This week we have a special guest on our podcast, Kim Baker, CEO of the Gallatin Chamber of Commerce! Kim, who is from Florida, has lived in Sumner County since high school.

In this episode, Kim shares:

• Details about how she ended up in Gallatin
• Interesting facts about her life story (including the fact that she was dead once!)
• How she came to be the CEO of the Gallatin Chamber of Commerce
• What the Chamber of Commerce does in and around Gallatin
• Upcoming events in Gallatin
• And much more!

This is an episode that you DO NOT want to miss! Enjoy, and be sure to share this episode wherever you can!

Transcription

John Haggard: [00:02 ] Welcome to the Miracle Ford Special Edition podcast where we also interview community leaders on topics that are of interest to the Gallatin area as a whole. And today we’re excited to have Kim Baker on the podcast. Kim is the Chief Executive Officer of the Gallatin Chamber of Commerce. Hey Kim, welcome to the podcast.

Kim Baker: [00:20 ] Hey, good morning. It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.

John Haggard: [00:23 ] Well thanks for taking the time out. I know you’ve got a lot of things to do there. As CEO we thought it would be fun before we dive in onto what’s going on in Gallatin these days, from the Chamber’s perspective, for people who are new to the area or maybe people just don’t know you, tell us a little bit about your background. Did you grow up in Gallatin?

Kim Baker: [00:42 ] I did not grow up here. I’ve been here all of my adult life. I finished high school here. I’m a graduate of Gallatin High School. I also spent some time at JP2, and College Heights. But I’m a Green Wave at heart for sure. I moved here in 2000 from south Florida. My Dad’s job brought us here. He was a civil engineer always followed the projects and the dollars. So we landed in Gallatin, Tennessee.

John Haggard: [01:06 ] Wow. In south Florida. You know, most people, if they’re going to go somewhere, they may go from here to there, but rarely from Florida to here. People say I love Florida. So anyway, the job that your dad had got you here.

Kim Baker: [01:17 ] Yes. And you know, it was a culture shock coming from south Florida to Gallatin, Tennessee 15 years ago. I say 15. It’s actually been 19 now. But it was quite a shock, especially being a teenager moving here. But you know, we love it here.

John Haggard: [01:33 ] Yeah. So when you were in high school, Gallatin High School, was there anything you did there that was especially fun? Some people are cheerleaders, other people are, you know, all these various projects, Future Farmers of America, all kinds of things. Did you do anything like that in high school?

Kim Baker: [01:48 ] Well, I did do different things in high school. I think some of my favorite things I did, I was on the bowling team, not at Gallatin, but at JP2. I was on the bowling team. I went to States twice. So actually lettered in bowling.

John Haggard: [02:00 ] Wow.

Kim Baker: [02:00 ] That tells you a lot about my athletic abilities, I think. But hey, I did, I did. I got the, I got the letter, I got the pins and that was quite an accomplishment to do that two years in a row. I also participated in model UN model, United Nations and one of my advisors for that. He actually had roots in Arkansas. So most folks that participate in the model UN they stay within their state or within their region. We actually traveled outside the state, so I got to go compete in Arkansas. So that was neat. So I built a network there outside of Tennessee. So that was a lot of fun. I was really involved in arts, visual arts. Took a lot of AP art classes, painting, drawing, things like that.

John Haggard: [02:40 ] Yeah. Yeah. And so when you were bowling, you were one of those three hundreds, I guess right. The perfect, perfect… what do you call it, not the spare, but the strike.

Kim Baker: [02:47 ] The strike. I hit a lot of strikes. I still can, I actually still have my ball. I still keep shoes. And it’s funny when I met my husband about 10 years ago, one night we were talking about going bowling, said, yeah, we’ll meet at the bowling alley. We were dating. And I said yeah, we’ll meet there. And we got there and I had my own ball and my own shoes and he showed up with his own shoes and I was like, we’re meant to be.

John Haggard: [03:10 ] Yeah. Ha! Was he a pretty serious bowler as well?

Kim Baker: [03:14 ] He didn’t bowl on any teams in high school, but in college, him and a few buddies, they thought it was a fun sport to get involved in. And so they actually joined a league while they were in college and just would go bowl a couple of nights a week. And so he wound up buying his own shoes and he’s actually really good. He’s left handed and he has a mean curve so he can throw a really awesome curve ball.

John Haggard: [03:39 ] So Kim who can beat who on the lanes?

Kim Baker: [03:43 ] Oh, that’s tough. It depends. It depends on a lot of different factors and just what’s going on. And you know, if there’s a lot of people around and, but he typically beats me. I’m not gonna lie.

John Haggard: [03:57 ] It’s good to have a fun partner to be able to do that.

Kim Baker: [04:00 ] It is fun. It’s all fun too.

John Haggard: [04:02 ] Yeah. So any other favorite hobbies that you have?

Kim Baker: [04:05 ] Currently? You know, this sounds cheesy… I like to shop, I think most women like to shop. I like to shop. I really like bargain hunting. Like I like to go find good deals. So I don’t just like to go shop and spend a ton of money. I like to go shop and find a good deal. So that really exciting for me. I like to get outdoors. I love camping. I like to tent camp. I really do. I like to sleep in a tent. As I get older. I like to sleep in an RV a little more. So I like to sleep in tents less, but I do like to be outside and camping and things like that. And I spend a lot of my time just serving in the community. I like to get out. And people say, Kim, you’re always working. I said, no, I’m not. I mean, you could look at it like that, but I actually enjoy doing these things. So on the weekends it’s not uncommon to find me at a nonprofit event or just visiting things that are going on in Gallatin. Cause I like being out in the community and just seeing what’s happening.

John Haggard: [05:08 ] What’s the one thing about you, Kim, that most people would not know and if someone would really be surprised to know about you?

Kim Baker: [05:18 ] Oh, that’s a good one. Well I’ve been dead before.

John Haggard: [05:22 ] You have?!

Kim Baker: [05:22 ] I have.

John Haggard: [05:23 ] Really?!

Kim Baker: [05:23 ] Seriously. so when I was 13, I’ll give you a short version of the story. When I was 13, my heart rate accelerated to 268 beats per minute. I was just walking out of school. And they took me to the hospital. Got there and they said, oh, we need to stop your heart. And so they stopped my heart. They dropped it down to zero and they had to manually restart my heart from zero. So I have been dead. Turns out that I had an accessory pathway in my heart that I was most likely born with. And what it did was it would cause blood to take a shortcut. And when it did that and flow through my heart, on that short path, it would cause my heart to accelerate. So later that year, a couple months later, I had a surgery. I did not have open heart surgery, but I did have a heart surgery that was a catheterization ablation, and they removed accessory pathways from my heart. And so my heart is as good as new. So actually, I’ve been dead and I was born with a heart that was actually too big. Different than the Grinch.

John Haggard: [06:28 ] Wow. Wow. Wow. Aren’t you blessed to be here?

Kim Baker: [06:31 ] I really am. I really, I really reflect on that. I mean, that was such an interesting age to experience something like that because when you’re going through those middle school and teenage years, there’s just a lot going on already. And then I was very self aware of what was going on with myself and my body at that time. And so, you know, I fully remember everything through that summer. It was in the summer when that happened. And so I have been able to reflect back on that and just, it really kind of changed my perspective on life for a long time.

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