¶ Beauty, Travel, and Adventure With Danielle
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful , we must carry it with us or we find it not . This is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson and I feel like it really captures the essence of today's guest , danielle Kiesling . Danielle is an award-winning hairstylist to celebrities and a beauty and wellness influencer .
Danielle has traveled the world , working with elite brands and discovering the culture of the places she visits . Working with elite brands and discovering the culture of the places she visits . Get ready to learn about beauty and travel , and perhaps take a cold plunge with Danielle Kiesling . Welcome to Journey with Jake .
This is a podcast about adventure and how , through our adventures , we can overcome the challenges of life that come our way . While I expect you will learn some things about different adventures , this show will entertain you . Each episode will feature different guests or guests as they share experiences and stories from the different . Thank you , come their way .
My goal is to take each of us on a journey through the experiences of my guests , with the hope that you'll be entertained and inspired to overcome your day-to-day challenges . After all , it's not all about the destination , as it is about the journey . Welcome back to the show . My name is Jake Bushman and I'm the host of Journey with Jake .
This is episode 132 . I love it . Almost three years of Journey with Jake and I don't see this slowing down anytime soon . There's just so many stories , so many journeys and so many adventures . I hope this keeps going . Thanks for coming along for the ride . Before we get to my conversation with Danielle Kiesling , a couple of housekeeping items .
If you want to get to know me a little better , the best way to do this is to follow the show on Instagram at JourneyWithJakePodcast . I like to share some more personal stories on Instagram and it is also a great way to see some clips from the show and get to know my guests and what is coming up on the show .
I am also on YouTube at journey with Jake podcast . If you want to check out the episodes on YouTube , be sure to subscribe to the show and hit that like button . If you enjoy this episode with Danielle Kiesling , you will also enjoy episode 96 with Annalise Castillo and her journey in wellness and world travels .
Okay , let's get to my conversation with Danielle Kiesling . I'm excited I've got Danielle Kiesling with me today on Journey with Jake . Danielle , welcome to the show .
Thank you . Thank you for having me .
Yeah , this is exciting Looking at your bio , looking at who you are . You're someone big into the beauty scene , hairstylist , all that sort of thing . I think it even said celebrity . You've worked with celebrities things like that . So I want to hear some of those stories Before we dive into that . Plus , you're an adventurer .
You go travel all over the place doing all kinds of things . Before we dive into all that , though , tell me a little bit about who you are , kind of your background , where you're from . All that good stuff .
Yeah , so I have been basically in the beauty industry for 26 years . It's hard to believe . Came from Minneapolis , grew up in a family of airline in the airlines , so Northwest Airlines back in the day was home for me . I always had the travel bug , but I didn't want anything to do with the airlines . I was like nope , going to find a different career .
I was going to be a marine biologist , that kind of seemed like a fun job , and then I realized that they didn't make that much money for all the school that they had to go to . I loved to do hair and I loved the beauty industry , so never in a million years did I think that it was going to take me where it's taken me , though .
You've been all over .
I've been all over . I thought , you know , at first I was just a passion . I liked to service people and make people feel good . I've always been into like health and good . I've always been into like health and wellness . I've always been into fitness . I was actually a fitness instructor at one time in my life , so it kind of fit through what I was doing .
And then life just kind of threw me a curveball and I got deep into so many different aspects of the beauty industry that I never in a million years thought I would be doing .
So let's go back to Minneapolis for a minute . Northwest it's funny . You said Northwest . I haven't heard that name for a long time Northwest airlines . But I guess that's . Minneapolis was kind of the hub for Northwest .
It absolutely was . I can't believe I lived . I can't believe I grew up there . I can't believe I live in the South now , so I love heat . I could never live in cold weather anymore . I go to cold weather once a year to go snowboarding , and that's it .
And big family , small family , siblings , anything like that .
Small family , very small family , half half siblings , but yeah , I'm , but yeah , I'm pretty solo .
Very good . So you said , okay , I like travel , I enjoy the travel side , but I'm not going to follow , I'm not going to do the airline thing .
Yeah .
You enjoy doing hair and stuff like that . What was it that you liked about that ? Was it just the fact that you can make people feel good , make people look pretty ? I mean , what was it that you enjoyed about it ?
