Meet Keocha :: Louisiana Country Girl Turned Texas Business Savvy Mama

I never imagined it would be so difficult to write about myself especially because no one knows me better than I do.  However, I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version of who I am because this could take a while.

I am a Southwest Louisiana born, denim wearing, football loving, chocolate craving country girl.

I am incredibly random which fuels my sense of humor.  I think I just love seeing other people smile.  I am crazy about my family and passionate about encouraging women to invest in themselves.  I have reached the season in life where I am addicted to peace and laughter.  My addiction started to change my perspective of life.  My perspective started to influence my environment.  My environment made me hit my wellness reset button which brought me back to writing.  In respect to passion and purpose, writing has always been my first love.

I’ve loved words since I was 5 years old.  Although I loved to be read to, I wasn’t much of a reader unless it was the dictionary to learn new words.  But you could always find me with a pen or pencil in my hand.  I would write down “big” words and then use them in conversations with adults and my friends.   My love for words evolved from the dictionary to word search and crossword puzzles in middle school.  In high school, I was writing poetry, songs and plays which led to my obsession with journals.

By the time I was in college, I had dozens of notebooks and journals that documented my feelings, what I did each day, who got on my nerves and my plans for the future.

I often had dreams about being a successful author and serial entrepreneur enjoying time with my husband and 6 sons.  I had a blueprint of how I wanted my life to be, but I’ve always been the type to adjust if needed.

What I couldn’t plan for was the day I met my very best friend.  It was a random, yet sweet “boy meets girl” story.  One day in Baker, LA, boy was walking into Walmart as girl was walking out.  They stared and smiled at each other as their hearts dropped.  Boy went back to Walmart every day hoping he would run into girl again.  One day they saw each other again as they were walking into Walmart.  She was so happy to see him but didn’t want him to know it.  Boy was behind girl at the register as she talked to her friend about how cute he was.  As girl walked out of the store, the cashier snitched to boy and told him what was said.  Boy ran out of the store and found girl.  20 years of friendship including 15 years of marriage later, I have two bonus sons from the heart (Malik and Jadan), two sons from my womb (Elijah and Isaiah), a male dog (Boss) and a girly girl that is tougher than her brothers (Hannah).  I got pretty close to those 6 sons I wanted!  My children are truly my heartbeats.  They mean everything to me and give me so much life.

Even though I’m working full-time for a corporation, I’ve been blessed to be in business with my best friend.

For the past 12 years, we’ve trained, counseled and helped dozens of student-athletes receive college scholarships and just get the opportunity to play the sport they love on the college level.  We even have a few pros under our belts!  Through our business, we have been so connected to the community and teach our kids the importance of volunteering.  Oh, and you can always catch us taking car selfies in casual or athletic clothes on our way to a something football.  Always on the move together! But writing is my sacred place that’s just for me.  And now I’m finally settling into my dream of being a writer which was the missing piece to my life’s puzzle.

For years, writing for me was reduced to professional emails and business documents.   I started to really miss the love of writing about what I was passionate about.  Between raising kids, business ventures, football practices, and work-life imbalances, I spent so much time figuring out how to get back to my first love.  The opportunity to write for Austin Moms has given this creative a renewed energy in her ability to express herself through the written word again.

Writing is a release, connection and flow between my heart and soul. The best part of it is, I get to write from so much love for the role that means so much to me – being a mom.