Dawn Taylor| 21/10/2024

Dawn Taylor

I am your host ,Dawn Taylor. And today we are talking to Kat Halushka. Today's topic the other side of immigration. I was joking, I was going to name it from dictatorship to death threats. But that might be a bit dramatic, but not actually that dramatic. If you hear more of Kat's story. But before we get started, I want to tell you a little bit about Kat. Kat immigrated to Canada when she was 19, so she was still a child. And okay, okay, I know all you 19 year olds are actually adults, but you're not. She came from Russia and Belarus, comes with a totally different perspective than most people. When she first got here, she worked at 9 to 5. She ended up building an insane six figure marketing agency from the ground up in less than a year. Sold it, is now doing all kinds of entrepreneurial stuff. She's been on over 200 stages in the last three years, built crazy wealth doing that. She's a powerhouse, but she also has a really interesting story around immigration. And so let's dive into that. Welcome to the show, Kat.

Kat Halushka

Hello. Hello. Excited to be here. 

Dawn Taylor

I am so excited you're here. So what is it you wish more people were talking about and discussing? 

Kat Halushka

Uh, really that other side of immigration and what it looks like. What does it mean for a person to immigrate to a different country? I think not many people actually know what I call the dark and dirty truth about being the newcomer.

Dawn Taylor

100%. I mean, as a Canadian, we're just like, yay! Look at our beautiful country. Right, but I can't imagine. I can imagine being that person. So let's start at the beginning of your story. So you were born in Russia? 

Kat Halushka

Yeah, I originally was born in Russia. Well, I mean, back then, USSR. Right. Very first time I was born originally it was. Back then it was USSR. And eventually it fell apart when I was a little teeny tiny baby, uh, and I spent kind of half of my life in Russia where I was born. And then eventually we moved closer to the family, which was in Belarus. So I kind of got to experience both worlds, because when it comes to Russia, it's very typical what you hear USSR it became pretty much Russia, right? Belarus split off into its own thing and eventually turned out into this, like, country that separated themselves from everybody else in the world. They were one of the first countries to get kicked out of Europe Union and, um, splitting off and closing its borders. So when the president came into power and he's still in power, like, gosh, I was 19, I'm like over 30 now, almost 40. Like, that's many years. You would think that should be illegal for a president to be in power for that long, right? They call him the, you know, one of the last dictators in the world because of the way that he ran the country. So needless to say, I'm surprised I'm here in Canada now. But we made it. 

Dawn Taylor

So, for anybody listening, just go Google shit because we're not going to give you all the details. But a dictatorship is a government or social situation where one person makes all the rules, all the decisions, no input from anybody else. It's a complete and utter total power. So, what can you give us even some examples of what it was like being raised or what did that mean in a day to day life? Because again, you came to Canada where we have all of the freedom but have none. But we do like we actually have a lot of freedom here. And so what were some, like, some examples of what childhood was like for you?

Kat Halushka

Obviously as a child, I didn't really think about a lot of those things. Right. So when it came to being a kid, I just got to be a kid thankful to my parents, who, you know, took all the things onto themselves. Uh, I would say I had a pretty, pretty lucky childhood. But looking back on a lot of it even seeing my parents struggles right when it came to finances, when it came to living arrangements, when it came to find a place. But even some of the things when it came to when I was older is, uh, for example, my dad, he worked on those tankers that transport goods between countries. So he would be gone a lot. So usually it's like a US company or some other country's company that would hire him as an engineer or mechanic. Right. So when it comes to Belarus, one of the things that they decided to implement eventually is that banks are allowed to report anything in your account whenever the government wants it. So like there's doesn't need to be any cause,nothing. They just pretty much send you a balance and where the money is coming from. But also they decided to implement that if you work for a country other than Belarus, your taxes are over 50%. 

Dawn Taylor

Oh wow. 

Kat Halushka

So, imagine we're here in Canada now complaining about our, you know, like 25, 30%. But imagine of of every paycheck that you get, you have to give back like 55, 60% of the money. 

Dawn Taylor

Wow. 

