That ended up being my biggest advantage and like really setting me apart.

I think I have a very different approach to how I create and it is because I don't have that preconceived idea of how it had to be done.

Yeah.

Hi everyone, this is Alex York. I'm an associate editor at Forbes on the 30 under 30 team and I am here with a 30 under 30 lister, Kate Barton. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Hi, thank you for having me. So we have a lot to talk about. I know that you had no really intentions of going down the fashion route.

Yeah, so like growing up, I guess I never explored my creative side. Like my, no one of my family was creative.

And like I didn't know I could, I didn't even try to do that route.

And so it was never something I even, like, thought in the realm of possibilities.

And when I got to school and college, I kind of started realizing, like, I like style and fashion.

And, but I was like,

I could never be a fashion designer.

Like, that's not even an option. So I started getting into more of, like, the merchandising side of it.

And I was into it, but I was, like, not fully there.

Like, something was missing.

Do you think that, because you said, you know,

you're from Kansas City, being from the Midwest, I'm also from the Midwest. And I feel like growing up

too, I also never thought that many creative fields were even an option. Like I didn't know people who did

it. Is that something that kind of came? I guess. And it's something that I'm realizing like now.

I think like being in Kansas, it's not like you're around these

careers in, like, media and, like, a fashion design. And so I think it's just something that

seems like a far dream that you could aspire to, but not something that's, like, realistic.

And I feel like there's such a stereotype of like what a fashion designer is.

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