Kristen Ruth Smith

“God is cheeky,” says Kristen Smith as she confidently asserts that life isn’t about best laid plans. Lively and energetic with a bold, nothing-to-hide pixie crop, the 37-year-old has always walked to the beat of her own drum. I caught up with Kristen at the offices of her eponymous design agency, K.Ruth Consulting, in downtown Ojai. Billing herself as a “chaos wrangler” and “idea architect,” she helps businesses to make the leap into the digital realm by developing and designing websites, bringing ideas to life and translating creative visions into tangible assets. She has worked with numerous local businesses and entrepreneurs, from Bart’s Books and Bonito Coffee Roasters to a dentist, a venture capitalist and a local journalist. Kristen is originally from the Midwest but found her spiritual home in Ojai.

*Kristen Smith at Rudd’s Ranch in Ojai’s East End. Photo by Marc Alt*

Your family is originally from the Midwest. How did you end up in Ojai?

My grandparents ran a bar in downtown Chicago in the ‘60s, but my granddad got tired of paying off both the mob and the cops and eventually closed it. They loaded up their car with whatever they could fit, burned the rest and drove west. They eventually settled in Ventura, where my granddad worked in the sheriff’s department and after retiring bought a ranch in Ojai. My mom moved back to Illinois in the early ‘80s after she met my dad at a cousin’s wedding so I grew up back in the Chicago suburbs.

So when did you make the move out West?

I studied architecture at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and after graduating in 2006 I moved to California to take a job at a big 300-person architectural firm in LA called Gensler. Within three months of starting there the economy collapsed and the architecture industry was completely decimated. I was the first of 100 people to be laid off in a single day. It was such a shock. I would never have moved to California without the security of a job. Coming from the Midwest that’s just what you did, you got a good job with health insurance and a 401k and you climbed the corporate ladder. But there I was, 24-years-old and unemployed.

Is that how you ended up in Ojai?

After a brief stint in set design, I got a job at Starbucks in Brentwood, which I loved because it was all about being efficient and organizing and it reminded me that that is exactly what I am born to do. But after about nine months I needed a new challenge so I went to work for my aunt and uncle’s company, which insures space satellites, in Carpinteria and I temporarily moved into the guesthouse of my grandparents’ ranch in Ojai while I figured out whether the job was going to stick.

*K.Ruth Consulting’s office is located in downtown Ojai. Photo by Sage Tate*

So you became an underwriter for spaceships?

Not exactly. I joined as an assistant underwriter and had a lot of fun because I was again organizing and jumping in on whatever needed doing. Over the four years I was there I was promoted to underwriter and I had my own office but I absolutely hated it. I was basically a glorified salesman and no part of me wanted to do that. But my innate, Midwestern need for security meant I couldn’t bring myself to leave. Eventually my younger brother convinced me that I would be okay. He had moved to Ojai to help out my grandparents over the summer as my granddad was getting sick. He’s 7 years younger than I am, so he’d been 11 when I left for college, but suddenly there he was giving me guidance and reassuring me that I could take what felt like a massive leap. So I left with no real game plan and just immersed myself in this new life in Ojai, working on my art and living a life I never thought was possible.

What did you find in Ojai?

I found an amazing, supportive community in Ojai that allowed me to explore things I never thought were available to me. Where I come from ‘artist’ isn’t a job title; self-exploration wasn’t a thing. But in Ojai these things weren’t just real, they were valued. I met an incredible group of women through yoga, who were supportive without any kind of judgement and helped me to embark on this incredible spiritual journey of self-discovery.

You’ve always been a devout Christian though. Was it difficult to reconcile the spiritual elements of yoga and meditation with your faith?

I have always been part of a church where questioning was encouraged and seen as a tool to strengthen rather than weaken your faith. Of course it was funny to watch yogis’ reactions when they found out that I put on a dress and went to church every Sunday. But to me there has never been any conflict among my interests in psychology, meditation and yoga, creating art, writing, and spiritual exploration.

Kristen’s book and podcast are all about treating love as an ongoing experiment. Photo by Sage Tate

You write about that in your book as well as quite a bit about love and dating?

I was about to turn 30 and I realised that that whole Midwestern concept of being married by the time I turned 30 hadn’t happened. Nor did I feel the need for it to happen. But I became curious about what made sex such a big deal to so many people and ended up sleeping with a friend, who was about to leave Ojai. A couple months later I discovered I was pregnant.

That must have been another big shock?

God is cheeky with his coordinative powers. Being a mother just wasn’t something I would ever have chosen to do, it seemed way too hard. But the fact that against all odds I was indeed pregnant – and that despite numerous negative pregnancy tests I got a positive the day my granddad died – made it so obvious that I was part of God’s expertly laid plans that the whole thing much easier to accept. There was a sort of comfort in the lunacy of it all.

Did you think about moving back to the Midwest?

Not once. I had such a supportive network of friends in Ojai, and it just seemed like everything I needed was provided for. With my granddad’s passing, there was suddenly a home available for me to move into. Rudd, who is named after my granddad Charlie Rudd, and I still live there now, seven years later while I run the day to day operations of the ranch.

And that brings us to today. We’re here in your gorgeous office right in the heart of Ojai. When did you start your consulting business and what’s it all about?

I began taking clients in 2018 and the work I do is really a kind of a culmination of all the things I’ve learned along the way. I met so many people who were struggling with their website or business idea and I realized that there is a lot I can offer them. I started with small, one-off projects but over time those projects have gotten bigger and I’ve worked with quite a few local businesses, which has been a lot of fun. It all continues to come down to my joy of being able to do things I can do well and applying them to a situation and make it better. That’s always been the feeling throughout my working life and now running my own business, it’s the core of what I do.

When it comes down to it, the last decade of my life has built into something I never could have imagined, and in large part that has been the result of that initial move to Ojai. This place offered me the possibility of a life I'd never known I wanted, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Kristen Ruth Smith is author of The Overthinker’s Guide to Love and creator of the podcast Curious Love. Learn more about both at kristenruthsmith.com and find information about her design and consulting business at kruthconsulting.com.

Article Published June 2021

Matt Henriksen