In this episode of Excuse My Grandma, Kim takes a solo deep dive on the uncertainty of her early 20s, her first jobs out of college, and dating. From working as a PA and running the teleprompter to a messy Covid-era situationship, all of your questions about Kim before Excuse My Grandma are about to be answered! Follow us on Instagram @excusemygrandma @kimmurstein TikTok @excusemygrandma Watch on YouTube Spotify Music By: Guy Kelly (00:00) Intro (01:18) Career (17:47) Dating
Chapter 1: What does Kim plan to discuss in this solo episode?
Welcome back to another episode of Excuse My Grandma. It's your host, Kim. This week, we are just going to talk, me and you. Grandma Gail and I obviously have a ton of episodes coming out, but I thought this would be a good opportunity in these Excuse My Solo episodes to talk without grandma, without a guest. So it can be a little chiller. You can get to know me a little more.
Chapter 2: What was Kim's career path after graduating college?
I'll tell some more stories that maybe I shouldn't or wouldn't want to tell in front of grandma. So yeah, I think we could talk about different things all the time. I'll be relaxed. So I want to also hear from our listeners. What do you want to know about me? Because I honestly am an open book person.
I'm private largely compared to most influencers that I'm not posting all my friends and my boyfriend and that kind of thing. But I want to connect with everyone. I want to share experiences. And yeah, I'm curious to know what you all are curious about. So I thought this week we could talk about how the career of Excuse My Grandma came to be. I've done a solo in 2024.
I've only done two or three of them so far, but talking about like my day-to-day business of influencing. But a lot of questions I often get are, what were you doing before becoming a content creator and before Excuse My Grandma? So I will start from there.
I graduated from Cornell in 2018, and I graduated with an English and media arts degree, but I didn't have a job yet because in that industry, you basically just see the job posting when they're posted. It's not like finance or something where they take a new group of analysts every year. So very rarely is something posted – in advance of graduating.
And so right away, I was like, let's hit the ground running and look for entry level jobs. I did a lot of internships in college, both during the summers and then also when I was on my winter breaks, because I have always been very career focused. And I felt like the more experience I was able to get, then the more answers it would give me about what I want to do.
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Chapter 3: How did Kim handle the confusion of her 20s?
Which to an extent is true because you can't figure things out in your head. Like you really do have to live them and try things in order to see what you actually like. But the big topic of this episode is kind of going to be the confusion that you feel in your 20s on all levels. Especially career, but also relationships and really everything because... I am still dealing with this.
I'm about to turn 29. And it's very hard to not feel like every little decision you make is going to represent what your future is or... That one decision isn't calling the shots for everything to come forward. So it's like, if I decide I want to work in this industry, that's what my life is. And that's not true because people pivot and your desires pivot and all of these different things.
So I'll get into times that I've kind of experienced the questioning. And I'm an overthinker as followers of Excuse My Grandma probably know. My grandma's very calling the shots, telling me what to do. And I like mulling over every emotion, which is kind of why I lean on her because it's easy for someone else to make the decision. But it is part of growing up too.
So when I graduated college, I first worked for a streaming news network called Cheddar. I had an internship there one summer, and then again, I helped out with the inauguration. So I think that was, I guess, over one of the breaks I was home from school. So I already kind of had my in there and tried to keep up with some of the people there, even when I was back at school.
And so it was definitely one of my first calls when I was looking for full-time jobs. My other internships, I worked at NBC. I worked at Tribeca Film Festival. And so I knew I wanted to be in entertainment. I thought it was going to be acting, something I still dream about and I'm thinking about maybe I should consider again.
But I liked the on-air stuff and I felt like, especially with these jobs in media and entertainment, beggars can't be choosers. There's not a million options. And even if there were a few different job options posted, you might... slash probably won't get it. So anything I got offered, I was saying yes to. So with cheddar, the entry level role was as a production assistant.
