My Perfect Path

6. KC Kahn - Founder of Chopped Life, Personal trainer, Actress

• Daniel Koo • Season 1 • Episode 6

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My Disciplined Path

What if you could transform your life's path by embracing the unexpected? Join us for a captivating conversation with KC Kahn, whose journey from Hollywood to the fulfilling world of personal training and health advocacy is nothing short of inspiring. KC shares her remarkable transition from modeling and acting to pioneering the lifestyle concept "Chopped Life," which harmonizes balanced nutrition with holistic well-being. Her story is a testament to the power of resilience and adaptability, as she navigates the challenges of career transitions and the pursuit of personal fulfillment.

KC opens up about her upbringing in a unique environment, where living in a motel built by her father shaped her social interactions and sparked her drive for self-promotion in the world of modeling and acting. With personal anecdotes, she reflects on how a need for stability led her to personal training, a decision fueled by a desire for independence. Discover KC's passion for cycling and her unexpected healthy eating project, "the chopped," which encourages creative meal planning for diverse dietary needs, proving that determination and creativity know no bounds.

Through KC's enlightening insights into personal training and acting, she emphasizes the qualities necessary for success: adaptability, discipline, and a genuine love for what you do. Her stories of working alongside John Candy and Eugene Levy, facing industry's challenges, and finding her niche in personal training are both educational and motivational. KC's narrative encourages listeners to reevaluate their paths, explore new opportunities, and find joy in aligning personal goals with life choices. Prepare to be inspired by KC's unwavering commitment to fitness, personal growth, and the pursuit of a balanced, fulfilling life.

Feel free to leave comments here!

KC Kahn:

I probably have never called in sick. I mean, I've been lucky enough that if I have been ill which really honestly doesn't happen very often at all I may have a client in the morning and maybe midday and afternoon. That somehow has worked in my favor in those situations. But no, I think you have to be disciplined in order to make a good living, to let people know that you are there for them.

Daniel Koo:

Welcome back to my Perfect Path, a show about chasing dreams and developing careers. I'm your host, Daniel Koo, and today we're joined by KC Kahn. Her journey has taken her from modeling and acting to becoming a personal trainer and health advocate. She's also the wife of Chris Kahn, a former guest on the show. KC has worn many hats throughout her life working on TV shows, thriving in the fitness industry and even pioneering a lifestyle concept called the Chop Life, which promotes healthy eating through simple, balanced meals. As a personal trainer for almost 30 years, she's helped countless clients, some of whom she's worked with for decades. In this episode, KC shares how discipline has shaped her career in life, how she transitioned from Hollywood to health, and her passion for helping others live healthier, happier lives. Whether you're interested in fitness, personal growth or finding your path, this conversation is packed with insights that will motivate and inspire you. Hope you enjoy the episode. KC Kahn, welcome to my Perfect Path. I'm thrilled to have you here.

KC Kahn:

Thank you very much, Daniel. I'm happy to be here.

Daniel Koo:

So I want to ask you I'm sure you have multiple roles, so could you explain what you do currently, as of now?

KC Kahn:

Well, that's between where I make my money, which is I'm a personal trainer. I train myself every day of the week as well. I have clients that I've had for almost 30 years.

Daniel Koo:

I still have them.

KC Kahn:

These are like personal training clients. Personal training clients, yes. So I've been in the business for that and that transition happened because the modeling and acting was not working as well as I needed it to because of another transition that I was going through. So I needed to figure out something that I could do on a regular basis and so I took a course and I found that personal training would be a good path for me and I've been doing it ever since. I mean, I was so lucky to have gotten a couple of clients right off and I worked in a very small little gym and it was basically word of mouth. I've never advertised. I've gotten clients by walking down the street and say, hey, you have great legs, I want those legs or I want those arms, and that's one of the places where I make money.

KC Kahn:

And then I also, about 20 years ago, started realizing that I wanted to eat healthfully but really didn't have the money to go out to eat all the time and eat healthfully in that way. So, just by circumstances that, if you want me to explain, I will but circumstances happened where I ended up, chris, my husband, wanting me to chop a salad and because we talked about having a big old mouthful of lettuce and we were eating a chopped salad and that happened to just set me on my path. I wasn't crazy about it. I thought, oh my God, that's way too much work. But I said, okay, I love my honey, I will chop a salad for him. And then all of a sudden I was taking Cobb salads and chef's salads and all these kinds of things and putting my own spin on it, adding different things that I thought would create a more balanced meal in a bowl.

KC Kahn:

And this kind of leads to your chopped lifestyle, that's exactly because eating healthfully is one thing, but you also have to make good choices in your personal life and also with your exercise, your physicality and your mental health. So there are good choices all the way around, and that's kind of what the Chopped Life idea is about.

Daniel Koo:

So there's, I think, two roles that you're maintaining right now. So you have the personal training career and also this project you're doing with Chopped Life.

KC Kahn:

One big, huge role that I have and that is the wife, and that is not an insignificant part of my life. And you know there's a lot of things that I do to keep our home very easy living sanctuary, and I'm very happy with myself that I have evolved into being able to do that, so it's a very satisfying part of my life.

Daniel Koo:

So those are the three things that you've kind of maintained right now, three big items that are on your plate.

KC Kahn:

Yes, definitely, or in my bowl, as we would say. That's where it chopped goes.

Daniel Koo:

Exactly To those who are just listening. I need to mention how fit you are, and I think that comes from being a personal trainer but also having a very disciplined and very great training regimen. I think you've mentioned how many miles you ride on the bicycle per week.

KC Kahn:

I usually ride around 100 to 125 a week, but it's more hours because when you get into terrain factor, if you're going up you're not nearly going as many miles. So I have a coach who lives in Colorado. I've never met him as a cycling coach. I've had him for about 15 years now. So he works everything in hours and minutes, not so much miles. So that's how I think of my cycling. But yeah, it's a lot of hours. It's probably on a recovery week, which I'm just getting off of, get six hours a week of riding and that's two one hour easy sessions and then you get back into the hard stuff, but no what we call protocols or efforts.

Daniel Koo:

So those are like training programs.

KC Kahn:

Yes, yeah, he tells me what to do. And I have a wattmeter on my bike and I've got my dashboard on my handlebars and I can see heart rate and speed and watts and averages and all that kind of thing.

