BECOMING ANYWAY.

A memoir about moving before you feel ready, leading while self-doubt follows, and discovering you were enough all along. From becoming a mother at twenty-three to building a life and career I could not yet imagine, I kept moving through uncertainty, loss, reinvention, and the pressure to prove I belonged. This is the story behind the success, and what it took to finally stop asking permission.

AVAILABLE OCTOBER 1

BECOMING ANYWAY

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AVAILABLE

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OCTOBER 1

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BECOMING ANYWAY 〰️ AVAILABLE 〰️ OCTOBER 1 〰️

MEET KELLY.

Kelly Ann MacPherson is a technology executive turned entrepreneur, independent board director, author, wife, mom, diehard Vikings fan, frequent traveler, and hopeful golfer.

Originally from Minnesota and now living in Miami Beach, Kelly has spent nearly three decades leading technology and transformation for some of the world’s most recognized hospitality and consumer brands. Today, she is President of KAM Advisory, where she works with hospitality and technology companies navigating what comes next.

When she is not working, Kelly is usually planning the next trip with her husband, Calum, daughter, Lauren, and their dog, Coco Bean, whether they are exploring somewhere new or spending time together in Napa Valley. She is also a lifelong Vikings fan and remains wildly optimistic that her golf game is about to turn a corner.

Kelly and Lauren also host the Becoming Anyway podcast, where two generations, two microphones, and no shortage of opinions take on life, work, family, sports, and everything in between.

Becoming Anyway is Kelly’s first book.

INSIDE THE BOOK.

Eleven chapters. One journey of becoming.

  • 01: Becoming Before I Felt Ready

    I thought readiness would come first. Instead, life kept asking me to begin before I knew what I was doing.

  • 02: Becoming Through Risk

    Some of the opportunities that changed my life were also the ones that scared me most. I did not know how they would turn out, but I knew I would regret not finding out.

  • 03: Becoming By Walking Away

    I spent years believing perseverance could fix almost anything. Eventually, I had to understand the difference between giving up and recognizing when something was no longer mine to carry.

  • 04: Becoming a Mother Anyway

    I thought I was raising my daughter while trying to build a career. Looking back, I can see how much she was raising me too.

  • 05: Becoming by Letting Others Shine

    The best teams I built were never about me having every answer. They came together when I found great people, trusted what they knew, and got out of the way.

  • 06: Becoming by Seeing Differently

    I spent years trying to think like everyone else so I could prove I belonged. Turns out, one of my greatest advantages came from my unconventional path.

  • 07: Becoming Enough

    I changed my body, chased approval, and kept waiting to feel like enough. The real change began when I stopped treating myself like a problem.

  • 08: Becoming Connected Without Losing Myself

    I spent years mistaking being included for belonging. The connections that mattered never asked me to lose myself to keep them.

  • 09: Becoming Stronger Through Conflict

    I could handle pressure. The harder part was saying what needed to be said when silence felt easier. I had to find my voice without letting someone else’s chaos become my own.

  • 10: Becoming Through Big Moves

    A faxed resignation. A move to a place I had to find on a map. An Indeed commercial in the middle of a pandemic. Some of the biggest turns in my life began in ways I never could have planned.

  • 11: Becoming Through Regret

    Some of my deepest regrets came from what I ignored, delayed, or convinced myself I could outwork. I cannot rewrite those choices. But they have changed the way I live now.

BECOMING ANYWAY.

The Messy Journey of Building a Life, a Career, and Yourself — All at Once

This is not a polished success story. It is the honest account of how I became a mother, a leader, and a woman finding her own way, often before I felt ready. Through stories of risk, self-doubt, loss, courage, and reinvention, Becoming Anyway explores what it means to move without certainty, lead without having every answer, and build a life that finally feels like your own.

Be the First to Know

EARLY PRAISE.

  • "This book speaks to the courage it takes to keep becoming when the path isn't clear. Becoming Anyway is honest, generous, and deeply human, written by a woman I admire deeply, a compelling companion for anyone navigating change with heart and resilience."

    — Marjan Anwar Khan, Chief Technology Officer at Canada Goose

  • “Growing up, I always thought my mom knew exactly what she was doing. Reading Becoming Anyway reminded me that she was figuring it out along the way, just like the rest of us. She built an incredible career, raised me, took risks, made mistakes, changed directions, and kept going. I’ve had a front-row seat to so much of her story, but this book let me see parts of her in a completely different way. And maybe that’s the thing she’s taught me most: you don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to keep becoming anyway.”

    — Lauren Maddern, Kelly’s Daughter

  • "Kelly is a true pioneer of transformational technology in the hospitality industry, but this story is about far more than Kelly's rise to the top of her industry as an executive leader and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in Hospitality Technology. You will laugh, you will cry, you will learn, you will grow, you will see yourself in her stories, and hopefully, the lessons learned through her incredible journey will inspire you and help you to become anyway."

    — Elizabeth Huh, General Counsel at Union Square Hospitality Group

“I didn’t write this because I had it all figured out. I wrote it because I didn’t.”

For years, Kelly’s story could have been told through the obvious milestones. The jobs. The moves. Motherhood. Successes. Relationships. Risks. Reinventions.

But that would leave out the most important parts.

Becoming Anyway came from everything happening underneath them. The uncertainty before saying yes. The insecurity that could follow success into the next room. The pressure to prove herself. The decisions that looked clearer afterward than they ever felt while she was making them. The mistakes she still thinks about. And the realization that becoming was never something she finished.

This is not a book about how to build the perfect career or create the perfect life. Kelly certainly didn’t do either.

It is an honest look at what it took to build both while becoming more comfortable with the person doing the building.

Some of it is funny. Some of it is painful. Some of it took years to understand.

And if there is one idea at the heart of Becoming Anyway, it is a simple one: you do not have to have everything figured out to keep moving forward.

BEHIND THE STORY.

You don’t have to have it all figured out.

You just have to keep becoming.

Becoming Anyway
The Messy Journey of Building a Life, a Career, and Yourself, All at Once

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