Meet Kyra deGruy Kennedy | Candidate for State Rep, HD30; Principal at Ahimsa Consulting; Momma to Lennon

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyra deGruy Kennedy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyra, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
I’ve always been a person who says yes to a lot. Right now what that looks like is running a very busy health innovation consulting firm, running a competitive primary campaign, mentoring quite a few young adults who are finding their way in our complicated web of systems, and most importantly, being a present mom to a strong-willed toddler and a loving partner to my wonderful husband. Having experienced early life trauma and having a mom who was a practicing psychotherapist, I was lucky to grow up with therapy and self-help normalized. I spent my adolescence going through the 12 steps every year, consistently seeing a therapist, exploring my spirituality, going to yoga and meditation teacher trainings, and learning that dedicating my life to service pulls me out of my story and into our shared experience. Those years of deep self inquiry and intentional healing saved my life. I have been incredibly lucky to have vulnerable, authentic, and sometimes brutally honest mentors guiding my growth and helping me develop strategies to thrive in the midst of chaos, which is certainly how our political landscape feels right now.
The habits that foster my thriving have evolved over the years, and I imagine will continue to, but for now, I have a pretty robust daily routine.
1. Several years ago, I started practicing Kundalini Yoga. I’ve been a student of yoga since I was very young but always felt like Kundalini was a little too weird. And in fact, it is very weird. The basic idea is that we have dormant energy in our body and with specific movements, or kriyas, we’re able to harness, or use that energy for transformation. The movements themselves are unusual (and hard!), and take a bit of getting used to, but have completely changed my life. I take a class on Glo live each morning with Kia Miller and try to practice with her in person a couple times per year. Starting my morning this way helps me to keep calm in the midst of crisis, not take things so personally, and be present for the moment I’m in.
2. Journaling: I first read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron when I was a teenager and started writing morning pages (3 pages of journaling whatever is on my mind at the start of each day) many years ago. Like many things when time is precious, I’ve scaled back, and now write at least one page each morning that includes setting intentions for my day and brain dumping anything I need to work through. It’s surprising how such a small thing can set the tone for a day.
3. Internal Family Systems: Similar to Kundalini in it’s relative weirdness, I practice the IFS model on a daily basis and it has been completely transformational. I recommend reading No Bad Parts if you’re interested in learning about it.
4. Gratitude lists: My husband and I have had a nightly routine for many years before falling asleep where we cuddle up and share all the things we’re grateful for in our day — both externally and what we appreciate about each other. Now that our daughter is talking (constantly), we do this with her at bedtime too. The practice helps us reflect on the beauty in our lives and brings us closer together, and it also helps me to stay more present throughout the day because I know I’m going to report on all the things I felt grateful for and all the things I noticed Chris doing for our family at the end of the day.
5. Service to others: Although I’m not currently in AA, one of the many gifts that the program gave me was the truth that the easiest way to get out of my own way is to help someone else. Any time I’m frustrated, resentful, overwhelmed, self pitying, or feeling hopeless, a quick and easy fix is to help another person, and right now, there are plenty of people who need help.
6. Look for wonder. I’ve gotten better at this since having my daughter because she is awed by everything. We go outside and she hears the train go by, or our goats say, “mmmmeeehhhh” and she lights up and says, “what’s that sound?!” Intentionally looking for wonder, and sometimes choosing to be awed by the mundane, grounds me in the truth that every moment is truly miraculous. Having grown up with lots of folks struggling with addictions, I’ve been to far too many funerals of people that I’ve loved. Remembering every second I get to be alive is precious, that every time I get to hear my daughter tell me she loves me is a magic moment, brings an enthusiasm into all the work I do, even when things feel really hard.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In addition to the work that actually pays my bills (more on that below), I’m thrilled to share that I’m running to be the next State Representative in House District 30! The district includes east Lakewood and Edgewater. Check out my website at https://www.kyraforcolorado.com/

