A Tribute To Kirsty Bonner

First off, let me say that it has been an honor to know Kirsty for over the past year and work with her for the past six months.?As you have read, she always put others first and offered her knowledge to many on LinkedIn and for her clients across the world.?However, she also helped both my husband and me with our job searches and our high functioning autistic son.

Some history, I started following Kirsty back in July of 2019 and read her posts, which had great content for #jobseekers.?I started to ‘like’ and then comment.?Last year Kirsty had a situation with her PTSD and was not posting.?When she came back, I commented, “great see you back,” and that I would be sharing her posts again.?This time I shared and added my comments on the top of her posts.?Around September 2019, she posted about Mission Employable 2020 and that she was going to block individuals that were in Human Resources because she said we should be called the People Department.? I commented on her post and asked that she not block me because I enjoy sharing her posts for others.?She then DM’d me and in a humorous manner... 'Don't be silly, I will not block you, Penni' and did not!

As we progressed into 2020, I received a call from her Chief of Staff and my friend, Tonia Fishman, asking if I would help Kirsty with compliance and other projects for her.?The projects started around when COVID hit, and the timing was perfect!?Both my husband and I worked on the projects, and Kirsty began helping us with our job searches.?We met with her over the phone on our 20 + wedding anniversary date, and somehow that came out in the conversation, she congratulated us and then turned into her coaching mode.?She started by saying…”Your resume is telling people who you are and what you do,?just like when you go on your first date… She paused and said, "Well, maybe not for you two, but you know what I mean.”?We all laughed and moved on.

We did work on her projects, and I asked her to take the day off for when our son graduated from high school.?She answered, of course, and she went beyond that, she sent an Amazon Gift Card to our son for his graduation gift.?As a small business owner, I understand money is tight, and she did not have to do that, but she did.?We asked our son to write Thank You notes (yes, on paper) and send them to everyone who gave him gifts, including Kirsty.?Two weeks after we mailed out the note, I get an e-mail from Kirsty stating that she was ecstatic to see the thank you note on her doorstep.?

Shortly after our son’s graduation, Kirsty and I visited over the phone to discuss my job search and not even 10 seconds from our greeting, she said…”Penni, you sound stressed.”?I told her I was worried about our son.?And that he was 18 and did not know what he wanted to do.?She laughed and said, “Bloody hell, I did not know what I wanted to do when I graduated high school too!”?Before I could get in another word in, Kirsty burst out and said, ‘He can help us and learn from Team KB!’?I thanked her for the generous offering and tried to decline, but she would not hear it.

It turned our son was able to help Team #KB and did get an opportunity to learn about a professional environment with my peers that were all over the world.?All of us learned from this experience how to work with individuals that have “differences,” and that me 'mom' needed to step aside.?I will never forget Kirsty for her helping others, our team, and my family.?I hope that with others (in the comments on the post) that I can help individuals in their job search and know that she is now at peace.?RIP #KB