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From Cheers to Chords: Kayla K's Journey in Cheerleading and Music · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Project Podcast Network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host Bubba Starts.
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  And with me today is former pro cheerleader and now music artist, Kayla Kaye.
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  Welcome to the show, Kayla.
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  Hi.
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  How are you guys?
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  Man, well, we are so good.
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  We're cold here.
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  I live in South Dakota, Kayla, and it's like negative 34 real feel outside today.
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  It's just brutal.
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  But I hope by the time this episode makes it out, it is much warmer everywhere, and we are
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  talking about spring.
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  Yes.
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  For sure.
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  I'm also freezing here in Minnesota.
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  I think was negative 10 today.
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  Well, you're farther north than I am, so even worse.
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  Even worse.
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  Well, enough about the weather, Kayla.
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  We came here to to spill some tea and to talk about some, real important things.
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  But before we get too far into it, why don't you go ahead and just give us a little bit of
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  your backstory, and and we'll pick it up along the way.
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  Awesome.
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  Well, hi, everyone.
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  My name is Mikayla, or as some of you know, Kayla Kaye.
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  I am from Duluth, Minnesota.
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  Shout out to Minnesota.
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  I am 29 years old, so I'm getting up there.
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  And I am a former cheerleader and music artist.
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  So, I grew up dancing.
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  In Duluth, I danced from Adele Performing Arts Center.
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  They are amazing.
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  Shout out to them.
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  And then I cheered in high school and, I know I took a break for a while, went through a lot of
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  crazy things in my life and a lot of experiences and I moved away for a little bit
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  and then I came back to Minnesota and I decided it was time to take a risk and do something
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  I've never done.
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  So I tried out for a cheerleading, and it was professional cheerleading team in my hometown.
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  And that's kind of what led me to where I am now.
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  Well, that's that's amazing that you got to live, like, this whole several lives, it seems
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  like, before we've gotten to this point, but that you get to kinda go and live the childhood
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  dream.
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  I'm sure a lot of girls grow up in dance or cheerleading and dreaming about doing it for a
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  professional team of some sort, you know, whether that's for the Minnesota Vikings, our
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  beloved, or, you know, just on the there's so many pro teams now.
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  Right?
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  There there's so many different levels to pro sports that I think people forget, like, you
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  there's a lot of work in there.
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  Right?
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  And not necessarily, I'm sure, you know, below the, like, NFL level, you were still having to
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  work another job as well and to do some things.
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  Right?
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  So, I mean, yeah, I see you're a cheerleader, but that's not your only profession at that
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  time.
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  Correct.
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  So now you're moving into music.
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  And what have you always been a musician as well?
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  Obviously, you're around music as a dancer, and I can tell just from your energy that you
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  probably you probably have been a singer your whole life.
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  But where did the passion to kind of pursue music professionally when when did that happen?
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  Yeah.
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  So, having been blessed enough to go to Mobedado Performing Arts Center when I was
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  younger, I had a few singing lessons growing up.
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  And I think that's what really triggered the passion for me singing in my music.
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  So I kinda sang my whole life, like, the shower and in the car with the music really loud.
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  But, like, I would go to sleep and, like, dream about performing on these big stages and, like,
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  the lights everywhere and the energy and like so I knew one day I was like, you know what?
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  This is what I'm gonna do.
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  I'm gonna sing.
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  And so when I was like 16 years old, my cousin Dante actually called me over to the studio and
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  he said, hey, I have this song and I need a female to sing the chorus and I don't have
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  anybody else.
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  So, like, please do it.
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  Please do it.
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  And I was like, you know what?
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  Okay.
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  Great.
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  I will.
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  So I left everyone over there.
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  We laid down the track ever.
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  I still remember the chorus of this day.
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  I won't sing it, but it's we laid down the track.
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  We played it back and listened to it, and we all just stood there in awe for, like, two
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  minutes.
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  Because we've never actually really heard me sing.
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  So we sat and we were like, oh my gosh.
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  And then my cousin looked at me and he goes, I didn't know you could sing like that.
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  And I looked at him and I went, me either.
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  That's when I knew, like, music and being an artist and singing was where it started.
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  And so I started writing a lot.
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  Eight when I was 18 or 18, I started really, like, taking serious and I was like, I'm gonna
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  write songs, things like that.
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  I never really gotten myself to the studio.
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  It wasn't until I was about, I think, 21 when I actually released my first single.
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  It's go.
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  You can go stream it on YouTube, type in Kayla slash k, no word, just the letter, Kayla k,
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  kissy.
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  So and then type in go and you can find it.
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  That was my first ever music video and, like, official song.