Daniel Koo:

That's very impressive, I must say, because I struggle to get maybe one or two hours a week for my training. Usually weights, oh, okay good, I ran a 10K before I trained for like maybe a month you sound like me.

KC Kahn:

I don't want to do it, but I will. But I will if I set a goal, you know.

Daniel Koo:

That's so much of it, and I think that kind of training regimen actually is a nice segue to why we chose today's episode's adjective, which is my disciplined path. Yes, could you tell us a little bit about why you chose that adjective to kind of describe your journey so far?

KC Kahn:

Well, I am disciplined but I don't find it something that is. It is difficult at times but it's just my lifestyle and the genesis of it which is kind of interesting. A little introspective work I did since, I saw you, was when I was a kid. We didn't have a whole lot of money, we didn't have a whole lot of things and in just about every aspect clothing or toys or treats, you know, eating it was always one, not two, one only. So I'll find myself if I'm going to shop for something I'll be up and down the entire mall because I want to make sure I get that one thing. It's still in my head. So I think that started my discipline, because I had to be. You know, that was kind of what I was taught and so it's a little bit natural to me to be that way. Chris will just laugh at me because I can eat a half of the candy bar and put it down and be totally satisfied.

Daniel Koo:

Wow, that's impressive, that's what everybody says, it's like you're weird. Yeah, people who know me will know I can't stop eating if there's food in front of me.

KC Kahn:

That's so interesting because if I have, say, chips, if I give myself what I'm probably going to end up eating out of a bowl this much, which would be like five or six chips, then I would be totally satisfied. If I only gave myself five or six chips, I would eat those and go why can't I have more? But I chose a big bowl, thinking okay, I can eat that, I can have that whole thing. I worked out two hours today but I end up being satisfied with four or five of them because I could make the decision to have more.

Daniel Koo:

Wow, that's impressive and I think that's something that a lot of us strive to get to. It's like a level of discipline.

KC Kahn:

I don't think you try to strive to get to that. I think you just automatically think this woman is crazy. I think my clients think that too the couple that I've actually told that intimate little story about, because they think you are really strange.

Daniel Koo:

Interesting. Tell us a little bit about your background and kind of describe yourself as a kid and what your experience was like.

KC Kahn:

Right when I was a kid I was a little embarrassed about my parents because they were much older, much more like grandparents, but they weren't fun grandparents and I did not have a large family around me. I didn't have much support. I had one brother who's very shy. Have a large family around me, I didn't have much support. I had one brother who was very shy. My parents were only children.

KC Kahn:

My mom was an only child and my dad was orphaned, came from Denmark and he was an apprentice carpenter coming over here at the age of 18 years old and he was a person that was very private.

KC Kahn:

So I didn't really know that much about him. And my mom was also very private, but they always were on the lookout for things that were going to reflect on them. So it didn't really reflect on them because they didn't have a whole lot of people that would know what I was doing or what I wasn't doing, but it always seemed very personal to them whatever I was doing. So the thing that I had to transition out of was my mom. At I think I was in fourth grade, my brother was in third, not doing great at school and I was doing very well at school. My mom would tell me when report cards came don't tell your brother how well you did, don't blow your own horn. And then she backed that up with don't blow your own horn because if you do the right thing and you perform well and you have a talent, someone will find you and they will blow your horn.

Daniel Koo:

For you Gotcha. So basically, if you have talent and you just put your head down and you keep working, your work is going to basically promote you and that's how you'll be recognized. Right, but was that true?

KC Kahn:

No, it's not. To some degree maybe, but it was more of a mantra than it was. Oh my goodness, I have to do something about this until I got to the point where I was trying to create a career in modeling and acting in trade shows, spokesperson work, all of those kind of things where you do have to put yourself out there, but then again that's what agents are supposed to be for. So that was kind of a saving grace that I still didn't have to promote myself. So that was how my childhood was in that respect. So that was a little tough to get over. And then we were very isolated from where I lived.

KC Kahn:

I grew up in a motel. It was a motel that my dad built with his own hands, and I basically grew up in an industrial area. It wasn't a hotel, it was a motel. It was people driving through and needing a place to stay for a night. So I had very few friends that were at my disposal because I wasn't growing up in a neighborhood. So that kept me a little isolated. You get in the picture Poor KC was isolated. But I did make it a point to get out of the house and go to my friend's home, and then that was the second thing that my mom came up with Don't go over there too much, you'll wear out your welcome and they won't want you back. I see, so those were the things that I had to overcome. That was the original question, I believe, right.

KC Kahn:

I didn't stray from that. So I did have to overcome those things and I feel like I did. I've had several people tell me that they wouldn't have recognized that in me. I've also had people in my younger life say she's not stuck up, she's just shy, and that bothered me. I've also had people in my younger life say she's not stuck up, she's just shy, and that bothered me and I thought, okay, I have to do something about this shy thing. I didn't even realize I was shy. I had a close friend tell me that that her daughter thought that I was stuck up.

Daniel Koo:

Interesting.

KC Kahn:

And she goes no, no, she's not stuck, she's just shy. So that was something to work on. There's just to work on. Those are a lot of things that you find out about yourself, but the interesting thing about what we're doing here is that I don't dwell on that in my today life. I don't blame those things or even really recognize unless you're being introspective like we are that those are actually part of my makeup.

Daniel Koo:

So I have a question are that those are actually part of my makeup? So I have a question. So, coming from where you did, did you ever imagine that your life would be like it is right now? Do you think this life, it was something that you could have ever imagined when you were younger?

KC Kahn:

I think that in a way, yes, because I wasn't looking to be a movie star, even though I was in the business. I wasn't looking to be a well-thought-after actress or be a celebrity or a superstar or anything like that. I didn't have that in me. So I was pretty satisfied when I was working, I was having a good time, I was on set, I was meeting all these different people and it was super fun. But I didn't have that drive. So being where I am now is not a disappointment, because I wasn't looking for that path. Where I am right now is great. I've made a transition. Well, I've made transitions to the personal training from the acting, modeling, blah, blah, blah. And then now I want to help people eat healthfully, and it can be done even if you don't know how to cook, because you can learn how to cook. I suppose I could imagine, but I don't think I looked that far ahead. I feel like I've been married for very, very many years. I've been married to Chris for almost 26 on August 1st Wow, congratulations.

Daniel Koo:

Yes, thank you.