It was the feel good aspect of it . It was I was good at it , I was like naturally talented at it , so that was obviously easy . I was not naturally talented at math or school , so that was my out . But it was also the flexibility .
So you know , before I started doing what I do now , I had so much flexibility to still go on vacation , to still travel , so I was able to incorporate like a job with flexibility and , you know , kind of ease of life and balance .
It's interesting to me because I think of you , know the beauty industry and I know it's a massive industry because I you and I were talking before I'm . I do trade shows and stuff , so I know there's all kinds of beauty trade shows and shows and all kinds of things that are that are happening .
But when you think about people who go into the beauty industry , people try either try to work for themselves or maybe they work for a company , a salon or something . What was kind of your path Cause ? How did it get you to ? Cause ? You're like all over the place and I know you coach other beauticians and things like that .
What was kind of your
¶ From Salon Owner to Global Educator
path . I worked behind the chair and did that for a while and then I was just starting to get a little antsy and it was redundant . I like change . So I always had this passion for like photography work as well and I started going up to New York a lot for trainings . And then I got connected with what we call a session stylist .
So there's hairstylists basically in the industry that just work like fashion week or they work for magazines on sets and they're freelance artists . Really they don't have particular clients that they service every week and I kind of got hooked up in that area . And then it was one of those things where it was a direct flip .
My family actually at the time my parents retired to Hilton Head so I ended up migrating down this way and then I had a direct flight from Savannah to New York and that was kind of my like outlet , my creative outlet was to go to New York and work with these session stylists and I built my career kind of doing magazine shoots and that obviously turned into
working with celebrities and you know I never said no . So I just kind of did that for a while and the next step was to get back into or not get back into into , but I wanted to . I'm entrepreneurial and I wanted to open up a salon .
So I had the flexibility to not have to work so much behind the chair but have people working for me in my salon so I could still continue to travel . And I opened up my first salon . I had that for seven years . It was very profitable . That's , in turn , how I became an educator for a company called L'Oreal . Things snowballed from there .
So I ended up just , I'm a big believer in universe and everybody happens for a reason and things shift and doors open . And I had an opportunity to connect with somebody in the trade side of the industry that was attending Fashion Week and doing stories about it .
And we got to talking and she's like wait a second , you work for L'Oreal and you're a session stylist , because that's two very different things usually and she thought that that was very interesting and wanted to do a story on it . So she invited me to New York to do a photo shoot , which it was the first trade photo shoot that I ever did .
I had no idea . I really didn't have any . I knew I knew how to do hair and I had a salon and I worked with like these big magazines , but like I didn't realize that there was a whole world of education and all these brands , basically I , I , I was . I was an educator for L'Oreal , but really selfishly , just to train my staff .
I had no intentions of being on stage and traveling the world teaching other countries or anything like that . So I went up , did this photo shoot , had a great time and it ended up getting the cover of one of the biggest trade magazines on the trade side of things . And that's when my cover was blown .
All of a sudden , my company that I worked for on the side was like who is this educator that just landed the cover of Modern Salon Magazine and why don't we know about her ? So yeah , that's how things just snowballed into now what I do for a living .
Wow , yeah , Wow , Wow , that's . That's pretty wild , that's , and it's interesting . I like how you said that you kind of believe in the whole universe thing and and doors opening and sometimes things you know . Sometimes you're going down and like why am I going and doing these ? And then but a door opens here and I , I , I like that too .
I like looking at things like that and I think that's a good way to look at things and realize that , hey , there's gotta be a reason I'm doing this . I'm learning something , growing from it .
I'm a firm believer you can't convince me otherwise that the universe doesn't work the way it does and the law of attraction . I mean I've done the craziest things in my career , and it's not just in hair . I mean I've done the craziest things in my career , and it's not just in hair .
I mean like I sat on an advisory board for a beverage company at one point I got connected with people that wanted to do AI stuff . I started my coaching business . I just don't say no , I'm like that's interesting , okay , I'll try it . It's opened up so many doors . It's it's gotten me back into like biohacking and health and wellness .
And it started a trigger of I'm like why am I ? I'm like an expert in my industry and I have all these credentials , I've won all these awards , I work for five different companies . I'm like , and then I go on YouTube and all of these people are taking advice on health and beauty and wellness from people that have no credentials .
