Charlie Kirk changed my life. I wasn’t a fan. It’s not that I didn’t like him. I just didn’t sit down and watch his content. I wasn’t a follower. But somehow, he became my turning point anyway… When I stepped into the content creation arena, I knew conservative content creators don’t get the same deal as democrats. Conservatives are either full-time political commentators, or keep their mouth shut. Brand deals disappear. Tourism boards stop calling. Doors close the second people realize you won’t stomp for the left. You’re expected to pick a lane, and once you do, you’re shackled to it. I understood that when I started Where the Dogwood Blooms. I chose North Carolina — the land, the history, the people, the stories — because that is what I love and want to preserve. I didn’t have the luxury my democrat counterparts had. Creating content and supporting causes I believed in wasn’t an option for me. So I stayed silent. Then Charlie Kirk was assassinated. A man who believed open debate was how you challenge ideas was murdered on a college campus while doing exactly that. That moment hit hard. Watching it happen changed the way I viewed my place in the world. I had spent years worrying about what might happen if I said what I actually thought. I worried about losing opportunities. I worried about the doors that might close. Then I watched a man die for standing in a public place and arguing for what he believed. My first act of defiance was buying a Freedom shirt. That shirt got me verbally attacked in the most unlikely place imaginable: Western North Carolina. My own home turf. Then it clicked: Silence is dangerous. It teaches one side of the country to feel entitled to their own voice while denying the right of the other to speak out. That’s how you end up watching a man get killed for talking and then getting berated yourself for wearing a shirt that says you noticed. In that moment, my shackles came off. I spoke out. And my voice was heard around the world. Charlie did that. He didn’t know me. But he freed me. He gave me a voice. May he rest in peace.

My 15yr old granddaughter still hasn't emptied the dishwasher. I asked her to do it four hours ago. Now she's freaking out because she can't find her phone... Which is on silent in the dishwasher. Follow me for more amazing parenting tips….

Call me harsh, but I do not care about Lindsay Clancy's emotional state or mental wellbeing. My compassion, empathy, and desire for justice starts and ends with the three babies she senselessly murdered.

New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia LOSES IT on Democrats passing illegal immigration laws “For the love of God and all that is good. Can you differentiate between the fact that we don't make laws that control the federal government? My God, what are we doing here? I'm not a lawyer. I was an English teacher and I comprehend that my fifth grade middle school English students would understand it. I am coming to you not from a point of ideology because I know in the minority party, we already lost that argument. You guys are way, way out in the ether with that. I'm not even hoping to win the ideology. I'm hoping to win the logical argument to say, why do we keep passing laws that are gonna end up in court? We lose and the taxpayer gets shafted over and over and over. You cannot vote yes for a law that controls local, county, state, and federal. No, Federal has gotta come off for this to count, but the only reason why you're passing it is to affect federal agents — Don't a room full of lawyers understand. Ludicrous. Oh my goodness”

An hour before his event at UVU, I sat down with Charlie Kirk for what would become his final recorded conversation: a warm, inspiring, and apolitical dialogue on entrepreneurship, building businesses and an outlook for tomorrow. (0:00) Intro (0:58) Hometown and background (3:02) Entrepreneurial journey (3:54) What is an entrepreneur? (5:22) The spark of a founder (11:59) @elonmusk's time management method (15:52) Building a lasting brand (22:55) How to deal with feedback (24:06) Lessons from leading Gen Z (26:10) Privileges vs principals for leaders (27:38) Outlook of America for business planning (31:36) What is a quote you live by?