My Story. Who Is Kimberly Swenk Of Swenk Social?
My Success Is Full Of Ups & Downs, Yet I Am Still Ahead Of The Game.
Have you heard the saying anyone worth knowing has a colorful past full of challenges? That is me. Ups. Downs. Lefts. Rights. My history is full of every type of challenge you can imagine.
I was born in Minnesota, grew up in Georgia, and now live in Colorado. My father died when I was in high school, I had cancer twice, and I was laid off two times. My older son was born prematurely, and my younger son is neuro-divergent.
Now the boring stuff about me. Both my undergraduate and graduate degrees were paid with academic scholarships, which makes me a very rare person without any college debt. I am married to the love of my life going on 18 years now. I have two cats and a dog. My husband loves the dog more than me.
My Beauty Business Mentor & Partner In Crime
On a commercial set for an organic soap company, I met the amazing Tara Hill Hanover. Tara is my business BFF. If you need to know who Tara is, check out her BIO. Some of you might know her from CNN. HLN, Warner Media, or the Gem Shopping Network. I know her as the 5'0" loud international beauty expert, celebrity stylist, and a good friend.
Tara and I started working together as a yin and yang pair. I am the nerdy data, behind-the-scenes, strategy person, and Tara is the international TV personality who can talk about nothing for hours (she said that not me).
My Professional Story
Now on to my professional history. After graduate school, I started working for the government doing market data analysis. What is market data analysis? I researched and studied socioeconomic patterns in the labor force.
Boring, huh? Well, those skills led me to marketing research, which led me to marketing, which led to me to digital marketing.
I worked for Fortune 100 & 500 companies, and I worked for smaller companies. I stood by and learned from international leaders in marketing and advertising. I also worked in a warehouse while doing marketing and sales for a chemical distribution company.
Why I Am Here Before You Today
There are so many environments I have worked in, but now I am where I am supposed to be, with you. My journey into the beauty world is an interesting story. My oldest son was premature, and my youngest is neuro-divergent, so the corporate world wasn't a good fit anymore.
I started working for myself, picking up freelance jobs when I could, and this is where I came into your world - the beauty world.
Together and individually, Tara and I took the beauty world by storm, helping people like yourself - beauty professionals - Spas, Salons, and solo estheticians. Then Covid hit, and we all know what that did to the beauty world.
As the world slowly returned to normal, so did we—me in Colorado (I moved during Covid) and Tara in Atlanta. We still work together, but we have our respective hustles too. Tara is a lifestyle magazine owner working on her book about beauty branding.
What Makes Me Different
I aim to bring all my Fortune 100 marketing & advertising training to you. I know how the big guys play and what makes them successful. And let me tell you, it isn't these fly-by-night marketing "Experts" saying you can get something for nothing. My knowledge and experience are based on managing budgets of millions of dollars, and no fly-by-night marketing experts have managed millions of dollars for a publicly traded company.
This makes me different - I played with big boys and did a damn good job. I take what international marketing and advertising leaders praised me for and give it to you.