KC Kahn:

And it's been fabulous being a cyclist ever. I would never have thought about that ever in my life. I didn't even think I was athletic when I was younger. So you know I could envision being married. I did not envision having kids at all. I told my mom when I was 16 years old if you want to be a grandmother, you better hope my brother has kids, because it's not going to be me. And I switched gears a little bit with Chris. That's one of the reasons we got married, because he would be a fantastic dad. That's the only thing I regret I think about not having kids is Chris would be a fantastic dad.

Daniel Koo:

I do want to get into your chopped life, okay, and I want to hear from you, the person who's made it and someone who's developed it, why you think this is important and what the mission of that is.

KC Kahn:

Okay, I stumbled upon the chopped, which we call the bowl of chopped ingredients. It's a noun. It is a noun. Yes, we call it the chopped, the chopped, and then I am also called the chopper. Oh gotcha.

Daniel Koo:

That's your nickname.

KC Kahn:

My nickname is chopper, not the chopper, but well, I actually could be the chopper.

KC Kahn:

Sometimes the chopper sometimes the chopper, but my initials are KC, so kitchen chopper was what I originally started off with, kc the kitchen chopper, and now it's just kind of gone into the chopped life, the chopped kitchen, you know that kind of thing. But I realized that it was a super easy, healthful thing to prepare and it's very balanced. It's also very diverse. I mean, no matter what kind of eating needs or preferences you have, you can make a chopped to fit that. Most of the recipes I have are gluten-free. They can be made paleo, they can be made keto, vegan, vegetarian most of them, unless it's literally a steak salad or steak chopped. And when I do the recipes I give suggestions. So it's not like. Well, I don't like asparagus, so I can't make this. You know well, use green beans, use broccoli, whatever.

Daniel Koo:

So you know, what I thought was great about the chopped was that it's easy to make and for the busy individual who just needs to get a list of ingredients to buy from the grocery store, come home and just throw everything in a bowl and get it chopped to have a great meal, and it be healthy, I think that's really the value proposition, isn't it?

KC Kahn:

It is. It's also something that you can technically make a head in portions, because every time I cook chicken or I cook fish, I will make more than I need for that particular chopped. So the next night I have those ingredients, I have roasted green beans, I have steamed rice or cooked rice. I cook it in chicken bone broth, which I make from the chicken carcass. So that saves even more time because you can come home and just use the ingredients you already cooked the night before, and if you put a different dressing on it, then you can go Asian, you can go Southwestern, there's all sorts of different ways that you can go. So it is a very easy way to eat. Gotcha.

Daniel Koo:

And these recipes that are online. They're kind of researched and you try to balance them according to the macronutrients. Is that right?

KC Kahn:

Yes, that would be true. The carbohydrates, starches, vegetables, which are also carbs, good fats, healthy fats, and protein, and then you kind of just add from there. You're going to get a little bit of fat in the dressings. I don't shy away from fat that much. I mean it's a little old school to say fat makes you fat.

Daniel Koo:

It doesn't. It is. It is too healthy and it gives you energy.

KC Kahn:

So we don't shy away from fat too much now in the chopped life. So we don't shy away from fat too much now in the chopped life. So that is the meal planning, and what I call the choppertunity for cost chopping is that it's not extremely expensive and it's not time consuming if you make things ahead, and that's just. I call it a template method with the recipes, because if you don't have one ingredient, you can sub most of them out, and so it's more like a template. Soups are the same way. I make a ton of chopped vegetable soups and it's the same idea. It's amazing the variety of vegetables that complement each other.

Daniel Koo:

You know what I like about this specific way of thinking, like the template method, is you know a lot of people struggle with eating healthy and consistently and it's easy to say that you know the food is in the grocery store, right Like you can go out and get it. But the thing that we have struggled with is how and the nitty gritty of it, the details. It kind of overloads you and overwhelms you that you think it's a whole deal to like eat healthy. And essentially it's the same thing as exercise, where you know, if you ask someone why don't you work out, the weights are there, all the equipment is there, you have a running machine in nearly every apartment like why aren't you running? The question isn't really about what's out there, it's more like how do you get yourself to motivate and get inspired and to think of it as something that's easy to do, and I think that's where the value kind of comes out.

KC Kahn:

Yeah, it's simple. It's, to a degree, easy. You do have to put yourself in distress, but that is helpful. Getting yourself out of your comfort zone is one of the best things you can do for yourself. We did a two-hour bike ride today in the heat. Wow, that's called getting yourself out of your comfort zone. In the wintertime, we get out of the comfort zone by going into a cold, cold pool.

Daniel Koo:

I think, for context, we are in Los Angeles, california, and how hot was it outside today?

KC Kahn:

It got up to 93 during the bike ride today.

KC Kahn:

And we had a bit of climbing to do as well. So, yeah, it was hot, but we've done it enough so far this season that we're a bit acclimated to it. So it wasn't as horrible as it sounds. But that's because we've trained our bodies to acclimate to the heat.

KC Kahn:

And I think that so many people are so afraid of getting out of their comfort zones. You know they want to be in the air condition. They don't want to see their heart rates go up. I see my heart rate in the high 170s quite often during my protocols and other people would be scared to death if that happened and they probably should be, because they won't be doing what I'm doing to make their heart rate that high. So I would be concerned about it as well. But getting out of your comfort zone, I think that is one of the best things that you can do. And weight training, you know, puts you out of your comfort zone. Lifting heavier than you think you can, and that's one of the things that I'm very helpful with my clients. I will get them to go just a little bit beyond what they think they can do, because I know what they can do, especially if I've worked with them for a few months.

Daniel Koo:

I think that's a great segue into your personal training career. Tell me about how long did you do this career and how you got started.

KC Kahn:

For one thing, I have enjoyed training myself, you know, since I was about 20 to 23 years old. So I wasn't an athlete per se in my school days, because most of the athletics that we had available to us involved running, which I don't do, jumping, which I don't do, throwing a baseball, which I don't do, catching a baseball I don't do. Throwing a baseball, which I don't do, catching a baseball I don't do. I don't do any of the things that the sports were laid out for. I was more designed for cycling or, yeah, I could say tennis, but he didn't have a partner available to me as a kid, so had I gotten into bike riding somewhere along the way, I would have started that much earlier.

