About a year ago my cousin sent me Cara’s Instagram profile and said ‘you have to follow her’. I immediately fell in love with her tropical, joyful vibes and later discovered she actually lived in Washington!
I was flying home that weekend so I asked her if she would want to go to lunch, so I met her IRL and have never left her side ever since. š
First time I met Cara
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Cara is creative, KIND, caring and talented. She’s a first class friend, and SPEAKING OF COWS she recently became a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines so if you see a gorgeous Hawaiian princess on your flight it’s most likely Cara or her sister Jenole who also was hired by them.
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Cara and her husband Justin (who’s also amazing) are the most supportive friends I have and are an amazing example of what a Godly relationship looks like. Young couples, married couples, old couples, single people…. look to them!!!!!
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I can’t wait for you to meet my best friend and Jesus sister, Cara Kuulei Bowen.
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
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Iām 28 years old, I feel 22, and I love Jesus with all my heart and soul! I want 5 kids, and I want to raise them running naked on the beaches of Hawaii! Iād have all 5 at once if I could, but weāll see what God gives me! Iām Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Filipino, Swiss, English, Welsh, and Scottish.
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I recently became a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines, and it is the most perfect job for me! I never imagined Iād be going down this path, but God always knows best, and Iām so glad that I am!
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I love people, I love tacos, I love laughing, and I always try to live with a joyful and kind spirit.
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Ā What was the inspiration behind @CaraKuulei?
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4 years ago I bought 20K followers with an old Instagram account. I wanted to look popular. But it was so easy to see that my followers were fake. I had 20K followers but would only get 30 likes. It felt very inauthentic and yucky to me! Iād get questions how I had so many followers all the time. And all I could say was that they were bought.
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I got tired of having a fake account, and so one day I deleted that account and started @carakuulei. I wanted to start fresh and be authentic. I wanted to build an organic and REAL community of people on my account.
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I started taking professional photos and making my page look beautiful as a whole. At the time it was based around PNW hiking because thatās something my husband and I love to do!
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I started asking questions to people with thousands of followers. I started seeing trends on Instagram where people would tag brands and get reposted by the brand and gain a targeted follower base. So I began to do the same thing!
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One day when I had around 2K followers (mostly friends and family), I prayed. I felt the Lord telling me He was going to give this platform to me as a place of encouragement and authentic community. I had a vision of the number ā30Kā (followers), and I told God that I would dedicate my account to Him. I told Him I would encourage young women in faith and relationship and to follow their dreams.
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And you know what happened? The very next day, a brand with 300K followers (at the time – now have 1Million) asked me to create content for their brand. They started to repost me everyday, and over the next 3 years until this day, brands and other influencers reach out to me everyday to work with them. And Iām almost at 30K followers like that vision I had the day before it all began. GOD IS SO GOOD!
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So thatās the inspiration behind @carakuulei. It turned into a tropical inspired page because I love my Hawaiian culture. I want my page to be a safe place for people to learn about Jesus, to share their struggles and victories and to get refreshed and encouraged daily!
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Its my goal to catch peopleās eyes with my bright, colorful, and tropical trendy vibes, and then capture hearts with Godās living word and encouragement!
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Take us through a day in the life of Cara… We want all the details!
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My life looks very different than it used to now that Iām a flight attendant! A typical day looks like waking up at 3am with a notification that Iām flying to some random city or country at 6am. I read my bible and pray first thing in the morning to make sure Iām centered in Jesus before I start my day! I put on my makeup, take my vitamins, make a healthy breakfast usually with eggs, rice, and turkey bacon, drink a cup of coffee, and drive to the airport! I check in an hour early before my flight, board the plane, and just hang out with awesome people all day! Then when we get into whatever city we fly into, we lay over for 24 hours. I love to workout and lift weights, take pictures, go on instagram, meet new people, and just have fun!
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If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
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I wrote myself a letter once, so Iāll leave that here with you!
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Dear Younger Me,
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Jesus goes before you in every situation. He cares about the details of your life, and He has amazing plans for you!Hereās a list of 10 things I want you to know:[su_spacer]
Jesus goes before you in every situation. He cares about the details of your life, and He has amazing plans for you!Hereās a list of 10 things I want you to know:[su_spacer]
- Itās not the end of the world.
- It WILL get better.
- You will find your prince charming.
- God already has incredible plans for your life, so TRUST HIM.
- Stop playing the victim.
- Stop blaming God. Heās not the one putting you in this situation of heartbreak and torment ā youāre doing that to yourself through your limiting mindset. Heās trying to heal you and help you out of it.
- Donāt rush into anything. Be patient. Take it one day at a time!
- Enjoy this season, your friends, and your family because you will never get it back. Your life will significantly change.
- You are smart, beautiful, talented, compassionate, and fun, and you have aĀ whole worldĀ of possibilities at your fingertips.
- DONāT GIVE UP
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Whatās on the horizon for you this year?
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I have dreams to start a devotional blog called āCloser To Heavenā and I want to start writing a book based on āTrue Love That Lastsā to encourage young couples in lasting relationships and marriage!
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I will be flying around the world exploring new places and making new friends in every city! I also have a dream to start bible studies and community meet-ups in every city I fly to!
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Ā What (or who) inspires you to #DoStuff?
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Iāve always been a very driven and passionate dreamer and doer, and there are a lot of people that inspire me to #DoStuff! But I think if I was to choose one person, it would actually be my husband! He always pushes me to be my best self, and he is constantly going after his own dreams…and I find that very attractive and super inspiring. We love to #DoStuff as a team!
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And lastly, whatās your favorite ice cream flavor?
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Mmm…I always go with rocky road!
Follow Cara on Instagram
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