Dream 10 Profile: Kristin Gracie

by Kylie Kendall

The Dream 10 is a group of extraordinary people and organizations who have invested in the Dream, Girl premiere in New York City on June 9th, 2016. 

Someone once insulted Kristin Gracie by saying “you’re just a dreamer.” After that blow, it took her a while to understand the incredible power that comes with being a dreamer, and now that she has, she’s a force to be reckoned with.

When Kristin’s sister was diagnosed with terminal cancer about ten years ago, she took a leave of absence from her big-four accounting job to care for her. “Time was all that mattered,” Kristin says. “And that was really the first shift in me toward figuring out what my bigger purpose in life was.”

So she spent the next decade as a “serial entrepreneur,” figuring out what her life’s work was going to be. Last year, she became a certified Health Coach and started a holistic practice of helping people look within themselves to find that inner voice she knows so well herself. Her latest venture, the RW Project-, Renaissance Woman, setting out to redefine what it means to be a woman of the 21st century. The focus is on empowering women through cultivating their feminine energy and connection to a community of like-minded women. Curated from the wisdom of her own journey, The RW Project brings women together for quarterly workshop retreats in NYC with the first launching the weekend of June 9-12. (Psst — there are a few spots left! Click here to find out more details.) We’re so honored and excited that she’s including the Dream, Girl world premiere as a part of the retreat.

Kristin deeply believes in the power of women setting themselves free to dream, so becoming a part of the Dream 10 was a natural fit. Here, we chat with Kristin to find out more about why she devotes her life to uplifting women.

What’s your favorite part about being an entrepreneur?

Freedom! Life is all about choices and for me to choose how I spend my time and that my efforts go to my own passions and what I want to achieve, is really amazing. I also like to be location independent because I like to travel. I think it’s just the power to create from my heart and at my own pace, without anyone telling me how to do it or what to do. It’s freedom and creation.

Why is it important to you to support other female entrepreneurs?

In my own journey, I’m a very strong alpha-female. I have opinions. I’m passionate. And I came up against other women, very often in corporate environments, who were threatened by that and I would have to keep myself small in order to play well with others. It would hurt my heart in those instances because I love to make others shine so I struggled when others were out to do the opposite. And it’s not that these are bad women intending to hurt others it’s just insecurity and being uncomfortable with owning their inner truths. So I focus on building confidence and courage to live what they have whispering inside of them and in turn remove those competitive natures within women. I lead by example, and so I’m all about collaboration, not competition. There’s enough to go around for all of us to be thriving and successful in any which way we define that. I just want to be a leader for that, and really walk my talk.

I also think the world would be better served with more women leaders. If we can really build up our women leaders to have that confidence for bringing to life whatever they have inside of them, I think the world would come together because that’s the beauty of feminine power.

How did you get involved in Dream, Girl?

The first thing that drew me to the project was Erin — Erin having a vision and an idea that she brought to life. Being an entrepreneur my whole life, I know what kind of hustle it takes to create something from nothing. First and foremost, it was just appreciating another woman’s creation and that she stuck to an idea and made it happen. It’s the commitment to a dream or an idea in a world that doesn’t really support that. So to see another woman going after her dream really struck a chord with me.

And the other thing is that we need to see these stories, and the first thing I thought of was the youth. It’s not just other women, but also young girls. If I had these examples when I was in high school or younger, how much further would I have been, knowing that I could achieve big dreams? I spent 15 years just getting to a place where I believed I could do it. So I think that we need to get this message out there for not just adults, but also our youth. They need to know that they can achieve whatever comes to their hearts.

Why did you join the Dream 10?

When I’m inspired by something, I go all the way. I’m an all-in kind of person. Anybody who’s within my own community knows what excites me is helping women come alive on their journey of fulfilling their dreams in any ways I can. Whenever I really believe in something, or I’m inspired by it, I want to get behind it. I’m honored to be a part of Dream, Girl. I want to be a part of a movement that supports dreamers.

What would you like to see for the future of the Dream, Girl movement?

I would love to see more storytelling, and telling the ordinary stories as much as the extraordinary stories. At the heart of it is that it’s accessible to everybody. And that’s what I like about Dream, Girl — the eclectic group of entrepreneurs who are featured makes it a great mix to keep it accessible to everybody. While I look at a really successful story and think, “That will be me,” there are a lot of people, particularly females, who think they’re outside the possibility of reaching that level. We need to change that.