Mother: Karin (51)

Daughter: Kelcey (33)

Las Vegas, Nevada

“#GirlBosses”

Colonics, private investigators, raising babies, moonlight hot-tubbing, family rivalries, DNA testing and long-lost relatives: meet the mother and daughter at the center of one of Las Vegas’ most unique and storied families. Karin had her daughter Kelcey at only 19 years old and has raised her through incredible life highs and challenging lows, but their unconditional love has supported each other through it all. Through working together in the same business, to navigating their respective marriages, to now being mom’s to young children at the same point in their lives; they are doing life together. Although Karin and Kelcey have built a life where they are enmeshed on a daily basis, both of their partners think that their relationship needs a healthy dose of boundaries. Kelcey and Karin are so rooted in it being, “them against the world,” that it’s nearly impossible for other relationships to flourish amidst their unbreakable bond.

Mom, Karin never knew her biological parents as she was adopted and raised by a strict, Mormon family. From a young age Karin knew that she was attracted to women but she had to hide and repress her sexual orientation because of the unaccepting nature of her conservative community and family. Despite her same-sex attraction, Karin still dated men and at 19 years old she became pregnant with Kelcey, out of wedlock, an obviously blasphemous outrage in her family. She was given the ultimatum: put her baby up for adoption or marry the boyfriend. She married the man and was then forced even deeper into the closet. After several unhappy years in Karin refused to carry on the lie, so despite losing her family, her husband and any notion of support, she came out. She was ultimately disowned and divorced. Without anything nor anyone she moved to Vegas to raise Kelcey. While in Las Vegas Karin met a married couple who owned a nightclub. Karin fell in love with the woman (who was bisexual) and ended up moving in with the couple. It was a strange dynamic, and although Karin wasn’t attracted to the man, she ended up having a son with him. The triad didn’t work out, but it did produce a son for Karin whom she lovingly named Kyle.

Throughout the years, Karin came into her own and ended up dating stable women, looking for a real and lasting relationship. Growing up, Kelcey loved being a "momma's girl," in a house where she always had two mom figures in her life. To this day Karin and Kelcey love to go to gay bars and pride events. Kelcey is nothing but supportive and proud of her gay mother.

Karin has known Kelcey’s husband (Jeff), before Kelcey even knew him. In fact, Karin has known Jeff since he was 13 years old!  Kelcey met Jeff (35), when she was 17 years old. It was love at first sight and they married a couple of years into their relationship. They have three children together, sons Roman (5) and Zion (8 months) and daughter Aspen (3). Jeff is a fiery Gemini (just like Karin) so Kelcey finds herself having to manage his temper tantrums. It isn’t uncommon for Karin to have sleepovers with her daughter and according to Jeff, “overstay her welcome” at their home.

Not only do Karin, Kelcey and Jeff has a shared history, they also work together in the same family brokerage and financial planning business. To further complicate matters, Karin was once Jeff’s boss at her previous company. Now, the tables are turned and Jeff is the boss of both Karin and Kelcey. The mom and daughter duo often play hooky, go to lunch, lie about their whereabouts and allow their relationship to get in the way of actually working. Jeff and Karin are known to get into heated arguments about everything: defending their relationship as mom and daughter, his management style, him being condescending, how he treats her daughter, and of course, their work ethic. Although they seem fine in one moment it in only takes a small comment to trigger a fight in this volatile trio that already has plenty of history.

Six years ago, Karin met her wife, Maria, while they were seated next to each other at a sushi restaurant. It was love at first sight for Karin and she began to pursue Maria, who prior to meeting Karin, hadn't been in a same-sex relationship. Things between Karin and Maria moved quickly and they started to build a life together. Kelcey was slow to warm to having Maria around, and according to Maria, Kelcey often acted like, "a total bitch." Maria is direct, upfront and opinionated and Kelcey was accustomed to being the center of Karin's life. Despite this, Karin and Maria decided to get married. They were planning the wedding of their dreams when tragedy struck their family.

Maria's adult daughter was killed in a car accident leaving behind her then infant, baby boy, Jayden (now age 5). Maria took Jayden in and she and Karin decided that they were going to raise Maria’s grandson together. It wasn't what either of them had planned since they were both, "empty nesters," who were excited to start a new life, with a clean slate. It's no secret that Karin struggles with having to be in a "parenting" role again to Jayden and her limited amount of alone time with Kelcey puts a strain on Maria who is feeling as though she’s a single mom. Karin said that she would be involved in raising Jayden, and it sometimes feels as though Karin isn’t as invested in her parenting role and she should be. However, Karin and Kelcey love that they are both raising children the same age! That means that they both can go to mommy meet-ups, the playground, and do all the fun “mom” activities together. Sometimes many of those activities include a glass or two of champagne…. Maria thinks that Kelcey and her husband take advantage of Karin and her generosity and that Karin isn't always treated with the matriarchal respect that she deserves. Maria thinks Karin needs to "grow a backbone" when it comes to her relationship with Kelcey and Jeff.

It’s not only Maria and Jeff that feel on the outside of the mom and daughter duo. Kyle, the son often feels left out of family functions, family news, and current events. Where Karin and Kelcey are in touch every day, they will only return his calls when they feel like it. It not only bothers him, but it also bothers his new wife Bethany.

Within the past several years, with the help of Kelcey, Kyle and a private investigator, they tracked down Karin’s biological mother. Karin’s mom was evasive and although seemingly kind she spoke about Karin’s biological father in less than loving terms. Deterred and disappointed, Karin decided to not pursue finding her biological father. But with the encouragement of Kelcey and her P.I., they found the dad and Karin and Kelcey met finally met him in person. His name is Ray, and upon meeting both he and Karin both broke down in tears. Ray didn’t know that Karin existed. If he had, he would have shared a life with her. Now Karin, Kelcey and Kyle all have family members that are new and completely foreign that they want to build and grow relationships with. Kyle, now obsessed with DNA family ancestry is constantly looking for more and new siblings, cousins and family members. Kelcey and Karin’s family and extended family is so diverse, untraditional and spread-out, that there’s sure to be twists and turns for their families’ future family tree. 

Rituals:

·       Kelcey and Karin like to get enemas and colonics together to cleanse out their systems

·       Kelcey likes to "squeeze" Karin's boobs in public and is obsessed with her mother’s "assets"

·       Kelcey and Karin are no strangers to the gay community of Vegas. They go to Pride events, gay bars and LGBTQ functions together as mom and daughter

·       The duo like to sleep at each other’s houses, often times in the same bed, much to the chagrin of their spouses

·       Karin and Kelcey travel together for business, but will often take trips together as well. Often times without their spouses. Baha Mar in the Bahamas and Disneyland are up next!

·       Kelcey dresses and shops for her mother, and does her makeup

·       Kelcey and Karin share intimate details of the sex-lives with one another

Tension:

Maria is trying to convince Karin to pack their bags and start a new life in California so they can focus on their marriage and raising Jayden. Kelcey can't even think about not having Karin by her side on a day to day basis. She has panic attacks just thinking about it as they have always been together. Jeff loves having Karin in the office, but she thinks that Kelcey and Karin are a bad influence on one another. If they are to take their business seriously, they need to be separated, monitored and need to actually get to work. Can Karin focus on her marriage and spend more time away from her daughter? Will Kelcey be able to stand on her own two feet without mom? Mom is also known to be a free spirit, will her lackadaisical worldview eventually be too much for the people in her life, or will she finally straighten up and fly right before she’s asked to leave the company or create real issues for Maria, Jeff and Kelcey?