And it really triggered a whole nother career path for me , which I finally did partner with somebody , because I'm like I just can't do all this as one person . But that was like where my blog , another Million Miles kind of , was born , and we're still building it and it's a passion project . But you know I want to . My goal is to be a consumer name .
You know I'm already a name in the industry . I'm a name in the industry globally . One day I want to be a name that households know as an expert in all things beauty , health , wellness and balance .
Basically , yeah , I was blown away . I was looking at your website and it's anothermillionmilescom , Is that ?
right Yep .
Anothermillionmilescom . I was checking it out and that's the thing you talked about . You don't say no and you just keep doing things and I was like , how does she do all this ? That's what I was thinking . So I like the fact that you said you got some help . So you do have some some help there , but do you ever get overwhelmed with all of it ?
Oh yeah , all the time . But I'm also a firm believer and you know , if you're doing things for the right reasons , yeah , it's karma . It's going to come back around , something's going to happen , some break is going to come , somebody is going to give you an opportunity where you're like , I mean , it's happened to my whole life .
I didn't really realize until I got into my adulthood that I was manifesting things , but it's a true statement .
I mean , I just landed another position with Dyson this year and I wasn't even looking for another company to work with and it was like it just they came out and they were like we're putting together the first US pro hair team and you came to top of mind and let's have a conversation , and I was like , oh my gosh , okay , that's crazy , but you know , and it
, it just keeps going .
Just keeps rolling , wow , impressive . So one you know one thing that always jumps out when you kind of look you , you see that , okay , you've worked with celebrities and you don't have to name anybody , but any fun stories with any celebrities .
I've had a lot of fun stories . I got to do the Super Bowl in Houston with Lady Gaga and her team , which that was a trip . I got a phone call last minute and it was like yeah , sure , sure , why not ? Yeah . So I've you know that was five days of six days . I can't believe what goes into creating a show for the halftime Superbowl . It's unbelievable .
Never in a million years would I have thought that that was going to be a possibility in my career . But yeah , every day , full dress , rehearsal , full show all day long , and then you get to the day of the game and you get to go out on the field and you watch it and you're like I think I actually knew all the choreography , I knew all the songs .
I was like I feel like you're kind of over on the sidelines like doing the dance , cause I watched it 150 times . But yeah , stuff like that , it's just , it's just really cool .
And how was Lady Gaga in person ?
Amazing .
She's actually such a down to earth , amazing woman and , like her team , all of her dancers I would say 75% of them had been with her for years and , like , loved her and they like I spent a lot of time with them because we had a lot of hair to do , but they all had such high respect for her and it's it shows you a different side of Hollywood that you
you don't get to hear of . You always hear of like the drama and the craziness , but yeah , it was really , really humbling .
I know this career has taken you all over the world . It seems like you enjoy that . Let's talk about the travel a little bit . What is it just in travel in general ? What is it that you like about it ?
Culture , just to get out of the United States and go oh , this is the way the rest of the world works . You learn so much . You have so much more insight . It helps you develop patience . It helps you understand that , no matter what we're dealing with , people have other problems too .
I just got back from Indonesia like three days ago I'm still a little woozy and just did a huge show in Jakarta , and things that we take for granted is just unbelievable . And then you go there and I mean , basically I've been to Jakarta before , I've done shows over there before . I have a very big fan base over there .
They keep bringing me back , which I'm so grateful . But I went this time and I didn't bring a tool or a brush or anything . I knew I wasn't going to leave there working bag there for them , because we just take for granted so many things that we have available to us in the U S that it's so hard for them to get their hands on .
So you learn something new every time .
Yeah , what do you think about when you , when you see that and you kind of get involved in that culture , you know what kind of goes through your mind . What are you thinking ? I mean , what does it make ? Yeah , what I don't . I don't know what I'm trying to say here , but what does it do for you ?
Yeah , so it's . It just gives you a bigger picture perspective . It also gives me inspiration . To inspire Anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it . And you know I had some like really intimate talks this last trip with some of my team and just about like taking opportunities .
And it's also ironically , it's gotten my mindset into utilizing , like my virtual assistants , a lot of the people that are on our team now . They're from the Philippines , from India .
