Kristina Michele March 8th 2021 Zoom Edition!

What do you do?

What a question. To get fully philosophical, I spend every day and try to base every decision on my desire to change the world. My personal hero is Oprah and when I moved to Bellingham in 2016 my goal was to take over the city and become Bellingham’s own Oprah, or Boprah. Not for the fame per se but the ability to help so many people while being able to be a representation of what a strong, Black, self-made woman looks like. Unrelated, during the 2007-2009 market crash there was a disproportionate amount of BIPOC homes that were foreclosed, and that inspired me to want to become a real estate agent. To help BIPOC, first-time and low-income buyers while they are making one of the most important financial decisions in their lifetime. So now in 2021, I am a real estate agent who is also trying to smash the white supremacists, heteronormative American patriarchy. I am working with a team to build Whatcom County’s first Racial Equity Commission while I write real estate deals, it was a surprise to me as well.

Advice/words of wisdom that affected your life you'd like to pass on?

There will never be one magical day where you wake up feeling like an adult with all of the answers. In my early and mid 20’s, I felt like I was lost and sinking at the same time. The problem was I was trying to live the life that is sold to us as the “American Dream”. Ironically I never realized that the dream being sold was almost specifically for white people. When I finally decided that I was going to live a life that made me happy and I would make decisions based on being able to sleep soundly at night, the world really opened up for me. You cannot live fully in a mold that wasn’t made for you. So pursue your dreams and know that everyone else is struggling too.