, like, clients knocking down the door right now. Like, you do. You've grown to that place now where you have clients coming. You're like, girl, I got people— like, I've got weeks lined up and stuff. And I'm like, I know, I'm so excited. And we're like, yeah. And now we're talking about, oh, let's think about the money stuff, all of those things. But that feels so much different, right, than like if none of that was happening. So different.

Everything changed.

You're right. It does make you show up in a different way when you're— I think one of the hardest things that I was having a difficult time with was that I wasn't actually practicing the things that I was preaching. I was preaching sustainability, I was preaching health, I was preaching wellness, I was preaching adventure and education, and I wasn't doing any of it. And then you helped me come back down to the basic foundation of the survival skills. I've been in this like fight or flight mode, and when we talked about fight or flight, you really broke it down. You're like, you can't be doing this without first, like, drinking water, moving your body. Somebody with ADD, for example, needs to move their body a lot, which makes sense because I've been, like, active my entire life, but I didn't comprehend why or the real impact it has on me. So if I'm waking up in the morning drinking my coffee thinking I'm just, like, in a good chill space and I can, like, look at my bank account. No, I gotta like go do my breathing exercises, my hot yoga, and then come back to it and feel level. Mm-hmm. And flow. And flow. Yeah. Because without the initial focus on myself in the morning, I can't focus on other things that are, are for my future self. I have to focus on my present self in order to focus on my future self. Yeah, because future Shaylee is not future Shaylee without present Shaylee. And that was a big learning experience for me. Once I actually took time to slow down and focus on like what I need now, I was able to equalize my body and my brain to be able to think about 3 years down the line, 5 years down the line, 10 years down the line, and what that would look like for me and what I want that to be.

And you're doing so good. Like, I want to— like, I was reflecting on this the other day when we had our call, and you literally recently had a trip that you went to back to Alaska, right? And I remember the last time you had went to Alaska, the Shaylee then and the Shaylee now, and the Shaylee that came back to Hawaii from that trip this year in 2023 to the time we came back before, our conversations were very different, very different conversations, very different energy, very different. And the things you did before that trip, um, if you could share with someone who is in a place of Shaylee 6 months ago versus Shaylee now, what advice would you give them?

I would give somebody that was in my position 6 months ago advice on just being present, being mindful. I think the thing that I really struggled with last time I went back home to Alaska was I was so focused on not being productive enough on my work vacation, not having achieved my goals when I didn't even like set the goals in the first place. I didn't even focus on the goals before I went. And then therefore, when I was there last time, I felt so negative about how I wasn't productive enough, how I wasn't making money while I was there, how I was just spinning into a negative talk, negative self-talk, negative everything. Like I enjoyed my trip, but there was always this like thing in the back of my head that dulled everything because I thought I wasn't doing good enough. When I went on my trip this year, I took 5, 10 minutes out of my day, out of my week even, if I didn't do it that every day, several months before I even left to figure out how many shoots I wanted to get done, how much time I wanted to spend with my family, and how much time I wanted to edit at coffee shops or do what I need to do to get both my time in with my people and time to work and focus. And because I started to apply this like 5% rule that you, you told me to focus on, which is, you know, what capacity do you have today? What's the 5% that you can put towards your business each and every day because we always— we can't always put 100% every single day. We have these spoons, as you say, of energy, especially as somebody with chronic illness, somebody that needs different aspects in their life to make a work-life balance really achievable. And because I started to apply this 5% rule every single day, by the time I had gone to Alaska, I was 100% prepared and ready to go with the flow, adapt to changes, adapt to things that I needed to adapt to, to make business calls during that week that I was there, and to actually even there then focus on that 5%. So mindfulness, gratitude, reflection— those things are really key. To be able to make sure you have enough spoons for your business.

That was so well done. Like, yes, like when you're stuck, you need all those 3 things. When you're in the, like, you just in the like receiving mode, all of that awesome stuff has happened, you still need those 3 things of just being mindful, reflective, and grateful. Because just like there is that line between like fear and excitement, like literally it's just a line. If a like flipping a switch, you could be on either side. So is success and not feeling like you're successful, right? So is being enough and feeling— not feeling like you're enough. And I really do feel like, to your point of those things, like being mindful and being present mindfully today, being grateful, doing that in all of those different scenarios helps you to get to where you want to go more stress-free.