I outsource a lot of work to different cultures now for multiple reasons For perspective because if I'm going to be a global artist , it's always nice to have different eyes on material , because not everything that works in the US works in a different country Loyalty like they're the hardest working people . And just opportunity .
I'm a very big , I'm just a big believer . Like nothing would satisfy me more than to be able to eventually would it be if I could bring my two girls from the Philippines to Australia , because it's right there and they get to experience a completely different culture ? They've never been outside of the Philippines .
So just to give people opportunity and thinking outside the box , I think it makes me grow as a person every single time I do it .
I love that . I love that you're thinking about your , your virtual assistants , and and who they are and what they do , cause sometimes I think you know , when people think of that , they think , oh , you know , it's someone from India or someone from the Philippines . They're doing a lot for you , they're they're helping you , but part of your team , like you said .
I think that's awesome .
And it's really interesting too . I mean , I'm sharing it on this podcast and I don't . You know , some people are going to judge me and some people aren't . I don't care . I've actually had people be like , oh , it's cheap labor . I'm like , whoa , I have no problem spending money when people show up .
But there's been so many times where I've spent that kind of money and people don't show up . But there's been so many times where I've spent that kind of money and people don't show up and I'm able to give opportunity to outside of the United States , and not that I wouldn't work with somebody in the United States .
I absolutely work with people in the United States and source through that as well . But it's interesting though the perspective , because immediately it's like a negative oh you're , you know , you're , you're , you're getting cheap labor . And I'm like , first of all , what they're earning is more than the average person in their country .
So I don't look at it like that at all . I look at it as I'm being , I'm , I'm , I'm giving them opportunity .
Yeah , thank you for sharing that . I'm glad you shared that that's . That's an aspect I hadn't really thought of and I'm glad we glad we talked about that a little bit .
As far as the travel goes Cause I know you're super busy , you're working a lot on the road I travel for my job domestically more than anything , doing trade shows and conventions domestically , and I know sometimes it's tricky to be able to find the time to work and that sort of thing . How has travel impacted , kind of your professional development ?
It is tricky . I even went and took a little holiday in Bali after Jakarta and I was like telling my business partner I'm like , oh , don't worry , I'll be available
¶ Journey of Health and Adventure
. And then you know , you're in Bali and then you have a really cool tour guy and he's like you should go see this . And I'm like , yeah , I should , shouldn't I ? So I would spend . You know you have to balance . I mean , I would get up early and like try to get some work done . And you know , I don't know how people work completely remote .
When I am home , I like knock out a lot of work . On the flip side of it , it's also helped me develop a lot of time management , which I used to suck at . Yeah , I don't know if you've ever heard of 75 hard .
Yes , I have heard of 75 hard yeah .
I've done . I've done that program .
It was very hard Um , but that's just so , people , people listening it's . It's 75 days straight of doing something hard , right it's 75 days straight of doing something hard right .
75 days of two-a-day workouts , of having a routine of eating . It doesn't matter what diet , but a diet of cutting out , like of reading 10 pages in a book . It can't be an audio book , it's a lot , but , man , it teaches you discipline like nothing else could .
It's a great program If you're ever struggling with procrastination or you've hit a point in your life where you need a reset . I highly recommend it .
That's a great idea . Yeah , I tend to procrastinate every now and again . I think we all do . It's easy .
Yeah , for sure there's so much static out there now , it's so easy to get distracted , it's so easy to not prioritize your health and your well-being , and that is one thing that I have set my boundaries on in the last couple of years is my health and my well-being .
And that is one thing that I have set my boundaries on in the last couple of years is my health and my well-being , because I'm like I'm not going to be able to do this forever if I don't so for as much as people call me a workaholic , I am .
But I also get up and I go to yoga and you know I cold plunge and I use peptide therapy and I , you know , like I am very , very dedicated . People laugh all the time . I'll break out my hair kit and then my supplements and I think they and they , they like , they're like God , you have more supplements than you do tools and gadgets .
I have gadgets for everything .
What is it about doing those health things , yoga and things like that ? What is it about that that really helps you .
It just really balanced , like I would have the worst anxiety ever if I didn't . You know I have a lot of high pressure jobs . I'm in charge of marketing campaigns with Ulta Beauty , I work with L'Oreal , I'm traveling and putting on shows for 3,000 hairdressers and I'm the headliner .