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  And I heard it.
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  I loved it.
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  I shot the video on Downtown Chicago and I was like, yeah.
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  This is this is what I'm gonna do.
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  And so I've been doing music ever since.
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  I've gotten the opportunity to perform many different places, you know, performing in a
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  few, like, times I have in Duluth and Superior and, you know, really getting used to that home
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  stage, but then also, like, having the opportunity to go down to the cities and
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  perform and, you know, bigger places.
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  I performed in Vegas for the shots concerts, a new, shop bar that was opening it up by the
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  strip.
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  And so I got to go perform there and that was it was that was an interesting time for me.
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  You learn a lot about performing out of town when you don't have fans, but it was still an
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  opportunity.
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  It was still an experience.
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  I learned a lot from it.
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  And then I was in a music competition and I got to perform at the opening Super Bowl show.
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  It was like the radio that was putting it on.
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  And when I was in Tampa, it was like a competition for like everybody could perform
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  and whatever.
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  And that was like, that was the most incredible experience of my entire life.
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  So, yeah, that was where I my music career bank began.
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  But then I started cheering and I took a little bit of a break.
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  And I was like, okay, I'm gonna focus on I'm gonna be a professional cheerleader.
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  And that's what I'm going to do because that was a dream with dancing growing up.
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  After the season, I definitely realized that music is where I'm supposed to be.
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  And I love to perform and I would love to like teach the youth and, you know, give them give
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  people who maybe can't afford to go to a performing arts center opportunities to learn
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  cheer and dance.
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  And I think that's where my lane is with that, but it is will ever and for always be music.
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  Absolutely.
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  Well, and there's I mean, obviously, there's a performative aspect to the cheer.
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  Right?
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  Like, you're out there, you're performing, you're in front of all the people, you're under
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  the lights.
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  Right?
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  So I can see why the two worlds would be easy for you to kind of dip back and forth from.
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  But it seems like they've always been very separate for you.
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  Like, if you're doing one, you're you're doing it to the max.
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  And if you're gonna put that you know, if you're gonna go do the other one, then you
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  kinda have to, like, put this one down and go do that.
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  But it feels like there's gotta be somewhere where they can come together too or at least,
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  you know, maybe seasons of your life where you're doing, you know, more of the teaching
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  cheer.
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  It sounds like you're you're wanting to move into now, which I think is awesome, Kayla.
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  I think that's so cool.
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  That's something that I'm I'm quite a bit older than you.
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  I'll be 39 this year, but I love teaching that next generation.
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  Right?
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  Accepting that role of I went through a lot of the stuff that you did, and I wanna teach you
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  to avoid some of the pitfalls that I fell into.
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  Mhmm.
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  For me, that's this podcast.
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  Right?
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  That's my education for my music community.
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  But for you, you know, cheer camps or stuff like that, it allows you to express that side
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  of you, but to not have to go all into it.
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  Right?
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  You don't have a season that you're worried about, and it's taking up, you know, six to
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  eight months of your life possibly, you know, depending on the sport.
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  So I think it's really awesome where you found yourself now, but it wasn't by chance
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  necessarily that you got out of cheerleading.
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  And that's kind of something you alluded to a little bit before before we got on camera
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  today.
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  And now experience that experience that you lived through is informing and is expressing
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  itself through music now.
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  So we wanted to kind of share a a story with us, and I wanna give you the opportunity to to
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  do that here now.
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  So
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  Okay.
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  Well, first let me say that if you are watching this, I'm going to subscribe to my YouTube
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  channel, Kayla Kaye on YouTube, obviously, and Kayla Wenzel on Facebook.
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  Go look at the profiles and watch the song that is coming out.
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  It is set to come out February 28, and it talks about the whole experience and how I felt about
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  cheering with the Harbor Monsters cheerleading team.
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  So go check out my new single that's about to drop.
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  With that being said, after you listen to the song, I want you to come back here and then
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  we're gonna talk about we're gonna unpack it.
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  And we're gonna talk about why I felt that I wanted to say the things I said.
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  And I think that I wanna first off say that I 100% respect the Harvard Duluth, Harvard
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  Monsters organization.
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  My little brother plays for the team.
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  Shout out Terrence Wenzel, number 14.
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  So when you see him on the field this year, now that's my brother.
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  But I respect I really do.
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  I respect the organization.
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  The owners are amazing.
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  I had such a wonderful time working with them actually, and I loved being on the I loved
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  being on the field, especially cheering for my younger brother who plays for the team as well.
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  So that was like a feeling like no other that I am so grateful to have the opportunity to have
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  had, like forever grateful for you guys because that changed my whole entire life.