KC Kahn:

So I started training kind of in the Jane Fonda days. It was basically aerobics. I didn't do much weight training. I didn't know much about it, and I started doing a few weights after I took a course that turned out to interest me in personal training. It wasn't a personal training course, but they touched on it, and we had to learn a lot about weight training, all the muscles that you're training and what exercises, et cetera, et cetera, different loads that you would put on people for a certain amount of times and I thought that's something that I think I'd like to do, because I want, you know, I wanted to help people to get healthy.

Daniel Koo:

How did you find this course and were you looking for another career opportunity or?

KC Kahn:

what was the?

Daniel Koo:

context there.

KC Kahn:

I was looking for a career opportunity because I was getting divorced and the acting and modeling was not consistent enough and I did not want to work in an office, I didn't want to have a boss. And so a friend of mine, a locker mate at the Sports Club LA, suggested this course to me because I was telling her what my problems were and where my path was taking me. And I said I'm going to have to support myself because I'm going to leave this marriage and I'm not taking anything. So I was desperate to find something else. And this was perfect. And she knew me. She knew how I worked out, how I trained in the gym, because by that time I was doing more weight training, I was doing a lot of step classes, et cetera, et cetera.

Daniel Koo:

Are you saying that you've participated in these classes, so you're used to working out? Yes, gotcha okay, but no prior like training others, right? No?

KC Kahn:

no, not at all. I wasn't sure that I was sure when we talked about it in the class. But going into the class I was just open-minded to finding out what I could about fitness, about fitness, and so when I did, I ended up studying for the certification and I went and took the test and I passed. So I knew that I could train people and I would be certified, Although I have to say I don't think I've ever had anyone, except for my last new client from about six months ago asked me if I was certified. Oh interesting, no one really asked the question. I think they assume.

Daniel Koo:

Is that kind of normal in this industry, where the certification doesn't matter too much?

KC Kahn:

Well, it matters. If you're going to work in a gym like the Equinox or the Sports Club LA, that would matter. They want you certified or you need a physiology degree.

KC Kahn:

So it wouldn't matter had I decided to go that direction, but I was lucky enough that I didn't have to. I did start off working at a small private gym where I could take anyone I wanted in there and I paid a fee, or they paid the fee and they had all the equipment available and all you did was have to just bring someone in, so it wasn't like I had a boss. I still didn't want a boss.

Daniel Koo:

Okay, that actually answers my next question, which was why did you choose to do more personal training rather than going into a gym, which I'm guessing would be a little bit more consistent income and maybe some security? I'm imagining, Well, the problem with that.

KC Kahn:

I found out early on that they really don't pay very much. I mean, you work a lot but there's overhead and all of that kind of thing and you just don't really. I know trainers that have trained for years but they always have some outside clients. I just didn't ever want to go that way. I just that was a choice, you know, and that worked out well for me. I did get a couple of clients from the manager of the gym and then it just kind of took off.

Daniel Koo:

And the way that you would get new clients is usually word of mouth.

KC Kahn:

It's word of mouth. You start training someone and then their wife or husband comes and trains with you or their kids. You know I've had kids of clients that were 16, 17 years old and you train them.

Daniel Koo:

I'm curious what's the oldest client that you have right now?

KC Kahn:

This man I've had as a client for almost 30 years. Wow. And last Sunday he turned 88.

Daniel Koo:

Wow, that's amazing.

KC Kahn:

Yes, yes, he was the husband of a client of mine and she was a friend of a client of mine. So that was the segue to finding Steve. He came in and I trained him and I asked what his goals were. He was 60 at the time, so I asked what his goals were and he said just keep me alive. I went, oh okay, and I trained him and when he left I thought I'm probably never going to see this guy again, because I couldn't tell whether he was there because his wife wanted him to be there or he was there because he thought he needed to be there. I really couldn't, because keep me alive is very general.

KC Kahn:

But here we are, 28 years later and he's celebrating his 88th birthday and he's sharp as a tack and he's got a few knee issues because he did not take my advice to lose the 30 pounds that he needed to lose, I see. But he finally did, under some pretty scary circumstances, through an illness. He did lose the weight and, to his credit, he has kept it off. Wow. So that's good. But now we're working on the on the knees issues.

Daniel Koo:

But I'm sure the constant coaching and the training probably helped him reach that decision as well, to like be able to lose the weight, as I'm imagining to keep the weight off.

KC Kahn:

Yes, what kept him alive through? He had a sepsis infection that almost killed him, and the doctors did say that because he had trained as much as he did. That probably helped you recover from this, because it was super serious and it was probably about I'm going to say, it had to be six, seven years ago, so it's fairly recent in that way.

Daniel Koo:

I heard having muscle mass and actually even a little bit of fat as well helps with surviving and recovering these kind of major health concerns, if you think about it.

KC Kahn:

That's true, because if he had lost 30 pounds and didn't have 30 pounds to lose, he would have been in dire straits. So that may have helped him a little bit.

Daniel Koo:

I'm not going to tell him that One thing I want to ask is what are the best things about personal training and what are the best things about personal training and what are the worst things about personal training and this is in context for listeners who may be considering this treat my clients as my bosses in a way.

KC Kahn:

I mean they're the ones that tell me when they can work out and we set schedules and it's very gratifying when they make a couple of leaps and bounds in doing things that they didn't think they could do. Balance is a big, huge thing because I do have some older clients. I work with balance and so they are forced to focus, which a lot of people get into a personal training situation and think that they can just go through the motions, and sometimes they try to do that, but then I throw balance in there and they have to wake up and really, really focus. But there's not that many cons to it. I mean, you do make good money, maybe trying to get your clients in the first place.

KC Kahn:

Nowadays it might be more difficult than it was, you know, when I started that many years ago, but I think that it's a gratifying profession. I think one of the cons might be that people, because of the way we've been portrayed, they think we're a bunch of airheads. I mean, have you ever seen any kind of a show or a movie that personal trainers weren't?

Daniel Koo:

a little airheaded, so there's a bit of a stereotype.

KC Kahn:

It's a bit of a stereotype, yes, and that's not true. And you know, my clients know that's not true. Chris's clients know that that's not true, but that might be part of it. But you know, if you're a confident person, you're going to turn people around in a nanosecond. You know that. You know what you're doing.

Daniel Koo:

In the industry are there a lot of people doing two jobs at once where, like they have this side hustle as a personal trainer and another career.

KC Kahn:

Have you seen that to be more common than not? I don't. Most of the people that I know that are training are pretty much full time Now. Chris is full time but he has a huge amount of side hustles.