I mean you have a lot of pressure and if I didn't have the balance and I didn't take care of it , I can't even imagine . There are times where you lose the balance and you just you're like your anxiety just goes right through the roof . I think , honestly , I adopted cold plunging and I told you at the beginning of this I hate being cold .
I don't know how . I lived in Minnesota . I never , ever in a million years , thought I would be cold plunging . I used to date a guy that did it and I was like you are psychotic . No way in hell would I do that . I did it once and I've been hooked since .
Okay , so what's your routine , like , how long are you ? Yeah , tell me Always five minutes .
I always do five minutes every morning at 40 , 40 to 42 degrees . If I can stay till seven minutes , I do . It's a mindset thing . I've got one on my back deck , I've got one in my house . I'm obsessed .
But if I can do the back deck , if it's warm here in the South , I might do it three or four times and do a contrast go sit outside , warm up , go back in it . It's changed so many things . It clears brain fog , it reduces anxiety , it helps you sleep , it burns brown fat , it keeps your metabolism revved . I mean , I cannot say enough about it .
Glad you're talking about this . I've never done it . I've known some people who have .
I'm intrigued by it known some people who have . I'm intrigued by it . It's and I am the I go . If I go snowboarding , I go down two runs and I'm like , okay , I want to go in and I've got to warm up . I hate being cold . This is like a . The benefits of it are so incredible that it's just worth it .
There's days , trust me , you never love it , you never like , I never get in it and go , oh my God , I can't wait to get on my cold plunge . I always sit there and like , look at it and go , okay , let's just go , just do it . Why do you ? Why are you thinking about this ? But once it's done , it's , it's like it just changes your day .
That's kind of like my morning .
I go on a little morning runs and it's like , while I'm running , it's like this why am I doing this ?
But then afterwards the way you feel that's the tone . Yeah , and it sets the tone . Okay , that's a good . I'm gonna have to look into this . Thank you , daniel .
Learning things .
So I love doing this show because I learn things from people , what they do , and it helps me . So I appreciate that . Yeah , let's kind of get back into the travel scene a little bit . What are some of the unique places you've been ? Maybe a story or two from the road that you could share with us ?
Gosh , probably one of my top two , I'll have to give you . My favorite country is South Africa . It's just so beautiful , it's like you just can't put it into words . And it was actually . It's a really funny story . This is a weird , this is a universe thing . So I get called to do this job in Johannesburg .
Johannesburg , it's a very bad rap globally for being very high in crime . You know my mom's freaking out . You're going to Johannesburg . You're crazy . It's a death sentence . And I'm like , oh mom , I've been all over this world by myself , come on , and whatever triggered that ? I ended up calling a travel agent , which I never do .
I'm the kind of person that usually I am on a plane realizing that I don't have a hotel booked and I know I'm just landing in Nice , but I'm like I don't know what I'm doing after that . Anyways , to call a travel agent was like , oh , this is so old school , but I did it and I get in touch with this woman online .
I just do it online because I don't know a local travel agent , so I get online , do it . I get a phone with this woman online . I just do it online because I don't know a local travel agent , so get online , do it . I get a phone call from this lady . She calls me back and she's chatting . She said what are you going to Johannesburg for ?
And I'm like , oh , I work for L'Oreal and I'm doing this big hair show , but I want to spend the most of my time . I want to go to Cape Town . And she's like , wait , you work in the hair industry . And I'm like , yeah , and she's like , oh , my God , my best friend that I went to college . Her mom owns this publication in the hair industry .
I think it's kind of big . It's called Behind the Chair . And I was like what I mean ? Behind the Chair is one of the biggest publications in the entire industry and I know her daughter . I know both of her daughters , haley and Gwen . And I'm like you're talking about Mary that owns Behind the Chair .
And she's like , yeah , yeah , I went to school with her daughter and I was like what are the chances of this ? They're best friends . They had just traveled to South Africa together , and so she's like I'm going to make some phone calls . She's like I'm going to get you into the best places . You're going to stay at the safari that we did .