Kat Halushka

So that's just one of the examples when it comes to things that were very difficult, because there wasn't enough jobs and there wasn't enough connections because my parents were newcomers to Belarus, so they didn't have the connections to get the jobs that they wanted. And now there are newcomers. Well, a few years ago, newcomers to Canada, even less connections and no English. 

Dawn Taylor

That's crazy. So you're 19, your parents are like, oh, hey, by the way, we know you've lived this life for a really long time, and friends and family and language and your comforts. We're going to hop a plane and head to Canada.

Kat Halushka

It was actually even worse. 

Dawn Taylor

Hey, how did that conversation go down? What did that look like? Was it safe to leave Belarus? Was that something where, like in a lot of countries, you're not allowed? That's an issue. Talk us through that. 

Kat Halushka

I think I might have been like 11, 12 when my parents first talked to us about it. I have a brother. So us is me and my brother, and they set us down. We're just children, right? And they're like, how do you guys feel about potentially moving to like, Canada? And we were like, yeah, sure, whatever wasn't much of a conversation. And then what happened is at 19, I was finishing up my college and two months, I think it was about two months before my graduation. My mom came to us and said, oh, by the way, remember how we hired an agency to help us immigrate? It went through, paperwork is done. We booked the tickets and we just sold an apartment. 

Dawn Taylor

So, no conversations for all of those years just because we're done.

Kat Halushka

Because an agency was doing the work. So it's like an agency for hire. So they have their own business doing that. And they tried. They must have tried at least once and it failed. So at that point, my parents had no hope that that's actually going to go through. And so they didn't feel like they actually need to have that conversation. But once it did, it was an immediate, we do it now or never. 

Dawn Taylor

So, was it ever a safety issue with leaving, was that you had to sneak out of your house in the middle of the night sort of thing? 

Kat Halushka 

No, not really that sad. Again, like I said, I'm pretty lucky, child. I feel like my parents took a lot of burdens off of me and my brother, and so I feel like there might have been some things unsaid on why it was so urgent. It just was one of those things. We're done. Wrap up. Uh, you're going to receive your diploma when you're already in Canada. You're not going to attend your grad because we're flying in a week before that. And, um, you are allowed one bag each, so pack wisely. 

Dawn Taylor

You're like, okay, thanks, mom and dad. 

Kat Halushka

And then at the airport, because you have to claim this was probably my first time flying ever. Yeah, at the airport, because you have to claim what you have in the bags. One of the things that I brought was a really, really old book that I really liked, and it was a book about a child who, during the war, uh, the soldiers made fun of him because he didn't smile enough. And so they cut his face from year to year so it would heal in the smile. And it was just like, very traumatic book, but I just really enjoyed it. Yeah, I didn't realize that this book has historical value, and therefore I have to pay to move it to a different country. And so I literally had to give that book to someone in the airport, because we just didn't have the money to pay for it. And why would you pay it, to take a book? 

Dawn Taylor

So, even just that statement, you have to like, tell them every single thing that's in your luggage. You have to pay to remove a book. I'm like, that's, yeah. No, the same as here. Why did your parents choose Canada out of everywhere in the world.

Kat Halushka

I asked myself that every year on our anniversary. But when it comes to between United States and Canada, Canada is much safer. Yeah, but also, originally, our paperwork actually was done to go to Toronto. And last minute, my mom decided that we're going to get an additional ticket to go from Toronto to Edmonton. Yeah, because I don't know who told her that, but she thought Edmonton was this small town with people who all know each other, and they leave their doors open and it's all friendly village. 

Dawn Taylor

Yeah. Not quite, not quite.

Kat Halushka

Not quite. But perhaps at some point it was. Uh, and we just ended up coming to Edmonton instead of Toronto and kind of stuck around. Yeah. 

Dawn Taylor

So, you land at the airport. Did you know---

Kat Halushka

Oh, hey, if you guys need all the trauma, even before I landed at the airport---

Dawn Taylor

If you can see Kat's face right now. She was, like, clutching her chest. 