My entry level salary was about $30,000. And Thank God I'm in a fortunate position that I actually lived at home with my parents for a few years. It's crazy to think now because sometimes I'll make that on one brand deal alone. And when people tell you don't leave your steady job, you don't know how things are gonna turn out.
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Chapter 4: What were Kim's early job experiences like?
Sure, but oftentimes steady job doesn't necessarily mean you're making more money or that you're working harder. So I started as a production assistant, my roles were basically, you would have multiple stories you needed to write per day, basically 30 seconds scripts for the anchor to read. So in the beginning, as a production assistant, I would probably get assigned two to five a day. And
You're using all of these different technologies where you are writing the scripts into, you're adding those video elements to play as B-roll over the story, you're telling the editors what they need to cut, and it all happens on different softwares that you have to learn. The growing pains were painful.
Like with any job that's your first job, especially one that was an industry that seems to be very specific, you can't really transfer a ton of skills into it. Like you really learn on the job. So I was the kind of person, I would walk around everywhere with my notebook and I would write every single thing down.
And I remember a boss of mine there, he was like one of the executive producers of the show, was like, from day one, because I ended up staying there for about four years, I remember you walking around with your notebook. And it was just, he was like, you don't really see that. Working hard looks different for everyone, but it was very apparent that I wanted to learn as much as possible.
So I'm the kind of person, like, I had extra time for test taking. Like, I am a little bit slower in my work habits. And so it was really hard to pump out stories as soon as they were becoming available. You want to be...
timely you want to be current you want to make sure you're not reporting something too late and you want to make sure you're doing the most up-to-date version of a story and there's all these things that go into it so I had amazing mentors there Liza she's probably not listening but she was great um and had patience with me and you really need that at a company
I didn't love every co-worker I had.
I would say one of the things I sort of regret is on days where I wasn't feeling well, whether it had been I had the flu or I ended up developing my neck and back pain at this job because I was constantly on the computer for 10 hours a day with no breaks, I kind of wish I took breaks and that the people around me, and if there's any managers of teams listening to this, like,
You know when someone's working hard, but don't push them when they don't seem like they can handle it or they don't seem well. Or if they ask for a day off, like, I would get guilted really, really badly if I... wasn't feeling well and couldn't come in, which wasn't that often. I worked holidays. I really busted my ass.
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Chapter 5: How did Kim transition from a production assistant to an associate producer?
And I think that's a big difference now where obviously I run my own company. I work for myself with Excuse My Grandma as a creator. And when we're working with brands and partnerships and all of these things, I push myself. But like knowing what I know now, I... would never like compromise. It's not like I don't hustle in the same way.
I don't think I would work really, really to the bone for something I didn't care about for someone I didn't care about in the same way. I think I have the luxury now to only kind of work on things that I feel passionate about, which isn't easy for everyone to say, but That's the one thing I think I would do over. It was also the first time I was in an office setting really of any sort.
And I remember that being really stressful too. I came, I was still living with my parents as I said, and I came home at the end of the day and I just collapsed onto the floor my first week, I remember. And I was crying hysterically and I was like, I cannot do this. And my mom, love her obviously, but she is of the mindset of, you don't have to do it.
Like, if it makes you miserable, like, quit tomorrow. Who cares? And my dad is like, you can't quit. You just started and everything gets easier. So... It was hard because I care so much about work. I want to be working, but I felt so out of my element and it's something new and that's scary. And I remember that feeling so vividly.
And sometimes if I'm in a new experience now, I'm like, holy shit, I need to decompress. But nothing was like that intense of an emotion. Could have been that maybe that's not what I was supposed to be doing. with my life, but who knows? So I ended up staying there for a few years, as I said. So I went from production assistant. Another big job I had as a PA was
running the teleprompter, so when you know anchors are speaking, they're reading a script, it looks like they're looking in the camera, but they're reading a script, if you've ever seen the movie Anchorman, and someone manually in the control room, which is a dark room with a million TVs that's freezing because the equipment can't overheat, someone in the control room, the lowest common denominator,
runs the teleprompter, which is essentially twisting a wheel with your hand and following along the anchor's speech patterns. And they can't, they won't know what to read if you don't scroll. So the show can't, like, it's actually a really important job, but you have to be paying such close attention for hours a day. to make sure you're following along.