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  So no matter what I say here, regardless of how I feel, I just wanna know that I don't feel
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  this way about the organization itself, but just literally strictly the cheer coaches and
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  the cheer team.
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  So don't got nothing to do with football.
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  It's not what they say.
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  Don't got a view for the team, just have view of the cheerleaders because it isn't them and I
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  love them.
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  But cheering my first professional season of football was an experience like no other in so
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  many ways.
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  As I mentioned, my little brother, Terrence Wenzel, he plays for the team.
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  Number 14, in case you forgot.
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  So growing up watching my little brother play football, I was really big into it.
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  Like, I was his number one cheerleader already.
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  So to have the opportunity to cheer professionally in my hometown with my brother
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  on the team, like, are both getting paid to do what we love right now.
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  My mom can come and sit in the stands and watch that football and cheer and dance investment
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  pay off because now we're getting paid to do this.
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  I can cry.
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  It's such an awesome it's such an awesome experience, right, to to bring that full circle
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  and to to have an opportunity to do it in your hometown.
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  Right?
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  This isn't the high school team where you were able to do it, and I don't know how much
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  younger your brother is than you, but maybe you never even got that opportunity in high school
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  or or anything like that.
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  Right?
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  So to be able to to be on the same field with your blood, right, with your mama in the
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  stands, like, that's just that's just awesome on so many levels already.
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  Changed my life.
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  And so I was more than excited to be on this team and cheer.
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  And I think from day one, even at auditions, the energy was just thick between me and my,
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  like, co.
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  I mean, that energy is gonna be thick with the people you're trying out against for sure.
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  I don't know.
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  I don't know about you guys.
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  But one thing I do like to do is when successful, I wanna get the tab and achieve the
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  task I'm going for.
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  So I wanna make this team.
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  I think we've all seen some of the cheer programs on Netflix that know how competitive
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  and cutthroat that that scene can be.
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  So the energy is thick, but the energy can also be thick with the person who's putting on the
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  event as well.
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  And so it's fine.
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  We I made the team.
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  It was successful.
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  We had to we had to try out and it was it was I enjoyed trying out for my first dance team.
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  Oh, I really did personally.
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  And so I made the team.
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  I was more than excited.
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  I remember I remember going to the restaurant and signing our contract and seeing it for the
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  first time and reading through it all.
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  It was such a super exciting experience.
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  And then as the season went on, I feel the energy had changed at practice individually.
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  I was getting singled out for quite a bit by the coaches.
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  It was like, Kayla, you're doing it too big.
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  Too too big.
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  Too big.
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  And then literally literally ten minutes later in practice, she would look at everybody else
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  and be like, okay, girls.
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  Like, you can't do it too big now.
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  Like, you gotta do it bigger.
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  You want do you want me to know my real opinion on that?
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  If we're gonna speak facts right now, I agree that there is times that I can always work and
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  come a better dancer.
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  So let me not let me first say it.
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  I don't never not be need to be corrected.
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  I love being corrected.
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  I think it's important because I learn.
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  So I'm gonna take no everything you say, and I'm gonna apply the corrections for sure.
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  But there's in a way you can apply corrections and just literally click singling somebody out
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  is two very different things.
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  But with that being said, I think personally, the reason why she said that to the other girls
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  and then said I was doing it too big is because personally, the other girls on the team could
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  not keep up with the energy level that I was bringing as a performer.
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  Not even as, like, a person.
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  You know what I'm saying?
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  But as a performer.
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  Right.
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  I'm talking about your face.
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  With your body.
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  So knowing that probably she couldn't raise the the whole harbor of ships up to your level,
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  just try to dim Kayla.
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  We need to bring Kayla down so that I can bring these people up a level or two, but I can't
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  raise them four or five levels to get to where Kayla is when she's giving max Right.
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  So that happened.
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  And then and let me also start by saying because with me speaking on my experiences and
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  pointing out the negative experiences that I had with them, I am not always the perfect
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  individual either.
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  And so I don't wanna, like, push blame away from me and take accountability for, like,
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  actions that I had.
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  It was a few times I was late to practice.
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  You know I'm saying?
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  And we talked about it.
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  It wasn't late ever since.
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  You know?
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  So I wanna really, like, accept and acknowledge my accountability in the role of the situation
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  that happened because I think that's important and I don't wanna leave that out.
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  With that being said, you know what I'm saying?
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  What happened still happened.
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  And it's one thing for me to not be perfect and I I have things I work on too, but what was how
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  I was treated was to the extreme and it was not necessary for that.
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  It was kinda giving a little bit of racism.
