I want you to find those best day ever moments, like whatever it is, I wanna be able to help you. There are moms that parent different than you have different backgrounds than you. Yeah. And now it becomes a bigger service, a bigger impact, because instead of it just being Katy Mann Indy with Kids. Yeah. And make it be about all the moms of Indy, all the dads of Indy. Yes. There is this piece of creating and there is this piece of serving this community. Do you think that there's a deeper reason that keeps you going for this from South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between? This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State. And the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Hey everyone. Before we get into today's episode, let's talk about an insurance company that I use and believe in Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. 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Let's insurance together. Now let's get into this episode of Get IN My guest today is Katy Mann. She is the self-proclaimed Indy hype person and a California to Indiana transplant who fell in love with the Hoosier spirit while studying at IUPUI, RIP. As the founder of Indy with Kids, she helps families discover the best of Indianapolis. Through local events, activities, and hotspots. She's passionate about the community. Katy has turned her platform into a powerful resource that connects and uplifts families all across central Indiana. I'm really excited to learn the origins of this. That started with what used to be, not even called a blog, but was a blog back in 1998. Your transition from California to Indiana and learning about how you're keeping up with the trends, the times to help educate families in central Indiana about all the great stuff that we can do in our local community. Katy, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Yes, so I, you have, I have to say you are kind of like the. Founding mother of like local content and enlightening people on their areas, right? Like you kinda got your start. I mean, in media, back in elementary school, let me start with my parents. They're super supportive. I always have to go back there and, my family didn't have a lot of money growing up and so on. Saturdays, like our big outing was my dad would give us a quarter and we would go to Goodwill. And our Goodwill had like this backyard section where it was called the as-is yard, and it was just like this huge table of just junk where they'd empty the trucks out and you could like dig through it and find stuff. And the guy that worked there would just like write up tickets and be like, oh, that's like $2. And you'd have this big box of stuff. And the guy knew that we only had a quarter. Right. And so like whatever we'd bring up, he'd just be like a quarter. So like one day I found this camera. Okay. And it took film 'cause there was no digital camera at the time. And I had this camera and I walked up and he's like, quarter. And I'd go up and I'd pay for it with my quarter, right. And so I would go by film for this thing and I was walking around the neighborhood and I came across this car wash place that was closed and the window was bashed in. And so I snapped a picture and then the police came. And I'm sitting there and I'm snapping pictures of this crime scene with the police. And I go home and I start writing down everything that I had, like learned about this. And I thought I need to start a newspaper and tell people what happened. So then I like went and I copied all this off and I passed it out to the whole neighborhood. And that's when Eagle Eye News was, was born. Yes. Eagle Eye News. And so Eagle Eye News. And so, all my friends from the elementary school joined and we sold advertising to like my piano teacher. Like he'd put his business card in. We had like a weekly newspaper. There was like, my friend was a cartoonist. Like, it was just so much fun. This went on for like six years. We had a competitor. My tr, my friend Trevor and Amanda started a and t News. Like it was so much fun. We marched in like the town parade. We had floats, like we'd pass out our newspaper. We had like a, a like whole like song that we would sing. Eagle Eye News is the best. When we write, we scoop the rest, our glowing photos tell the story. Tustin's news, Orange County glory. So like I'm telling you like this is insane. Like look, you had I Media, what grade were you in? Like started in second grade Went through like seventh grade. Right. And then it was like not cool anymore. You did this for six years. Oh, totally. Like at night, every week. It was like, it probably got to be like monthly, you know? Yeah. Because like advertising dollars got hard, like. You know, we raised our prices. It was like more than a dollar to like advertise at that point. Yeah. Like, but yeah. So yeah. What was the distribution like? Oh, maybe like 25 people. But during parade season, like when we'd hand it out to the whole town, like yeah, it's, you know, thousand Eagle Eye News, we went trophies. They're still on the piano at my parents' house. Like Oh my gosh. I'm telling you. Okay. So you knew early on that a career in communication. Oh, for sure. And journalism was for you for sure. So like, did you know you wanted to go to college and do that? No, I wanted to travel and, and, and tell stories. Okay. So I wanted go into the film. I wanted to go into film. That's what I wanted. Okay. I wanted to be in front of the camera. I wanted to tell stories. So, went into communication studies. Okay. in California through, different junior colleges and stuff. Well before then though, yes. You closed down Eli News closed down. Eli News, you put, 'cause it's not cool to have a, a kid newspaper in seventh grade. No, I joined the school newspaper a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I did that. And then, and then you also were, yes. So then, so then my church offered like mission trips. You could go to like Mexico and help, help there with like different humanitarian things. And so while I was there, I would like write on the internet. The internet was born, you know. And so I would go to like an internet cafe and tell people back home like what our group was doing, like update daily. And I would do that when we were in like Mexico, when we went to Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch happened, Dominican Republic. And then I decided after high school, like, Hey, I'm not gonna go to college. I wanna keep doing this. I wanna go tell the stories of groups that are hurting that, that need help.And so I ended up going to West Africa and living on a hospital ship in a little country called The Gambia, right inside of Senegal. And, yeah, I know, right? What? And so I would write back home and tell people what I was doing and it was supposed to be a two-year commitment and I was gonna travel along the coast of Africa with this hospital ship. but unfortunately a month in my brother passed away and was in a car accident. So I came home and worked in a church and continued to go on short term trips like that, and then decided that I wanted to come to Indiana, so. Okay. I know. Wow. A lot turned, unpack there. Totally. So much. So much. So how were you, were you like finding these volunteer organizations and saying like, Hey, I'm gonna go because you were going on mission trip with your church? Just all through my church. Yep. All through my church. And that's that how you found the hospital ship? That's how well the hospital trip, trip, ship I found, through an organization called Mercy Ships. Okay. So you are like. How old are you at that time? 18. You're 18? Yeah. And you're like, you know, everyone else is going off to USC to go, like, you tailgate football games and I'm going to a hospital ship. Yeah. In this tiny country off the coast of Africa. I just wanted to help people and tell their stories. Yeah. Because I felt like, growing up in Orange County, California, like there was so much privilege and we, we, the things that you saw were just like things that everybody saw. I wanted to see something different. Yeah. You know, you know, I, I worked in my youth group locally for a long time and then I just wanted a change and so I applied for a job here in Indiana. And, the youth group here interviewed me over the phone just randomly one night, and they asked me, they're like, what kinds of things would we do if you were