Check Out Keri Lynn Kehoe’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keri Lynn Kehoe

Hi Keri Lynn, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I knew at a young age that I wanted to serve, and I knew that my gift was with children. Starting a teaching career was an easy choice and I started teaching at 19 years old. Back then they needed emergency credential teachers, and I took an astronomical amount of credits to qualify and taught Kindergarten my very first year. With that said, I also knew that God was calling me to do more. In the midst of all of this, I was told that I couldn’t have a child but God blessed me with a miracle baby. My daughter, Giulianna is now 12 years old and since she was about three years old, she and I have been quite the dynamic duo! (Single mommin’ isn’t easy but I was born to be a Mom and with the Lord’s help I knew we could do anything together!) I wanted her to learn compassion, serving others, kindness, manners… All of the things that would develop her into choosing to be an amazing and giving human. Sidenote: During my pregnancy, it was really tough. I got really sick and was hospitalized multiple times, but we didn’t know what was wrong with me… more on that later as we end up learning my diagnosis. Meanwhile, we continued working hard in our community and volunteering as well as running a businesses. We even did a local pageant together and were the very first mother daughter duo to win in the same year in 100 years of the pageant’s existence! I served as Ms Kern County 2018 and Giulianna served as Little Miss Kern County 2018 (in California). We desired to help so many people and organizations, but we had to narrow it down. During our time serving our titles, we focused on our love for animal rescue and worked with my dear friend, Zach Skow, Founder of Marley’s Mutts! It was during the time that we volunteered and worked with his organization that we fell in love with senior dogs and dogs who had disabilities- Both of which are very hard to get adopted because they are always a riskier your option for people. That broke our hearts. Of course, we couldn’t volunteer without a adopting and the Lord led us to our Baby Scoots. She was born with two back legs and nubs for front legs. She was beaten and in rough shape mentally and physically. Zach and his team worked with her, and when we came to the ranch and spent time with her, we knew instantly that she was a part of our family. She is now a happy, tail-wagging, vibrant dog and the center of our universe! I should also note that right before we won our community titles, and after many years of testing and doctor appointments, I was finally diagnosed with Lupus (only later to find out that I had something much more- but for now that’s all we knew).. So naturally, not only did we spend a lot of our time volunteering with animal rescue, but I also dedicated a great deal of time to Lupus awareness and auto immune awareness in general. I opened up about my health and my journey on social media and people really started to come forward. My DM’s were full of people who were grateful that somebody else out there understood what they were going through as well! When our titles ended, we couldn’t stop. We continued projects together, that would serve others. We met an amazing human through INSTAGRAM (In fact, we met thousands and thousands of amazing humans- I know INSTAGRAM has a negative reputation but I believe that if we focus on using social media platforms to do good, they can be an amazing tool to achieve so much and I’ll give you an example in a moment). Kassady Bingham (@kassadybingham) had opened up to the world about losing her sweet baby boy, Milo, to Leukemia. We knew we had to do something. So we partnered with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to raise money in his honor. During that time, Covid happened, and all of our in-person fundraising was canceled. We panicked and thought there was no way that we would be able to reach any of the goals that we had set. But God had bigger plans. Over the course of our fundraising and awareness Campaign, and with the help of so many other amazing humans, organizations and small businesses, we were able to raise over $55,000 in Milo’s honor. Kern County then blessed me with the title of “2020 LLS Woman of the Year” but I made it very clear that the real woman of the year was Kassady! Not long after all of this, my health started to decline and in 2021 we did a biopsy and found that I have a rare form of Myositis called Dermatomyositis. Not only does this disease affect the outside skin of the body, but also all of the muscles within the body. At one point it got to where I couldn’t lift my arms or walk easily. So I was hospitalized and started treatment at USC. This disease is incurable, but I am now on immunotherapy and chemotherapy, treatment regularly, not only for quality of life, but also in hopes of maybe one day reaching remission. While, I have to reserve my energy and live a little bit differently, that has not stopped us from serving or creating or working with kids. During all of that madness, Giulianna explored so many different gifts, including acting, modeling and horse riding. During that time she found that while she was very gifted at all three, horses had her heart. She started riding and very quickly progressed. She now rides here in Nashville at Badger Ridge and is newly a proud member of their competition team in Hunter-Jumper. About six months ago, when we moved permanently here to Nashville (my parents had already been living here) we haven’t looked back and the people here have welcomed us with open arms. While we were born and raised in California and dearly miss Malibu, Kern county, and all that California has to offer, Tennessee has stolen our hearts.. We quickly got involved here in the community and are currently in talks with “The Store, Nashville” and can’t wait to begin partnering with them! Prior to moving here, Giulianna and I started a business together, called Maisy Plays. As she was growing up and maturing, naturally she started accessorizing and doing all of the things that preteens do. So we were always on the hunt for good quality jewelry for kids and teens and got so tired of spending money in stores that sold horrible quality items and lasted, only weeks and sometimes just days. We also loved hair accessories and some of our favorite headband brands were selling headbands at outrageous price points. We knew that we could seek out the same exact handmade quality and offer customers a much more affordable price. Being the go-getters that we are, we decided to take matters into our own hands and start a business together. Everything we have in our shop is designed by us, together. However, we make sure that everything is professionally made to the highest of quality. The highest quality resources are used, and it was important to us that our accessories came in sizes from little kids to adults and that they were pieces that could be lived in. Our headbands, many adorned with Swarovski grade crystals, Bend 180°, keeping you from ever getting those pesky headband headaches! We truly have tried to think of everything and tested many prototypes before we put them out to the public on our website. Our bracelets snd necklaces are waterproof, making them pieces you can live in. They are so fun to stack and all made with stainless steel, 14 karat gold and genuine stones. As our brand evolves, it is critical to us that we get to a point where we can afford to donate a good portion of our income to benefit animal rescue. We want our customers to know that they are shopping with purpose and their dollars spent will be beneficial to those in need.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Answered in previous question. Let me know if you need more detail on anything mentioned.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a 3rd grade teacher, Influencer and entrepreneur.

Many details were included in first question. Again, please let me know if you need any more information and I’m happy to elaborate.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memories are the ones that were spent boating on the lake- special time on the water making memories with family and friends is the ultimate for myself and my family. We are extremely grateful that Tennessee has also given us the opportunity to continue those traditions and now I can make similar memories with my own daughter during her childhood!

Pricing:

• (Refer to MaisyPlays.com for pricing)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maisyplays.com
• Instagram: @keri.lynn.kehoe