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  I was the only black girl on the team.
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  You know what I'm saying?
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  Very different energy.
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  Easy to feel that way.
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  Do you know what I mean?
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  Even even if there's not a connotation to them person of like right?
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  Like an outward racism about it, it's gonna feel that way.
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  You're you're the only call you're the only colored you're the only black girl on the team.
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  Right?
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  I don't know if there was Hispanic people on, you know, girls on the team or anything.
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  But, you know, Duluth, Minnesota, I would say predominantly white area.
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  Right?
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  Like, no not a lot different than South Dakota would be.
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  So there's going to be, you know, what do they call the, you know, inherent racism.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  And just the inherent bias that we have.
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  I think it's the Minnesota nice racism.
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  You know, like, I've been to the south of places like Alabama.
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  Shout out to Huntsville.
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  Shout out to my people in Huntsville.
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  Alabama where I experienced racism and it was blatantly different.
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  Like, they make you dough right from the get go.
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  You are not welcome here.
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  So it's a very different type of racism where Minnesota racism in a metaphor would be like a
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  woman following you at the store, you know, in the background.
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  Right.
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  She's not really gonna come up to you and say to you, like, I think you're doing these
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  things, but I'm gonna watch you.
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  And I'm gonna treat you different.
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  It's it's Minnesota nice, you know, energy, nice racism.
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  I don't know how to explain it, but and I don't think it was just that.
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  I think I I didn't think that at first because I really am not the one to click for me,
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  personally, as Kayla, I've grew up being called the white black girl.
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  So, like, I've been in a lot of situations where normally, aboriginal people would still
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  encounter with me.
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  So it takes a lot for me to say that you kinda are giving me that you don't like, you know,
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  because I'm not one to call hate.
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  I'm not the one to call racism.
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  I'm not gonna lie.
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  I don't think so.
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  But it just became over time apparently clear that something is off and I can't really
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  pinpoint what it would be because realistically, if if I'm a talented dancer, if
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  I if I needed work and I'm not every dancer needs work.
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  But if I from quote, unquote, from the fans, repeatedly all season was one of the best on
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  the team.
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  This is coming from the fans' mouth, not mine.
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  If I was one of the best on the team, we got screenshots and we can look at whose kicks are
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  where.
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  So it's it's not my lack of ability.
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  It's not my lack of sales and marketing as I was on social media before I started doing
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  cheerleading and continue to do I use cheerleading and social media together.
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  We're building both of our fan bases.
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  That's what I'm trying to do.
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  I was we had a whole cheer team meeting where she called every one of the cheerleaders who we
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  all actively know because they look at our profiles that they all are on private.
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  The only person who wasn't on private wasn't mine or was mine because I'm I have a public
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  profile.
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  I'm a music artist saying my music out.
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  And they called the whole team meeting.
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  The coaches did in front of everybody and was like, by the way, like, we need everybody to
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  put their social medias to private.
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  Well, we all know and then not only that, not only was it, like, in a situation where it's
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  like, we all know everybody's private but mine, they all decided the other cheerleaders to
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  stay.
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  Well, you know, mine's private, so no problem.
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  That's not a big deal.
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  Like, I don't mind if we needed to be private.
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  And that's the intention of them saying it wasn't like ours is private and hers is not.
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  No.
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  They were like, no issue if you want our profiles private because they already are.
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  You know what I'm saying?
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  That was the energy with the cheerleaders.
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  But they still all individually said their info their profiles are private.
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  The only person in that scenario that was like, hi.
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  I have a public profile is me.
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  And so you called the whole team meeting, like, during cheer practice time to call me out and
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  tell me that I need to make my social media private.
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  My first view so listen.
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  I am not by any means like this big viral content creator, but let me tell you where I've
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  came from.
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  These numbers that I'm getting now, like, the simple 10,000 views and 30,000 views make my
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  entire life because this is the most views that I've ever had in my life.
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  So but I've that's a decent amount of views for someone who's never had it.
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  Right.
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  Well and I don't understand how they can ask you because it's not like you're on an
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  official, like, on their using their name.
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  It's your life.
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  It's your brand.
• 19:28
  Right?
• 19:28
  And unless there was something contractually in your contract that said that you're not allowed
• 19:33
  to use, like, any of your field footage or any of the like, how what right do they have to
• 19:40
  even tell you to go private?
• 19:42
  Like, that is your that is your brand.
• 19:45
  Right?
• 19:45
  That is it seemed like it was only helping their brand as well because none of their other
• 19:51
  cheerleaders were were about the brand at all.
• 19:54
  They were all set to private.
• 19:58
  Maybe us musicians just look at stuff a little differently.