our youth director? And I said, well, you know, I, I've never been to Indiana. Don't kind of really even know where it is on the map at this point. Yeah. But here's the things we do in California. Well, I wanna, before we go, into your, your big transition to Indiana Yeah. You're across the world. Yeah. And you get this terrible news Yeah. About your brother passing away. Older, younger. Younger, younger brother. Yeah. Was he still in high school at that time? He was 15. Yeah. 15. How did that affect you and your decisions and this commitment to telling people's stories and serving and helping others? Like, and then you're on the other side of the world, like, how long does it take to get home and like travel back? Yeah. This guy's good guys. He is like, I'm gonna make this girl cry today. that's not my intention, but like, this is, this is like a part of the story that's very important. Yeah. It's a huge part of the story. So, you know, the night bef the night that it happened. Yeah. I called home and it was my first time being able to reach home in that month because it was communication at the time from another country, especially a country like that was nearly impossible. Like this is, is this like long-distance? Yeah, like landline folks. Landline, like, especially from a ship. Like, I mean, we're talking like a huge ship that was like bare bones. Like we're not talking like a cruise ship and like we didn't have Wi-Fi. There was no Wi-Fi. If I wanted to send an email, there was like, like a, a computer with like a green font that I could go type out an email. Then at, at like midnight every night. I uploaded 'em over like the, the like landline and sent 'em somewhere. I don't even know. And then I would get this like weird, like email back every now and then at lunch or something. it didn't come to me personally, like they would hand it out to you. It would print out, you know? Okay, so you finally get, so I finally get a call and my brother answered the phone and like, I had like two minutes, you know? And I was like, James, get mom and dad. And he's like, no, I wanna hear how it's going. And you know, it's like my annoying 15-year-old brother, so where's your Kleenex, Nate? And I'm like, no, it's okay. And I'm like, Hey, go get mom and dad. He's like, but how is it? I'm like, it's great. It's fabulous. It's really hard. I'm homesick. Go get mom and dad. And that was it. You know, the end. So I go home, I find out it's, it's like, it was really crazy how I found out. It was just like, um. It was, it was really hard. Getting home was really hard. It was, it was a, it was a really hard trip getting home. Well, you think about the fortitude and like you're traveling across the world alone in a time of, you know, grief, a time of grief. there was one flight out of that country per week. yeah. So, another, an adult, because again, I'm 18, I mean, a fresh 18, you know? Yeah. and I'm in a, I mean, you know how when you're just kind of numb, you know, so an adult, took a, a ferry with me to another country, to Senegal. Got me on a flight the next day. and that was scary and weird and, got me on a flight out of the country the next day. And so to be able to even access a flight within that week was very hard. And to get home was very hard. And the whole time just thinking like, am I gonna come back here? I don't know if I'm gonna come back here. And then going home and my dad saying like, we'll get you back there. Like, you know, we'll get you back there. And I just thinking, I don't think I'm going back there. Like, getting home was really hard, you know? Yeah. And so, yeah. So the, what was the question? It was, well, just about how this challenging time solidified your. Commitment to service. Yeah. And to helping others and telling their story. So, okay. Yes. So, the email, that was the crazy thing. So, maybe three or four days after I arrived home, an email was forwarded to me from the ship and it was an email from my brother and it was the most amazing, kind, mature email that you could ever receive from a 15-year-old boy. Oh gosh. You know? Yeah. Like, so loving and so powerful and like, my brother was not like a perfect human being. And like, at the time, like when, when you're like this person who like believes in God and who loves God and is who's doing something for God, and you're just like, oh, like, you know, this is my life and I'm out here serving this God that I believe so powerfully in. And, um. This happens in your family and you're like, God, you know, like, how can you forsake me? and then you get this email from your brother who's like this typical 15-year-old rollerblader. That was the the thing. Yeah. he's, and he's like, dude, like, you're, you're like this inspiration to me, and like, what you're doing is so radical and like, I, I, it's just like such a, like, cool thing and I'm gonna tell people at school my, my, my testimony and, and like, this really makes me look at God and, and think of him in such a cool way. And I totally believe in him, like to receive that email, like from beyond the grave is like, what the heck? You know? Yeah. And like, so any sort of like doubt or like anger that I had was like, whoa, you know? Well, in the moment you can think. I'm sure there's a lot of like Yeah. The why have you four say why us? Why, like Yeah. We were do, I was, I was devoting my life to service, you know? Yeah. And then did that, did that email kind of snap you? It helped out and it helped and it, it gave, it gave me another story to tell, you know? Yeah. And, and I've got lots of moments like that in my life, you know? Yeah. and that was, that was a big one. So. So as things go on Yeah, you're like figuring out what comes next. Yeah. And you're like, you know this, I mean service you talk about Yeah. You, you end up finding this job in Indianapolis. Yeah. Yeah. How did you find it? I just, I honestly posted my resume online on a, it seems like you were pretty tech savvy. I, I, yes, yes. Yeah. Like, this is like early two thousands, like 98, 99 when you end up, this is early two thousands. Okay. Yeah. Two, 2001. 2001. 2002. Yeah. You're, you post your resume online. How are, how are people finding this? So this is on a website for youth directors looking for jobs called Youth Specialties. There you go. There we go. There's a website for everything they looks Yeah, of course, of course. So I posted it on there. Looks different now. I was getting ready to go out with my friends. The phone rings. And it's a, a room of people, which now you do a Zoom call and they said, Hey, we, we just did a bunch of interviews and they didn't go so well, but we, we were looking online, we found your resume. Would you have time for a quick interview right now? And I was like, okay, you know, let's do it. Let's do it. And so, they had a bunch of people in the room. They asked me a bunch of questions, was totally not prepared again, did not know where Indiana was on the map. Was like, okay, Indiana, where are you? You know, and they had some kids in there from Indiana and they were helping out with the interviews and they asked me questions and then, asked me like, what kinds of things would we do if you were our youth director? And I was like, well, what kinds of things are there in Indiana? And I said, well, here's what we do in California. Here's some things I've done with my youth group in California. And I said, but if I was your youth director, I would find every single thing there was to do with kids in Indiana. So. Foreshadowing. Mm-hmm. And so, the next day they called me, they said, we wanna fly you out here. And meet you and get to know you. And so, a day or two later, I was on a plane and they picked me up from the airport, took me straight to the Indiana State Fair. Oh. And she's been hooked ever since. And I've been hooked ever since. it was such a great weekend. I loved all the people here. Didn't meet a single bad person. everyone was kind, friendly, opened up their home. I stayed in their homes, like, went from different families to like You are a risk taker. I am. Oh, totally. I mean, like from a hospital ship off the coast of Africa to just like, oh yeah, I'm going to a job interview and I'm just gonna stay at these people's homes. Like, I mean, it's Indiana. That's fair. You know, you know. What was your, what was that first impression? You go from the plane to the state fair? You're like walking into the Indiana