When I was 20, thanks to a lot of help from countless wonderful humans, I got my life together and started working in healthcare. Even then, I was struck by the way our healthcare system functioned. Corporations, like insurance and pharma, were making billions of dollars on the backs of patients who weren’t thriving. We were (and are) pouring money into “healthcare” while outcomes kept getting worse. I saw that we needed a fundamentally different model if we wanted people to live happy and healthy lives, and so I started working in public policy and community organizing. The deeper I’ve dug into the issues we currently face, the more strongly I believe that we need policy leaders who understand how to build models of change within complex adaptive systems, who can build learning and iteration into policy change, and who are dedicated to deep listening and empowering folks with lived experience to be experts on solutions.
I’m reading a book right now called Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past And Will Shape Our Future, and the author argues that we’ve been learning about science all wrong — that when we break science down into biology, chemistry, physics, etc., we create silos that stop us from seeing the whole picture. That rather, science, by it’s very nature, should be holistic and should paint the full picture of life, not break it into parts. It’s taken me almost a decade of doing this work to understand all the complex ways that we’ve used this same mindset to create public policy, and a large part of why I’m running for office, and doing my day job, is to change that paradigm.
I’m currently a consultant focused on systems change. The main project I’m directing is called the Collaborative Community Response Initiative, though we’re in the midst of a rebrand and will soon be known as co-thrive. This project is working with multiple communities across the state, including one in my district in Jefferson County with the Action Center. We’re reimagining health by putting the person and a culturally competent companion in the center, who build a trust-based relationship focused on the individual’s (and their family’s) goals and dreams. We’re formalizing collaborations between community leadership, primary and specialty care, behavioral health, public health, and all the social services a person needs to thrive, to ensure a person has “no wrong door” when looking for support. We’re collecting data on changes in outcomes and life satisfaction using this model, and are seeing the potential for robust financial savings to our systems when we invest upstream rather than taxpayers footing the bill for systems failure (meaning fewer unpaid ER visits, reductions in recidivism, a happier and more productive workforce, etc.).
Trying to change systems, especially those rooted in capitalism, is hard work. There are days where we don’t get grant funding we expected, or a community partner backs out, or a person we’re working with has a crisis in a community where resources are scant and it feels heavy and disheartening. But most days, I feel like we’re right on the cusp of changing the world — of making it possible for folks furthest from power, privilege and economic opportunities to truly thrive. That we’re building something in Colorado that can be a model for the rest of the country, in a time when so many people are desperate for support and community.
I borrow a mantra from Brene Brown to keep me grounded, present, and leading with vulnerability: strong back, soft front, and wild heart. She says, “For me, that strong back is grounded confidence and boundaries. The soft front is staying vulnerable and curious. The mark of a wild heart is living out these paradoxes in our lives and not giving into the either/or BS that reduces us. It’s showing up in our vulnerability and our courage, and, above all else, being both fierce and kind.”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m prefacing this by reminding you that I have a toddler. This means that I have zero nightlife, unless you count repeatedly singing The 59th Street Bridge Song and reading Curious George as a nightlife, which I hope you do not.

I’m going to pretend like money is not an issue (ha!) and that it’s Spring so we can do whatever sports we want, so I would:
Day 1: Bring her skiing at A Basin or rock climbing at Clear Creek Canyon, dinner at 240 Union (a Lakewood gem!)
Day 2: Yoga at Karma Yoga on S. Pearl with Katrina, walk around the farmer’s market and shop at Common Threads (a very cute consignment shop), take a walk around Wash Park, feed ducks etc., have early sushi dinner at Izakaya Den
Day 3: Drive to Valley View Hot Springs for soaking, camping, and bat viewing.
Day 4: Still at Valley View! You can’t rush this stuff.
Day 5: Get up early and drive back to Lakewood the long way — stop in Salida, Buena Vista, Alma, Breckenridge, Idaho Springs. Test taste fudge at every stop. Evening hike at the Enchanted Forest Loop (off the Apex trail)
Day 6: Mountain bike ride up Green Mountain (bring a picnic to eat at the top of the first hill so we actually enjoy the rest of the ride) and then go to a Red Rocks show in the evening.
Day 7: Bring her to my *new* office at the Colorado State Capitol, have lunch at City, O’ City, take the train together to the airport

Now that I’ve planned this, I want this staycation!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As I mentioned in my answer about habits, I have been deeply privileged to have incredible mentorship throughout my life and I credit my parents with both my persistence in pursing mentors, and my avid love of reading and learning. I don’t have enough space to go into all the people and books that have made an impact in my ability to thrive and succeed, so I’ll share a short-ish non-exhaustive list.