• 20:02
  Right?
• 20:03
  Coming up in this world where all of our life is so outwardly faced and public facing that,
• 20:09
  like, to start hiding my life would be kinda weird.
• 20:13
  Like, to stop posting about my cat at this point would be blasphemous.
• 20:19
  Well and they made it they made it they said to us too that we all checked your social medias
• 20:23
  before we asked you if, like, before we gave you the offers for the job.
• 20:27
  So with my social media, it is very abundantly clear that, like, I have music out.
• 20:31
  Like, I am I have a, like, a little Kayla k brand on social media.
• 20:35
  So, you know, I let me say, I guess I was under the I thought I was under the assumption that
• 20:40
  we were all under understanding that going into the situation, this is what I do.
• 20:45
  You know, I've been making on TikToks and things like that to try to build myself up.
• 20:49
  And so I felt there was an understanding that we were in the public eye and that was the
• 20:54
  whole big pitch on being a professional shooter is we're in the public eye.
• 20:57
  And, like, we could be famous.
• 20:58
  And if we are, like, then we have to be careful.
• 21:01
  But I guess it's just we can't get famous if nobody sees us because we're on private.
• 21:06
  Which, yeah, just doesn't make sense to me.
• 21:08
  And and in some way, I'm starting to wonder if if some of the, you know, the motivation was
• 21:17
  that, hey.
• 21:18
  Kayla's actually using our platform better than we are, and she's getting you know, she's using
• 21:25
  this to further her career, and and maybe somebody else doesn't get to.
• 21:29
  I don't know.
• 21:29
  I don't know if there's a competition factor.
• 21:31
  There's so many things
• 21:32
  You see what I'm saying?
• 21:33
  Yeah.
• 21:33
  There's a lot there's a lot to unpack here.
• 21:37
  I'm trying to tell you.
• 21:38
  That's why I need to talk about it.
• 21:40
  So I feel like I'm in a therapy session, you guys.
• 21:42
  Hi, everybody.
• 21:43
  Welcome to therapy with Kayla Kaye.
• 21:46
  My listeners are used to it.
• 21:48
  We talk about my prison time and all of my stuff in my past all
• 21:51
  the time.
• 21:52
  Before?
• 21:52
  Oh, let me hear.
• 21:53
  Let me not to switch the interview, but, like, I've been through a lot of things in my life,
• 21:56
  and we can even get into that later and why I truly believe that rebuilding yourself is so
• 22:00
  important.
• 22:01
  So, like, like, look.
• 22:02
  You're so listen.
• 22:03
  You're so successful coming from that, like, to this now.
• 22:06
  Like, wow.
• 22:06
  Congratulations.
• 22:07
  Good for you.
• 22:08
  Thank you.
• 22:09
  Well and then to be a beacon, to tell other people that, like, I, like, I made a lot of
• 22:13
  really bad choices and just kept making bad choices to land in prison.
• 22:17
  I I didn't you know what I mean?
• 22:18
  I wasn't raised in a place that was that had no hope.
• 22:22
  I had all the advantages.
• 22:24
  Right?
• 22:24
  I am a white man in today's society.
• 22:26
  I had all the advantages.
• 22:28
  Just kept making really shitty choices, Kayla, time after time after time.
• 22:32
  And I decided I wanted to be a drug dealer more than to be successful in anything else.
• 22:36
  Right?
• 22:36
  And granted, it was just pot, and I have a license that allows me to legally possess as
• 22:41
  much as I possessed when they caught me.
• 22:44
  But the fact remains the same is that I knew what I was doing was wrong.
• 22:48
  Right?
• 22:48
  I had to accept accountability for that.
• 22:50
  That was a major point in my life where it was like, no.
• 22:53
  You have to you have to pay the piper.
• 22:56
  You don't get to just go through life and to face no accountability for your actions.
• 23:00
  Right?
• 23:01
  So, I mean, that was a big turning point for me.
• 23:03
  I came out of prison with a trade.
• 23:05
  I learned how to weld while I was in there, but that was also because of choices I made.
• 23:09
  I had to make the choice to take the class in prison.
• 23:12
  Nobody just opened that door for me and said, well, this is what you're gonna do to make your
• 23:15
  life better.
• 23:16
  I had to make those choices.
• 23:17
  Right?
• 23:18
  And actually being here now, right, is a testament to how good those choices were.
• 23:25
  Right?
• 23:26
  And the fact that it's moved my life along.
• 23:28
  And now I wanna be able to return to those places and to tell other young men, hey.
• 23:33
  You don't have to continue on this cycle.
• 23:36
  Right?
