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How The Intentional Pause Project Is Helping Women Audit And Redesign Their Lives


After a 23-year tenure at Hallmark Cards, Inc., marketing strategist and transformational leader Kim Newton came face to face with a bleak realization. Despite a stellar reputation and a rising career, she was dissatisfied and uninspired. Even after reaching this inflection point, Newton found herself in a conundrum. She knew she was not living up to her potential, and yet, she couldn’t bring herself to make the jump and change her life. A top AA in corporate America, Newton also had the pleasure of mentoring hundreds of women in her field. It was through these relationships with mentees, friends, and other associates that Newton found a common thread – the women around her were remarkably competent, qualified, and ambitious, and yet, many of them felt that something was missing.

This observation sparked an important curiosity for Newton, and she soon tasked herself with figuring out why the women in her life were so unsatisfied. Drawing on her decades of experience as a strategist and transformational leader, she did what she knew best: research. After commissioning a study of almost 400 successful, accomplished women across the United States, Newton was stunned by the results. “Most of us (91%) are unapologetically ambitious, but completely overwhelmed (81% personally and 73% professionally),” says Newton. “We set goals, write to-do lists, exhaust ourselves to complete them, and have a hard time relinquishing control. We’re constantly on the go, and that puts not only our mental health, but also our desires and dreams at stake.” Simply put, Newton’s research confirmed that many women were ready for a change, but they were either too busy, too scared, or too unsupported to make one. In fact, according to her research, only 36% of women were following their dreams.

Naturally, after the results of her study, Newton was faced with a difficult decision. Would she continue on the promising corporate path and take another c-suite position, or would she take a leap out of that 36% and follow a new dream? She knew in her gut she wanted to leave, but like many of the women she had talked to, she was afraid. Praying for a nudge in the right direction, one day, her prayers were answered. After a company restructuring and the introduction of a new CEO, Newton’s position was eliminated. Suddenly, she was granted the opportunity to chart a new path toward her real dream.

For the first time in years, Newton had the opportunity to pause and pursue a new version of success. Thankfully, a family full of diverse interests and career paths exposed Newton to several examples of excellence from an early age. While she had followed her father’s example of success in corporate America, she also had an excellent teacher for a mother, a writer for an uncle, and a widely celebrated African-American artist (Brenda Joysmith) for an aunt. One of Newton’s most significant influences, however, was her grandmother.

Around 20 years ago, this grandmother taught Newton the art of traditional quilt-making, and she soon went on to modernize the approach. She began developing her own storytelling quilts, but this passion took a backseat as she climbed the corporate ladder. For years, she continued to build a thriving career, only occasionally exhibiting her creations. It wasn’t until she left Hallmark in 2019 that this creative drive would move from the sidelines to center stage. In 2020, Newton sold her first quilt, which was then gifted to Oprah Winfrey. A year later, she launched her eponymous brand and business, Kim Alexis Newton.

With a mission to “amplify talent and passion by assisting others with their emotional life journeys,” the multifaceted business model blends Newton’s passions for creating art and serving others. The brand is comprised of three elements: an art studio, a high-end line of handcrafted modern quilts called Alexis Gift Quilts, and her latest endeavor, The Intentional Pause Project. Driven by Newton’s personal experience, observation, and strategic research into women and life transitions, The Intentional Pause Project is a media, product, and experience platform helping women to embrace pausing as a powerful way forward to achieving their dreams.

For Newton, the elimination of her corporate role came at just the right time. It presented her with the opportunity to take stock in her own research and follow her dreams. More importantly, it gave her the freedom to hit pause on the chaos of life and get clear on the path ahead. Putting her research, personal experience, and expertise to work, Newton set out to develop tools to help other women do the same. Instead of waiting for life to make the call, she would create a system to help women disrupt themselves through the power of the intentional pause.

 The Intentional Pause Dream Workbook and Monthly Planner

Newton’s research had made it clear that many women were disappointed or disillusioned with their personal and professional lives. This hard truth was only exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.  While 2020 forced many of us to slow down thanks to social distancing and stay-at-home orders, for many, it was not quite the “intentional pause” that Newton had envisioned. In fact, between anxiety over public health and widespread job loss, many people found themselves uncomfortable in the stillness and desperate to return to the hustle and bustle of “normal” life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics, by the end of 2020, more than 4 in 10 adults had developed anxiety or depression symptoms.

Feeling compelled to help make a change, Newton got to work in creating The Intentional Pause Dream Workbook and Monthly Planner to revolutionize self-care. This combination guided journal and planner was designed to guide users through 25 exercises over five two-hour pauses to help replace disempowering habits with achievable dreams or goals. Based around an emotional plan that Newton calls the F.O.R.E.S.T. framework, this workbook equips women with a supportive tool and system to generate success on their own terms and at their own pace. 

