How a Home Care Nurse Broke Generational Curses

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Living Your Legacy

Episode: How a Home Care Nurse Broke Generational Curses
Host: Jason Tyler (for Rudy Mawer)
Guest: Kiana Wilkinson
Release Date: July 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Living Your Legacy centers on Kiana Wilkinson, a registered nurse, entrepreneur, and president/owner of Synergy Home Care of Plainfield. The conversation dives deep into breaking generational curses, navigating family dynamics, and building both personal resilience and a homegrown family business. Through candid storytelling, Kiana shares her journey from a turbulent upbringing to building a business that honors and heals her family’s legacy, offering authentic insights for entrepreneurs and those passionate about leaving a positive impact.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Coming Home & Breaking Generational Curses

• Kiana reflects on cycles from her upbringing, the pain they caused, and her conscious decision to break those patterns:

  • “We repeat what we see, those same behaviors, generational curses. And I wanted to break those curses. And you can only do it when you come back home to see them, to live them, and to just break it and grow.” — Kiana Wilkinson [00:00]

• She emphasizes the transformative experience of returning home as an adult, seeing familiar family struggles through new, self-actualized eyes:

  • “You do the inner work and you learn who you are and then you can go back into that environment and approach it... Your inner child has this wound, and you're not going to be able to heal that wound unless you're able to go back and deal with the same thing that your inner child dealt with from the new perspective of the self-actualized self.” — Jason Tyler [06:15]

2. Finding Her Voice Through Writing and Service

• Feeling voiceless as a child, Kiana discovered writing as a form of self-expression:

  • “I found that writing was a great avenue for me to find my voice. And I've been writing since I was nine years old.” — Kiana Wilkinson [02:27]

• The trauma of her father’s ALS diagnosis in adolescence introduced her to home care—an experience that profoundly shaped her vocation and values.

3. The Role of Family and Community

• Kiana and Jason both stress the essential role of community and extended family, especially for children:

  • “It takes a village.” — Jason Tyler & Kiana Wilkinson [04:05–04:06]
  • “A child that doesn't feel warmth from the village will burn the village down to feel its warmth.” — Jason Tyler [04:07]

• Her reunion with her own family—after years of distance—brought healing, support for her children, and the foundation for her business.

4. Entrepreneurship as a Family Legacy

• Inspired by her father’s and mother’s business ventures, Kiana’s entrepreneurial journey is rooted in solving problems her own family faced:

  • “My father had a business...His vision and his dream never died. My mother is a business owner...Just having that entrepreneurial spirit in the home...So being entrepreneurial was always in our home. What can we do? We see a problem, we solve it.” — Kiana Wilkinson [07:09]

• Working as a home care aide and nurse, Kiana saw firsthand both the challenges and the dignity of in-home care, shaping the ethos of her own business.

5. Navigating the “Sandwich Generation”

• Kiana discusses balancing care for aging parents as a Millennial, noting the increasing need for resources for the so-called Sandwich Generation:
  • “Our parents are older, they're aging...You need tools to equip yourselves to help take care of them...That's where Synergy can come in.” — Kiana Wilkinson [00:33; 08:44]

6. Lessons on Resilience

• On the mindset necessary to overcome adversity and family trauma:

  • “I've gotten up more times than I've fallen down...This hard moment, it won't last forever...It's a lesson. I think you have to change your perspective on it...It's building me up.” — Kiana Wilkinson [00:54; 10:00]

• Jason’s take: “Not one of those things that you're upset about killed you yet.” [10:39]

7. Vulnerability, Healing, and Community Resources

• Kiana invites listeners to her writing and healing community, encouraging vulnerability as a path to self-growth:
  • “I have a Be Vulnerable page on Facebook where I do my writing...Helps you to be, you know, it's a creative space for self-expression, to be vulnerable.” — Kiana Wilkinson [11:27]

