Women for a Cause: Interview with Kim MacGregor of IBelieveShesAmazing.com (Part 5)

RR: Besides Erika, who are the women in your life that have influenced you? What have they taught you?

KM: Besides Erika, for sure my mother [has influenced me]. Coincidently, I also lost my mother to colon cancer. I was only 29 and my mom was only 53. She started with breast cancer when she was about 42, and we thought she was clear for 13 years, and then it came back when she was 53 as very advanced stage 4 colon cancer.

My mother was an incredibly amazing woman. She only went to grade eight, but she was self-educated and had a real thirst for learning. Any time I went to my mom and said, “You know, I think I would like to do this or that,” she would say, “Oh my God, you would be so good at that!” She was just the biggest cheerleader and rah-rah person; an amazing influence in my life.

And then I would honestly have to say after my mom would be my three, little girls who truly inspire me every day. They teach me so much about the beauty of the world. They teach me about imagination, unconditional love, creativity, excitement and joy. Just everything that is good and yummy in the world.

RR: Being a mother to three young girls, what do you think is the biggest lesson you can teach them?

KM: To live with passion and to follow their hearts .Whatever it is they choose to do, my husband and I will be happy if they are doing something they are passionate about, and if they follow their heart. Where you are passionate about something, and you love something, then life is a joy; life is a cakewalk. This whole movement that I have created, and has come together magically, has been such an undertaking of passion. And no day feels like work, because there is so much pleasure in doing what I do.

I also want my girls to believe in themselves. To believe they can do anything they want to do; anything they set their mind on, they can achieve. That is the greatest gift they can have.

Photo caption: Kim MacGregor with her daughters Madison, Ava and Elle.

Women for a Cause: Interview with Kim MacGregor of IBelieveShesAmazing.com (Part 4)

RR: How have you been able to deal with all the tragedy you have endured?

KM: When everything happened with my first child (she was born and whisked away at birth, hooked up to tubes and put into an incubator), I had just lost my mother 18 months before and I did do that whole “Why me?” thing. My brother and I had spent six months with my mom at an alternative clinic in the Bahamas, and I learned so much about myself and I evolved spiritually as a person during that time. But here I was at 30, having given birth to this little baby, and I called my brother, who is one of my best friends. I was crying “Why me? I can’t believe this! I lost mommy and now this! Why does all this stuff happen to me?” He listened to me cry, and then he said to me very calmly, “Why not you? Why anybody? Things happen in the world to people all the time. You’re meant to figure out why it has happened to you, and you’re meant to go good with it.” And it changed the way I looked at everything.

When I do my inspirational speaking, I give a speech on turning the emphasis from “Why me?” to “Why?” I think the real growth comes out of “Why has this happened?” and “What growth can come of it? What can I share to other people to ease their burden and ease their pain?” It is really about taking a step back and figuring what it means in the bigger scheme of things. I do believe that I will meet all my loved ones again, in heaven, at some point; I think that makes it a little bit easier. But in the meantime, I think when stuff like that happens, there is work to be done. That makes me feel more at peace to find meaning in those very difficult times.

It was a difficult thing to come to terms with my mother. She was so young and such as amazing person. One thing I learned is that the only person we are responsible for is ourselves. Although all of these losses are so tragic, each person is on their own journey. We are here to learn as much as we can, and facilitate as much as we can. At the end of the day, each journey is so uniquely their own, and I have learned to respect everybody for whatever brought them to wherever they were. If unfortunately, it took people like Erika or my mom, from our lives so early.

We spend so much time wishing things went different, or wishing they hadn’t done this, when in the meantime people are making their own choices all of the time. That is really the way it should be. There is a point when you have to respect the choices they have made - whatever the results are - and it is a difficult place to get to.

RR: What has been the biggest lesson that these trials have taught you?