Daniel Koo:

Exactly.

KC Kahn:

The hubby. I knew more trainers when I was working out of the little personal training situation and I don't remember a lot of people having a lot of free time. We were all pretty busy, I see, which is good because a lot of people want to stay in shape. But having a personal trainer is the way that most people will keep the appointment and they'll work out on a regular basis because they've made that appointment. So that's a plus for the clientele.

Daniel Koo:

What qualities do you think is necessary to become a personal trainer?

KC Kahn:

I think you have to get out of your own head in the way that you train people, because you're a personal trainer and so you are focusing on what they need, not what you need and what you need them to do. I've seen personal trainers in the past that have decided what their clients are going to do because that's what they do. I wouldn't expect my clients to do what I do. I listen and I make sure that when they say that either they don't like something, we switch it around. There's always an option. I don't want anyone to walk away going. Oh my God, I never want to go back there and I don't think I've ever had somebody just hightail it and run, I think what you have to do is listen and you have to start with people slow, because you're not.

KC Kahn:

If you were a coach and you were working with athletes, so to speak, it's a different mind frame. But I'm working sometimes with people that have never worked out and they're afraid of working out. So you have to take it slow, you have to listen, you have to give them something fun to do. Huge amount of variety. We never do the same thing twice in a row and you know they don't necessarily like it, but they have found value in it for themselves and some of my clients will just chat the entire way through and I will get them through a workout and sometimes it's good morning and crickets for the rest of the time.

KC Kahn:

So everybody's different, just like their workouts.

Daniel Koo:

For my future reference. Does it help if you're constantly communicating and chatting, or do you prefer to be quiet?

KC Kahn:

I think that you have to be like a massage therapist If your client wants to chat, you figure out how to get them through a workout with the amount of chatting they want to do. If they want silence, take the lead and don't talk. Just do what they want to feel comfortable with, because I have a couple of clients that wouldn't be able to get through a workout without talking, and I have exactly the other way around, and it's fine, everybody gets a workout.

Daniel Koo:

So one last question I have for personal training is how does discipline kind of tie in with this particular career and do you think without it it would be very difficult to maybe succeed or you know, at least have like a really good, stable career in personal training?

KC Kahn:

Well, discipline helps with keeping your schedule straight. Making sure that I am very disciplined with either remembering or writing down what everybody has done so that I know, walking in, what their workout is going to be. I can say that in 30 years I'm not going to say never because we don't say never in our house.

KC Kahn:

We say almost never have canceled a client because of pretty much anything. I mean, I'll tell them in advance. You know that I'm not going to be able to be there, but I don't cancel because I don't feel like getting up. I don't cancel because I have a stomach ache, I just, I am disciplined in that way there's no calling in sick, right.

KC Kahn:

I probably have never called in sick. I mean, I've been lucky enough that if I have been ill which really honestly doesn't happen very often at all I may have a client in the morning and maybe midday and afternoon. That somehow has worked in my favor in those situations. But no, I think you have to be disciplined in order to make a good living, to let people know that you are there for them. You know, if they're going out of town and they want to work out on their own, and I think that they're capable of it, I'll draw up a program for them. So then I don't know if that's super disciplined, but I've created discipline in them if they want to take that workout with them, and then it's super great if they actually do it. It doesn't always happen, but they tried.

Daniel Koo:

I want to talk more about your acting career. What is the time frame for your acting career? Because I know you kind of transitioned, going more into your personal training at some point.

KC Kahn:

Definitely, definitely. I was kind of on the way out of the acting when I chose to make the transition. Not completely, I did a few things during that time but when I was 18 years old I was an accounts receivable person in a kind of a warehouse company and I found that getting a 10 cent raise and not being excited about it was something that I didn't want to have to endure. So I checked out a modeling school. I did some modeling because of this. It was a glorified charm school basically, but I made the most of it. It was an opportunity, it was a door opening, so I took that. That transitioned to doing some trade show work and trade shows. Every industry has a trade show and they're huge and they're all across the country and I made my way going down to Anaheim and going to LA Convention Center those were the two main things here in Southern California and I kind of walked the aisles and said do you need a model? Do you need a model? And I found quite a few people because I was willing to learn whatever they were selling. That was a little bit of my acting, start of acting as if I knew some of these products and then I just learned it on the side. So I did that for quite a few years and that transitioned into acting.

KC Kahn:

Because an agent came down to Anaheim, had heard about me from one of his clients that was there doing some kind of a demonstration and said you should come down and see this woman. So he did and he liked me and I started working with him for quite a few years and got a lot of parts, but the casting couch was always you know something. I didn't really have to deal with it all that much, although I remember the time when my agent took me aside because I'd had a situation where I basically just said not interested, and he was a little bit of a sleazeball and he basically took me aside and he says don't say no, say maybe. Basically took me aside and he says don't say no, say maybe. And I didn't run screaming because I thought I'll say what I want, you know, depending upon the circumstances and you know whatever.

KC Kahn:

But I continued to get a lot of work and not huge parts, but I would be a feature or maybe a co-star for you know one week, you know one episode. But it was good, it was good money and I liked it a lot. And in the back of my mind I'm thinking what's he promising? But I never got that many propositions, which I thought what's wrong with me? And I thought, oh, I probably have this big old stop sign on my forehead and it came across, probably very loud and clear, because I was married at the time former marriage, so I wasn't looking, you know, and the acting was fun, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't in my soul Like I would just do anything and everything in order to become a superstar or a star. So that was, that was the acting thing.

Daniel Koo:

Could you tell us a little bit about what the time frame was? So when did you start and when did you kind of end?

KC Kahn:

I started when I was, I'm going to say, probably 21, 22. And I stopped. I remember the first time I had to write, because when you sign in at an audition you sign in male, female, age, blah, blah, blah. And I signed in at 40 years old and I went oh my gosh, I'm 40, nobody's gonna take me seriously anymore. I can't do those parts. So it was kind of it was an eye-opener to just write down that 40. I see. So that was about it. I mean, I got to find something else to do.

Daniel Koo:

What were some of your greatest accomplishments during your acting career? Or maybe the better question would be what were some of your favorite ones?