And sometimes when you'd space out for even a second or look away for even a second, they'd be like, everyone in the control room would be like, teleprompter. And you'd be like, oh my God, oh my God. And sometimes not your fault, but it'll like just spaz and it'll scroll really fast. And then it's your job to get back to where you were. God, I'm having PTSD.
Anyway, that was a big part of my job, random. Eventually, I work my ass off and I become an associate producer. Basically, the one to three stories I was writing becomes three to seven stories, and I'm still learning from those around me. Around then, I think... I was looking around and I was like, what is my trajectory here? Who here do I want to be like?
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Chapter 6: What challenges did Kim face in her first job?
I'd run, I'd put a mic on, and I did it on air. And it went well, and she gave me my own segment every day that we ended up naming Here For It, which no one really says anymore, but at the time, this was 2019, it was a popular phrase to be like, I'm here for it, if you were into something. So...
That was awesome and I loved it and my heart would be pumping and I'd get so nervous and I'd be live, I'd be reading my own script and then I would ad-lib with the anchors for a few minutes and it was fun. And it was like, you know, silly, lighthearted entertainment, pop culture, the stuff I still like to talk about now. And it was my favorite part of the job, but it was five minutes a day.
And the other nine hours of the day, I was still doing my normal job. I was working myself crazy, which is my personality. But I think because I injured myself with my back stuff, I was fighting through pain, which... in hindsight, I should have thought more about. So eventually, I think I got promoted to producer, I was a full time producer, I was on air every day. And then COVID happened.
We did the show remotely, which was really hard. We had to get equipment from home. We were on these like crazy Zoom calls that basically replicated a control room. And I was more comfortable with the job, but I still struggled in a way that I still wanted my producers input and I still didn't know what I was doing half the time, but maybe that's always how it is.
I feel a lot more confident in my job now. So I don't think that is always how it is, but again, I'm my own boss. So I don't trust as myself in the same way that I would, you know, be held to a standard by other people. So we're doing the show remotely and my back nerve pain that I was describing gets worse and it gets really hard to do the job.
I took medical leave and then I started working really part-time again for Cheddar. And I still have dreams about it actually that I forgot I was working part-time and I have to get back to my computer.
then when i was working part-time i was living with my grandparents because it was covid at that point i had to come to florida and that's when the concept of excuse my grandma got into my head and we all know the story of excuse my grandma and i'll get to that a little bit more how that came to be in that moment um
But I'll go back a little bit to talk about the relationships and the dating of this time, because it was almost equally as confusing as my work life. So when I first started my job in news, I was still dating my college boyfriend, which was like a five-year relationship. And it was a hard transition for us.
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Chapter 7: How did Kim's perspective on work evolve over time?
I remember arguing a lot and it was someone I was with for so long during these like important stages of your life. College, you're out on your own, you're learning who you are. So there was not necessarily a big trauma of the relationship. We just weren't moving forward. I realized he was missing some of the things that like I have in my boyfriend now. I realized that...
We weren't growing together. So we broke up in 2020, February, 2020. So I'm like, I'm gonna be single. I'm gonna hit the town. Three weeks later, global pandemic.
Early COVID, when I'm in the Hamptons with my family, when you're like really not leaving the house and everything's remote and everyone's scared, I was just doing FaceTime dates and maybe a social distance walk with people that I was meeting on dating apps. Then I don't even want to go back to that time because it's like so scary to even think about.