Kat Halushka

So first of all, we go through customs in Belarus and we're all crying. So it was me, my brother and my mom. My dad already made it to Canada because he was for work, flying around. We're all crying. We get on the plane, we're all crying. My brother takes some drugs because he gets really nauseous flying. So he's drowsy. Mom and I are crying. Ten hour flight. Were crying. 12 hour flight were crying. We pick up the luggage in Toronto. We're crying. They're taking photos of us for our temporary ID. We're crying. We cried the whole time, and we landed here. And finally, like, you know, you dry up a little, but now you're just exhausted because we didn't sleep. We ended up crying the whole time and we had someone pick us up. We hired a service to pick us up and take us to an apartment that we rented and all I remember I'm driving in the car and I'm looking out and I'm like, oh my God, why do they sell drugs in the stores in Canada's with big signs? Because English was so limited. I thought literally, people have stores where they sell drugs like illegal drugs or all of  that.

Dawn Taylor

It's amazing that you're like, this is very interesting here.

Kat Halushka

I was like, where did they take us? There's nothing around from the airport except for the road. And then you see big glowing drugs, drug store signs. I mean.

Dawn Taylor

There's just drugs everywhere here. That's funny. What time of year did you move here? 

Kat Halushka

Uh, actually, I landed in Canada on Canada Day. 

Dawn Taylor

Okay, so at least you didn't land in, like, the depths of the hell of winter. 

Kat Halushka

No, nothing like that. And I gotta say, one of the most asked questions that I got for the first few years when I still had very thick accent is, um, if it's much, much warmer here. But the truth is, it was never as cold in Belarus or Russia. Edmonton is way colder. 

Dawn Taylor

Oh yeah, oh yeah. 

Kat Halushka

It's crazy.

Dawn Taylor 

Weird stereotypical idea that we have of Russia. It's black cars, men in big fur hats, machine guns, and it's all. We've all watched a few too many movies. I think that's crazy. Okay, so you got to figure out adulthood in a place that don't have a natural, like, had you started in school, you would have had like a natural way to meet people, make friends, all of those things. But starting at 19. 

Kat Haluhska

Still going through puberty you could say. And back home I just started getting live and friends and going out and you know like all those things and then landing here and realizing, man, I literally have nobody but my family. And I was so mad at my parents that I wouldn't even like I would, I would just take off and go walk the streets because I just didn't want to be in the same house. 

Dawn Taylor

Uh, I can imagine. Okay, so for starters, I don't know 119 year old that wouldn't behave that way if they had to move to a new place, because that's just how we are at 19. But moving somewhere where nobody speaks the same language, nobody probably dresses the same, eats the same, looks the same, nothing, like there's no comfort in walking into a store and knowing you're going to find that comfort food or that comfort item. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah and I gotta say, like Canada really, really worried me. Like I had so much anxiety just walking on the street because everybody would talk to you. 

Dawn Taylor

Yeah. We're real friendly here. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah. Very friendly. And like, everybody would try to pet the dog where that's a big no no. Like, you don't just pet strangers, dog. And everybody would ask, how are you? And you go to the store and the cashier asks you. And there I'm trying to answer in my broken English. And then realizing they don't really care and not understanding what is the expectation of that interaction, because that's not the interaction I'm familiar with. That's not how it goes. 

Dawn Taylor

Okay, so I'm thinking back to all of the interactions I've had over. And let's be honest, we live in Edmonton, which is like a multicultural salad bowl. I don't think I've ever been to a place in my entire life that has so many cultures, so many languages spoken. It's a it's an interesting cultural experience here, which I love. Yeah. But that also creates its own set of problems. Right, like like you were saying, like that friendliness. It's that friendliness that makes us so Canadian and makes us so us and how many times have we been part of that? Whereas like, let's smother you with love because you've arrived in our country and smother you with attention for different things, not paying attention at all to like, are you comfortable with this and what are my intentions behind it? But like you said, the expectations behind the interaction. I feel like nobody ever talks about that, right? It's like, what are the expectations you have on this interaction with me? Because right now I'm just trying to figure out life. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah, yeah. And trying to just do the basics like finding a bathroom or buying something at a store that's behind the counter that you have to ask for, but you don't know the word for it. My first experience going on a bus ride, which a lot of people don't think about, but buses don't work the same everywhere, where I came from, bus stops on every stop to pick people up and drop people off. And so, as I said, they're on the bus going downtown to pick up my paperwork as a permanent resident. I don't realize that the bus is not stopping at every stop, and I have to do something in order to make it stop.