• 23:37
  Like, you can start making better choices.
• 23:40
  But, you know, there's always gonna be someone around you that wants to dull your shine.
• 23:47
  And unfortunately, Kayla, that feels like a lot of what was happening to you is that there was
• 23:52
  was someone above you or someones, right, that didn't like all the shine that Kayla had.
• 23:59
  And they were going to do anything in their power to take a Brillo pad to that and to start
• 24:05
  stuffing that up.
• 24:06
  Right?
• 24:06
  Yep.
• 24:06
  They're gonna stuff that shine, and, no, we're not we're not gonna let her polish, you know,
• 24:11
  kind of reflect poorly on the rest of us because she is levels and levels higher in
• 24:19
  skill and ability and just the want to advance your brand.
• 24:24
  Right?
• 24:25
  Like, that I think.
• 24:26
  So much of what you've been telling me, seems counterintuitive to any kind of outward facing
• 24:32
  business, especially one that relies
• 24:34
  Trying to make money?
• 24:35
  Well, and relies on a public appearance.
• 24:38
  Right?
• 24:38
  Like, you are in the public.
• 24:40
  You you would want your cheerleaders to be public.
• 24:43
  Now I guess it would make if they had, like, their own that was just they were running a
• 24:48
  Facebook page that was about you cheerleaders.
• 24:50
  Right?
• 24:50
  And they were like, if there was some conflict of interest in there, but that doesn't sound
• 24:55
  like what it was.
• 24:56
  It sounds like they were just trying to no.
• 24:59
  We don't we don't need to be contributing to Kayla shining any brighter than she already is.
• 25:05
  And in fact, we would like to make her shine less.
• 25:10
  I can tell just being on a Zoom call with you, like, ain't gonna happen.
• 25:14
  Never.
• 25:15
  Never in your entire life ever will it ever happen.
• 25:19
  Ever.
• 25:19
  You know, with that being said, I really wanna say because I agree with you.
• 25:24
  And I do think that it is a lot of energies and I'm just a mature leader in my life coming to
• 25:29
  block that shine and kinda touching back on what we were just talking about, this is the
• 25:33
  reason why.
• 25:34
  So I'm a former drug addict or what do you call it?
• 25:36
  Form in recovery.
• 25:37
  I don't like to call it recovery.
• 25:38
  You know what I'm saying?
• 25:39
  I live in Minnesota.
• 25:40
  We just legal.
• 25:41
  Know?
• 25:42
  I'm not currently smoking weed at the moment, but it's still.
• 25:44
  We just legal.
• 25:44
  You know?
• 25:44
  And I love the California sober.
• 25:46
  But, you know, I think that the person I used to be, I've been in jail.
• 25:51
  You know I'm saying?
• 25:52
  I've been to treatment count countless times.
• 25:54
  I was through my life, I was making some very bad decisions.
• 25:58
  I also had a lot of advantages.
• 25:59
  It's crazy being a black girl in Duluth when growing up, it was it was not the same, you
• 26:05
  know?
• 26:07
  And my mom still made a way to find a way to have me have an opportunity to like go to
• 26:12
  performing arts centers and stuff like that.
• 26:13
  And then I still chose the wrong path.
• 26:16
  Mental health awareness.
• 26:17
  Let's take a second for mental health awareness because it is not talked about enough, and it
• 26:23
  wasn't until I took the focus to fixing my mental health that I was able to get off that
• 26:27
  path.
• 26:28
  And then start making the decisions subconsciously to change my life.
• 26:33
  You know?
• 26:34
  And I think that in Duluth, which is a big small town where people know my past and know
• 26:40
  where I used to be, I'm going through a lot still.
• 26:43
  You know what I'm saying?
• 26:44
  Even not making the choices I am, I'm still dealing with the consequences of those actions
• 26:47
  every single day of my life.
• 26:49
  You know what I'm saying?
• 26:50
  I'm in a cause I'm fighting right now to build a relationship again with my son.
• 26:53
  I have a child.
• 26:54
  You know I'm saying?
• 26:55
  And so, like, that's been a big a huge thing because I hurt him very bad with my decisions.
• 27:00
  Like, I'm personally dealing with so many things that I'm still trying to rebuild from
• 27:04
  what I broke.
• 27:06
  And so I think that sometimes people can't fathom that when somebody makes a really bad
• 27:11
  decision that they are not allowed to make good decisions anymore.
• 27:14
  You can't be successful.
• 27:16
  Like, you used to know you used to do drugs.
• 27:19
  So you used to whatever, you know?
• 27:21
  You used to make bad decisions.