But eventually, still during COVID, I went down to live with my grandparents to Florida. And that's when dating and being outside, especially in Florida, it was more acceptable. And during that time, I did meet one guy on Raya, one of the dating apps, and that actually lasted for like six months. But it was a situation ship. We were never official. And that one really cut me deep.
And there's so many stories I can I can get into about him. He was really like artsy, always made me laugh. Realized that's the kind of dynamic that I like in a partner. Also something I feel like I have with my boyfriend now. Except this guy was like non-committal, really flaky. If it was a Saturday night, he wasn't with me. I don't know where he was. So I was not a priority in his life.
I was just like when it was convenient. But I really liked him. And work-wise, we actually had a really similar job. He had a podcast before I had a podcast. And I remember when I came out with Excuse My Grandma, we had just cut things off a few months before. And one of his friends commented on my post and was like, you're just doing this because he had a podcast. And I was like, oh my god.
He doesn't own podcasts. It was actually... One of those moments where I was like, I'm just not listening to this hater because my desire to- I'm still doing it and I don't care about him now. So like, it had nothing to do with him. My desire to like follow this path wasn't because of a guy. So that was a little strange, I remember, but-
Because he understood my career and the entertainment industry, I really was enamored by that. And at a time you're confused and looking for someone that has a little bit more information than you, I feel like you want that person in your life. You want them to help you. You are seeing the kind of opportunities that they're getting and someone who gets you.
It feels really good at a time, even now, when you feel like not that many people in the world understand you. It's funny because we got to a point, me and that guy, where I was like, do you want to be more serious with me or end things? And he was like, yeah, I don't want to be more serious. So we obviously had to break up if I had any self-respect left.
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Chapter 8: What advice does Kim have for others starting their career?
I think grandma saw that one coming from a while away. You know, I wouldn't tolerate that all now, knowing what I know. So I think that was just that time in my life where I was at my age, not having had an experience like that before. Now that I have, not just with him, but with other non-committal guys. And by the way, this guy is like 10 years older than me, maybe a little less.
I think that now in my current relationship, I feel like... it has all the things that I was missing in that emotional support and someone who shows up for you and you don't have to wonder where you stand. And so I'm really grateful that with Zach, my boyfriend, we have that kind of dynamic. And by the way, it's kind of something you can see about someone pretty early on. The first time I met him,
Which, by the way, I don't know if people know. I can't remember if I've told the story. I don't think I have. Because I talk to my friends, but sometimes I forget that I don't fill in you guys. My friend, who I met a few years ago, she was like, you would get along with my brother, which is Zach. And she actually said it in a way because of work. We had a lot of synergies there.
And kind of what I'm saying now, I was like, I want to meet someone who knows about the industry, not even as a date. The three of us had dinner. He came in from LA where he lives. The three of us had dinner in New York. He wasn't coming in for this. He had work here.
Um, and three of us had dinner and it very quickly was a connection between me and him that after I was like, okay, I want to go on a date with this guy. But when someone understands like your work and what you're all about, it actually makes you feel connected to a person romantically or not. Like you...
I wanted him in my life in some way I remember saying goodbye that night we hugged like usually I wouldn't care about meeting my friend's brother if I never saw them again but I like half hugged him side hug goodbye and I was like I kind of want to see this person again which was an interesting feeling and eventually he kept traveling in from LA and we got
We hung out more and we got more serious and now it's a long distance relationship. But my point is, even though I didn't know I was gonna date him, from early on, I knew that he's not the kind of person who would make you guess where you stood. Or that he's the kind- I knew he was the kind of person who would be supportive of me and my job and all of that. So...
That is something that I feel like with time you learn to prioritize someone who like actually hypes you up, makes you feel good. And not only select things that they think is cool, but like just supports everything that you do. I don't regret any of my career or dating decisions because they got me to where I am today. And I must've been unfulfilled enough to,
in those relationships that weren't doing it for me in my job that I wanted to change and I went a different path. So if I would say anything, it would be trust your gut more because if you believe in yourself that this moment, this job, this person
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