Hensley succeeds so hard

By Kathe C. Andersen

Kristin Hensley grew up in Central City, Nebraska, where she was drawn to the stage at an early age.  She performed in any production that would have her, which included performances at local churches and country fairs.   

“I was really hungry to just do anything I could do,” she said. “It was me with like five 50-year-old women, and I loved every second of it. I helped create the speech team at my high school. I was on clown troupe. I went to a theater camp, if you can believe it—my Mom helped me find one. I had a wonderful teacher named Mr. Gloor in my high school who was a theater nerd, too, so I did every play—just anything in performance.”

This spring, she received the Alumni Achievement Award in Theatre and Film for her more than 25-year career in entertainment.

“I was so delighted [to receive the award],” she said. “I think when somebody, especially the people that shaped you, recognize you, you just feel it’s like love. It’s the best thing you can imagine, and I’m so proud to be a former student of UNL. It’s where I figured out who I wanted to be as an artist. And more importantly, I figured out how to work hard as an artist and what it took to be a working artist.” 

When she came to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Hensley’s parents encouraged her not to pursue the arts.

“I think they were just from the place of ‘Be a teacher. It will be something you can fall back on,’” she said. “The second I got to the university, I sort of accidentally found the auditions for the main stage, and I was like, oh, this is all I want to do. I don’t want to be a teacher. I want to be an actress. I want to be a funny person, and I want to create stuff. I just didn’t tell them I had switched majors until we got closer to graduation.”

She credits former Professor and Director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film Paul Steger as her “north star.”

“He just got me,” she said. “I was high strung at the time when I came out of high school. I can be a lot, but he never made me feel like I was a lot. He just made me feel like I was this diamond in the rough that needed to be guided and mentored, and I’ll never forget it.”

She also said the university was a place where she could fail, and it wasn’t the end of the world.

“I feel like people are afraid of failure. It doesn’t feel good,” she said. “But there’s nothing that will teach you more about yourself and your life and the thing that you love more than when you fail at it. Like as a comedian now, I’ve done so many jokes that didn’t work. But then you go back, and you work on it. You fix it, and then it works. And then, you’re so gratified. Failure is a part of being an artist. There is no way to avoid it.”

Today, Hensley is the star and co-creator with Jen Smedley, who also hails from Nebraska, of the popular web series #IMOMSOHARD. It lives natively on Facebook, but has expanded to Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. The series focuses on the friendship between two women, who happen to be moms.

Hensley and Smedley met at a comedy club in Los Angeles before either was married or had children.

“I was at a comedy show that my friend was in,” she said. “Jen was on stage with five other people, and I really liked her. I remember some of her jokes were something about ranch and wings, and I was like, ‘Is she my people?’”

They met after the show.

“Somebody introduced us and told us that we were both from Nebraska, and it was like we started scream talking to each other,” she said. “We had all the same friends. She went to Wesleyan, and I went to UNL. We’re about the same age. We just spoke the same language.”

Hensley said she knew her and Smedley had hit upon something with #IMOMSOHARD from their first video.

“I knew from when we did our first video,” she said. “We didn’t even have a Facebook page yet. We posted it to our personal pages, and we got so many views, and at first, I was so confused. This got more likes than my baby announcement. Who are these people? And it was just women, and I think when you are a Mom with littles, the thing that becomes your biggest motivator is your purpose. And it became a very deeply rooted purpose for us to be the voices of just normal, fun, light-hearted women that aren’t trying to preach. We’re not trying to tell you how to do anything. We’re a little rowdy. We drink some wine, if we want. And it was wonderful. The reaction was insane.”

After 15 million views, Hensley and Smedley decided to take their act on the road and have done several national tours of #IMOMSOHARD throughout the U.S. The videos have now received nearly 300 million views worldwide in just five years. In addition to videos and tours, the two have a podcast and have written two books.

Hensley said performing for women has been one of the greatest highlights of her life.

“In a thousand years, I never thought—I knew that I would always find myself on a stage somewhere, but when we went back to Nebraska, and we played for 6,000 people, I had such imposter syndrome. I was like is Eddie Murphy here?” she said. “But from my perspective, I’m on the stage, and I just look out and see women laughing and connecting, and we’re all together, and things that we’re experiencing are the same. It’s electric, and it’s powerful, and it is awesome. I wish sometimes the women could see themselves from my perspective because it feels like there’s a pulse, and it is a special night. It’s been an absolute dream.”

The duo is currently working on their next book and will keep touring.

“I think we will just keep doing what we’re doing,” she said. “Now that we have middle schoolers and puberty and all that, we’re never short of material.”

She has practical advice for students who want to move to Los Angeles to pursue their careers.

“Go for it. Be creative. Bring magic into this world. We need it. Do not let anyone talk you out of giving it a shot. With that being said, it’s really important to understand that before you can do the creative, you have to have a place to live and a job. So come senior year, stop asking for Christmas presents and ask for cash, so you can get to Los Angeles and waste no time,” Hensley said. “Remind yourself that you will work as hard as you’ve ever worked, but it’s super fun.”