KM: There is so much love and compassion in the world. That song that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote “All You Need is Love” is such a beautiful song, and it is so simple. I really think at the end of the day, love really is such an overriding feeling that drives us to do great and wonderful things. If we didn’t have that incredible feeling of love, hardship and joy, then we wouldn’t be able to do the things we do. If you didn’t love your sister the way you love your sister, you certainly wouldn’t have taken on this difficult task of being a solopreneur and stretch yourself in a new way.

Love is really a powerful force. For example, to feel all of that love come back in ripples from people that I don’t know, from this flash mob created in honor of my friend Erika, is a powerful force. You can move mountains with it. To think you reach out across the internet, and you don’t know anybody, and all of a sudden you’re touched by somebody’s life; that is meaningful stuff. It fuels me. It is wonderful.

Stay tuned for part 5.

Photo caption:  Erika Heller with Kim MacGregor's daughters Madison, Ava and Elle.

Women for a Cause: Interview with Kim MacGregor of IBelieveShesAmazing.com (Part 3)

RR: How did your experience in the modeling industry influence you to co-write the book Be...a Woman? What was your purpose for writing the book?

KM: My experience in modeling and acting for most of my life was, as anyone would guess, that is the most subjective industry in the world. I had gone through so many personal experiences: I had lost my mother, my family had gone bankrupt, my parents split up for a year when I was in third grade and I attended five different schools in that one year. Then I had given birth to my first child, who was whisked away and operated on at a day old and diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.Then my marriage went through some major challenges, we had just had twins, and so much had happened in our life and we were just trying to keep our heads above water.

I was still doing modeling and acting, and I still had a full-time career in marketing and sales as well. People have this misconception that because you look a certain way that you are exempt from any hardships in life. It stuck me as so ironic. It struck me as ironic that women on the cover of magazines, and certainly models and actresses that I knew, were these people that everyone was looking up to. And yet in real life, the people that I looked up to and most people I knew looked up to weren’t models; they were not airbrushed images of anyone. They were our mothers and our grandmothers who had those perfect wrinkles on their faces, and those beautiful rugged hands, and those little sneakers that were so worn. They had been around the world and they knew what they were talking about.

Coming up with the book I wanted to create something I couldn’t find myself when I was going through all those things. Be… A Woman was a book that really celebrated womanhood based on characteristics that define who we are. It featured real women in the pictures. The photographer who collaborated with me was a phenomenal photographer, and captured images of real women that depicted the characteristics that we chose. What it meant to be a woman was to be strong, courageous, resilient, generous, loving, and nurturing - all of those things that we need to get us through life. We don’t need to be sexy or hot; those things don’t carry you through life when life rattles your cage. It was a beautiful book, it sold out and we won’t be reprinting unfortunately. It won an international publishing award; we did really well with it.

RR: What do you feel has been your biggest accomplishment thus far?

KM: Honestly, I think that my biggest accomplishment has been my family. I absolutely adore my three children, and every day I give thanks for them. They are just the most incredible people to watch evolve and grow. My oldest daughter is 11, and she is the one that has CF. She is a powerhouse - brilliant, smart, creative, optimistic and she works hard. She has taught me so much in life about determination and believing in oneself. She and I are spokespeople for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and she does motivational speaking with me and she gets standing ovations. She is phenomenal.

My twins are about to turn eight. They are these happy-go-lucky people that embrace everything in life as an adventure; what a gift that is. Although my husband and I went through some very challenging times, we worked through it and grew through it and we are still together. Where I am at now with my family, and my own personal growth, is really my biggest accomplishments. All the rest is just icing.

Stay tuned for Part 4.

Photo caption:  Kim's daughters Elle, Madison, and Ava with Ryan and her friend Erika.

Women for a Cause: Interview with Kim MacGregor of IBelieveShesAmazing.com (Part 2)

RR: What would you like everyone who has watched the video to know?