8. Closing Inspiration: The Importance of Self-Belief

• Kiana’s final message to listeners:
  • “Believe in yourself. Even if no one believes in you.” — Kiana Wilkinson [12:09]
• Jason’s reinforcement:
  • “The hardest thing I think often to do is to see that you're not getting validation from anyone and still be able to internalize.” — Jason Tyler [12:12]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Kiana Wilkinson | “We repeat what we see, those same behaviors, generational curses. And I wanted to break those...” | | 04:07 | Jason Tyler | “A child that doesn't feel warmth from the village will burn the village down to feel its warmth.” | | 06:50 | Kiana Wilkinson | “Face that fire.” | | 07:09 | Kiana Wilkinson | “You see a problem, what can you do about it?” | | 10:00 | Kiana Wilkinson | “I've gotten up more times than I've fallen down...you keep going, and it's a lesson.” | | 12:09 | Kiana Wilkinson | “Believe in yourself. Even if no one believes in you.” | | 12:40 | Jason Tyler | “You have to be relentless like scam likely is.” |

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• 00:00–00:18: Opening thoughts on generational curses and healing.
• 02:27–03:20: Kiana’s early years—writing, family struggle, and life-changing exposure to home care.
• 04:05–04:41: The role of family, community, and the “village.”
• 05:02–06:15: Returning home and facing inherited family patterns.
• 07:09–08:54: Entrepreneurship in Kiana's family and the inception of Synergy Home Care.
• 10:00–10:37: Keys to resilience and overcoming adversity.
• 11:27–11:58: Kiana’s Be Vulnerable community and new Synergy Home Care location.
• 12:09–12:40: Parting advice on self-belief and resilience.

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Final Takeaways

• Coming home—both literally and metaphorically—can be the catalyst for breaking generational cycles and creating legacy.
• Resilience is not about never falling, but always rising.
• The intertwining of personal healing and entrepreneurship can drive meaningful, community-centered business success.
• Vulnerability, community, and relentless belief in oneself are central to navigating family, business, and life’s toughest challenges.

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Connect with Kiana:

• Be Vulnerable Facebook page (writing and healing community)
• Synergy Home Care of Plainfield (opening Spring)

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Transcript

[Kiana Wilkinson]

As much as the issues I saw with my family, they were within me as well. We repeat what we see, those same behaviors, generational curses. And I wanted to break those curses. And you can only do it when you come back home to see them, to live them, and to just break it and grow so.

[Narrator/Host Introduction]

Kiana Wilkinson is a registered nurse entrepreneur and the president and owner of Synergy Home Care of Plainfield. She helps families navigate the transition from hospital to home by delivering compassionate, high quality home care that promotes independent dignity and peace of mind.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

The Sandwich Generation. You know, we're part of Millennials. Our parents are older, they're aging. You know, you need tools to equip yourselves to help take care of them, whether it be, you know, send them to a home, you know, long term care, short term care, assisted living, or you bring them into your home yourself. And that's where synergy can come in.

[Jason Tyler]

What would you say to someone out there about just the concept of resilience in and of itself?

[Kiana Wilkinson]

I've gotten up more times than I've fallen down. You just gotta keep going. This moment is just.

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

It spans the globe like super high cold Internet. Elvis Presley for free. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win the Living your Legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has been. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago. With the lead, Usain Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[Jason Tyler]

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of the Living youg Legacy podcast. I am your host for today, Jason Tyler. And today I am joined by Kiana Wilkinson. Welcome to the show. Kiana.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Hello.

[Jason Tyler]

How are you doing?

[Kiana Wilkinson]

I'm doing really well.

[Jason Tyler]

Now we're about to go into filming your episode.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

What are.

[Jason Tyler]

What are some of the lessons that you want the audience to be able to take away from your story?

[Kiana Wilkinson]

That there is power in coming home, there is power in healing, There is power in just being surrounded by family. So if you can, you know, weather the storm and learn the lessons you're meant to learn, you can grow.

[Jason Tyler]

And those lessons are out there.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Yes.

[Jason Tyler]

Because one thing God going to do, is he going to teach you something.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

That part.

[Jason Tyler]

That part.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Over and over till you get it.

[Jason Tyler]

Clock it, clock it. So give me a little bit of an introduction. Where. Where does kiana come from? How do we get the kiana that we see in front of us today?

[Kiana Wilkinson]

How do we get the kiana? That's a great question. So when I was younger, I felt Like I didn't have a voice. I was always trying to find my voice, I guess, find my place in home. And when I was at home, I didn't feel that I had that place at home. So I searched it. I found that writing was a great avenue for me to find my voice. And I've been writing since I was nine years old. The first poem I wrote, run Honorary Mention. And from there I just kept writing, and I feel like I just kept going through life. My parents fought a lot. The environment was not the best, and I didn't want that to stop me. I didn't want to continue the generational curses. My father had ALS diagnosed when I was 15 years old. And from there, that was my introduction to home care. Having hospice come in the home, having just any healthcare, coming to the home setting, and that would change the trajectory of my life forever.