Mm-hmm.

So what are you looking forward to in your business now? What's coming up? What's happening?

There's a lot happening. I mean, I'm really looking forward to continuing to implement these strategies you've given me, you know, to reflect and know how many spoons I have that day, to know what my 5% is, to be able to take action in creation. To be able to have a level of professionalism and experience to convey to my clients so they feel good leaving a shoot and they feel taken care of and they feel like they had fun and they feel like they accomplished their goals and something that they needed to have, right? Like, I absolutely love supporting people that are focused on the planet, people that want to give back to the Earth, give back to their community, and give back in their different realms of life, right? So my biggest goal is to work with people in a couple different realms of environmental sustainability and innovation. I want to work with researchers and scientists that are trying to figure out how to clean up our oceans and help marine life. I want to work with small business owners, smaller creative entrepreneurs that are trying to give back in some way to their community and really be able to like showcase the people in the world that are just doing so many amazing and badass things.

What about your podcast? Your podcast is coming, right? Like, it's work in progress, we're working on it, but that's going to be another really cool place that people can connect and learn about you and the people in the world who are doing really cool things.

Yeah, so I'm gonna be launching a podcast called People for the Planet Podcast, which is going to focus on different interviews and collaborations with people that have different realms in the world of environmentalism and environmental storytelling. I have a wide variety of— some people that I'm starting to set up interviews with are like firefighters or marine biologists or farmers and chefs or creative small business owners. People that really have a passion for what they do, that are providing really important and impactful things for our future.

Well, I'm excited, and I'm glad that I'm on the road with you.

Me too.

It's been like— my husband always cracks up with me. You guys know I talk about Maurice all the time. You know, he's like literally my other half, but he's always like, I can always tell which clients you're on. Like, when I get up and go, like, take my little break after a client, he's like, I can really pretty much tell which clients. He's like, every time you get off a call with Shaylee— and I don't tell him this, he just knows that I'm getting off calls with— he's like, that must be Shaylee from Hawaii. He's like, you feel like you come out of that room feeling like you're gonna swim with a shark. And I was like, I'm not swimming with a shark. But he's like, it's the energy, I think, that of like that I'm so excited, she's got this. And it's like, that's the kind of energy that I mean That's part of the reason why I love coaching is because the beliefs that you guys feel like you don't have, or the things that you feel like you're still working on, I still feel it. And I like— it fills me up knowing how much is there for you. And so I'm excited for whatever it is that you're going to be doing because it's going to be awesome.

Thank you. I, I couldn't have done without you. I mean, I know that you say like you're the one doing the work, but honestly, you are. You as a coach have extremely helped me in so many ways to be able to push myself out of that tunnel and get to a place back to myself, the foundation of myself, right? Because you've given me the tools, you've given me the questions, you've given me resources that have helped me come back to this place of like, I can do this. Yeah, you can. And you did it. You did it.

So thank you so much for being on. If you guys want to connect with Shaelee, how can they find you?

You can find me through my Instagram @shaelee_king_photos. That's my Instagram handle. Also my website, which is just shaelee_king.com. I'll have that podcast coming out soon, People for the Planet podcast. Watch out for that. And yeah, you can always send me an email or DM if you ever want to chat. Environmental stories. If you ever want to do photography, let's connect. Yeah.

Do you have prints still on your website? I think, right?

Yeah, I do.

Just so you know, if you're looking like for some beautiful like ocean or like volcano, like girl, y'all, the girls, I mean, she swims with sharks. That's all I'm gonna say. But you could get her prints. They're amazing too. Just wanted to put that out there as well. Thank you again for being here and being— saying yes to working with me. I appreciate you so much.

Yes, thank you so much, and looking forward to what the future holds.

That's a wrap, y'all. Thanks for tuning in to Crafted to Thrive, the podcast that helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at craftedtothrive.com for this episode's show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram @thrivewithnikitawilliams for more tips and behind the scenes and more. Tag me to share what you loved about this episode, and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.