KM: You hear so much about how much we have to do to be successful or how much we have to do to make a difference in the world. And I think that is overrated. I think the simplest thing we can do is to be kind to one another, and when we feel that someone has made a difference in our life, speak up and tell them.  I don’t think we need to wait for someone to die, or to get a life threatening diagnosis, or to graduate from university, or to get married, or any of those milestone that we pass in life. I think the value comes when we hear those things throughout our life often, and we have a believer, someone who believes in us. 

We often hear people talk about who was the most amazing person in our lives and it is not necessarily an Oprah Winfrey (though she is and fabulously inspiring person).  It is often times a teacher, a mother, a friend, a nurse, a neighbor, or somebody close to us that said something that made a difference in our lives.  I really want people to be aware of that; to tell the people the amazing women in their lives if they think that they’re amazing. Don’t keep it in. There is such a beauty in sharing; not just for the person receiving the compliment but also for the person giving the compliment. 

I truly believe that every single person in the world can make a difference.  I don’t Erika realizes what a difference she made.  My 11 year old daughter still sleeps with a picture of Erika under her pillow.  She made such a profound difference in our lives just by her unconditional love, her spirit, her support, and belief in everything.  Everybody can make a difference in small ways; we don’t have to go and build schools. Those are all benevolent and wonderful things, but we don’t all have to run a multimillion dollar company to make a difference. You can make a difference in these small meaningful ways.

RR: What is your goal for Ibelieveshesamazing.com?

KM:  I would love for the video to be more viral.  We have not done any traditional media yet; it has all been very grass roots.  So far we have had over 37,000 views in just over a month.   I am very proud of that.  I think that once it starts to get picked up more my bloggers and other people like you, we will reach our million. 

We have also been receiving some wonderful recognition from the website.  I am planning to launch I Believe She is Amazing TV, where I hit the streets and talk to people and give them the opportunity to give recognition to an amazing woman.  My long term goal is that I would love to create a foundation to support women and girls initiatives.  There is so much to be done in the world right now with young girls and women all around the world, not just North America.  To have a part in that - investing in the future for empowering young girls and women to go to school or start a business - would be a really wonderful thing to come out of all of this; so it doesn’t just fade away and stays something very meaningful that can continue to touch more people’s lives and ripple out even further.

RR: Your inspirational friend, Erika Heller, who motivated you to begin this movement, what do you think she would think about it if she was here now?

KM:  I think that she would think it was the most incredible thing.  I think she would be so excited to be in the middle of it all, and I think she would be so embracing of every single person that has joined this movement.  Because she was just that person that loved people and she loved to inspire people, so I think she would be very, very honored.  I think it would be a real pleasure for her to know that this was something that was inspired by her…and probably modestly so.

Stay tuned for Part 3.

Photo caption:  IBelieveShesAmazing.com Flash Mob

Shop for a Cause: Uptown Liz Holiday Gift Guide for the Home

Written by Uptown Liz Public Relations Intern Britnee Brotherton

There is nothing like those warm fuzzies that take over when you arrive home. After all, home is where the heart is. Help yourself, a friend, or loved one make the most of their space by giving these gifts that keep on giving this holiday season!

Who doesn’t love to curl up with a warm blanket and great read? Cuddle up with this super soft throw and Sixtyfive Roses; a book that is sure to tug at your heartstrings!

Baby Llama Throw Blanket
Peruvian Connection
100% of proceeds go to Pro Mujer
$249.00

"Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister's Memoir"
McArthur and Company, Publishers
5% of all North American sales to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (USA) and the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
$16.95

Make your home your own by adding personal touches of art. Artful Vision offers numerous pieces that will bring personality to any room.

Artful Vision “Jaffa Balcony Photograph”
Artful Vision
20% of proceeds are donated to Operation Gratitude.
$4 - $60

Pay tribute to furry friends that put the “heart” in a home. Pet grave markers serve as a great reminder that it is who and what we surround ourselves with that truly make a house a home!

River Rock Pet Grave Marker
Peternity
7% of sales go to the animal rescue or shelter organization of the customer’s choice.
$80.00-115.00

Find these and many more great holiday gifts at Uptown Liz!