Boldly Grounded

You can find Kylie on Instagram @boldlygroundedpodcast or @kylieepperson_
Go follow Kayla @thefarmstyle Or check out her website for her recipes www.kaylazenner.com

Kylie Epperson talks with her friend Kayla Zenner, a former rural math teacher turned farm wife and entrepreneur, about leaving full-time teaching after childcare challenges and an unpaid maternity leave. Kayla shares how postpartum life and the loss of local daycare options pushed her to seek flexibility at home, while also struggling emotionally with not earning her own income for the first time in years. She describes starting sourdough baking, selling loaves, and teaching in-person classes, then realizing scaling an in-home bakery would recreate a stressful full-time job. Kayla shifted to sharing family-friendly recipes online, experienced rapid follower growth from viral videos, and began monetizing through a recipe website with ad-network revenue, plus paid brand partnerships managed with help from a brand manager. She explains her focus on quick, practical meals and the joy of hearing followers add her recipes to their family rotations.
 
00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded
00:40 Meet Kayla Zenner
01:25 Leaving Teaching and Daycare Struggles
05:09 Postpartum Pressure and Identity
06:37 Sourdough Hobby to Side Hustle
07:59 Money Mindset as a Stay Home Mom
11:55 Scaling Back for Flexibility
16:27 Going Viral and Growing Online
18:04 Monetizing with Website Ads
20:03 Brand Deals and Staying Authentic
24:45 What Kayla Creates Now
28:05 Family Meals and Picky Eaters
33:33 Where to Find Kayla
34:13 Final Thoughts and Sendoff
Kylie Epperson talks with her friend Kayla Zenner, a former rural math teacher turned farm wife and entrepreneur, about leaving full-time teaching after childcare challenges and an unpaid maternity leave. Kayla shares how postpartum life and the loss of local daycare options pushed her to seek flexibility at home, while also struggling emotionally with not earning her own income for the first time in years. She describes starting sourdough baking, selling loaves, and teaching in-person classes, then realizing scaling an in-home bakery would recreate a stressful full-time job. Kayla shifted to sharing family-friendly recipes online, experienced rapid follower growth from viral videos, and began monetizing through a recipe website with ad-network revenue, plus paid brand partnerships managed with help from a brand manager. She explains her focus on quick, practical meals and the joy of hearing followers add her recipes to their family rotations.
 
00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded
00:40 Meet Kayla Zenner
01:25 Leaving Teaching and Daycare Struggles
05:09 Postpartum Pressure and Identity
06:37 Sourdough Hobby to Side Hustle
07:59 Money Mindset as a Stay Home Mom
11:55 Scaling Back for Flexibility
16:27 Going Viral and Growing Online
18:04 Monetizing with Website Ads
20:03 Brand Deals and Staying Authentic
24:45 What Kayla Creates Now
28:05 Family Meals and Picky Eaters
33:33 Where to Find Kayla
34:13 Final Thoughts and Sendoff

Follow Kylie @boldlygrounded or @kylieepperson_
Or check out her website www.kylieepperson.com
Kylie Epperson shares how a weekend trip with her kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City prompted her to try "bricking" her phone using the Brick app to block distracting apps like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Amazon, and others while keeping essentials like texts and calendar. She explains how constant scrolling affects her mental health through a dopamine drip, an escape from boredom or overwhelm, and a habit loop that's hard to break—especially since social media is tied to her business and community. After three days, she notices feeling less rushed, being more present, and getting more done at home. She outlines ideas for returning with boundaries: asking why she's opening an app, setting timers, replacing scrolling with walking, chores, reading, journaling, or time with kids, spotting trigger moments, and starting with one clear boundary focused on family presence.
 
