Welcome to ↠Growing FWD: created by
award-winning, mindful
multi-hyphenate, Kara Ladd.
Kara writes, speaks, podcasts, hosts, builds brands, tests products and travels the world for her very-much “now-age” gig. You may have seen some of her writing in Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Forbes, Health and about 20 other digital lifestyle magazines. Soul-centered storytelling is the red thread that runs through all of all of her work — helping others heal, awaken and overall, just feel something shift inside themselves when reading and connecting with the work she puts out into the world.
Join her conscious corner of the internet where she dives deep into healarious high-vibe personal stories, transcendent spiritual self-discovery systems, holistic living tips and pretty much anything and everything personal transformation.
MEET KARA
Greetings! I’m Kara Ladd. I'm a Brooklyn-based millennial that thrives off of soul-centered storytelling and helping others embody their best selves. I’m a Cancer Sun, Aries, Rising & Capricorn Moon — which deeply resonates with me.
I originally hail from the glossy magazine industry where I was baptized by fire in the fashion closets of Cosmopolitan and Italian Vogue. After studying in London with Vogue UK, I eventually landed at a sustainable fashion consultancy where I collaborated with high-profile clients including: LVMH, Amazon, CFDA and the one-and-only, Anna Wintour.
Although my fashion career path appeared so shiny, I couldn’t help but listen to my soul-calling as a writer. I later pivoted back into editorial working as Hearst Digital Media’s first-ever E-Commerce and Partnerships Editor. There I wrote, produced & optimized digital media content across all 28 Hearst sites. Her features reached 35 million+ page views worldwide and are still at the top of SEO charts today.
After healing from a one-in-a-million rare cancer diagnosis, I eventually left my 9-to-5 and launched the mindful, multihyphenate career path that I’m on today — writing, consulting and co-creating with aligned purpose-driven, spiritual health brands.
When not working, you can typically find me in Brooklyn, hanging with my partner and plants, likely sipping on an adaptogenic latte. A cleansing, hot vinyasa flow, electronic dance party and getting lost in Manhattan’s downtown magic are a few things that keep my soul alive on the daily.
WHY I STARTED GROWING FWD:
I’ve always had a deeper inner yearning to carve out a corner in the writing world. Even when I was working in the fashion closets of Cosmo and Italian Vogue, I always had one eye on the editorial team. I started blogging in 2011 and found so much levity and joy sharing consciously-comedic stories. As the media industry grew and continued to fragment, it felt like I was siloed to societal shoulds that completely sucked the fun out of storytelling. When I pitched spiritual, astrological or sustainable stories, working at Hearst Digital Media, I was completely snubbed because it wasn’t SEO-optimized.
Substack is a safe place where I feel I can be fully, wholly me — a spiritual, self-help junkie — while owning my work, connecting with a likeminded community, all while getting paid for it.
When you connect with your core authentic essence, your truth, that is how you build and create a meaningful and fulfilling life.
WHY “GROWING FWD:”
My grandma told my mom when I was a baby that I wasn’t “playing,” but “working” — organizing the pots and pans on our kitchen-tiled floor in St. Louis, Missouri. That drive and tenacious energy, perhaps my Capricorn Moon, has always been interwoven within my world. I’ve felt the drive to unlock my greatest potential. After I was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in December 2016, I discovered the world of spiritual self discovery and embodied a new sense of self, a new lens of life.
Growing FWD: is a place where I cover all things to help us grow and embody our best selves. My intention is to spark something inside of you so that you feel a shift inside yourself and want to share that with others — forwarding the love, growth and magic in my newsletters.
OTHER PLACES TO CONNECT WITH ME:
I run KL Consulting — a Conscious Marketing Consultancy for the next generation of modern, mindful brands.
Follow me on Instagram here & tiktok here.
Catch you in your inbox later!
with growth & gratitude,
Kara
