Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracey Kennedy.
Hi Tracey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up during the 80s as the last year of Gen X. At two days old, my grandmother took on the responsibility of raising me. Working hard to shelter me from real life, my grandmother kept me heavily involved in church and an excellent school district. No matter how hard she worked, she could not protect me from the sexual abuse from an uncle when I was not in her custody. She couldn’t prevent my mother from becoming a man chasing alcoholic, and she couldn’t stop my father from becoming a drug addict woman chaser.
My only outlets from the chaos at home was anything dealing with words or color. I wanted to engage with as many people as possible. I wanted to imagine a life other than my own. I wanted paint my scary emotions away. I wanted to be anyone but myself when I was a little girl. Awkward and slightly smelly from the sulfur shampoo for my eczema, with a hint of being a bit more sweaty than the average teenage girl, I never really fit in until I entered theatre as a high school student. I could shine as someone else on stage. Being Tracey wasn’t necessary. It felt good because I didn’t see myself as valuable. My grandmother was the only one who made me feel genuinely cared for, though at the time, it wasn’t enough.
I gave that quick Cliff’s Notes on my childhood because in order to build the best of who you are, you have to acknowledge all of what helped shape your world view of life. It sets the tone for the decisions we make, and most importantly, the why! I moved through much of my life making decisions that were not in my best interest because my foundation was rocky. I didn’t realize how bad the damage was until I became a mom in my 30s. I wasn’t Tracey. I couldn’t even be different characters on a stage. I had become a house servant to a mean-spirited narcissist and two beautiful growing children.
Knowing that I was a role model for two small humans pushed me to start choosing me, and learning how to love myself. My past stopped being the sum of who I was. All the life lessons I was able to collect as I aged, I used to find me and make myself a better human. From solely owning and operating California Country Organics Body Care for over 9 years, publishing Tender Nights With Tracey: Swiping During The Age of The Rona in 2022, to touring the country with my poetry and improv, I have been blessed to accomplish so very much, by reshaping my perspectives on life and myself. I am humbly confident in the woman I stand as today because I choose the best of me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Has the road to the person I am today been smooth? Absolutely not! Of, course it hasn’t been easy, smooth, or simple. It’s been such a rough road that I need to sit down while I tell you all about it! I will accept that I have been a person who needed to learn through living, however.
One of my biggest pieces of advice I can give is to take the time to get to know who you are and how you fit in this world. I can’t stress that enough. Living your life through the standards of someone else’s eyes will leave you absolutely hollow as you age. You will never be able to genuinely connect with the people that so desperately want to love correctly. What hurts the most are the poor choices that are chosen because we become so lost between what brings us internal joy and momentary happiness.
That’s what happened to me. I made so many lost decisions that landed me in jail, homeless, depressed, and in a relationship where I was beat unconscious multiple times. I wasn’t living for the best of Tracey. I was jumping hurdles for the needs of others. I prayed that everything I was doing would lead to being valuable in the eyes of anyone. That’s how low I was. I was suffocating .myself in a blanket of sadness.
Going into the culinary world in my late 20s surely saved my life. I was working so often, there was no time to make bad choices. I was able to focus on becoming a great chef. In the process, I began understanding just how talented I was. I began learning that much like food is fragile and needed time and care to be its best, so did I. This was when I was able to whip up a better me.
When I started over at 40, again, is a story we will save for another interview.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Considering the fact that I was never good at commitment in relationships, I didn’t think, in a million years, that I would be telling anyone that I have been the creator and sole owner of California Country Organics Body Care over 9 years now. What started as a chef turned stay at home mom’s hobby to save money and heal my son’s eczema, blossomed into an organic body care company with authenticity, integrity, and products that actually do even more than what I created them for! Let’s go on a little journey regarding how it all started, and where I am now, shall we?
It all started on the graffiti riddled streets of Los Angeles, California… I’m just kidding! That’s absolutely where I’m from, however, and one of the reasons California is part of my company name. Growing up in California was a true blessing. I was afforded a high quality education, surrounded by a melting pot of cultures and vibrant personalities. I grew up being indoctrinated in the core beliefs of free and healthy living. I was also raised by a grandmother who was as country as country could get and a stickler for manners and etiquette. I was taught to always live above the standard. As I became an adult, I never lost those values, and found myself in the same occupational field as my grandmother; The culinary world.