Dawn Taylor

You pull the little cord. 

Kat Halushka

Mhm. Yeah. Going to the depot and back was fun. But it was until I was like oh people are doing something around me. They're pressing buttons and pulling cords and all the kind of stuff and figuring out how do you actually know where's it going to stop when you pull it? Maybe it's a stop too early or too late.

Dawn Taylor

Just hope. Just hope and pray that it gets to your stop. Uh, 

Kat Halushka

Yeah, it was interesting. It was very interesting. And I think that that was a big learning curve. Right? Uh, and besides that, just lack of exposure to cultures. So when I was growing up, the majority of the people came from countries surrounding me, which means I had a big gap when it comes to exposure to anybody was really different ethnicities or colors of skin. And so I had to be honest, I don't think I've seen a black person until I was 19. Like, it's that bad? Imagine you walk on the street and you get such a high exposure of all the different dresses and cultures and colors and all the different people and how they look. And I'm just in shock and I'm looking because I've never seen it. But people think I'm looking because I'm rude. 

Dawn Taylor

Oh, yeah. You know, that might cause a problem or two. 

Kat Halushka

Just a couple? Yeah, just a couple. 

Dawn Taylor

So what was the what was the number one thing that you did? Or even, like the top few things that you did to finally find your place to feel comfortable, to to feel like you weren't lost in this big ocean of people anymore. 

Kat Halushka

You know, I probably went the opposite direction from majority of people who immigrate to different country. Yeah. I mean, one of the hardest decisions in my life. And I decided that I'm actually going to cut myself off from my culture. So I stayed away from the Russian speaking community completely. So I had one friend in Edmonton, uh, that we just accidentally met, and that's the one friend who spoke Russian to me. And otherwise I would not go to any events, community centres or gatherings or any sorts that were speaking in the same language as I did.

Dawn Taylor

Your brother and parents?

Kat Halushka

I mean, they spoke Russian at home, but remember, I didn't want to be at home. I'm mad at them. And so I would always be out and I would really reinforce myself. Was the idea that there is no going back? There is no way for me to go back to my past life. There is no way for me to go back to speak in Russian all the time. That's just not going to happen. I'm not going to teach every Canadian how to do it right. There is no way for me to go back and change my education or friends or whatever. There's only forward. And so I have decided for myself that my way forward will be integrate myself into Canadian culture and English as much as I could. It wasn't easy. That's for sure. And you meet all kinds of people. I've been lucky enough to meet people who, at my first job at Tim Hortons, would sit down with me and make me read a newspaper until I pronounce things correctly. And then I've had people who would laugh at me and bring me, because it was funny to joke around how I pronounce things in their friend groups. So you kind of got both. You had people who took advantage or made you the laughingstock kind of thing, and you had people who really wanted to help. And like I said, I've been pretty lucky in my life. I feel like I've had a lot of different mentors and friends who really helped me through those difficult times of trying to learn and integrate. And let's be honest, I'm still weird. I'm always going to be weird, but now I know there's nothing wrong with that. So I'll find my people. Always do. 

Dawn Taylor

You're awesome, I love that. Looking back. So it's one thing to do that at 19 and be like, I'm going to just cut all that off, walk away from it, and I'm going to figure this out because that's what I have to do. Looking back now, all these years later, would you make the same decision? 

Kat Halushka

Yeah, for sure. Because looking at my life right now is I think actually, I don't know if my parents feel the same way, but I think I'm living out the exact legacy that I would want for myself. Yeah. Like I'm living. Living the the the dream that I want for myself. I work for myself. I have the freedom of time. I have the freedom of finances. I have deep connections and friends in my life. Those, you know, like those couple of people who you're going to be friends with forever. They're family now. Yeah, I have just about anything that I wanted. And so to me, that was a stepping stone to that, although it was hardship, it was still the one thing that drove me to work through all of those kinks in order to get to the exact life that I wanted. 

