It goes without saying that my next guest is someone who’s known for bringing happiness and joy to others. Through her wit, humor, and contagious positivity, this larger than life female certainly leaves a lasting impression on all those who happen to cross her path.It’s fairly certain to say that if you’re reading this, you’ve met Kirsten Sponseller before.

A popular media personality through hosting What’s Up Sarasota, her endlessly entertaining social media feed, and the hostess of countless fun events all over Sarasota, everyone gets in line behind her to play “Follow the Leader” when it comes to having a good time. It’d be unwise to underestimate this leading lady, while she may be beautiful, behind that she’s got as much wit, talent, sarcasm, and intelligence as any male comedian in the industry and the raunchy jokes from time to time to prove it. With no qualms in poking fun at herself and shattering cliche female stereotypes, Kirsten is no shrinking violet, she’s more of a strong sunflower when it comes to floral metaphors.

Kirsten is well connected for good reason, for no one can entertain with the same level of funny, slightly sarcastic, and at times self deprecating, humor as she does. She draws you in with her warmth, keeps you laughing, smiling and leaves you with residual happiness. She is instrumental in celebrating life’s good times and asks you along with her, to celebrate both life and yourself. This is part of what makes her so captivating to others.

I decided to ask Kirsten for an interview to get a glimpse of the girl behind the glamour and guffaw. It turns out, she’s just as sunny on the inside as she is outwardly…. Read on for more

Name: Kirsten Sponseller

Occupation: Hmmm, I haven’t been asked this question in a while. Event host? Local love giver? I don’t know what my title would be or how to title my occupation, but my main goal is to make people feel good, give them a reason to connect, and to celebrate what’s happening now. Celebrate themselves, each other, as well as places and events locally. “Party Clown” should sum it up nicely

Age: 46 almost 47

Place you were born: Colorado Springs, Colorado

A Random Fact about You: I worked in telecommunications, both the construction side and the management side. I worked in ditches, manholes, and aerial as a splicer. That was all before I decided to change my entire life and only wanted to do things that made people around me feel good.

Your Motto in life: “Don’t take yourself too seriously. But take others seriously.”

A Favorite Hobby: Dancing- is that a hobby?

Please name One of your Greatest Childhood Memories: This is a package of memories. Without going into details of each and every story, I have almost died several times! Including being a “pleasant surprise” for my parents. My mother was on the pill when she got pregnant with me. I was not supposed to be here. We found out decades later that if you are on the pill and taking an antibiotic, antibiotics decrease the effectiveness of the pill. So that’s the miracle as to how I was conceived.

As for all the other brushes with death, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by good people who stepped in, knew what to do and truly looked out for me.

Your Favorite Musical Artist: There are quite a few! And it changes year to year, decade to decade. I really love new music. That’s what gets me going! Hearing a song for the first time gives me life. But if I had to pick one artist… I gotta say Beastie Boys!

Favorite Movie: I love thrillers! I like a movie that’s going to make me think. But Because there are so many of those that I adore, I’m gonna have to go back to my classic favorite which is Grease.

Favorite Book/Author (or both): Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan When I first read it years ago I was told it was a true story. I have since then found out that it was not a true story. I was disappointed about that but I still keep the message in my heart.

A recent act of random kindness: I don’t think it’s random, but I’m always super nice to everyone when I go out into the world. Even in traffic. Our local traffic is full of snow birds, tourists, the elderly and locals trying to get to work.

I try to understand that a lot of people aren’t from here and that they get lost or they get turned around and sometimes that affects traffic and how they’re driving. I don’t get angry behind the wheel. I just try to understand the other person’s situation and their day.

Same with going to stores and restaurants. I don’t get impatient, I try to understand.

So I guess my random act of kindness would be not to honk or yell at other people. Escalating their emotions and mine is never going to solve anyone’s bad situation.

Please name a Personal Accomplishment that you are most proud of to date: The person I was 10 to 15 years ago is someone I don’t even recognize now. Deciding to walk away from a six-figure job to do things that make people happy has been the best decision I’ve ever made. I’ve been super broke and broken but my soul is forever changed. I have met some of the grandest, greatest people on this planet by opening myself up to new experiences. Walking away from a career that had no love for me changed everything.

In 1993, I decided to not eat meat. It finally dawned on me what we were actually doing to these living, loving creatures! Being raised eating meat, it never crossed my mind. As soon as I realized I had a choice, I stopped. I highly recommend it.

What is the Largest Challenge You’ve Encountered in life so far and How did you overcome it? As I mentioned before, the person I was 10 to 15 years ago is someone I don’t even recognize now. Deciding to walk away from a six-figure job to do things that make people happy has also been the most challenging decision I’ve ever made. I’ve been super broke and broken but my soul is forever changed. I have met some of the grandest, greatest people on this planet because I’ve opened myself up to new experiences. Walking away from a career that had no love for me changed everything. I have done things that I only dreamed I would do! It’s all on my terms and my good intentions are all for the better good of people around me.

What is your personal belief about life in general?: “Stop trying to hurt each other. We need to Stop trying to hurt each other. We can still trust our intuition and have our guard up, but we don’t have to be mean or take somebody else down in order to be strong.”

Are there any projects you’re currently working on?: The whole COVID-19 situation has been really really hard. It is the exact opposite of what I’ve built my career on. promoting local places in hopes to gather people and hosting events together in hopes to gather and feature local people. It has affected myself and my creative crew and it hurts. But I’ve also used this downtime to come up with new creative ideas to use the resources that I do have to build a bigger crew and make What’s Up Sarasota even stronger on the other side of all this. Now more than ever we need to work together, to keep each other strong. There are so many of us that have put years and a lot of work into making Sarasota’s community what it is. I know we still have a lot of bright (“fight” seems too negative of a word right now) left in us to make it happen.

What is your ultimate future goal?: “To keep my dream alive and always be hustling” (dancing)

Your favorite charity? And why?: I donate a lot of time and money to local animal shelters. We have some fantastic local shelters that not only take in these sweet, abandoned animals, but they also educate the public on how to prevent this. Showing love towards a vulnerable creature says so much about human beings.

Find out more about Sarasota’s Humane Society Here:

Humane Society Sarasota County | Adopt.Donate.Save a Life.

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