I nosed-dived into all things food, including growing my own veggies in the small courtyards of the apartment complexes I bounced around throughout Los Angeles county, while in my younger years. I completed culinary school top of my class, winning awards and scholarships for my talent. I worked 18 hour days for free in the top fine dining restaurants throughout the city, in order to learn from the great leaders of the realm of high-end kitchens. When I became pregnant in 2011, I stepped back from cooking to be a full time mom. I loved my happy little life until everything came crashing down. The father of my son lost his job, and we ended up moving 2,000 miles away to Birmingham, Alabama.
The new environment moved at a much slower pace. I was afforded more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. So, when my son’s eczema flared up out of control, I decided to forego steroidal creams. I applied the organic life philosophy I developed while cooking towards body care. I told myself, “Tracey, if you can make recipes to heal people from the inside, surely you could do it from the outside!” And, that’s what I did! I began researching different types of oils, butters, and essential oils. I looked at what was popular, why it was popular. I looked at why ingredients weren’t popular, and how I could utilize the unknown and underdeveloped. I examined the ins and outs of how vitamins and minerals are absorbed into the body to create maximum efficacy. I even looked at certain enzymes that have the ability to trigger seizures in some. I turned my extra time into creating unicorn magic in a jar!
After several years, along with a significant amount of trial and error, I managed to create a formulation that not only cleared my son’s eczema, but had so many other healing benefits. I was floating on cloud nine. I deemed myself World’s Best Mom Ever. I kept riding my high horse and pushed myself to make other products for my interracial family of four. We had four different hair textures, different allergies, my children’s father had horrific oral genetics, etc. I felt like each person needed their own set of hygiene products. With a rapidly decreasing economy, and being a young new family, blowing our budget on body care wasn’t in the cards. And, here I am, making an entire body care line, in order to make sure we are healthy on the outside, just like on the inside, while working below my monthly mom budget!
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
“Anything worth having is hard work.” I don’t know who should be given proper credit for that saying, but I do know that every good parent, grandparent, and teacher has said that phrase to the youth they were guiding. It built a foundation for the risks we would have to contemplate in our adult years. It built the foundation for our drive to succeed in life; How bad do you really want it? The reality is, in order to achieve greatness, risks have to be taken. There will have to be sacrifices made.
What happens when you friends are inviting you out for a night of fun filled shenanigans, but your job is depending upon you turning in a proposal for a client in the morning? Do you risk your job or sacrifice a night of fun? In my younger years, the risk of getting fired wasn’t important. I was single, no kids, and finding a job was like finding a lonely man in a gentlemans club at midnight. However, I just recently turned 46. I have two kids, three dogs, a big house, and an even bigger garden to manage. Taking risks are carefully evaluated now. What could I potentially lose? How will it affect me short-term and long-term? How will it affect those around me?
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2024, I had $50 in my bank account, secretly hiding just how depressed I was and how much I had given up on myself. I was so scared of people knowing just how badly I had fallen off my pedestal of achievement. I knew that It was time to face reality and take care of my health first. I sacrificed being a business owner. I sacrificed being a published author, traveling the country doing book signings, and poetry improv. I went to work in a grocery store to make ends meet so that I would have a stable income while going through surgeries and life saving cancer treatment. There were days that I missed having full mobility of my body to be able to travel from state to state and country to country. I sacrificed my wants because my needs deserved priority. My kids deserve the best their mom could give them.
I said that if God gave me a second chance at life, I would rebuild my brand, publish my second book, and come back to live out my purpose and value. So with that said, here I am at 46 and almost 2 years cancer free. I’m taking the biggest risk ever; I’m betting everything on ME! I’m stronger and wiser than I have ever been. Let’s see where I can take myself and those around me!
Pricing:
- $14-$38
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkennedywithlove/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Allinyomouf.kennedy