Educational Teachers: I had an unusual adolescence and because of this, my middle and high school education was spotty. I struggled to succeed in a traditional classroom, due in large part to untreated PTSD, and unsuccessfully tried a variety of high schools before ending up at one of the first public online schools in Colorado to finish my education. When I was 16 & 17, I had a teacher that helped with my online learning named Sally Smith, who had previously been a high school drama teacher in Parker, CO. Her willingness to meet me right where I was and help me see that the world has the potential to be a classroom reignited my deep love of learning in a very dark time. She was also the first person to teach me about policy and politics, and when I trace the threads back to what started the trajectory of my career, Sally gets the credit.
I started college later than many, and was a nontraditional student. I went to MSU Denver, which is an open access institution, and didn’t live on campus, so in many ways, I didn’t have the college experience that some have. On the first day of my Holistic Health class, my professor, Carol Jensen, told a bit of her story and why she was teaching (she was formerly in healthcare), and I instinctively felt a connection to her vulnerability, her grit, and her heart. I pursued her mentorship, quite persistently, for several months and eventually wormed my way into her heart. Carol taught me that a storied past is only a problem if you don’t learn from it, that when the voice in your belly speaks to you, you better listen to it, and that health is about so much more than healthcare. We’re still very close friends and I’m better at all I do for knowing her.

Spiritual teachers: I met Ray in 2012. A close friend introduced us, as I was searching for a deeper connection with my spirituality and was very interested in learning more about land-based Indigenous practices. Ray was of the Lakota people and was incredibly generous with his time and practices. For several years until he left this earth, he held sweat lodges every Sunday at his home and invited me to participate in ceremony and in the feasts that followed. It’s hard to articulate the healing and the beauty of the Inipi. Listening to him sing, hearing about his people, and grieving and growing in community fundamentally changed me. His willingness to hold, and share, such sacred space continues to be a polestar in how I seek to be of comfort to others.
I met Erica at a time when I was in deep heartbreak. My life was in transition and the people I’d relied upon for emotional support and I weren’t seeing eye-to-eye, so I was feeling alone in my grief, and was tempted to make a choice I knew wasn’t right for me in order to feel less alone. Erica gave me strength and courage to stand in my truth and showed me that the only way past what I was feeling was through it. They supported me in reimagining a relationship with a higher power and helped me find a home in nonreligious faith. They also happen to be a total powerhouse in alternatives to political violence, and so I also had the opportunity to watch my spiritual mentor make positive change in a field I worked in. They helped me see that we have the capacity and ability to bring beauty into politics.

Books: Dare to Lead by Brene Brown has been both a companion and manual for me in so much of the work I’ve done. I’ve been a student of leadership for many years and it’s rare to find a book that is both actionable and emotional. I go through and bring my teams through the workbook annually and I learn something new every time.
Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown is a workbook/yarn/organizing tool that brings adaptive leadership, spirituality and self-help together to make magic. One of my copies is completely highlighted, which perhaps negates the point of highlighting, but I couldn’t help it.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Every time I read it, I feel a renewed connection with the earth and an activated energy to protect her.
Healing the Heart of Democracy by Parker J Palmer gives me hope that we can, as he says, build “a politics worthy of the human spirit”. I had the incredible privilege of attending a leadership retreat with him many years ago and left with a visceral knowing that politics can be wholehearted, and that I have a role to play in that transformation.

Website: https://www.kyraforcolorado.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyraforcolorado/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyradegruy/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kyra_deGruy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kyraforcolorado/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGI1zRQqEg9VKlaHw-bXiGg