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

And.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

And went to college, went to nursing school, met my husband, and I found someone else who shared a vision, who wanted a partnership, who wanted to grow with me. And that's a blessing because not everybody has that. So from there, I kept going. Finished graduate nursing school, had my family, and I lived down in central Illinois away from home. Because of how my upbringing was, I didn't want to be around it, I didn't want to be associated with it, but I felt like I was hindering my own growth by staying away from it. So 13 years later, we had our first child, Theo, and we moved back home, and I was pregnant with my second child, Liam. So I've got two boys, and you need support. As anyone knows, when you have family,

[Jason Tyler]

it takes a village.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

It takes a village.

[Jason Tyler]

I just said that to somebody the other day because we were talking about, you know, a kid that was, you know, she was a teacher and she was talking about a kid that was in her class and was acting out a ton. And there's a quote that I really love. A child that doesn't feel warmth from the village will burn the village down to feel its warmth. And it's such a true statement because when you go back into the story of that child who was acting out, there was no one caring for him, not even in just the home, but in the community surrounding it.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Exactly.

[Jason Tyler]

It takes. It takes the entire community to raise a child, I think, properly.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Agreed. Agreed. If you're not getting that positive attention, you're going to act negatively, negatively to get that attention. So I can relate to that.

[Jason Tyler]

I tell. I'm telling you now, you guys. You guys don't know this, but her husband is in the room with us. You guys just can't see that. So we're only allowed to speak about him positively. No, I'm just kidding.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

I'm a. Yeah, he's my body. He was my client. To my body. Yeah. Look, we are just. Yeah, we are partners, but we moved home and we had a discussion about that and how, you know, that would shake up our foundation. We've built this life in bloomington normal for 13 years. You know, the strife you have with your family. You know, my father did die when I was 17 years old, a week before I started my senior year in high school. And from there I never came back home. So this would be a homecoming. And I found that as much as the issues I saw with my family, they were within me as well. You know, we repeat what we see. Those same behaviors, Generational curses, as I mentioned before. And I wanted to break those curses. And you can only do that when you come back home to see them, to live them, to see how they manifest in your mother and your, you know, in your siblings and your family and to just break it and grow. So the power of coming home. I've been able to start a family business. I've been able to just have a community for my boys. They just feel so much warmth. They have so many cousins. You know, it's just. It's what it's meant to be. You have a family and you come home. That's just what I think.

[Jason Tyler]

And I, I agree with you on that point as well. Because it's like you, you don't understand what you're going through necessarily as a. As an. In your early years. And then you go out, you become self actualized. You realize you do the inner work and you learn who you are and then you can go back into that environment and approach it. It's the same concept of doing inner work. Right. Your inner child has this wound and you're not going to be able to heal that wound unless you're able to go back and deal with the same thing that your inner child dealt with from the new perspective of the self actualized self.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Face that fire.

[Jason Tyler]

You got to face it. There's no other way around it.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Agreed.

[Jason Tyler]

Now, I want to talk a little bit. You know, our audience here on the show, they're. They're very entrepreneurial, they're very business minded. I want to talk about how that homecoming manifested itself into your family business and just kind of the ethos behind that.

[Narrator/Host Introduction]

Yes.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

My father had a business. He wanted a grocery store on the south side of Chicago, and he manifested that, and it did fail, unfortunately. But his vision and his dream never died. My mother is a business owner as well. She's a developmental therapist, Jazz Family Support Services. And just having that entrepreneurial spirit in the home, always talking about, you know, being creative and do it yourself and, you know, you see a problem, what can you do about it? So we never solved problems that we couldn't solve, I feel. And home care. In 2013, my trek into nursing school, I was a home care aide for Synergy Home Care in Bloomington Normal. And the owners there were inspirational. You know, they had a piece of the pie and they just cared because they had family members, they were taken care of. So it was just them helping themselves, helping their families. A family business. And they helped us as home care aides. I feel like they were supportive of us. It's not a career that a lot of people, I would say, respect, but it's highly trained, highly skilled, and they take care of you in your home. I learned this when I took care of my father. I learned this on the professional side when I was on Carey. And then going into nursing school and then sinking down the professional side, it's. It's a homecoming. It's like full circle moment. So being entrepreneurial was always in our home. You know, what can we do? We see a problem to solve it. The Sandwich generation, you know, we're part of millennials. Our parents are older, they're aging Gen X as well. And, you know, you need tools to equip yourselves to help take care of them. You know, whether it be, you know, send them to a home, you know, long term care, short term care, assisted living, or you bring them into your home yourself, and that's where synergy could come in to play.