KC Kahn:

Oh, that's a good question would be what were some of your favorite ones? Oh, that's a good question. Well, I had a very good experience working on a small movie called Armed and Dangerous, and it was the first movie that Meg Ryan had done after she got out of doing her. I think she was on a, not a sitcom, a soap opera. I think I didn't work with her. That wasn't my part. I was one of two sisters it was Eugene Levy and John Candy and I was John Candy's girlfriend.

Daniel Koo:

Oh, I see.

KC Kahn:

And he was just awesome. He was such a sweetheart, he was a gentleman. He was always concerned about did you like that take? Do you want to take it? Let's take that over. No KC wants to do? Wow, he was just. It was a delight and Eugene Levy was awesome. So that was really fun. That was great. It wasn't a huge part. You know, I was the girlfriend and I had some lines and it was fun. The problem, the hardest part for me, was it was a nighttime shoot.

KC Kahn:

It was two or three weeks of all night, and I am not a night person.

Daniel Koo:

And when you say all night, what's the time frame here?

KC Kahn:

I think that we started around 10 o'clock at night and probably got home at daylight in the morning.

KC Kahn:

Wow, it was really grueling for me. I mean, I didn't know which way was up, I didn't know night or day, I didn't know when to eat. And why was that? Because of so many outside night shots. It was armed and dangerous. They were two bumbling security guards and all the antics. And then you got the bad guy. I'm trying to think of his name, robert Loja. Yeah, he was a bad guy on a lot of levels. He played his part really well. That's kind of funny at any rate. So that was a good experience. It wasn't a huge experience, but you know, that's kind of what you get.

Daniel Koo:

I think you're very humble because you keep saying it's not a big part, but I think breaking into the entertainment industry yeah, I did get the part yeah, it's amazing. I think you know it's what a lot of people just even dream to have, right, so I think that's very impressive. And what do you think was kind of the experience you needed or the connections you needed in order to break into this industry?

KC Kahn:

Well, that connection definitely came from that first agent that met me at the trade show. So that was my sitting at the drugstore counter and being discovered, so to speak. So that got me in the door for the first few things that I did. The first thing I did was an AFTRA program which segued me into getting my SAG card, and that's one of the hardest, most expensive things. That happens because you need to do an acting job to get a SAG card and that's one of the hardest, most expensive things. That happens because you need to do an acting job to get a SAG card and you have to have a SAG card to get an acting job. So that's where it gets a little rough.

Daniel Koo:

It's kind of a catch-22, it seems like.

KC Kahn:

Yeah, but the AFTRA card was a given, basically, when I worked they took the money and put it into AFTRA. So I worked until I think it was $650 and then I could spend another $12,000 or $15,000, $2,000, whatever it was when I was eligible. I think you have to be an AFTA for a year and then you can get your SAG card.

Daniel Koo:

What would you say are the qualities that you need in order to be successful in an acting career, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of people around you that have gone far, you know, far beyond. Oh most definitely what do you think were the qualities that allowed them to be very successful or like top tier?

KC Kahn:

well, perseverance for sure, talent, just the it's just has to be in your soul. It's like you can't not do it, and I think that goes with anything where you're pretty successful. I mean, you just you can't see yourself doing anything other than that and I kind of I envy that in a way, because I've just been taking a lot of different paths for myself and and that's okay, but I just didn't. As a kid I didn't say I have to be this, and I think that people that go on to become actors or dancers or singers, it's just in them and I think that's what it is. I think you have to have that.

Daniel Koo:

Like a really strong drive kind of intrinsic.

KC Kahn:

And you have to have the talent Of course. And sometimes you have the parents, so that's always a good thing, but you still have to improve yourself.

Daniel Koo:

I think that's true for a lot of different industries too. When I look at my engineering team that I'm in, there's a certain engineer who's really talented, but also I would say his superpower is being super interested in software engineering, way beyond the normal engineer, and he's thinking about it all the time, he's reading up on it all the time. He just loves it and I think having that kind of drive is maybe innate. Yeah, I don't know, like it seems different than other people and that's why I think it may be innate to some extent.

KC Kahn:

Have you met my husband? I mean my goodness.

Daniel Koo:

I mean, Chris has tons of passion. Oh my, goodness.

KC Kahn:

Yes, he can't not write. I mean, it's just in his blood, it's in his soul and I like following that path, you know, with him. But you know there's also things that I do as well, that he can't cook. So you know. I got him on that one.

Daniel Koo:

And for the listeners. If you're curious, we do have an episode with Chris Kahn. It's probably coming out before this one, so if you're curious, please check it out. I want to talk more about modeling and how you got into that. So you had an accounting job that at least paid you decently. Yeah, they paid me $1.20 an hour.

KC Kahn:

Back in the day, when I was 21, or when I was 18, that still wasn't a lot of money, I'm sorry. And then they gave me a 10 cent raise and wondered why I wasn't jumping, you know, off the ceiling, and I thought, wow, I got to find something else to do. You know it's an eight hour day, so it was ridiculous, being a pretty little girl, you know, for my life. Oh, you should be a model. You should be a model. And since I didn't have any kind of a thing that I wanted to go with, except for I learned how to type and take shorthand and use a calculator.

KC Kahn:

I thought I'm just going to check in a modeling school. So I found a modeling school that, like I said, was more like a charm school, but it got me in the door to a couple of photographers, so I was able to put together a modeling card. I put together just a ridiculous portfolio and I took myself to Hollywood and I got addresses for Wilhelmina and so many of them Flair. I can't even remember all the names of them, but I had my addresses and I went in, you know, said hi, I'm da-da-da-da, and here's my picture, and they would either say sorry, we're not looking for that, or whatever it may be. I was turned down so many times and I finally got to a woman who was running the Playboy modeling agency. They actually had a modeling agency that was separate from the magazine. Oh, okay.

KC Kahn:

So her name was Judith Fontaine and she was at the Playboy agency for a few years. Then she went out on her own. I followed her and that's pretty much where I worked. Pretty much my entire modeling career was through Judith, and it was great. I did sportswear, I did swimsuits. I traveled all over the country and into Mexico for jobs. The only thing that I chose not to do because here I am health-minded wasn't doing cigarette commercials.

Daniel Koo:

Gotcha.

KC Kahn:

I just said no. And they were some of the most lucrative commercials that you could do and I said no. So that was a choice. You know, I did not want to put my face out there as promoting something that I didn't think was healthy and I wasn't really all that much into health at that time. I was beginning to because you know, I was working out. Finally, I got into some aerobic classes and did that kind of thing, so I was working out eventually during the modeling career.

