044 - From Shrinking to Thriving: What Kathleen Titus Is Creating Now
In this episode of What Are You Creating?, I reconnect with Kathleen Titus, someone I first began working with more than a decade ago.
Kathleen originally came into my world through Podcasting A to Z while she was in the early stages of building her entrepreneurial life. What started as an attempt to launch a podcast ultimately introduced her to something that became even more valuable, a community of other entrepreneurs who were trying, struggling, learning and building alongside her.
Her entrepreneurial journey began after a successful corporate career in sales, hospitality and international destination marketing. Eventually, she left that career without having the next chapter completely figured out.
What followed was Runoga, an early vision combining running and yoga, followed by hands-on race production, marathons, 5Ks, triathlons and event management. Over time, Kathleen discovered that her real strength was marketing. That realization eventually became All Fitness Events, a marketing and consulting company specifically focused on the endurance sports and fitness event industry.
This conversation became about much more than entrepreneurship.
Kathleen shared openly about realizing that she had spent years shrinking herself to fit within her life and relationship. After her separation and divorce, she began allowing herself to take up more space. During that same season, her business grew from six figures to seven figures and eventually eight figures.
At the same time, she was walking through an extraordinary amount of personal loss.
Her mother died unexpectedly in 2022. Her father died in 2024. The family home was sold the following year. All of this unfolded alongside the end of her long-term relationship and the process of rebuilding her life.
Kathleen talks about grief, therapy, meditation, yoga, rebuilding community, learning boundaries and what she calls developing a “yogic mind.”
One phrase has helped ground her through all of it.
Everything is exactly as it should be.
We talk about what it actually means to “do the work,” rather than simply using that phrase. Kathleen shares how therapy, journaling, books, meditation, yoga and a willingness to examine her own patterns helped her move through shame, grief, codependency and old ways of relating to herself and others.
Today, Kathleen says she is thriving.
She has purchased a home she had envisioned for herself years earlier. She has rebuilt and deepened friendships. She is showing up as one integrated version of herself rather than changing who she is depending on the room she is in. And she continues to build a business and life that feel increasingly aligned with who she actually is.
Some of the things we explore in this conversation include:
- Kathleen's transition from corporate success into entrepreneurship
- Why she left a career she was extremely good at without having everything figured out
- How Runoga eventually evolved into All Fitness Events
- The unexpected value she received from Podcasting A to Z even though podcasting itself never became central to her business
- Why curiosity and asking good questions became part of her professional advantage
- Learning to sell an experience rather than simply selling deliverables
- Her transition from producing races to marketing them
- Building and retaining a team that ultimately became one of her greatest sources of support
- The relationship between alignment and the explosive growth of her business
- Divorce, grief and losing both of her parents
- Why healing is not linear
- Meditation and the idea of developing a yogic mind
- Learning to stop shrinking and allowing herself to take up space
- Codependency, boundaries and discovering who she is outside of a relationship
- What Kathleen means when she says she is now thriving
Near the end of our conversation, Kathleen offered a question that I think captures much of what this episode is about.
Am I leading my life?
Her encouragement is to create a life and business that are actually aligned with you, rather than simply living according to expectations, habits or somebody else's version of what your life should look like. Her closing encouragement was to remain curious and kind, remembering that something difficult may ultimately be leading you somewhere you could not yet see.
Books Mentioned
Kathleen specifically recommended two books that played a role in her healing and personal growth.
Codependent No More by Melody Beattie - Official Book Page
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer - Official Book Page
Kathleen also mentioned exploring things such as attachment styles, Human Design, the Enneagram and birth charts as additional tools for becoming more curious about yourself.
Connect With Kathleen Titus
Kathleen said the easiest way to reach her is through either of these email addresses:
You can also learn more about All Fitness Events / AFE Solutions here: AFE Solutions