Like there's no , like I'm going to pull strings and she did , and it was literally the most memorable trip I've ever had in my life . Everything was planned to a T . I got to run a car drive up to Hermanus it was whale season , I mean , the whole thing was like mind blowing so but again , just out of every single travel agent that could call you back .
No kidding , I mean , that's incredible . And you typically don't go through travel agents either . That's the funny part too you don't ever do that .
I was like annoyed that I was actually calling a travel agent . And then we start talking . She's like oh yeah , I'm best friends with Quinn and I'm like huh , wow . This is insane . So I reach out to her and she's like no , I'm like reach out to and she's like no , I'm like yeah , I'm like you're , you're besties by travel agent .
Now it was bizarre , but yeah , so that was . That was one of those like ironic , cool , wow , the universe is working for me stories . Another one was I've had so many . I got to go to Morocco after a trip in Spain that I was working and that place is magic . I didn't get to spend enough time there . I went for a quick little holiday .
It was like I think we were planning on spending four nights and then I got a call from Biolage that was like hey , can you go to New York and do a photo shoot ? And I'm like , yeah , sure , I'm in Morocco , but let me get on a plane . So I only spent I think it was two nights there . So we did it really fast .
We hired a local guide and just did like the speed version of it , but I'll definitely go back . It was literally like living in a movie . It was that you felt like you were in Aladdin . It was so cool , so cool .
Felt like you're in Agrabah . Huh yeah .
It was bizarre . Everything was so perfect . I mean everything the food , the buildings , the mazes that you had to like , get lost in the snakes , the charmers , like .
It was just like a movie of all the places you travel to and you've been to so many the moments where you need to kind of just wind down and just relax and take things easy . Is there any particular place that just brings a calmness to you ?
I would say Bali , I mean . Where you just were right , when I just was yeah , it's just , the Balinese culture is so chill and nice and lovely and just so kind , just really kind .
As you keep moving forward and you've got , however , many years ahead of you . Whatever , what do you think are the challenges that you face ?
Staying relevant and reversing my age .
In the beauty industry . Right , that seems like that would be kind of tough .
I'm into biohacking . I've gotten so into like optimizing and biohacking in the last couple years because I am in the beauty industry and you hit 40 and I'm 44 now and I'm like , wow , you just don't function the way you used to does traveling take the toll on you too , just with being older or no ? Yeah , you , just the sleep thing is a thing .
I have to sleep . Sleep is so important . I used to be able to function on three , four hours of sleep and now it's like I need seven to eight hours or I'm like toast . Yeah , it's a little harder . Yeah , so staying , staying up , staying young and then staying relevant . You know the times are changing so much .
Social media has changed everything in the beauty industry . I've had to figure out how to use social media to my advantage and how to stay relevant in that aspect . I think that's another reason why Another Million Miles seemed like a good fit for me .
I wasn't really doing much for consumers and then I was like you know , I'm sitting on the flip side of this with the industry is looking for influencers and looking for consumers and paying influencers to represent our brand when I know how to do this , so like , why am I not doing that ?
Breaking out of the beauty industry , which has been really interesting and fun ? Like I'm still going to stay in the beauty industry . That's like where my heart is , but partnering with like cold plunge , you know manufacturers and partnering with things that can help beauty professionals .
I have a really passionate part of me that wants to not just help beauty professionals make more money and , you know , thrive and complete their dreams , but to be healthy , because a lot of beauty pros don't prioritize their health and they're always putting their clients first and others first and I did it for so long
¶ Thriving Through Challenges and Growth
that I know how it feels and creating kind of this twofold platform to educate consumers on beauty products from an expert but then also to be able to partner with supplement companies and cold plunging companies and , like I said , like all these medical devices , I am actually working with a doctor .
This is a new venture that we're kind of putting together with stem cells that I'll be talking more about in the next couple months . With stem cells that I'll be talking more about in the next couple months , yeah , there's just so much opportunity out there . I ended up , like I said , I sat on an advisory board for a yoga wellness drink and that was fun .
I know my first meeting on Zoom . I mean this is like all Coca Cola or Pepsi executives and the owner brings me on this advisory board and I get on and they're all kind of like , well , what is she bringing to the table ?
You know , within a couple of meetings it was like , hey , can you you have great perspective Will you help us rewrite our fundraising page and will you , you know , help us do this ? And you know , it's like those are fun challenges for me because it's like so out of my box , but I think it's just challenging and I love learning business .