[Jason Tyler]

And that's like, you know, that resonates. That hits home for me also. I see what you did there with the narrative thread of the homecoming, not only in your own story, but in the, in the business. Yes, it hits home for me because, you know, I. I have a similar story in that, like, my mom was recently died. Well, in 2020, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And so my dad and I made a decision that we, you know, mom doesn't work anymore. She. She's functionally retired and she lives now in the house with me and my brother. You know, so we. I have that experience with home care and kind of dealing with that world, and so I have so much respect for that profession. Right. It's not often that people have to deal with that up until they reach the point where they are able to. But to have to deal with that at an earlier age, you know, in your late teens or Maybe even early 20s, there's a lot of resilience that needs to come with that. What would you say to someone out there about just the concept of resilience in and of itself?

[Kiana Wilkinson]

You just got to keep going. This hard moment, it won't last forever. It feels like it's mounting. It feels like it's going to last forever. This. This moment is just never going to end. But it does. And you've overcome past hurts and past traumas and past things that have, you know, just may have felt like the end of the world. And here we are. So I think it's just you keep going, and it's a lesson. I think you have to change your perspective on it, on these experiences. You have to see it as a lesson. It's building me up, and I've gotten up more times than I've fallen down so I can do this.

[Jason Tyler]

Look at your track record.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Yes.

[Jason Tyler]

Not one of those things that you're upset about. Killed you yet.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Exactly. May have lost my mind a little bit.

[Jason Tyler]

A little bit. A little.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

A little bit.

[Jason Tyler]

All right.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

But I still.

[Jason Tyler]

Here, I give you that one. I give you that one. I was a bubbling mess on the floor at least a couple of times,

[Kiana Wilkinson]

but I had to cry it out. Let me up and move forward. Yeah.

[Jason Tyler]

So as we kind of, you know, as we get into. First of all, if guys, if you're still tuned in at this point in the pod, I want to make sure that you guys keep an eye out for Kiana's episode, which will be coming out shortly after this podcast episode drops. But for the people out there who are, you know, they're curious about what you have going on, they want to know more about your story first. Where can they find you on social media, the Internet, the world wide web?

[Podcast Intro/Outro Voice]

Yes.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

I have a be vulnerable page on Facebook where I do my writing. Helps you to be, you know, it's a creative space for self expression, to be vulnerable. I feel like a lot of people ignore their feelings, push them down. So find me there to help you process your healing, talk about it, and just, you know, sanctuary for a safe space and synergy home care. We are opening soon in the spring. We're very excited in the Plainfield area, and. Yeah, I see it.

[Jason Tyler]

All right. And then secondly, if you could give a message to all of our viewers out there, let's. Let's pretend that this message is going out to the entire world at large. What would that message?

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Believe in yourself. Even if no one believes in you,

[Jason Tyler]

Even if no one believes in you. Make sure to hear that part and embody that. Because the hardest thing I think often to do is to see that you're not getting validation from anyone and still be able to internalize. Yes, that, you know, the devil works hard, but scam likely works infinitely harder. I eight times a day.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

They never fail.

[Jason Tyler]

They never fail.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

Relentless.

[Jason Tyler]

You're at that time, you have to.

[Kiana Wilkinson]

You have to drive your knees.

[Jason Tyler]

That is, that is the lesson for today, ladies and gentlemen, is you have to be relentless like scam likely is. But again, this has been. I want to say thank you so much for being on the show. It's been a pleasure, pleasure to have you and I'm very excited to check out your episode again, guys. Make sure you stay tuned for that. It'll be coming out shortly after this podcast episode drops. But again, this has been another episode of the Living your legacy podcast. I'm your host, Jason Tyler. I will catch you guys in the next one.