Dawn Taylor

How did your parents, how did your parents deal with that? Because one of the things we had talked about prior to this was, you know, we always hear about the families that came to Canada or came to another country and immigrated because they just want a better life for their children. 

Kat Halushka

Mhm. That definitely was my parents. 

Dawn Taylor

Right. And that's what they wanted. And they they gave you the opportunity. I mean let's be honest. Every parent can give their opportunity, their child an opportunity to do amazing. You did the work. So congratulations right. Like you stepped up. You did the work. You fought for a ticket where you are, right? But what did that journey look like for your parents? 

Kat Halushka

And I think that's one of the dark sides that people don't talk about, is when my parents have made a decision for us to move as a family, they had only one thing in mind, and that's a better life for their kids,  for me and my brother. Like it's it's a better life. It's more opportunity. It's easier life than what they had. Right? It's it's more love and freedom and all the things that we want. Um, and I don't think that through that whole journey, once they thought about how hard it's going to be for them, because me at 19, of course, I picked up English and all of those things, you know, it comes much easier. But also it's so much easier. Yeah, 

Dawn Taylor

Yeah, you do your thing. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah. And it's easier to make connections because it's just you're just enough and mature to do crazy stuff and be weird. Right. And find your kind of weird people.

Dawn Taylor

Totally. 

Kat Halushka

But as you get older, and that's what I find for myself too. As I get older, it's harder and harder to create those deep connections because you already have a life that you've lived that's so full, and you have your ways and you're pretty set. And I swear it was. Every year I get more and more stubborn in my ways, and I don't know if that's just my family gene. Or maybe that's just people in general. But from my parents is I just feel grateful that they have each other, because often I feel like they never thought about just how alone they're going to be, how how hard it's going to be for them to find friends and deep connections and how their whole life from that point of coming to Canada on is just going to be our family and that's it. Yeah, they left all their deep connections and friends behind. And although of course you can catch up online, it's just not the same. 

Dawn Taylor

It's not the same. And what about even for work? So, they come to this country with, like, my kids are going to have a better life. This is why we're doing this. There was obviously a probably a massive cost attached to them even coming. I mean, not even just the flights, like just the hiring, the agencies, the paperwork, the renting of the apartments, all these things. They arrive now, they're alone in this country. What are they even doing for work? And what did that look like? 

Kat Halushka

Yeah. So luckily, through previous experience, my dad was the only one in the family who spoke English. 

Dawn Taylor

Interesting. Because of his work he had done. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah, yeah. So he had, uh, not a huge vocabulary, but enough to have a conversation and carry the the work that he was hired to do. So he actually ended up, uh, going and getting a project manager certification and going into that field. But before that, of course, we all worked at Tim Hortons, the gas station, the grocery store, you know, the very typical for his jobs, except usually kids work at an early age. That's where you start. But I mean, imagine being like a 45 year old and that's your, what feels like first job, 

Dawn Taylor

Right? And you're and you would be you would be looked at as. The person who had no skills and no training and no anything, even though you would come from this very impressive career back home.

Kat Halushka

Yeah, we all put in our fair and share of working for minimum wage. For those of you from Alberta. Minimum wage used to be way lower than it is right now by about half. 

Dawn Taylor

My first job when we moved to Alberta, we were just about 21. And I remember it was 5.25 an hour. So probably around like it was a few years earlier than you moved here. And yeah, those were the days. Let me tell you. 

Kat Halushka

And I think I always had advantage over majority of the people around me. For me, I always had this. Ever since I was a child, I had this, um, really strong, weird sense of curiosity over everything and how things work. And so, like, even working for Tim Hortons, which was my first job, I went from the minimum wage to making 16 bucks an hour within like six months, which is unheard of. But because I wanted to learn every job, it wasn't just me following their structure. It was me like, okay, and now show me how to do the donuts and now show me how to do the sandwiches, and I'll show me how to manage the payroll. And now you're going to show me how to open and close the store, and now you're going to show me how to fix an oven, because they could never hire people fast enough to do that. And I would just learn every possible job within that place, which made me almost invaluable. Yeah. 