00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded
00:51 Quiet Morning Check In
02:09 Family Trip Recap
04:00 Why I Bricked My Phone
06:11 What I Blocked and Why
08:05 The Real Cost of Scrolling
09:36 Three Parts of Addiction
14:20 Why It Feels Hard to Stop
16:49 Early Wins Without Socials
18:56 My Plan for Boundaries
22:54 One Boundary to Start
26:33 Final Thoughts and Goodbye

Folllow Kylie @boldlygroundedpodcast or @kylieepperson_
www.kylieepperson.com
Host Kylie Epperson shares her ongoing journey of self-discovery, faith, and recovery from intense mental and physical burnout that deepened after the emergency C-section birth of her third child, in December 2020. She describes severe postpartum struggles, feeling overwhelmed by caretaking and motherhood demands, and reaching a point where she admitted she wasn't okay, began low-dose anti-anxiety medication, and later pursued therapy (including EMDR) and functional medicine testing. Kylie recounts a major anxiety spiral in 2022–2023 when she feared she had a brain tumor, leading to an emergency MRI that showed nothing serious. She reflects on repeated "fix it" patterns, disappointment when test results didn't show dramatic improvement, and a new perspective: healing may not be the endpoint, but a lesson in slowing down, replenishing, and trusting God's timing while continuing to grow in faith.
 
00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded
00:48 Why This Episode Matters
01:07 Emergency C Section Story
02:56 Postpartum and Hormones
04:14 Caretaker Weight of Motherhood
06:33 Burnout and Needing Space
08:28 Admitting I Was Not Okay
10:15 Medication Therapy and Testing
12:48 Health Scare and Anxiety Spiral
14:41 Stepping Back to Recover
15:23 Repletion Era Not Perfection
17:41 Maybe Healing Is the Lesson
20:29 Closing and Next Steps
 
Listen to Kylie's full Postpartum Journey here

Kylie Epperson shares why she took a week off the podcast after a hectic February and uses the episode to process a recurring challenge in rural communities: how to handle rumors and knowing others are talking about you, especially when you or your farm business are doing things outside the norm. She explains how her response has shifted over time from defensiveness and shrinking back to caring less about others' opinions, particularly when integrity feels questioned. Kylie outlines three reasons people talk negatively—insecurities and comparison, projection of their own "not enough" feelings, and discomfort with disrupted social order when someone changes. She shares a friend's reminder that what someone says about you reveals more about them than you, and encourages listeners to keep growing, trust themselves and God, and not let criticism reinforce their own insecurities.
 
00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded
00:43 Back After a Break
01:58 Small Town Rumors
05:06 Why People Talk
06:41 Insecurity and Comparison
08:06 Projection Explained
10:30 Disrupting the Norm
13:42 Sally and Susie
15:55 Keep Growing Anyway
18:41 Closing and Farewell
 
To connect with Kylie @boldlygrouded  or @kylieepperson_

Follow @Bouldygroundedpocast or@kylieepperson
Kylie Epperson talks with interior designer Tara Miller, founder of Heartland Interior Design, about building a commercial and residential firm in Nebraska that now has national and international projects. Tara shares her path through UNL's interior design program, graduating into the 2013 recession, learning sales as an architectural/design rep, and eventually going full-time in her own firm as client work grew. They discuss entrepreneurship realities like backend operations, hiring support (like bookkeeping), sticking with business long-term, and why social media and founder-led branding matter today. Tara also расскаunts how an Instagram connection led to designing Boot Barn's corporate headquarters, including a fast timeline and material-themed floors (stone, leather, iron, timber).
 
00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded
00:48 Meet Tara Miller
02:05 Design Passion and Roots
04:32 Tubing Nebraska Style
08:06 Why Start a Business
09:03 Interior Design School Path
11:47 Early Career and Pay Reality
14:10 Bootstrapping the Firm
20:51 Entrepreneur Strengths Mindset
24:27 Social Media as Sales
25:16 Social Media Burnout
26:20 Founder Led Branding
29:15 Follow to Grow
31:04 Internet Overload
33:15 Dopamine and Mental Health
35:52 Postpartum Reality Check
39:19 Boot Barn Design Story
47:45 Designing by Materials
50:52 Where to Find Tara
51:56 Closing Message