Daniel Koo:

For the modeling career, would you say discipline played a big part.

KC Kahn:

Yes, well, discipline for sure played a big part, because you needed to be fit, or actually I was a little too muscular at that time when I was working with other women that were not. It was always relax your muscles, you know.

KC Kahn:

I was like just a little too early for the fitness trend although I did some fitness things a lot of my career.

KC Kahn:

When I was in a bathing suit it was always relax your arms, relax your muscles. I see. Oh well. It's a different time. It is what it is, oh my gosh. Yes.

Daniel Koo:

The beauty standards are different. You know Very much, so, I guess, for modeling. What are some of the best things about it and what are some of the worst things about?

KC Kahn:

it. Some of the worst things about it were oh, maybe the long hours. I'm trying to think of anything that really bothered me a whole lot the auditioning. But in any of that, the auditioning is the treasury. I used to think that if someone would pay me to audition, I'd work for free, so that's how I felt about that.

Daniel Koo:

That's really the most difficult part of it.

KC Kahn:

Well, it's the most time consuming and you know you're standing in line or waiting in waiting rooms to basically have somebody go through your book and go no, no, no, thank you. And then every once in a while somebody goes oh, you did this or you know OK, and then you get the call from the agent and and you set up the date and yay, so that's fun. I always enjoyed the room where it was happening, whether it be where the photographer's setting up or the lights and the camera people on set were setting up. I always wanted to stick my nose in there and just see what was going on before I had to be on stage, so to speak. So I thought that was interesting, but I could never imagine having the patience to be a photographer.

KC Kahn:

Oh, interesting I mean, back then it was Polaroids and the lighting. I mean nothing was easy. And then you don't even know what you're getting until you send it to the lab and then you get it back. I see. And I couldn't imagine going through all of that and they were so precise and so persnickety over everything and I thought I just can't do that. But now I'm doing that with my food Right.

Daniel Koo:

I mean, yeah, we have to talk about your photography at some point as well which was very impressive when I looked over your social media accounts. Thank you, I'm sure everyone who visits your page will notice it too. KC does her own photography of the chopped and they're fantastic. You look very professional, but it's just at your home, right, right, yes, on my dining room table.

KC Kahn:

With a couple of lights and my camera and a vision. I get this kind of feeling when it all comes together and I look in the viewfinder and I like the way the color of the vegetables look, I like the way the towel is set and I take quite a few pictures and quite a few angles and I also take pictures of the accoutrement maybe the vegetables unsliced and the dressings, the components, and I just get this feeling when I put it up on the screen and I'm editing and I go, okay, that's the one.

Daniel Koo:

That's the one. I wonder if that comes from your modeling career as well, where you have to be very visually sensitive to all the elements.

KC Kahn:

To a degree, but you're being directed more so in the modeling. You're not making the decisions about what it's going to look like. I'll tell you the thing that I probably dislike the most about modeling when they're trying to do the makeup and hair, I was just like just get it done and get me out of here. I had no patience for that. And then I'm looking at what they're doing to me and it's like this doesn't look like anything that I would do to my face, but you had to sit there. That's the look that they wanted, or the clothing you know that they wanted you to wear, and but the hair and the makeup just drove me crazy. I would try to get my hair as done as I could before I got there, and then the makeup was just. I would just look at it and go, oh God, I just don't want to look like that.

Daniel Koo:

That's interesting. Yeah, the way you describe it. I think it makes sense that you moved out of modeling as well, but it was something that you kind of wanted to try out and maybe something that was suitable for that age at that time. Yeah, it was an opportunity that you had to take a banjo and you know it was.

KC Kahn:

It was good money, it was an opportunity that you had to take a banjo and you know it was good money. The other thing I did that was really good money when I cultivated it was the trade shows, because I didn't want to go the what's politically correct to say it's not waitress waitstaff, the waiting personnel. The waiting personnel.

KC Kahn:

I just didn't. Well, for one thing, I'm not a night person and that's what you had to do, because your auditions are during the day, so you'd have to take a night position and that was just not me at all. And I was on a show called Sheriff Lobo, a television show. I played a waitress and I didn't turn out very well. It was iced tea all over the table and staff and everything. And I thought, okay, I think I chose the right path so that I didn't lose anything. I mean, they weren't too happy with me, but you know, you always just do another take.

Daniel Koo:

Tell me more about the trade shows that you've done. What did the job entail? So what were you responsible for? What kind of skills did you need to have in order to be a person in trade show?

KC Kahn:

Well, that's a huge range. I mean, there's so many different levels. And you can be a personality that's signing a poster. You know just up there and that's what you do. You say hi and you smile and you sign a poster and you roll it up and you give it to them and they walk away. Or you can be a part of the company, so to speak. There were a lot of times that I would introduce myself and just tell them that, yes, I can greet people, but I can also read your information and I can describe what we're selling and what we're doing here, so that I can find a salesperson for you to work with. That's what I tell the company owners.

Daniel Koo:

That actually sounds like sales to me.

KC Kahn:

Well, it is.

Daniel Koo:

I see it is.

KC Kahn:

It's like pre-sales, you're kind of selling yourself, but you're selling all sorts of different things. So if you want to do that and you like it and you're able to, I appreciated it because I didn't want to be thought of as just a pretty face and I was a few times, many times. But I always wanted to kind of get involved in the sales part of it because I was pretty good at selling things as long as it wasn't myself. But I worked for a big, huge Japanese company called Fujitsu 10 and they were car stereos and it was the era of the cassette into the CD, into motion censoring, where they could actually put a CD in a car and not have it skip. That was their development. That's where Fujitsu 10 was.

KC Kahn:

So they had a car created that I could demonstrate everything and how it worked and where the speakers were, and that eventually went into a demo room where I was talking to an audience and so I just developed kind of a spiel about what went here, what went there, talked about all the goodies and gadgets, and you know, reverb was a big thing back then. Shake the building, everybody loved that. So I created that pretty much more for myself than maybe I was originally hired to do, but I had a lot, of, a lot of companies that had me on for that and we would travel all over the states in that capacity.

Daniel Koo:

You know, it seems like from what you explained to us how you started out. You were kind of isolated, maybe even a little shy, but going to modeling and also going to trade shows, that's a relatively very extroverted job. Do you think you learned that on the job or do you think you wanted to do that in the first place?