Dawn Taylor

Which is wild. How did your parents deal with? Especially because, like, they had lived that culture for so much longer and the language and all of those things, how did they deal with it when you said, no, I'm walking away from all of this and I don't think I'm going to integrate. 

Kat Halushka

I don't think they ever really knew, to be honest, because I very much disconnected from my family for the first year of being here, for the first year. I was still determined that I'm going to go work, save whatever paycheck I have leftover because I would put money in for the family, right? And then usually half, I would say for myself, and I'm going to go back. 

Dawn Taylor

Oh, so that first year you were like, I'm out. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah. I was like, I'm going back. I'm going to go visit my friends. And then I didn't really have a plan. What's after that? I just missed my friends so much and I missed home so much that I decided I'm going to go back. And so a year later, I booked the ticket for 30 days. 

Dawn Taylor

Wow. 

Kat Halushka

The one thing that, uh, I think I didn't expect. Because that's when the big shift happened of completely deciding to to shift my whole life out of the past and into what's happening now is I didn't realize that when I go back, I have opened my eyes and have had the taste of a different lifestyle and different culture and different surroundings. And so going back, some of the things that you could say, I was blinded to that now I could see is that some of my friends lived in a one bedroom apartment with their parents and grandparents, and the brother and the brother's wife and two kids. 

Dawn Taylor

Oh my goodness.

Kat Halushka

And I just didn't see it before because it was normal. And when it's normal, it doesn't seem out of place or weird. Right? It just seems like that's just how you live. That's how everybody lives. Or going back and realizing that none of the people I went to college was actually went and used their diploma to do the work that they went to college for because they didn't have the connections. So most of them were cleaning toilets or doing some kind of paperwork somewhere, or they were doing tickets on the bus. Just random jobs. Or like even seeing how a teacher, uh, in school back there was making less than the person who was cleaning the toilets in that school. Like, that's just terrifying to think. And especially knowing how much influence my teachers had on me in school. Like, that's just terrible. 

Dawn Taylor

So you went back, had your eyes crazy opened, positive and negative. How hard was it to come back to Edmonton? 

Kat Halushka

Easy. Because now I was determined. I was like, man, I make so much money on my minimum wage here. It's insane. Yeah. Where? Like back home. The the paycheck feels different because of how much things cost. But even if you, if you say, like a loaf of bread would cost, say, like $2, but your paycheck is $150 a month. So it's quite difficult to even comprehend the idea of how my parents have survived through the years with two children. Like it's insane for me to think about it. So when I was coming back, all I could think about like, man, I got it easy. I'm in Canada now. I can get a loan, a mortgage, I can get a job where they pay me every two weeks. Like everything just felt like it's just easy. Like, from now on, it's just easy. Because looking at how all my friends lived, that's hard. They might have not felt that way. And I don't feel sorry for them because they love how they live. But for me, I couldn't go back to that. No. 

Dawn Taylor

And I can see that where it's like, I might hate Edmonton, but I hate this more. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah. Yeah, I truly came back loving the opportunity that my parents have sacrificed for to create for me.  And that's when I started healing my relationship with my parents, because I realized that they didn't do it to harm me. They did it to create with me and for me.

Dawn Taylor

Which is amazing. I love that you had the opportunity to heal that. 

Kat Halushka

It's been a journey. 

Dawn Taylor

I bet it has. We all have parents. We all know the journey. 

Kat Halushka

I still have you know like in my garage, this one corner that I just save up all the things that are breakable to go and take to the rage room. So when I'm still mad at things, I can just go and smash them.

Dawn Taylor

You can go and rage. That's awesome. So for your parents, you get to start fresh. You're 19 or now 20. You've been working. You're doing stuff. I mean, you go on to build crazy businesses and do amazing things How does your parents do? 