“I did all that research and [found that] women need three things,” says Newton. “Permission to pause, tools to help them navigate what they really want, and strategies to fight fear.” Strategy is exactly what Newton’s workbook provides, taking women through five impactful and intentional pauses to help them identify blockages and work their way up to creating the life they want. The first pause asks users to “Pause to Audit.” Within this audit or self-evaluation, users are provided the F.O.R.E.S.T. framework to explore their Fears, Obstacles, Relationships, Emotions, and Self-Talk. Newton explains why beginning with a personal audit was so crucial. “I think that the purest form of self-care is listening to your own desires,” she says. “The irony is, I don’t think that we take the time to get those desires out of us, let alone activate them, and that’s what the emotional plan focuses on…that’s what the F.O.R.E.S.T. framework does – it helps you manage your “give up.”

After the audit comes four other intentional pauses. “Pause to Dream” includes six exercises to help users discover their deepest desires. “Pause to Activate” asks them to prioritize three of those desires into “dream goals” and develop a best-practice action plan. Next, “Pause to Fortify” encourages women to explore their F.O.R.E.S.T. framework and develop a Fortify emotional plan for each of their three dream-goals. Finally, “Pause to Actify” asks users to combine the last two steps – Activate and Fortify – to merge their goals with the emotional roadmap necessary to achieve them.

All in all, the steps of Newton’s Intentional Pause Workbook and Monthly Planner work together to turn transformation into an approachable, digestible, and effective process. Just like a business must have a plan and a culture in order to thrive, we too can use structure to map out a clear path to our desired lives. Newton explains, “That’s what The Intentional Pause is. It is an opportunity to be still [in order] to create a personal strategy and a personal culture that is required to go after these things that we’re afraid to do.”

Conception & Design

As for developing the workbook, Newton leveraged her years of experience as a strategist to create the perfect plan of attack. Following the needs that she identified in her research, she started with a personal audit of other journals currently on the market. After going out to look at 30 different planners, Newton realized that they were all missing the key element of an emotional plan. It was then that she found her point of differentiation. “Why are so many planners bought and unused? Well, it’s because people give up – and so I asked myself, why do people give up? – and I studied that. That’s where the Fears, Obstacles, Relationships, Emotions, and Self-Talk came from. I just categorized them all and came up with a framework. It was a very creative process for me.”

Concept in hand, Newton turned a wall in her basement into a designated whiteboard to lay out her budding ideas and map out her framework. Aside from creating a product that would actually help her target audience, her next priority was making the workbook into a beautiful experience. “I wanted to make [the workbook] a beautiful experience so people would want to do it…I actually made the investment to find a designer that could help me bring it to life in a way that invited people in.” Unlike other planners on the market, this experience was about more than aesthetics, it was about easing what can be a challenging process of transformation. “My last role was consumer experience,” shares Newton. “I loved leading consumer experience because to me, it’s where strategy meets operations. It’s all of the different interactions [the consumer] has with your brand…so I wanted to invite people into the process because there are already enough hurdles.”

What’s Next?

What’s next for Kim Alexis Newton? In addition to offering her workbook, she continues to expand The Intentional Pause Project as an overall venture to change not only the lives of women, but the way society as a whole conceives of self-care and personal transformation. While created with women at its heart, Newton is thrilled to see the project continue to expand to all people looking to build their dream lives and plans to expand the Intentional Pause operation with branded workshops.

She also continues to create and share her quilts as “spiritual tools for growth” and “daily warming reminders” to help people on their emotional journeys. Each of her pieces is created to tell stories and elicit emotions that get people thinking not only about their own experiences, but those of others as well. She aspires to grow her quilt brand to reach millions of people with the support of comfort and creativity. She also maintains her corporate ties as an advisor to two startups, helping people and organizations to reach their fullest potential.

Finally, what’s Newton’s advice for those women who say they can’t change their lives? – for those who defer their dreams due to busy careers or family obligations? “I struggle all the time with pouring time into my dreams versus my relationships,” says Newton. “But I also know that I’m modeling for my daughter how to honor herself and how to honor her deepest desires…I do want to honor the real pressures that people feel, but at the same time, autopilot is not a strategy. If you want a different way of doing life, you’re not going to do it on autopilot.”

Her reminder to us all? Changing your life doesn’t mean you have to quit your job or take a sabbatical and abandon your responsibilities. Change also shouldn’t wait until the decision is made for you by somebody else. You can redefine success on your own terms, and it can be as simple as finding purpose in the intentional pauses. 



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