Kay Inspires High Heeled Success

It was some twenty-five years ago but it was a moment Kay Fittes will always remember. Sitting beside her husband on their way back from vacation, Kay looked at Barry and asked him, “Guess what I am going to do on Monday?”

Puzzled, he simply told her, “I have no idea.”

The rest of that conversation went something like this…

Kay: “I am going to give a month’s notice at work.”
Barry: “And do what?”
Kay: “I am going to start my own businesses.”
Barry: “With what?”
Kay: “With plastic.”

What followed was “beyond terrifying,” Kay told me. “I don’t know that I didn’t wake up to feel panicked for five years.”

Admittedly, that is not exactly the advice she would give any other woman but it was a decision that just seemed right at the time. Kay was doing mental health training and education for a Cincinnati psychologist. She had written a contract for her employer that would allow her to do 40 hours of work, with 10 of those hours to be done at home. “Just before our vacation, someone stopped me in the office one day and told me there was a problem,” Kay shared. “She told me my co-workers were complaining because I was making them look bad.”

Life is like that sometimes. We get knocked down and then come to realize, it really was just all part of this bigger plan to move us to make life decisions we may not have chosen otherwise. Decisions that open doors we didn’t know were closed. Decisions that push us to get out of our comfort zone, dig deep to find our inner passion, and pursue that passion with a vigor.

That is exactly what happened for this woman across the table from me. I first met Kay in a five-minute conversation during the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Mentor Monday BizWomen event. I have really gotten to know her through my Toast of the Town Toastmasters Club (she is one of the founding members). She is someone who I respect, admire and see as a role model. She also is someone who is just fun to be around.

The Beginning Of Her Journey

And so, in 1990, with her piece of plastic, her experience as a mental health therapist and facilitator, and her expertise as a business trainer and presenter, she founded her company as Strategies for Women Growth, now High-Heeled Success, LLC.

Over the next 28 years, she has spoken to close to 100,000 women and presented over 2,500 seminars, workshops, and keynotes. She is the author of Achieving High-Heeled SuccessTM: 50 Ways for Career-Oriented Women to Succeed. Her second book, How to Raise Your Self-Esteem: A Self-Enhancement System for Women, is part of the curriculum of the Hamilton County Ohio Justice Center Women’s Substance Abuse Treatment Program.  Kay also has authored Your Guide to Life-Changing Presentations and created the CD Panic to Power: Swift and Simple Strategies Anyone Can Use.  She has served as a consultant and presenter to the business, medical and educational communities providing programming to such diverse groups as Ethicon, IBM, General Electric, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and the Ohio Department of Education.

Kay is a member of the National Speakers Association; the American Society for Training and Development; the National Association for Self-Esteem; the Association of Female Executives; the American Association for University Women; and eWomenNetwork.  She is past vice president of the Ohio Council for Self-Esteem, past area governor for Toastmasters International.  She holds an Advanced Toastmaster designation and has won numerous speaking contests.  In addition, she is a Certified Trainer and holds a Credential for Leadership Training.  Kay also sits on several advisory boards for women’s advancement.

“I’d love to say there are never days like what I experienced in the beginning. It still happens when a business opportunity does not go the way I wanted it to go but the days are fewer and father apart,” she said, “I love what I do.”

Getting To Know Kay

Lisa: Mentors can play such a pivotal role in our personal success. Who was a role model for you in your career?
Kay:   I have had so many, however, one person who made the biggest difference for me was my second boss. I was lifelong Girl Scout before we moved to Georgia. I was trying to get into the mental health field. My boss suggested that I go see Gail Kirocofe at the Girl Scouts office. I interviewed with her and she became my greatest mentor. She saw things in me that I didn’t know where there. She was a softly powerful woman and to this day, when I get in tough spots, I ask how Gail would handle it.

I later had a chance to track her down. She is in her 80s now and recently wrote a children’s book.  I was able to tell her, ’I am where I am today because of you’ and that was pretty exciting. If she hadn’t seen what she saw in me, which I didn’t even see, I don’t know where I’d be today.

That is what I aim to do now with other women. I just participated in Mentoring Monday with Business Courier again as the fifth time this year and it is wonderful to give back.

One of the things I know is that we are all role models. Someone is always watching us and if we can stay aware of that, we will be our better self because we know that people are watching and emulating.

Lisa:  What is a piece of advice you give to other women?
Kay: One piece of advice is to unlearn the mantra, ‘Work hard, be good at what you do and you will succeed.’ That is a big fat screaming lie. We can work our backsides off but if we are the best kept secret in town, then we will be the worker bee and not get the opportunities, the respect and the rewards that we want. It is an ongoing game plan to say, ‘How do I become more visible? Do I have advocates, and have an intentional strategy for how am I going to get to where I want to go other than just working tail end off?’

Lisa:  I’d love to learn more about your simple pleasures.
Kay:  We have two wonderful granddaughters. One is 10 and the other is 3.  With my oldest granddaughter, I find myself wanting to be that role model to give her the kinds of guidance and opportunities that I didn’t have as a child. The three-year old is just plain screaming fun. I am enjoying every minute of that.

I am also passionate about antiques. We did a major remodel several years ago and go on antiquing trips. When I finally find that specific piece, wow, what a rush that is! Everything I collect is something we use. It is a pleasure I enjoy tremendously.