KC Kahn:

I think I wanted to do it in the first place because I wanted to get away from the people that were telling me those things and I was really feeling stifled and any way that I could just start anew I was choosing to do and those things made me uncomfortable. At first I was just, you know, selling what I could do and I just got lucky enough that I was able to do it for quite a while.

Daniel Koo:

I think the general advice is that you should stay at a job as long as you're growing and learning and to kind of move on. You have to know when to move on as well. I see that in your career as well. You've learned a ton being a model. You learned a ton being at a trade show talking to people, being very extroverted. I'm sure that helped you in your acting career as well, would you say. That's true.

KC Kahn:

Yeah, I mean because there are times when you're kind of acting. You're acting like you know what you're talking about.

KC Kahn:

I was very good at picking up the lingo of the salesman and just going with it, and once you pick up some buzzwords then they think that you know what you're talking about. So I was pretty good at that. The acting I don't know that I looked at it as something one helping the other, because to me they were pretty distinct. I had a little bit more leeway with the trade shows than really you do with acting, because you have a script and that's what you follow and the director is there and people are watching what you're doing. So I don't know that.

KC Kahn:

I really thought about that when I was doing both those things. I was doing the trade shows so that I can continue to do the acting. I wasn't in a restaurant waiting on people at night, being exhausted, trying to go out on auditions. So that was my idea with the trade shows and I thought it was just genius. I couldn't believe that nobody else was doing this. You know you're an actor. You could do that and make so much money. Maybe they just didn't enjoy it, you know, don't know.

Daniel Koo:

One of the last topics I want to talk about is kids.

KC Kahn:

So you mentioned the lack thereof, the lack thereof.

Daniel Koo:

You mentioned that it was a decision, and it was a choice not to have kids. Tell us more about why you made that decision and maybe some of the factors that you were dealing with at the time, and also if this was a decision from a long time ago, that may be different now.

KC Kahn:

As a kid I pretty much knew and I couldn't tell you why I knew this, but I did not want to be a parent. I played more with teenage type of dolls than I did baby dolls. Tell my mom when I was 16 that if she was going to be a grandparent she better hope my brother comes out of his shell and actually gets married and has some kids, which he has done to his credit. He doesn't know that, but I think my mom was pretty shocked and very saddened by that. But that was the way that I felt for many years, many, many years. And then Chris and I met. I felt for many years, many, many years, and then Chris and I met. We did talk about kids. He's got a big family up in San Luis Obispo and I think that it was probably a path that he thought he was probably going to go on and didn't think about not going on it, but he kind of knew. I mean, I did tell him what I said so he understood where I was coming from. But I did come around to thinking that he would be an amazing dad and I didn't want to take that opportunity away from him and I loved him so much that I thought I would love our child too. So we did try.

KC Kahn:

It was, I'm trying to think, my age I think I was actually younger than my mom was that many years ago. So I didn't think that it was impossible for me to get pregnant. And I did. I did twice because the first time I miscarried and the circumstances the second time were exactly the same as the first time I was.

KC Kahn:

Five weeks along, I was working with the same client, getting the same twinges and knowing the second time around what I was in for it was bizarre and found out pretty much that unless I had hormones and went through all of that, you know it's probably not going to work. And I thought well, I think I should take that as a sign that maybe it's just not right for us. And Chris and I talked, and we talked about it very in depth and we both kind of came to the same conclusion that maybe this isn't for us. And then at the same time the fork in the road showed up in the form of cycling and maybe we should go to Europe and ride along with the Tour de France well, which has actually just ended on Sunday, and both of us were so excited we can do that. That I remember we were planning it. I had to learn how to ride a bike outside. All.

KC Kahn:

I'd done was spinning classes, basically. So we had to get me a bike and I had to get used to it. And during all this time we're thinking, wow, what if we have a kid? I'm thinking it more, I think, than Chris. What if we have a kid? We're planning all of this around us, being fancy free, and what really hit me and really cemented it for me is that I thought I was pregnant and I was so disappointed and the other times I had been elated and I had just completely turned around thinking that Chris is going to be out cycling, he's going to be out directing movies. That was his path and I wasn't going to be able to be there. I was going to be home with a kid. I thought we need to talk.

Daniel Koo:

So thank you for sharing and I'm sorry for your loss as well.

KC Kahn:

Don't worry about it. We have not truly have not regretted the decision. It wasn't a tearful decision to make, it was just okay. This is the path that we'd like to take.

Daniel Koo:

A very important point that I wanted to get out of this conversation is that there's a different life that you can have. I think not having kids kind of opens you up to a lot more opportunities as well, and it's something that is good to hear from you, because I'm sure a lot of people are considering that. You know there's a lot of debate in having a kid and there are so many factors to consider. And depending on your life goals. It's very important to choose, because it's going to change your life very drastically.

KC Kahn:

Well, there's no doubt about it. I mean, our life would have been drastically different, maybe better. Well, who knows who? Knows.

KC Kahn:

You know, we won't know, but we didn't make the decision lightly, nor did we regret the decision that we made and I kind of felt that the universe made the decision for me. I mean, it really would have been tough for us to have a kid. Just getting it, just having it would have been tough. So I didn't choose to go that route and I've had clients that have gone that route and they've been super happy. But oh my goodness, what a difficult procedure to go through and I wish them well, but it wasn't for us, so it was.

Daniel Koo:

Anyways, thank you so much for all the insight. We've learned a ton today, personally. I think the ideas about discipline and also kind of following what you're passionate about and what you're able to do that's something that I've been looking forward to as well. So when you want to get something done, you have to do something that you're able to do. Cross-section it with what people want, cross-section it with what you're good at, and I think having those three kind of intersected is something that you've been able to achieve, and throughout your career, you transformed it into something that you really like and a point that you really want to be at. So, to summarize a little bit, I think where you started from and where you ended up is very different, and I think that's something that we can all look forward to in life, and so I really thank you so much for your time and your insight. I personally learned a lot and had a lot of fun talking to you.

KC Kahn:

Well, I had a lot of fun thinking about and bringing up some of these things that I went through that really, you know I had forgotten. I didn't bury, but it's good to be insightful every once in a while and you've drawn it out of me and it made me feel comfortable. You know talking about myself. Thank you so much.

Daniel Koo:

Thank you so much.