“I pinch myself when I realize what I’ve been working towards is now my reality,” said Gorham native, Kelsie Kerwin, daughter of Dr. Joseph and Deborah Kerwin.
After graduating from Gorham High School in 2011, Kerwin ventured off to James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg Virginia, where she studied international relations and Spanish. In her second year, she excitedly seized the opportunity to study abroad. Through an auxiliar program called Conversation Helpers or ‘Auxiliares de Conversacion,’ Kerwin traveled to Spain, where she lived with a host madre (mother) for four months and studied at the Universidad de Salamanca.
“When I went back to the United States, I didn’t consciously know that this experience would literally change the course of my life but, my heart and the flame inside of me knew that this experience had awakened something inside of me that I was going to want to follow sooner or later,” reflected Kerwin.
Prior to graduating from JMU, Kerwin applied for an auxiliar position through a program she had heard about by chance from an American in line in Madrid, years earlier when studying abroad in Salamanca. It would be a conversation that marked the trajectory of her future adventures in Spain. After graduating JMU in May 2015, she was on a flight to Segovia, Spain where, for the next two years, she would be a cultural assistant, teaching English to elementary and secondary students across Spain. It was this experience that would further clarify her passions. The ability to work with and teach so many different students served as a learning tool for Kerwin, as well.
“While the experience was extremely rewarding, my passion was never teaching English, it was the teaching process itself—how to best motivate and work with students, in general,” said Kerwin. Wanting a change and new challenge professionally and personally, she decided to up and move across the country of Spain, from Pontevedra, Galicia to Valencia, coast to coast, to pursue her master’s degree at EDEM, La Escuela de Empresarios (the school of entrepreneurs), in Valencia, Spain.
Being fluent in the language and to further challenge herself, Kerwin took the entrance exam and then studied the accelerated intensive in entrepreneurship and leadership program, solely in Spanish—this is where the depth of her journey began. With her passion ignited, her focus become clearer as she envisioned her future and what she wanted to create.
While giving a final presentation, one of Kerwin’s professors suggested they collaborate after graduation. In 2018, through that connection, she began working with ESMOVIA, a company that “organizes training experiences in mobility (moving from one place to another) aimed at students and teachers from all over Europe.”
In 2022, Kerwin began contracting with ESMOVIA more consistently. “I had a few classes at EDEM that truly inspired me and awakened my interest in social emotional intelligence, creativity, and personal branding,” she said. Through her education, experience, and research, she not only provides professional trainings on social emotional strategies in school, but she also writes the curriculum for these trainings.
After receiving her master’s degree, Kerwin knew that owning her own business was her goal. Her company, still in its infancy, is called Bienestardom, a name born during her studies. The name is a play on words between her current two languages English and Spanish; the word ‘bienestar’ in Spanish, means wellness. This word is linked with the English word ‘stardom,’ being your own star. Therefore, the name represents the objective of her work; participants who work with her are the stars of their own wellness.
Photo credit: Kelsie KerwinKerwin is a strategist and at the heart of her purpose is empowering people with specific evidence-based strategies and tools, to oversee their own wellness, their direction, and realizing that the capacity to do so is already available to them if they so choose to engage with it.
“My passion is stimulating individuals of all ages to have a conversation with themselves, internally. The process of self-awareness is at the center for all other relationships and teaching people how to appreciate their strengths, honor themselves and their process, and work toward what they want in the future, is so very empowering! Watching someone interact with themselves in a positive way and then reach new conclusions based on that conversation, translates for me into a feeling of sustained happiness. In my trainings, I teach about emotional anchors, which bring you back to your purpose and your ‘why.’ I have the word ‘evoluciona’ tattooed on my body, as this has become a mantra for the work I do, both personally and professionally. When I am serving others through my work, I am nothing more than the channel to ignite a spark for this process to happen for them as well.”
It is fitting that the tagline for Bienestardom is “Live at a Higher Level,” something Kelsie Kerwin lives by. For more information, please visit her website www.bienestardom.com.