State Fair? I'm, I'm not sure. I'm sure California has a state fair, but I don't know if it looks like Indiana. Okay. So here's the thing about California. I lived in Orange County and I had only ever been to the Orange County Fair. Okay. And I've never been to the state fair because it's like eight hours away. That's fair. And that's fair, a good one. I didn't even know that. And so when I'm walking into the state fair, I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so many people. It's so big. There's so much going on. Indiana's so big. Like it's gotta be bigger than California. You know, like, I mean, I'm sure the California state fair is big, but I've never been like, so to me, Indiana had everything. So it's like, this is like a booming metropolis and like, oh gosh. Like, yes. And the people obviously dressed differently, you know? Was there a, was there like an item or a food item or something you tried on your first day in Indiana that like stuck with you? It wasn't the food. What was it? The pigs. The pig? Mm-hmm. That's what, that's what you remembered about Indiana. I was like, I had never seen that be I, I've not been around pigs before though. Oh, okay. And I was like. Oh my gosh. So like, we're really getting the full animal planet experience here. This, this was intro to Indiana? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You're like, this is farming. Okay, this is farming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright. That's, that is the sights and the smells of the hog barn. And I mean, at this point, what are you like 20? Yeah, it was, it like turned 21 on the, my final day in Indiana. No way. I spent way my 21st birthday here. Yeah. Yeah. Iconic. Okay, so then you go through the, how long is the interview process? like three or four days. Yeah. Wow. And you decide, like you get offered the job and you decide, decide. I got offered the job at breakfast on the, on my flight out. Yeah. So you go home and you're like, Hey family. I'm like, I'm moving to Indiana. Had a big 21st birthday Bash, goodbye party. dad and I packed up the U-Haul, drove cross country. I could not wait to get here my first time living on my own. He, helped me move in to a, a property that was right on the, the church, church property. got me all set up and then I took him to the airport and then a tornado hit Greenwood tornado of, what was that? Like 2002? The one that took out the Baxter YMCA, the Galyan's, the Greenwood Park Mall. I mean, it was like crazy. I mean, it was insane. It was, was he gone? Yeah, it was welcome to Indiana, Katy. I mean, it was so scary. I had never experienced a tornado in my life. I, I remember calling my friend as I was trying to get from my house to the church, 'cause the church had a basement and I did not. And she's like, is it real quiet? I was on my little cell phone and I was like, yeah, it's real quiet. And she said, I think you're in the eye. And I was like, what does that mean? You know, like watched the movie Twister one time it get through. Yeah, I know. Well, apparently there's not an eye of a tornado. That's like a hurricane. That's a hurricane. I didn't know. I, I mean, I was just, it was crazy. Yeah. So, so welcome to Indiana. Welcome to Indiana. I'm here. It is like, this seems like, challenging. Like you're, you're experiencing adversity all these times. You try to go out on your own. Oh yeah. But I'm here. I'm here. Yeah. And then, I ended up, meeting my husband on a conference call, like the first month that I'm here. he was on the conference call. I was on the conference call. We were both the two youngest people on the conference call. He invited me to his birthday party and, uh. We got engaged the next day. So the next day it was like the next week, like, like we got engaged on our first date. Yeah. And we've been married 21 years. Wait, what? I know Nate, this, this podcast will go on too long. If I tell you everything, what, I gotta go high level here for you. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. We'll have to unpack that in version two of value. Just when you know, you know, you know, you know when you know, you know. Okay. So somewhere along this journey you continue to, to lean into this activities to do with children around Indianapolis? Yeah, so there's, there's, not really internet at the church that I work at there, no one has high speed internet. It's, I mean, some people do, but not in Greenwood. So I have a OL dial up at my house, so I would, you know, run across and try to look things up. But nobody had websites at the time. Like if your business had a website like. That was crazy. So you had the Yellow Pages and I had a car, and so I would drive around and look at things to do for kids. I would make phone calls and I would just find all these places to do, youth group activities, and I would make the plans. We would go do all these things. During this time I was going to school online, through my school in California, still going to school. Oh. Had a proctor that had to come do my exams locally because I was a distance learner. It's Nate, things were done really differently, in, in the early two thousands. That's fair. Okay. So then, I ended up transferring to Ivy Tech and then, finished up there and then I went to IUPUI and then finally it got a little difficult to do my job full-time. I was married at this point and it got difficult to do my job full-time and finish school. And I decided I really wanted to finish school. Yeah. So I ended up leaving my role at the church. That brought you to Indiana. That brought me to that brought you to your husband. But I had been there about four years. Okay. Three or four years. Yeah. So, I ended up going back to school full time. At IUPUI Rest in peace as you say. Go Jags. Finished up my degree in communication studies there and I accepted a role@Monster.com selling job online. Job advertising Monster.com. I have not heard that name. Oh, rest in peace officially. Oh, is it? Okay. Yes. We actually have a big reunion coming up this month for all fa past Monster employees. So what, very exciting. Yes. Wow. We're all getting together. It's, across the nation. It's very exciting. Wow. because this is like, that was the OG job board. Oh, totally. One of them. Totally. Like what was a big one? yeah. Monster.com. CareerBuilder. Yeah. Yeah. We all worked at all of them. This is like, and for any of the young people, this is like Indeed. Before Indeed was a thing. Like this was the job board back in the early to mid two thousands. Yeah. This is, this is it? Yeah. Yeah. Before LinkedIn. This is where you found your jobs. Okay. Okay. so I sold advertising there. Where people help people find, employees then decided that really wasn't it for me. So I took a role later at a church, at, First Baptist Church at 86th and College. The ones with the baseball fields, I always like to say. Yeah, yeah. So I was the youth director there, and, at that time, the church had, a very large population of refugees from Burma. That meant we had to find a lot of activities, because our, our budget was, was stretched. Okay. So I needed to find a lot of fun activities that didn't cost a lot of money, and I could bring a lot of kids to. And so by this time now the internet is, you know, plentiful, right? Mm-hmm. But there's still not a lot in indie. There's not like a database available for that. Okay? So I started building that Nate, I started building a website where you can find things to do with kids in Indianapolis. And every time I do something with my youth group. I would put it on the internet. Like, this is where you can go do this. Is this like mid two thousands? Late two, like 2000 nine. Okay. 2008, 2009. Wow. And you're just like, and it makes sense. You're building out the plans of like, Hey, we took 50 kids to Newfields, or whatever it was. Yeah. Hey, it's free to go to the Children's Museum on this day, you know? Mm-hmm. you can take 'em in the afternoon. Were people visiting your website? Did you know? Could you tell? Yeah, sort of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was going to blog conferences. People were calling me a mommy blogger. I didn't have children and annoyed me. I also in that time had a very successful website take off, called TackyChristmasYards.com, and it was where I would post a picture of an overly zealous, decorated Christmas yard and I would, critique it using fake homeowners