Kat Halushka

Yeah. I think my parents, um, are very interesting couple in general because I look at their relationship, we often model our relationships after our parents. Right. So even looking at theirs, my dad is very much standard corporate job consistency, stability. He's our anchor. He always has been our foundation, our anchor. He's grounding us. He's incredible at it. My mom is opposite. She's like, how do I find the shortest path from A to B in the best way possible? That creates the most for everybody around. And so she's been from jobs to she started a business. So she actually has a cultural store in Calgary now uh, that she's running and she's constantly her mind is going on what else she can create. So I love that about her is she's very creative and she's very driven. So perhaps that's where I got it from, too.

Dawn Taylor

I was gonna say, give the credit where it's due. Yeah, maybe a little bit. Not too much. We don't want to cause more trauma for you, but yes, maybe a little bit of that.

Kat Halushka

And so her drive has been a huge inspiration for me as well in life a lot of the times, because as I go through hard times, she's been always the person to shift my perspective on what's happening and shifted into, I know it sounds cheesy, but anything is possible and I can do and be whatever I want. And I grew up in that. I grew up in that container of I can create the change in the shift within me or within the world around me in order to make things happen. And again, I just feel so freaking lucky and skillful and just full from an ability to always figure it out. Like there not has not been a moment in my life in many years now where I felt like I can't figure it out. 

Dawn Taylor

That's beautiful. That is something I think more people need to have access to. Is that part of it? And it's amazing. I've always said that I'm like, no, I can figure it out. Bring it on, bring it on. Right. Like I'll figure it out. There's always a way, there's always a way. I'll figure it out. Like I say that all the time. And I love that I've met someone else who has that in them. Because it's not a common trait these days. The beautiful gift your parents gave you, even if it came wrapped in a shit ton of tears and flights and trauma and everything else. The wrapping paper may have sucked, but the gift itself was really beautiful.

Kat Halushka

Yeah, it's actually the conversation I had with someone yesterday about change. So I think that's one of the superpowers that is underrated. That people should embrace more. And I think me being able to not just create change for others, but create change for myself and enjoy it, truly find joy in it. It came from originally that trauma that I got from moving to Canada that I got to heal throughout the years. So that's the thing is, I find that we live through life and I mean, we all have some kind of trauma, not just one multiples, right? And once we start working on healing, and that's how it was for me once I start working on healing it, that's one of the things that I noticed is when I'm doing the work. And once the healing has happened for me, it always turns into a superpower. It's freaking crazy.

Dawn Taylor

Oh. Doesn't it? 

Kat Halushka

Uh, it's just insane. So, like, embracing my weirdness, finding joy and change, creating shifts. And at any time that I want or need, like, all of those are superpowers that came originally from something that I thought was so traumatic and at that age, dramatic. That was the end of the world, right? And so the joy in life is truly found within the healing process and the healing journey and all the things that come after. Or that's what I believe.

Dawn Taylor

I 100% agree. You know, I was thinking to as you were talking, we are so quick to hold on to an identity. And for anyone who's going to get mad at me because this isn't politically correct. Deal. Send an email to hello@thetaylorway.ca. But we grab on to an identity, right? And I was thinking about when you said that you had to like, shut off all the Russian peace, the Belarus piece, that part of you to fully integrate into where you are. We do that all the time. We buy into an identity of what our role is and our marriage. We buy into an identity of who we are as a parent. We buy into an identity of who we are. Looks health, culture, jobs, titles. And it was that shift. It was that shift in releasing the identity, because at the end of the day, you are still who you are genetically like, who you are, and your brain, your heart, your soul, like, that is still you. You had to release. You had to release an identity around that. To be able to accept a new one. You had to release an identity around that to be able to create something new. And it didn't mean it was dead and gone, right? But you had to push yourself out of that comfort zone. You had to push yourself out of that, that area you've always known. Right? It's the concept of like, if you're the smartest person in the room, get in a bigger room. Change rooms. And that, that discomfort, I think is so huge. And we need to learn to feel good in the discomfort. Not even feel good in it but to like almost get excited about it. Like oh this is uncomfortable okay. What would this mean for me? What could this mean for me?

