As such, I have made the difficult decision to close Kaur Space. We are archiving our articles, and will let the magazine live online for others to stumble upon and be informed and inspired by. We will be issuing prorated refunds for all our annual members, presale members, and refunding our monthly members who were charged in June. Our team is so incredibly grateful to all of you for your time, your engagement, and your words.
I want to shoutout Kylie for her incredible editorial management and direction of the magazine. She found our writers and illustrator (Samantha Nickerson), and brought the cohesive, thoughtful content together week after week. I want to thank Renira for her beautiful vision for the aesthetic of the magazine and brand as a whole — who knew journalism could be so beautiful? Also, a huge thanks to Kim, Jasmine, Emily, and Stepfanie for the ongoing support and work related to growth, content marketing, graphic design, and overall administration. Kaur Space existed because of your collective passion and commitment to what we were building.
Jasmine Williams, Kylie Adair, Renira Naidu, and Komal Minhas of Kaur Space — Photography by Kenya-Jade Pinto •
This experience has taught me that throwing in the towel isn’t failure, that sunk costs can’t be the only reason to keep building, and that our freedom and peace of mind are often on the other side of the hardest conversations or decisions in front of us. I’ve also learned that leading with empathy is truly transformative and can assist in even the toughest of conversations, like having to let your team members go.
I’ve landed on a few key things: to interview other humans on my own podcast, at conferences, and one day on air, to create a foundation to formalize my philanthropic giving, and to (finally) write a book about my life and lessons learned.
When we were building Kaur Space I specifically told my team to build it so it could exist without me. We were preparing for our launch after I had an intense surgery and 8-week recovery last fall. My health had been precarious for some time. I wanted our impact to be vast, and I didn’t want to be a bottle-neck.
But in the last few months I realized as I began interviewing more consistently on stage and on podcasts, that creating a start-up that doesn’t have me ‘in it’ isn’t what I’m supposed to do with my life. I have been given the gift of great health once again and I don’t want to waste it. I’ve realized that I am meant to help people better understand each other’s humanity through questions and conversations that can transform our hearts and minds. I’m also meant to empower others through investments and philanthropic giving to help them unleash their greatest potential.
Making this decision was difficult, and I did not make it lightly. But once I did, I felt a calm and peace that made me know it was the right thing to do. Kaur Space has made a massive impact in such a short time. It was a privilege to build.
I’ll be launching my podcast this fall, and will have more writing for all of you as I uncover this next chapter. If the last few years have taught me anything, it’s that you really do have to love the shit out of the journey, because you never know what’s about to happen next.
•