association rules. And people across the country went nuts. And it got very popular. It was on a lot of websites, a lot of, talk shows. A lot of, I did a lot of radio interviews. what? Yeah, it went bananas. It went bananas. That's so funny. So it was like, that was like the, in 2009 you went viral. Very viral. Yeah. Yeah, this was like, and you TackyChristmasYards.com. Very viral. Yes. Okay. I love it. Chicago Tribune. Everybody loved it. Like you're, you're like a modern media expert at the time of 2009. On accident. Yes. On a on, but like, you know, but this started by putting stuff at internet cafes in 1998. Yes. Yeah. You know, like you were learning, and this actually goes back to even putting out, just telling stories. Yeah. Telling stories, telling people stuff back when with Eagle Eye News. Eagle Eye News in second grade. Yeah. And so how were you learning about websites and story and putting stuff out there? Just doing it. Just doing, you just do it. You just do it and you talk to other pe. The more you talk to people, the more you know Yeah. You know, you learn stuff. Okay, so, so you go viral with the Christmas yards, go viral. And I decide, I really like, not only just telling the stories, but having people listen to me. You know, I, I like telling stories. You don't say, I like having people. Don't say. Yeah. So, so keep putting things out on the internet and then I end up having my own children. And all this time I'm being called a mommy blogger, which drove me nuts because I had no children, you know, it just got to me, you know, and like blogging was kind of like, I, to me feels like this a mommy thing sometimes. What like, influencing influencers are today? Yeah. You know, we're like this and this is no offense, influencers. I know it's great. It was women, but like, a lot of times like, you'll see. The stereotype would be like, stay at home moms that like talk about what's going in kids' lunches and this, that and the other thing. And it's like whether you have a hundred thousand followers or you have 10 followers, like everyone kind of post the same aesthetic, right? That was like what mommy blo was. That's exactly, and in 2010 it got me, you know? Yeah. It really got me. So finally I had a kid and it was fine. You could call me a mommy blogger, but it still got me. so I started having children and I had a friend in Pensacola, Florida who had a website called Pensacola with Kids. And I said, Hey, I'm already writing about where to take your kids in Indianapolis on my other website. What do you think if I do Indianapolis with Kids, would you think that I was stealing from you? And she said, no, you should do it. In fact, there's lots of women in this Facebook group that are already doing it across the country and we all help each other. You should do it and you should join this Facebook group. So I started Indianapolis with Kids, which ultimately evolved to Indy with Kids because Indianapolis with Kids is a big mouthful. Yeah. Yeah. I joined this Facebook group, and this is a Facebook group in 2010. 2011. 2010. Yeah. And I didn't even know those existed. They existed. And it was called a hyperlocal Facebook group, and it was, you know, a handful of women and they'd be like, Hey, it's strawberry season. Go post about picking strawberries. So we'd all post about picking strawberries, you know, and it's across the country and it just, it took off. People loved it. There was nothing like that here in Indy. There was nothing like it. And Indy with Kids just took off. It was fabulous. Like it, it was slow, but it was, it was fast, and it was the only one in the market. There were other bloggers definitely writing about Indianapolis, but it was like on their family blogs, you know. Okay. When you say took off, like how were you judging success on this? 'cause this was still like a passion project. Mm-hmm. Side thing, you know? And it was like, oh, in my free time. Well, and you're doing it at your full-time job, like you're doing activities with kids. Mm-hmm. You're documenting that and then you're putting it out on Indy with Kids? Yeah. Or Indianapolis with Kids. Mm-hmm. And when you say it was slow, but it was fast, like, yeah. What do you mean? Like how were you judging success? Okay. So after two years, I had a weekly television segment on RTV6, sharing things to do that week. Yeah. After three years I had a weekly, column in the IndyStar called Indy with Kids. You were ripping? I I was a contributor on Visit Indy. Was it like, oh, she's really, because I do think even today, whether you're an influencer content creator, a lot of people are like, oh, thank you for this public service that you're doing for the greater good of the city. it took about three or four years to I could leave my job. okay, but you, so you had money coming in, like there were like advertisements or things Yeah. After about, yeah, after. So please remember that the, all the things that I did leading up to this I found at Kids Activities as a youth director. I sold web advertising for Monster.com. I sold advertising as a, as a second grader for my newsletter, Eagle Eye News. there was so much in my life, everything kind of culminated to this website filming, doing video around the world and doing all of that. So there's so much, going to blog conferences for the other blogs that I no longer do. I met people, I was able to pick up skills and, and meet people that could help me get to where I was. Some other things happened along the way that if you want, if you wanna hear 'em, I will tell you I would love to hear 'em. Okay. So I left my job when I had my third child and, she was born in, June, and I left my job in, September. The day after I left my job, she passed away in her sleep. So, yes, I know. All alright, so here we go. Nate. I'm so sorry. Oh my gosh. Alright, here we go, Nate. Let's lock back in. All right, let's lock back in. All right. So Nate, I left my job as the youth director at First Baptist Church, to go out this full time. And it was very risky because I hadn't quite replaced my income. Okay. But my husband and I decided that with three little babies that were brand new, one and three years old, we, we couldn't afford childcare anymore. And that if there was any chance of this side hustle really taking off, this was it. And we had health insurance at the time. We, we had to do this. So I decided, here we go. And, it was my first day writing an article for Visit Indy. I was very excited to become a contributor for them and my husband had just come home from work and I decided, here we go. So I left the house that day. It was the most beautiful day. And I went to McAlister's Deli to write this article and I'm sitting there, I closed all the tabs. I keep all the tabs open. Nate, are you a tab? Oh God, just like get up. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. I could beat you. so had all the tabs closed except for the one. 'cause everybody harasses me, shut all my phones off and I sat there and I wrote the most amazing article. And next thing I know I'm done. I sub hit submit and as I hit submit, 20 emails come in and they all say, call your husband. And I'm standing up 'cause I'm turning my phone on and the police are walking in. There was a police car there to get me with a neighbor in it, and they're driving me to Riley Children's Hospital. And, my daughter didn't wake up from a nap. And so, you know, just That's adversity. That's adversity. Every time I step out I'm telling you, you like go out on your own. Yeah. To, to, like, whether it's the boat mm-hmm. In Africa or Yeah. Indianapolis. And there's a tour like this. Adversity. I'm so sorry to hear that. So it just, obviously worse, worse thing in my entire life, you know, and I remember there was a woman, so at the time, you know, this space of being a creator, of being a digital storyteller is so challenging. It is competitive. Yeah. And it can get crowded. And at the time it felt crowded. And then especially because I had everything on the line, you know, like if I couldn't pay my bills, you know, what was I gonna do? I had three babies and a mortgage and a car. You know, what, what am I gonna do? And how can I work right now during this time? And if I don't make it, what am I gonna do? Obviously tragedy. Right? Tragedy. Yeah. And you're in the middle of, you know, creating at that time. Mm-hmm. And like you close the laptop from creating and just this like rush