Kat Halushka

Mhm. That's one of the things that as a child, a lot of us play and put on different masks and personalities and you try different things, right? And then some of you like and some you don't, some you keep and some you don't like. I think about some mannerism when I was a child. I still have it, probably forever will have because I like it. I liked it about me, so I kept it and I forever will keep it right? And so last year, part of my healing process is that was the year of one phrase for me, and that one phrase was, it's okay to change your mind. Isn't it powerful? Especially as a woman. It's okay to change your mind. You can be someone different. You can do something different. You can go somewhere different. That's okay to change your mind. And so I just came back from Mexico, which originally was supposed to be a speaking arrangement that someone invited me to do in San Diego. And I was asking my guides and I was like, should I book it? I'm just not sure. Like the timing, whatever, all the things. And I kept getting, yes. And then I go online and I look up the tickets and the website crashes and I'm like, okay, refresh. And as I refresh, promo code comes up for a trip to Mexico. And I'm like, that's not what I was looking for. But I'm like, huh? Did you mean I should book the flight or I should book the trip? I was like, book the flight. And I was like, Mexico, it is. So it's okay to change your mind. I got way more enjoyment out of that than going to San Diego to speak. 

Dawn Taylor

You just made my day because it is so true. It is so true. You are a beautiful soul. I hope you know that. You really are. If you were to give any advice. Two parts, one for people coming to Canada or an immigrant here, or someone who's just moved here that is like, wow, what do I do? What is a piece of advice you'd give them and a piece of advice you'd give for a super overly friendly Canadians welcoming in all of these immigrants, right? I have no idea what to do. 

Kat Halushka

I'm going to start from Canadians because they are overly friendly, and there's nothing wrong with that And just be forgiving and patient because when it comes to new language, new places, new cultures, new introductions, right? It takes a little bit to learn. And a lot of the times it doesn't even mean you got to explain something, but it's just a matter of giving a person an extra half a minute to figure out what they're trying to say. 

Dawn Taylor

Totally. 

Kat Halushka

Right. It takes some time. So, a little more patience and grace to those around. Doesn't matter if they're immigrants or they live here. Some of us just need time.

Dawn Taylor

I was going to say, I don't think it's just for the immigrant. We all sometimes just need an extra second. 

Kat Halushka

Yeah. And then for people who either just immigrated or are looking to immigrate soon is tap into all the resources that are offered. That was such a huge game changer for me. Um, there were programs for new immigrants where they would walk you through some of those cultural differences, made a huge difference for me. Uh, one of the biggest life changing experiences that I got to go through was actually going to northwest to English classes. And it wasn't even because of English is because of the amount of different cultures in there. And just how patient the teachers are who are introducing you. Yeah, to all those cultures and little weird things about Canada and weird things about English, and how much of a community you get to build within that that you truly are going to need, especially if you're coming alone. 

Dawn Taylor

I do love that about especially Edmonton, like we have so many resources here for people 

Kat Halushka

And years down the road actually went back and volunteered for northwest as a teacher helper. 

Dawn Taylor

Really? 

Kat Halushka

Yeah, because I felt like it's such a tremendous opportunity to be in a place in my life to actually give back in that way and volunteering. Now, I want you to just imagine here for a second. You're in the classroom and you're in a classroom of the level one, which is the the really first level of English, which is people know maybe a word or two. Yeah, it was 20 people from eight different countries, and they're not allowed to use their own language. And you're teaching them English. Part of that is given back. But other part of it I truly got to play, because how else can you teach someone a word that truly means nothing to them, but to be a kid again and place your grades? Really, that that's what it's like. That's the classes you play in charades. 



Dawn Taylor

So all the hand motions. Amazing. Kat, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here today. Thank you for sharing this. I feel like my interactions with people are definitely going to shift based on this. And yeah, we got to think about those parents sometimes. But also I can just visualize this beautiful 19 year old just angry and full of piss and vinegar and spitfire who's going to make a difference in this world? Kat is an international speaker. She's a marketing consultant. She's a business tool nerd and the founder of Profit Impact Academy. Go to the Show Notes located at TheTaylorWay.ca to find her information. Her contact information, all about her, how to follow her everywhere to hear her cool accent. Thank you to all the listeners who are here today. And yeah, subscribe now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you download and listen to your podcast and see you here in two weeks for another cool topic.