Who is Kyla Denanyoh? 10 Things about the You Are A Lawyer host

Ten years after graduating from law school and five years after launching the You Are a Lawyer podcast, I still enjoy talking. I enjoy talking so much that I will sit and listen to other people's talks for the You Are a Lawyer podcast. 

Hey, y'all. This is Kyla Denanyoh, and I just wanted to record a special little episode to celebrate. This is my 10th anniversary of graduating from law school. I graduated May 9, 2015, and it both feels like it was last year and also feels like it was 30 years ago.

This episode concerns getting to know the lawyer behind the You Are a Lawyer podcast. I've dropped a couple of these gems in a few episodes, but unless you've listened to all 190 episodes, you may have missed a couple things, so let's get into it. 

Starting with number ten, I never wanted to be a lawyer; I always wanted to be a judge. Even saying that sounds silly, but I wanted to be a judge when I was a little kid. I used to wear my dad's robe. I used to walk around, act like I was telling people what to do and giving them provisions and everything else. 

It wasn't until I was older that I realized I needed to be a lawyer to become a judge. There are a couple of places where you don't have to be a lawyer first, but it's like little podunk towns, and that's not really my vibe. So when I found out I had to be an attorney to become a judge, I was like, OK, well, I'm going to law school. 

Number nine. I am delusional. I am very, very delusional. When I started this podcast, I always told people I couldn't wait for my website to crash because I had so much traffic. And ask me if I have ever managed a website before. No. Ask me if I have ever run a podcast before. No. Have I ever done anything creative like that, including technology? No. But I believe that if anything is written down if I can read about it, I can learn it. 

And that is delusional because there are a lot of people who will be like, oh, I can't do it. And my mind is always YET. Oh, I can't do that YET. I haven't hosted a podcast YET. Oh, I haven't managed a website YET. Now, I have a Wix account, my Webflow account, and a regular Squarespace account. I have all these websites now. I like to think that I'm a techie. It's tech in its own way. I taught myself how to edit audio, how to edit video, how to record, how to record with a big Sony camera, how to record with my phone, and how to have lights set up. 

Number eight. I learned to enjoy risks. I did not always enjoy taking risks. I am a classically trained lawyer. I WAS very type A. I say this because type A is very regimented, likes to be in control, and wants to handle how things are going. That is not me. If you want to come and take control, please do. I have so many things I'm managing. PLEASE let me relinquish it for a little while. For a little while? That could be part of type A. 

I don't like having everything figured out. I may have used to. Right now, I do not surprise myself. I'm doing these three things, and it turns into something else. I used to really love that quote; what you pay attention to grows. Yeah, could you pay attention to your money? It grows? Could you pay attention to this? It is growing. That is not the same as the results of creativity. It could grow if I pay attention to my podcast and improve it. If I keep staring at my download numbers every day, that won't make it grow. 

I find that taking one risk allowed me to build my tolerance for more and more and more risk. I decided to talk to lawyers for the You Are A Lawyer podcast, risk number one. Who am I going to talk to? How am I going to find them? How am I going to get them to speak to me? How are we going to get this thing going? One risk led to another, led to another, led to another. To now, I actually enjoy taking risks. I really, really do. 

And even I enjoy surprises. Like, I want to know, OK, we thought that was going to happen, but how didn't it happen? We thought that was going to happen, but what changed, right? And that's an exciting thing because I'm a strategist. And so, for me, to lean into the unknown is pretty fun and pretty exciting. 

Number seven. I have recorded this podcast in two states and four cities. I've recorded in the state of Kentucky, and I've recorded in Ohio. Then, I recorded in Westchester, Columbus, Cincinnati (Ohio), and Covington (Kentucky). I typically will not record when I'm traveling, except when I lived in Kentucky and recorded in Columbus. But I'll definitely edit all over the place. I've edited in Belize and Florida, but I won't record in other places. So, I've recorded this in four cities and two states. 

Number six. I had a sponsor of the You Are A Lawyer podcast in my first season. It fed to the delusion. It feeds to the put it out there. Will someone value it? Will they see the importance? And so the funniest thing about that is I was interviewing a guest and they're like, hey, what are you going to do about sponsors? I'm like, oh, you know, I'll think about it in the future. And they're like, no, I mean, do you want a sponsor? I had a sponsor in my first season!!!