of adversity and trauma. Oh yeah. And then now you find yourself in a moment where you don't have the job. Did creating become something you had to do to pay the bills? Or was it like an outlet to get away? Like how were you feeling during that time in the next few months where you have to create? No, Nate, so let me tell you like. All these women, because it was, it was mommy bloggers, all the mommy bloggers. Whoa, all the mommy bloggers. Let me tell you what happened. So there was this woman named Jill, who was, at the time, her blog was Indy Car Mom. Okay. She said, Katy, can I come over to your house? And this was like right in the middle of, you know, like, I've got family in town and like, we've got a funeral planning. And she's like, can I come over? And I was like, yeah, come on over. You know, come on over, Jill. So she comes over and she's sitting with me at my dining room table. I mean, I can still picture it. And we don't even have that same dining room anymore. And she's like, you know, when you work in a normal job and something like this happens, your coworkers fill in for you. They take over and they, they do the, they do the work. And she's like, but when you work for yourself and you do this kind of job, like you don't have coworkers. And she's like, but we're your coworkers. And she's like, give me the keys. Give me the keys. So I did, I just gave her all the passwords and I turned my back for like three or four months. And she took the keys. And she took the keys and she got all of the mommy bloggers, like on the Army. Okay. And they filled my website with so much content, like, so much content that like, like stuff I would never write. Like I'm not a Hi it baby mom. I'm not a baby wearing mom, I'm not like a hippie mom. And they put so much content on there, like for moms that like, I would never have been able to reach, you know, like moms with like ethnicity backgrounds. I don't have moms with like, just, just all kinds of moms that I would never be able to reach. And they fill it with content and they did it like they did it. And they built my business bigger than it ever would've been for me. While I was grieving. Oh my God, it was amazing. And when I came back, they're like, see you. I was like, no, please stay. And then that's when I started writing for the IndyStar. And the IndyStar paid me, $75 a week. Okay. And at the time, like, I took that $75 and I was like, Hey, who will write like, just a little small article for like $10 a week? And I paid seven moms to write, you know, a $10 a week article. And we kept it going. And that's the model I adopted. I pay more than that now, but that's the model that I've kept going because instead of it just being Katy Mann Indy with Kids, I wanted to keep those rich voices. Yeah. And make it be about all the moms of Indy, all the dads of Indy, not just Katy Man. So that's, that's where that was born from. Yeah. So that's, wow. You know. Holy smokes. Yeah, that's, that's India Kids in a nutshell. This episode of Get IN is sponsored by Accounted For a team of Indiana CPAs who believe accounting should work for business owners, not against them, instead of hourly bills and slow responses Accounted For, gives you everything, tax, bookkeeping, consulting, and virtual CFO services under one fixed monthly fee. It's all cloud-based, transparent and designed to keep your business moving without interruptions. You'll have direct access to a real cpa a who knows your numbers and your goals because they think like business owners too. Learn more@accountedforcpa.com and tell them the Get IN team sent you pain in the trauma that puts you in the position that then the like, the serendipity that comes out of it on the other side of knowing that there are moms that parent different than you, that have different backgrounds than you, that like different things than you. And the fact that all of. Your mommy blogger, coworkers and dads. I can't forget the dads. There were some great dads out there too. I can't Yeah. But they all come together and then it creates this robust database that serves moms and dads from all walks of life. Yeah. Whereas, you know, had you written everything, like you would've made the perfect amount of content for people who think and look and act like you and want to do that. Yeah. And now it becomes a bigger, yeah. A bigger service, a bigger impact, across all reaches of Indianapolis. Yep. Because of Jill. Shout out Jill. Yeah. Is Jill still blogging? She's not. And she, has moved. She's in, Missouri now. So Well, yeah. And most of those women and men are not blogging anymore, but I am so forever thankful for them. You've been doing Indy with Kids for almost 16 years now. Yeah. Do you think that like. This start, like it has this deeper meaning, like it's, yes, there is this piece of creating and there is this piece of serving this community and it's a business, and obviously all those things. But there is this, do you think that there is a deeper reason that keeps you going for this? Yes. And here, here's here is the deeper meaning. It, it definitely, there's this legacy in there, but the deeper meaning is that, you don't know how many years of this childhood you get with each of your kids. And so I want everyone to just have that quality time. I want, I wanna be able to help you find something to do with your kids that's meaningful. No matter your budget, no matter what, where you live, what side of town. No matter your budget, no matter how many moments you have, I want you to find those best day ever moments, whether it's at a park, a restaurant, a library, a movie, or like a fabulous vacation. Like, whatever it is, I want you to have those memory making moments. And if you don't know how to facilitate that on your own or you can't, like, like if you just can't drag yourself up to like figure it out, like, I wanna be able to help you, or if you need that inspiration, I wanna help you. And, that's, that's, that's the legacy I wanna leave. It's very impactful and it's why this work is important. I think that's, from the outside looking in, it's like, oh, you just post articles about blah, blah blah. Like, you just make videos about blah, blah, blah. Like, and a lot of times people are just inherently, I'll say like a little bit unmotivated, I won't say lazy, I'll say unmotivated. And seeing an article from you that lays out like step by step how to have the one of those greatest days ever. Or when they see a real about. You know, going and shopping local this holiday season or whatever it might be, it can be that final domino that gets someone off their couch and into this best day ever. Yeah. Or it helps support a local business or whatever that might be like. It is, I hate to say the term, but it's like it is influential. It is. And it can make an impact far deeper than just like views and likes and comments and all that jazz. Yeah. So over the years though, like blogging has evolved. Mm-hmm. And obviously your business event has had to evolve. Talk to me about like 16 years. Yeah. Like the rise of social media. Mm-hmm. Like this use of the space was crowded and. 20 10, 20 11. Yeah. Is like everyone with an iPhone can do something that's similar to this. Like, talk to me about how things have changed and become more competitive over the years. We were getting about a quarter of a million views per month on our website. That's crazy. Yeah. And we're bouncing between there and a little bit lower right now, per month. but then definitely the rise of video. Like we'll have videos that, a viral video, I don't know, like 10 years ago for us was like 10,000 views. Then it was like a hundred thousand views. And now you have to get like a million to even be Yeah. Like if you, if you're not getting, yeah. I don't like. It is crazy. I think we have like one of the first viral videos in Indy and it was like of the Smiley Indoor Playground before it opened and that, and that at the time was something like 200,000 views. And like right now, if you got 200,000 views, it'd be like, so what? You know, yeah. You know, I'm like, you know, dude, and I'll like try to crack that code. Good luck. Oh, you're doing great. You're doing great. But, yeah, so, it's just been, it, it depends on where. You wanna put your energy and like for us, it kind of, we, we bounce around. Like sometimes we'll put all in on video, but for us it's been for the last couple years, content online digitally. just because that's what is feeding my family right now, and right now. And then also, for me, I really have, I always wanted to be a published author. Mostly I kind of wanted to write fiction, but that's not where I'm at at this point in my life. So I wrote two books. the first one was Indianapolis Scavenger, and this is a scavenger hunt of 19 Indianapolis neighborhoods, specifically Indianapolis. So, what it is, is there's like a little photograph and then a rhyme. Can I see. Yes. Oh, Oh little rhymes in there. This is great. Number 12. I already know it. Okay. A symbol of promises etched in steel on a red bridge, locked with true love seal. A link between shores for bikes or for feet. Cross over to see where lovers often meet that. I don't think those locks are there anymore though, because I think that they redid that bridge in broad Ripple They'll be back, but it's like right over there, you know, kind of over by. Yeah. Indianapolis Art Center area. Yeah. Just down from there a little bit. Yep. Okay. Wow. That's a good one. Yeah. So that's the broad ripple day road. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Ooh. Head south on the corridor of Shelby Street. Past tales and stories. Half a mile on your feet, turn onto Carson, where the road slightly bends with a tall staff in hand to his flock. He tends, wow. This is pretty cool. So, wow. Yeah. So there's like a, a small picture and then a rhyme. Yeah. And then you have to find the items and it's supposed to guide you through the neighborhood. So it gets you looking at like parts of the neighborhood that you never looked at before. Yeah. Or just like taking in. You know, like the appreciation for it. This is so cool. I never realized how actually connected our city is. You know, when you actually get out and you walk from neighborhood to neighborhood, because I think what we do is we get in our car and we drive to where we need to go and we drive to the next place we need to go. Yeah. You know, we don't actually stop and think like, oh, this connects to this, which connects to this. You know, I think that it is what helps the best creators thrive. And I don't necessarily, I think it's a learned skill, of just slowing down and being curious and questioning why, like, why is it called the Monon trail? What does Monon mean? And you start to learn, like this is like the OG rail trail in Indiana. I don't know if it's the OG one, but it's like, probably the most well known rail trail in Indiana. The Monon railroad ran from Chicago down to Indianapolis, like all this stuff. And you start to see like why things would be. Train themed or whatever there. Yeah. And, and the connection to the city. And you just start to like, ask questions and you like wonder a little bit and you take in this area and you learn the history and all the stuff. And I think that having that unquenchable curiosity, that helps people become really, really great creators. Yeah. Like the ones that are gonna do it for 16 years. Yeah. I obviously like, we love getting views, we love like telling stories. We love all the things that come with, you know, running a media business. But at the end, like I would, I love making videos because it's my form of art. Yeah. Like making a really good video is fun to me and I love being curious and like learning the true stories behind this. And it's like, I would do this if I had to have another job, I would still wanna do this. Right. You know, and I think that, like that is really what sets apart great creators of like, being able to stop and slow down and do the scavenger hunt and learn about all these little hidden gems, hidden things, within our community. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, that's my soap box of creators. Well, it's true. And, and as you like, go do things and figure them out. Like I'm sure you've learned some really weird stories about stuff like. I'm not gonna talk about it here, but you should go learn about the Bears and Riverside Park. Okay. So that's something you all need to go learn about the Bears and Riverside Park and what happened to them. Okay. Oh, that's what you wanna know about. Okay. Oh my God. Riverside Park has a racist history that I think we probably, need to talk about more. Yeah. Is there was a, you know, an amusement park there that, black people were not allowed to go to and then they were allowed to go to on certain days. but, but really our city doesn't have a great history with treating people of color well and we also didn't necessarily treat animals well. So Riverside Park had animals before we had a zoo like Riverside Park used to be this. Amazing, beautiful place. And they have a really great 50 year plan, which I really hope I live long enough to see Riverside Park look the way that they have this plan for it to return to. but if you see pictures of what Riverside Park used to look like, it, it was amazing. The, these bears, the, they went out and they just captured them. And they put them in this park, is my understanding. Yeah. they were like wild bears and they didn't have like animal people that knew how to take care of them. Yeah. So, kids would like throw rocks at 'em and mistreat them. Like, there wasn't like a lot of protection. and then like when the river would flood, like the bears were just there, like floating on logs and things like that. And so when the war came, they didn't really have money to like feed all these animals, and so they ended up selling this bear to a local butcher. And the local butcher like butchered him up and sold the bear steaks. Yeah. Indianapolis Journal reported that the city parks superintendent and a member of the parks board intended to travel to Arcadia Van Buren and Elkhart to search for the animals. They vowed never to see home again until they secured at least two bears. Mm-hmm. The following year. Rewarded black bears. Dick and Grace occupied the pit, both arriving from Arcadia, Arcadia, Indiana. There were black bears. This isn't like, that's crazy to think about. Yep. They both grew to eventually weigh 800 pounds. By the time eight deer lived in the enclosure at the park near West 30th Street and the White River, along with numerous other birds and animals. This is not, they had alligators. Remember we didn't have a zoo. Yeah. This is a precursor to us getting a zoo, you know, couple black, black bears. Yeah. This, this is kind of like the og, but like Yeah. Animal rights. Yeah, and like animal activists and stuff like that wasn't really a thing. The, I think the subhead here in the article is the bear pit meets its demise meets M-E-S-E-A-T-S. In 1917, more than a decade after the bear pit launched, the Indianapolis Star reported its officials and through unsavory or savory, depending on how you look at it, news. I can't believe someone that's crazy Old Molly. A bear resident of the pit for years was sold by park officials for $40 and slaughtered to become steak. And they have the ad for the, the sanitary fish market at one 10 East Market Street displayed her hide for any passerby to sea, as well as the stakes selling for 75 cents a cut, a proprietor of the market falsely advertised they had shot the bear in Wisconsin to get the meat. Why? If people knew the meat was from the Barr in Riverside Park, they wouldn't buy it. But we're in about a hundred dollars and we're in about a hundred dollars on the bear. Oh my gosh. The newspaper article commented that the death of Old Molly, a cinnamon bear, as bear steaks marked the end of the zoo at Riverside. Wow. They had gotten rid of all the zoo, like they got rid of all the animals there, and the final bear from Riverside Park was sold for steak. But I, I wrote a poem about it. Or my scavenger hunt just to kind of, so you could, 'cause you can still, in some of the parks, you can see the bear pits because I believe also Garfield Park had like a bear pit also. Like, so, but that was a poem that my husband's like, that's too dark to put in that book. So, we took that one out. But there's So if yeah, you're right. If you have curiosity, like you could find so many interesting stories and I, I think there's a piece of knowing what happened in history mm-hmm. And like being aware of that. Mm-hmm. That can help make change. It can like, make good change. Yeah. You can make good change, but then you can also understand. Like why we have the things we have and why they might be sacred or important, like Belmont