I love learning new , I love learning how business works .
It's interesting the growth I guess you have from that because of learning things and you being kind of an entrepreneur , the growth has got to be incredible , just the different things . And it's amazing to me . It looks like from my perspective .
Maybe I'm totally wrong , but it looks like you kind of thrive on that sometimes when you're maybe out of your realm a little bit .
Thrive is right . It's . Sometimes I take on projects and I'm like I don't even care if I get paid for it . This is such an opportunity to like it could take off and I could get royalties . But do you know how much stuff I still do after 26 years of having the credentials I have in this industry ? I do for free because I can learn something from it .
And I'm like I'm literally I take on too much , I think , sometimes . But I called my VA two days ago and I was like I'm at the coolest driver in Bali and he needs a website . So we're going to make a website for him . And she's like what ? We're not even done with your website . I'm like just research it . He deserves this . This you know .
And so now I was like , right before I got on this podcast , I was literally looking up drivers in Bali and like who's relevant , who's not and what are they doing and how are they doing and how are they capturing people's attention and audience ? And I , that's not like I said . I went . I went to Bali on a quick holiday . Basically .
The guy bless his heart . He probably thought I was crazy . It's what's happening to me like a day before I get there he's like do you want to share your accommodations with me ? So I know where I'm taking you ? And I'm like , oh yeah , I got to make them . Yeah , as soon as I get that organized I'll send it over to you .
It's like where am I going ?
Yeah , I had no idea . I had recommendations , but that was it .
That's fantastic . Let's go back to Another Million Miles , if you don't mind . What's someone going to find If someone goes to anothermillionmilescom ? What are they going to find there ?
A website that is struggling to be built right now because we have very little time . No , the idea behind it is it's going to be a very strong blog site , all about lifestyle , travel , wellness . You'll have information about all these companies that I like , work with , that I utilize , that are part of my sustainable living .
So it's it's really like what everything I do while I'm doing what I do , like everything that I do to stay young and stay relevant and stay healthy , but more to a consumer's approach , has nothing to do .
I mean , beauty professionals could go on it and they're probably going to learn something from the blogs , but it's really about you know , since I am , since I have the credentials and I have the background , you know I can . There's so much knowledge I can give . I mean , I've been doing this for so long and it's in so many different areas .
Everything , like I said , there's so much knowledge I can give . I mean I've been doing this for so long and it's in so many different areas . Everything , like I said , from partnering with doctors to cosmetics , to I work with Ulta Beauty .
I'm part of their marketing , like I put on some of their marketing campaigns , as you know , work with the artistic director , so I know what goes in behind that . And then , just like I travel for a living , like I've been a million places , I'm like why am I not a travel blogger ?
speaking of that , do you have a favorite place , like ? Do you ever have just a place besides home that's like you'd love going there ?
And also a second question , just because I don't know and we're talking beauty a little bit , I think of beauty fashion , I think of like Paris , places like that , but what's kind of like your favorite spot for the beauty industry as well ?
I love Italy . Actually , I spent a lot of time in Italy before COVID as well , because one of my companies was based in Milan . So Milan obviously is like high fashion and good people , of course , amazing food , hospitality and red wine . Red wine is my vice , so that is .
I would say that that's probably my favorite spot for like fashion , my favorite spot in the US . I have a couple of them . I'm a Cali girl . Just you can't beat the weather . I love Newport Beach , laguna Beach that's my vibe . It's a little bit more chill than LA , definitely definitely Northern California as well .
And then , like I said , every once in a while , when I do decide to go snowboard , I love Park City , utah . It's a beautiful place in the summer and the winter . I have a little heart in Arizona as well .
I'm a Southwest guy , so I love those places myself .
Yeah , I still haven't explored . I want to do the Washington area , the Idaho area . I haven't really done Wyoming Montana . I have friends up there . I did the van life during COVID . I actually just did the sprinter van thing for a while . That was fun . I've done a lot of random . I'm super spontaneous too , so I just like get on .