• 27:23
  And so the idea of someone like you becoming a professional cheerleader, you know, they can't
• 27:30
  fathom the fact that people can actually change their life and fight their demons.
• 27:34
  Right.
• 27:34
  So do you feel like that past also had something to do with, you know, the the
• 27:41
  experience that you had to live?
• 27:42
  Do you feel like some of these people were holding that past against you and were Yeah.
• 27:48
  Kind
• 27:48
  Kind of like, hey.
• 27:49
  We can't be, you know, putting this out here or just the fact that you were, you know,
• 27:54
  obviously not worried about putting it on your social media and stuff too that that was
• 27:58
  reflecting negatively on them somehow?
• 28:00
  See, so no.
• 28:02
  Because one thing is apparent and aware, like background checks being done when you get hired
• 28:06
  for the arena league, that the it's evident.
• 28:09
  It is there.
• 28:10
  You know what I'm saying?
• 28:11
  And so it was never brought up during the season.
• 28:14
  I never feel like they were like, because of who you are, you can't do this.
• 28:19
  I don't think it was ever that at all.
• 28:20
  I think it was I think it had to I don't I think that that's what deep rooted for why they
• 28:26
  felt like that, but I think because of the fact that what I was doing, I was doing so well.
• 28:32
  And if we were to rank everybody's on a score of where we're at, I just feel like our levels
• 28:38
  probably wouldn't be around the same.
• 28:40
  So I think that it was a little bit of the lack of focus on their own talent and then trying to
• 28:46
  destroy mine, think is where the energy was coming from.
• 28:48
  But I think it messed up their heads even more that it was somebody like her.
• 28:52
  Somebody like that, you know?
• 28:53
  It was like, how is she better?
• 28:56
  How is she doing better?
• 28:58
  You know?
• 28:58
  And I think that was really the energy because it was never brought up to me or, like, thrown
• 29:02
  in my face or, like, used against me.
• 29:04
  I don't feel at all.
• 29:06
  They did it in so much other, like, weird ways.
• 29:09
  Well, yeah, they they did it all behind your back or with a policy change or with a this or
• 29:15
  a that.
• 29:15
  I mean, it's the same it all comes back to the same thing.
• 29:18
  They're just trying to dull your shine because they don't think you deserve it.
• 29:22
  Why should you get to shine?
• 29:23
  Why why why should she get to shine after all she's been through?
• 29:27
  Right?
• 29:28
  Why why does she get to be the brightest and the best out here?
• 29:31
  And in some ways, that speaks to a much deeper rooted, problem.
• 29:37
  Right?
• 29:38
  And that is not has no Mental health awareness.
• 29:41
  Well and it doesn't have anything to do with you.
• 29:45
  It has something to do with these people that feel that way that somehow you're not worthy
• 29:51
  because of your life experience to achieve some level, some arbitrary level in their minds when
• 29:58
  maybe it's their own self worth that they are feeling you're right, that they're not putting
• 30:03
  in the work.
• 30:04
  The problem is is that Kayla's got her butt kicked before and knows how much work it takes
• 30:09
  to make something happen for yourself.
• 30:11
  Right?
• 30:12
  And those people probably don't wanna do the work to be as good as you are, and that's
• 30:17
  really the issue.
• 30:18
  So it's easier to tear you down than it is to, I don't know, get their ass in the gym, to work
• 30:24
  on their kicks, to do all the other
• 30:26
  things you get home?
• 30:27
  To be yeah.
• 30:28
  Exactly, man.
• 30:29
  And I think that's I mean, people like us that have been kicked down and kicked while we're
• 30:35
  Right?
• 30:35
  I mean, my my kids have suffered at at my you know?
• 30:38
  Right?
• 30:39
  I missed almost six years of my oldest son's life through, you know, bad choices.
• 30:43
  I missed my daughter being born.
• 30:45
  I missed, you know, years of my children's life because of my choices.
• 30:49
  But I turned around and I said, hey.
• 30:51
  Those choices aren't gonna define the rest of my life.
• 30:53
  I'm gonna do my time.
• 30:55
  I'm gonna get it over with so that I can move on and raise my children.
• 30:59
  And that's all that I've done for the past seven years now.
• 31:02
  I got out in 2018, so, you know, coming up on seven years.
• 31:06
  I know it was because look at where you're at, and you should be proud to pat yourself on the
• 31:11
  back because it is hard.
• 31:12
  It's a whole different route.
• 31:14
  It's not like just getting a job and just starting something new.
• 31:17
  You're rebuilding on top of trying to match where other people are at to still compete for
• 31:21
  the same opportunities that they're having while still rebuilding when you're mentally way
• 31:25
  back here.