Beach, you know, like Belmont Beach is very important to our city. it's a beach that's, on like the west side and historically it was a beach where they allowed people of color to swim and it was a very nasty, dirty space in the White River where nobody should be swimming. but it's, it's a sacred space and it's important for us to remember the way that we treated people as a city. Yeah. And so I think that it's just really important that. As people that we are curious, like, oh, like every time I drove past Belmont Beach, I was like, what's Belmont Beach? You know, like, doesn't that just sound so like, yeah. Amazing. And then one day I was like, I'm gonna pull in here and park here and figure out what this is. That's like half the battle. It is. It's like stopping and like, and I stopped and I went in and they have concerts there and things like that going on. And then I like read about it and I was like, oh. Oh. And that's in my book, in my scavenger hunt. Yeah. Like I want people to stop and look at some things like, so it's not all just about like, here's the fun place to go, which is important too. Yeah. But also this is why this space is important to our city. Yeah. Like, yeah. Learn about your history. Like we, I just had a guest on was talking about the history of Crispus Attucks as a high school. Yeah. And it was the first school in Indianapolis that, was. All students of color. Mm-hmm. they were the first, state championship basketball team that was all students of color as well. The professors, they had there a lot of times, like weren't allowed to. if they were, you know, people of color, they couldn't get into colleges. So they were at Crispus Attucks High School. Mm-hmm. Teaching it was insane, was the only public high school in the city designated specifically for, African Americans. So that's like a very integral part of our, downtown community. And just like the great, like Five Star Generals. It was crazy. That video, like well, and they have a museum there. Yeah. And you can learn about that kind of stuff if you see that museum there. Yeah. And I think that's a museum that a lot of people don't know about, you know? And so, because that's not like a fun one that people go, oh hey, let's go visit this museum. You know, you're not gonna see that on all those travel bloggers. Yeah. you know, reels and stuff. Yeah. But, you know, but it's important to our study. I do think that that's also a piece of how can you, 'cause a lot of these things have marketing materials and stuff, but a lot of times it just doesn't come across as maybe not fun or exciting or just not delivered in a way that is like, compelling of telling people why it would be important. Like, you should go to the Crispus ATS Museum to learn about this culturally very, very relevant high school in Indianapolis. And like, if you find like the right medium to tell these stories, you could actually, you know, get people. Like, I was up at the Studebaker Museum, an old car museum up in South Bend and I loved it. I like, not because I'm a car nut, but if you were a car nut, you would love it there. But like it's history. Like this was, I believe they said, in the time at the turn of the 19th. To 20th century, so that'd be 1800 to 1900. There were like 5,000 wagon manufacturers and less than 10 wagon manufacturers were successfully to successfully convert to automobile. And Studebaker is one of them. So like it ends up being like a 150 year old company that made wagons and automobiles and boom times and bust times and war. It is crazy. And like I just read all these plaques and I was like. Oh my gosh. That's so cool. So that's my tangent about stopping and yeah. You know, being curious. Talk to me about, you know, what's occupying your time today? How, what we can expect in 2026 from Indy with Kids. And just like why 16 years later you're still excited to be doing this kind of work? obviously I've been writing books. Yeah. I'd love to write a children's book. I'd love to write some fiction. not about Indianapolis necessarily. maybe it would take place here, but, my children are occupying my time. I have four children who are very active. They're in baseball, theater show, choir, cheer, everything. Yeah. Everything covered there. Yeah, everything covered. I'd, I'd really like to help them launch some of their interests. You know, they're interested in a lot of things and my son is interested in going to every single Major League Baseball stadium in, you know, the world. So, that's sick. Yeah. This year we're headed to Toronto, in 2026 to check out their field, so. Heck yeah. Yeah. that's fun. We're traveling a lot, doing quite a bit of travel content for the Indianapolis audience. Has it been hard as more creators in different mediums have gotten into this space? Not, not really. It hasn't been hard. There's so much out there and there's so many stories to be told, honestly. And, I think because we have an audience, we really do, we have people who listen to us, who follow us, and. There is a space for everyone. There really is, if you're, if you're gonna do it right, and if you're gonna follow through and you're gonna do what you say you're gonna do, yeah. I think that's the most important. And if you do it with care, if you care about the stories you're telling and you care about the people, then there's gonna be a space for you. So, no. And then with Indy with Kids, we're just gonna keep doing, what we've always done and, adjust for what people are looking for. And, I remember a friend told me, a year in, she says, what are you gonna do after you've written about everything, after you've done it all? And the thing is, is that you could never have done it all. There's, there's always new things happening, always new things to discover. And, there's just so much going on because as soon as you like, think you have your hands around it, then you learn about this whole other thing, and you have to go do that. Like we spent. Oh my gosh. Like every weekend of the summer out and about doing something. And if you are in the state of Indiana and you say you're bored, it is your own fault. Yep. Like 100 kids, no kids, old, young, anywhere in between. If you say you're bored in the state of Indiana, it is 100% your own doing. Yeah. Because there is just so much stuff going on. My dad used to say, if you're bored, you're a boring person. And there, that's where we're gonna, we're gonna transition into our, our final portion where we talk through some fun. obviously we're gonna get some recommendations. We haven't even talked about things to do in Indy with Kids. Yeah. We've talked about Indy with Kids, but not things to do with kids in indie. Okay. So this next question is brought to you by our friends at J.C. Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homeisjchart.com. My question for you, Katy, why do you call Indiana home? There's no better place to. Find people who are going to support you with your dreams, support you with your family, and, give you a, a platform to live your best life. It's a people place. Alright, we're gonna get into some rapid fire questions. Oh, boy. Okay. Zero planning. We want a kid friendly outing. We don't want a lot of stress. Not a lot of, where am I going? What time of year? holiday time. There's this place called Post Road English Garden, and as long as they're doing it again this year, they have these little cottages called the Christmas Cottages. It's a floral shop, okay? So if your kids are like a bull in a China shop, this is not where you wanna go. But if your kids are really good at kind of looking and, and checking things out, they have these four little cottages that they. Go over the top decor in that you can walk through and each one is like a different theme during the holidays and like one year in one of 'em it snowed. When you walked in one year it was like all Elf themed. One was all angel themed, one was Santa themed. And in the evenings, on some weekends they'll have like Santa there, they'll have a bonfire outside with s'mores and it's great. That's awesome. Post road English cottages. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eat Post Road English Garden. Post Road English Garden. It's the Christmas cottages Wow. That's a good one. Now that we're gonna get so many things. I do not have kids, so I've not dove dive, dove dived into this person as an adult. I went there without my kids. I haven't taken them yet 'cause my kids are crazy. There we go. Okay. If someone out there was thinking about moving to Indianapolis, they had kids, what neighborhood should they look at? Whitestown is like really up and coming. I feel like they're like really? They're making a play for it. Fishers has a lot going on. I mean, I don't know about their property taxes. Like I, if you're not taking it. No, we're talking about raising activities, raising kids. Okay. So like, I feel like Fishers with their new community center is just blowing up. They've got also the AgriPark I think they're putting a second agricultural park in. Yep. They've got the water. They, I mean, they've got everything. So I feel like maybe Fishers, but I choose to live in Indianapolis, close to downtown, just because that's where I choose. And it's close to everything. And I'm right off the highway. But I mean, if someone was like Katy, like I, I'm sell me on Indiana, I'd probably be like, go check out Fishers. I always wanna look at like where the most strollers per capita are. Like where are people, RA and it's definitely the north side suburbs got a lot. Yeah. But I've always, I'm curious about like the places where. You know, you could be close to the children's Museum You could get down to Indians games. Like there's, I'm, I'm right off 65. There we go. Yeah. okay. You got on your site, you guys cover a lot of kids eat free deals. Yeah. What are a few of the best kids Eat Free deals in Indiana? Ooh. Okay. There's this one called C.R. Heroes. UPS Urban Fisher. Sorry. Yeah, fishers. I'm sorry. All right. So C.R. Heroes is a really good one. because I mean, they have these like b bougie kid drinks that are really fun. My kids are always like, can we go to that place with the fun kid drinks? Um. They do, they have like a balloon person there all the time. anytime IHOP does a kids eat free, my kids are all in. But C.R. Heroes is kinda the local one. The local one. well you got Yeah, that's fair. C.R. Heroes. We love that. I know, one of my friends, his, family lives up there, like his parents live up there and he so wears my C.R. Heroes. It's like his favorite place. Yeah. Shout out will take us through the risk of leaving a stable job to start. Your own business in the creative space. I think there's a lot of people out there that maybe make content, but you know, haven't made a jump to try to figure out the business model and do the whole thing. Do you have advice, do you have, I dunno, any war stories or anything like that that's like, you should or should not do this, or what to think about? I don't regret it. I have no regrets. It's weird because I, I'm on LinkedIn of course, and I love looking at jobs on LinkedIn and every time I look at these jobs I'm like, oh, this looks like such a fun job. And there are so many really cool creative jobs out there where I feel like the skills that I have right now and when I'm doing, I'm like, oh, I could totally land that job. Like that would be so fun. Like, I could work for all the organizations that I'm promoting on my own business. I could totally work for any of them. so I think that if you look at those jobs on LinkedIn and you have the skills. You could land those jobs, then go, you're, you're ready to go out on your own. You could totally do this on your own and just make sure that you have a nest egg. That's, that was probably my biggest, downfall is that I didn't have that nest egg. and make sure like we, we did have all of our debt paid off. That was the big thing. Make sure you don't have debt. Yeah. Make sure you have a nest egg. And I know my thought is too is like you can always go get a job. You can always go get a job, but maybe not in this economy. Like I said, it's a different time, you know? Yeah, that's fair. I mean, I don't know. I still think there are great businesses out there that always hire good people and I'm 28 and I was like, you know, the more, the higher up you get, the more money, the more life creep. Like all this stuff happens. It's like you have it and you have a passion and. Like, and I think a lot of people are like, chase your passion, but you also have like some reasoning behind it where it's like, Hey, my business makes money. Yeah. And like I have a system here and maybe, you know, a little bit of stability, go out and, and chase it down. I've, I've had a great time. It's been very challenging. Yeah. But it's also been so fun and rewarding and we get to do fun things like this. So I think it also depends on where you are in your life. Oh yeah. Like health insurance, children, things like that. You gotta take everything. Yeah. And, and, and add it all up, but yeah. Yeah. Quit your job and go do it right now. Yeah. Do it right now. Just send it. Yep. amazing. We've come to the final portion of the show where we asked all of our guests the same three questions that are all about the state of Indiana. Okay. So first question from California. You moved to Indiana, you've become a huge champion, advocate, cheerleader for the city of Indianapolis. If you could just shout it from the rooftops for the entire world to hear. What's something the world needs to know about Indiana. This is a place that will give you the space to be who you are and have what you want and go out and get it. Bang, mic drop. Okay. This is where we get enlightened about places, things, parks, restaurants, whatever it might be in the state of Indiana that not enough people are talking about. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? How about Hague Road Nature Haven, Hague Road. Nature Haven. Yes. What is this thing? I hate to tell you about it and a friend of mine is gonna be really angry that I'm telling you about it. It's a nature haven. I mean, it's. It's a, a nature park. it has water, it has hiking trails. It's beautiful. It has a plan for, for, you know, park development. But for now it's. It's just beautiful. Wow. Hague Road, nature Haven is a 43 acre site located at the southeast corner of State Road 38 and Hague Road with its wooded landscape and with Cicero Creek snaking its way through the parks property. Plenty of trails to travel down Hague Road, nature Haven will satisfy any urge for adventure and exploration. The creek, the creek is our favorite place. I mean, wow. So, I hate that I told you this. Wow. I mean, you know, the, can we rewind? The world's gonna know about now, so, okay. And finally, this is where we get guest recommendations or learn about people that are doing inspiring things. Who's the Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar. It's someone who's doing big things. I think you need to keep Jillian Deam on your radar. Yeah, she's fabulous. co-host on FOX59, Indy Now she's just recently had a baby. I was gonna say when we had Ryan on, I think that she, he said that she was getting ready to go out on maternity leave. Yeah, she's, she is coming back and she has done so much in her career and now that she's a mom on top of that, like, I cannot wait to see just how this changes her. And, it'll just be so interesting to see just what. Like what she does with this. Yeah. And how, like how her career looks now. Yeah. Wow. That is, that is awesome. yeah, we need to have her on, we had Ryan on to tell that side of the story. Now we need to hear the other side. I'll be fine. She's so talented. Yeah. She is so talented and I just can't wait to have her back, so. Heck yeah. I love it. Katy, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your journey from California to Africa through. Back to California, then to Indiana through the adversity that was, planted in front of you at these different places. Obviously, it has all led you to where you are today making a huge impact to help create these best days with fam like with your, with families. I think that that's so impactful. Don't judge a book by its cover. Like, you know, I think people see like Indy with Kids. It's all fun. It's all this, but like, just like the scavenger hunt and your journey to get here today and your entrepreneurship growing your business, this was one that, is an incredible conversation and I'm really honored that you shared it with us today. Keep up all the great work. I love it. I mean, again, as you visited all the places and the new places pop up that you have to go to, we really, really appreciate you coming in today and sharing the story. Thank you. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.