When I tell you, when you think about quitting podcasting, when you think about no one cares about what you're doing, your artwork, you want to stop…getting a sponsor on your first season, your first 16 episodes will keep you going. Even though the money was small, I can now say that someone offered me money for something I would do anyway. And it really did propel me. I mean, I'm in season 13 right now. So yeah, that was a big deal. 

Number five. I'm doing everything I never expected. I never expected to run a business. I never expected to manage people again. I did that in a big law firm. I really enjoyed it. It was also a lot of work. And I was like, nope, I will be a solo contributor. Let me implement, do my part, and get out. I got a whole team. 

I enjoy having a whole team. I enjoy managing. I want standard operating procedures, getting people up and ready, and then you get to let them run. And I'm not micromanaging. The thing that I don't care about managing is that it takes a lot of time to get the right people in the right places. But then, once you have them, you're good to go, right? And so that upfront work is the tough part, but I'm doing it now. 

Another thing that I wasn't expecting to do wasn't expecting to have all the social media. I wasn't expecting to ever move back to Columbus again. I'm doing a lot of things I never expected, and it's really, really fun.

Number four. I am 41 years old. Did you know that? Did you know that? I get a lot of people on the show, and we are like the same age, but because I talk about having a four-year-old, they're like, Oh, I remember when I was your age. I'm 41 years old. So, if you never knew, I'm 41 years old. I mentioned a lot that I went to law school at 28, and I don't know if people add it up or think about it, but I'm 41 years old. I graduated at 31. I'm now 41 with a child growing out of her toddler years. 

Number three. I actually enjoy editing podcasts. I have always loved words. I've always loved reading words. I've loved writing words. I've loved editing. When I was a little kid and we'd get in trouble, I would write my parents a letter and say, I feel like you treated my brother this way. You didn't listen to me and whatever. I love pulling out a pen and marking things up. I've always, always, always. I still really enjoy editing. 

I keep trying to record a video about how apps that remove us are not the same as podcast editors. Because I also want someone to be like Kylie, what do you do, and how can we replicate it? Because there are times when you are talking to a guest, and you think of an amazing question, and you ask it late, and it needs to be moved. And how do I replicate that part of my brain into an app that can do it? Because that's what I'm doing. I'm listening to stuff. I'm like, oh, that um was wrong, you were distracted, or you were this, and I'm moving things. And I'm chopping and screwing it, right? If I had a pen and paper and was marking it up, that's what I'm doing when editing audio. And that's also why I work with business owners. 

Which leads me to number two. I work with business owners; you have to have a business, or you have to have a creative pursuit that you are treating like a business. You are an author, selling books, trying to get monetized with your whatever. For one, so that you can afford the fee. I don't know how to edit your hangout, laugh, joke podcast for two. I'm cleaning it up. I'm getting it tight. I'm making sure it's clear. That is the way that I edit. 

That's also why I only offer LinkedIn for social media management; some of my Instagram posts were hit. Most of my LinkedIn ones resonate. I don't care if I have 86 people watching; my clients come from LinkedIn. Oh, I saw you're having so much fun in your life. Oh, I saw you're always talking about this, but you could be consistent there, you could be consistent here. At one point, I had three clients, all of which came from LinkedIn. And I don't even talk about the industries these people are in, but that's my lane, and I'm happily there. 

So yeah, I work with business owners. That is really important to me. For one, I like to coach them. Let them know you could take the risk and believe in yourself to start the business. And I'm telling you, sharing your story will boost everything else. And it's fun to have them get that light bulb moment where they're like, yes, it works, it works. I absolutely love it. 

All right, so the number one thing you may or may not have known about me is that I love talking. I started the You Are A Lawyer podcast because I wanted to speak. There were a lot of really cool lawyers that I kept meeting, and no one was telling their stories. I was listening to podcasts. I couldn't hear their stories. I was looking at other lawyers. I couldn't find their stories. I wanted to know where the stories were. I was like, I'm going to talk to these people. You're going to tell me. We're going to get it out there. And the ironic thing is I speak in about 10% of the episodes. The talking, the getting to know, the interacting, the wondering how their day is, and the listening to their story is my jam. That is the whole reason why I started a podcast. 

And now, 10 years after graduating from law school, five years since launching the You Are A Lawyer podcast, I still enjoy talking. I enjoy talking so much that I will sit and listen to others speak for the You Are Lawyer podcast. So I hope you enjoyed this, just getting to know the lawyer behind the You Are A Lawyer podcast. 

Go create something and enjoy changing your careers.