• 31:26
  So, like, I'm proud of you and how far you've come, you know, in seven years and look at this
• 31:30
  is where you're at.
• 31:31
  Like, hell yeah.
• 31:32
  And you're just gonna keep going.
• 31:33
  And I I think I will too and I think that's the plan here.
• 31:37
  So Well I support that.
• 31:39
  I think a lot of people aren't used to that.
• 31:41
  No.
• 31:42
  But that's exactly why we have to go out and to be the lighthouses.
• 31:45
  Right?
• 31:46
  My my friend, a cohost of my my other show, Get Better Together, which I think we're gonna have
• 31:51
  to have you back on to have a little bit more in-depth convo.
• 31:55
  Those episodes typically go a little bit longer.
• 31:57
  But it's it's so important for us to get our stories out there, and it's so important for us
• 32:03
  to go out there and be a lighthouse because there's kids out there like me and you that are
• 32:07
  in the midst of making bad choices that are going to lead them down the path that we went
• 32:12
  to.
• 32:13
  And I'm not doing this for the people that were trying to tear you down or to actively trying
• 32:18
  to tear me down.
• 32:19
  Right?
• 32:19
  I just don't pay any attention to them.
• 32:21
  My wife sent me a meme the other day.
• 32:22
  Was like a lion doesn't worry about the hyenas on the path when they're walking the path.
• 32:27
  Right?
• 32:27
  Like, I don't care.
• 32:29
  I'm just I got my path and I'm walking it, and I want to be a a a beacon that other lions can
• 32:35
  follow because I I don't want to I don't know.
• 32:39
  I hate gossip.
• 32:39
  I've always hated that.
• 32:41
  Right?
• 32:41
  And gossip starts to breed situations like what happened to you?
• 32:45
  It started because two girls were like, I can't believe oh, did you hear what Kayla did?
• 32:48
  Right?
• 32:49
  Like, I can only imagine the conversations that were had behind your back, and it's not fair.
• 32:55
  Yeah.
• 32:57
  It's not fair.
• 32:58
  No.
• 32:59
  But you've turned me into
• 33:01
  something beautiful now.
• 33:02
  I know you're writing song about it, and we're having this conversation now.
• 33:07
  We know the date.
• 33:08
  You got ten days from the time we're talking that it's gonna come out.
• 33:11
  I'll probably hold this episode back until the song is out so that people can listen to the
• 33:15
  song and then let it ride out.
• 33:17
  So this will probably come out March.
• 33:19
  But, Kayla, I gotta let you go for today.
• 33:22
  Can you go ahead and plug everything one more time?
• 33:25
  I'm a have you back.
• 33:26
  We're gonna get you back on get better together.
• 33:28
  We're gonna go more in-depth on all of this stuff and and really talk about the mental
• 33:31
  health side.
• 33:32
  Right?
• 33:32
  Because you don't Right.
• 33:34
  You don't come back from it without being strong up here.
• 33:38
  Right?
• 33:38
  You don't go through all the things that you or I have gone through in our lives without being
• 33:44
  mentally strong, having strong faith in God or whatever whatever faith that you have that it's
• 33:50
  put somewhere, you have a reason to wake up every day.
• 33:53
  And Right.
• 33:54
  Whatever that is that keeps you waking up, I hope you keep that fire for the rest of your
• 33:58
  natural born life.
• 34:00
  Right?
• 34:00
  Because that is what is changing this world right now.
• 34:04
  And it's conversations like this that are changing our world.
• 34:08
  Well, thank you so much for having me.
• 34:10
  It was a blast.
• 34:11
  And, yes, I'd love I can talk about mental health all day.
• 34:14
  We could've went all day.
• 34:16
  So thank you guys for all listening to me and having this conversation with me because I feel
• 34:20
  like that's what we did today.
• 34:21
  Let's have a really well conversation.
• 34:24
  Remember, you guys can check me out at Kayla Kay on YouTube or Kayla Kay two one eight on
• 34:28
  Instagram and TikTok.
• 34:30
  And, you know, stay tuned.
• 34:31
  You guys are running up my song a little bit faster than usual.
• 34:34
  So if you guys keep running it up on Facebook, I'll drop the song early.
• 34:38
  Let's go.
• 34:39
  Kayla k, thanks for being part of the scene.
• 34:42
  Thanks.
• 34:43
  Bye.
• 34:54
  Thanks for tuning in to the Scene Projects Podcast Network.
• 34:58
  We appreciate you listening.
• 35:00
  You can find more at the SceneProjects.com.
• 35:03
  Join our
• 35:20
  community.