If I have time and the stars align , I'm like , oh , let's just buy a sprinter van . Or oh , let's jump on a plane and go to thailand . Or I've done some crazy things it's amazing .
it's amazing that you could just you know that you do that and you you move forward with it , which I think is cool , because I'm more of I'm kind of risk averse a little bit and so it's harder for me to take that step . So I think that's pretty neat that you're doing that .
It's really cool too . I have a business partner that you know . We we have a media agency , marketing agency and she's the one that oversees hair biz and beyond and another million miles and helps me with all the tech side . But it's funny because she is very she's very like safe .
She's very , you know , likes a to-do list and I'm like like I'll get it all done . But you know , like flying by the seat of my pants and it's been fun because it's it's it's fun to see that energy rub off on her and rub off on her husband .
Her husband actually got super into the manifesting after just being around me all the time , because I would never let her leave , so he would have to come here and cook for both of us . And when I was in town , I'm like we have work to do and he got really into the manifesting and he ended up manifesting as like a totally new executive job .
So they've had a big move and , yeah , he's like doing big things that he used to do years and years and years ago . And then he ended up taking a job with his family because it was more convenient , I think , and he was not really happy . And then he's like you know what ? I'm going to put myself out there like you do .
Look at the shit that comes of it . And I'm like , yeah , put yourself out there , get a hood hunter . And now , literally they moved to . They moved . They had to like move part time to Ohio . They spent all this time in Prague . In the process , her and I got cast to be on Pictionary of all things .
So I was like you just need to come home for whatever August 9th , I think we were on it . I'm like that's all . I'll figure the rest out until we like get through this . So but it's fun to watch that growth .
This has been awesome . This has been fun talking to you . I'll be honest , I wasn't sure what to expect and this has been just just awesome getting to hear your story and who you are . One question I always like to ask on the show just because it's an adventure type podcast is what adventure means to you .
What adventure means to me ? I am like it means learning , it means being flexible , it means being able to just like ebb and flow and figure it out . Like I said , I drive people crazy , I'm sure , but there are definitely times where I have friends and they're like you're landing in Nice and you don't know where you're . You're literally landing in 30 minutes .
I'm like , oh my God , and I know , and I'm going to be connected off the internet , so I got to go , I got to find a hotel , that's . I think it's just being able to be flexible and I think also diving into culture . You know , I into culture .
It was funny when I was in Bali even and I've done this throughout my travels , but I am not a touristy person , I don't do the tour guide thing usually at all .
I just got this driver's name from a friend of mine who , like , loved , loved the experience , and you know he , he brought me to a couple like because , of course , nothing's planned , I'm like I know where I'm staying now because he had WhatsApp me and asked me .
But I'm like I know I just want to go see the monkey forest because it's like we're wild monkeys , like there's no , I'm a huge animal person so like I won't go to a zoo or anything like that . So I'm like I got to go to monkey forest , other than that , I don't know . And he's like , okay , so we'll go to monkey forest and figure it out from there .
And we did . And then he's like I'm like what's the swing thing ? Cause it was , you know , it was an Instagram thing . And we immediately got there and I was like oh no , nope , not putting a dress on and getting on a swing and not going to happen . And he's like , okay , I'm starting to understand .
I'm like , no , bring me to a bar , let's go shoot pool or something . And like I want to experience . Take me to a yoga studio , I want to . I want to go do things that people in Bali do . I don't want to go and like be touristy . So , um , I think that's adventure for me is really diving into culture .
Diving into culture . I love it , and I love hearing what people's perspective is on adventure , and that's what Journey with Jake is all about . Danielle , this has been fun for me . Thank you so much for coming on Journey with Jake .
Yeah , thank you so much for having me , and hopefully this isn't our last conversation .
Thank you to Danielle Kiesling for coming on the show and sharing her journey and travels with all of us . Be sure and check out more information from Danielle by checking out her website , anothermillionmilescom , and following her on social media on Instagram , at daniellekeysling , and also at anothermillionmiles .
Thanks for joining me each and every week on Journey with Jake . I'm so glad you're here . I have another fantastic episode coming your way next week with Luke Bosworth . Luke is making a go at being an adventure influencer and he had the chance to spend time with the Whitaker family on sailing Zatata and has a lot of great adventures he has been part of .
Be sure and tune in next week to hear more from Luke . Just remember , it's not always about the destination as it is about the journey . Take care everybody .