This Couple Of 8 Years Reveal The Pivotal Role God Played In Their Love Story
In xoNecole's Our First Year series, we take an in-depth look at love and relationships between couples with an emphasis on what their first year of marriage was like.
Sean and Kathlyn Dias are a creative match made in heaven---literally. Kathlyn, a content creator better known as Kathlyn Celeste by her more than 150,000 followers on Instagram alone, and Sean, a producer and creative director in his own right, have been married for eight years. The 27-year-old parents of two boys, Kayson and Avery, literally sow into one another's dreams, working together to keep the creatives juices going, the projects flowing, and the inspiration growing.
The Massachusetts-based couple find that being two creatives bound together by their Christian beliefs and foundation helps them both in their careers, parenting, and in everyday life.
"When we combine our ideas together, we come up with great things," Kathlyn revealed during our interview. "We love being able to do that. Our common goal is to grow and build something that is ours and reach people through creativity. If [my subscribers] are coming to my page for a hair tutorial or fashion, I want them to leave higher in their faith and encouraged."
Read on for insight on how Kathlyn and Sean made it through their first year of marriage:
Courtesy of Kathlyn and Sean
The One:
Kathlyn: I knew I wanted to be with him but I didn't want to make the choice based on just my feelings. I really had to seek God on that. I asked God to confirm, and one day, I opened my Bible to a random page. The scripture was Genesis 2:18, which [indicates that] God created woman for man as his helper. We had started dating February 18---so 2/18 just happened to be our anniversary date.
Sean: When we first started dating, she showed me love in ways I hadn't known before. My past relationships were very surface-level. I can recall being at work, and I'd leave for my shift to find little Post-It notes with song lyrics on them---something I think a guy would do for a girl---but she would do things like that. I was so caught by surprise. It was always the small details. I felt like she was somebody who was really interested in me. I never had that before. I had a lot of issues of hurt in the past---and she stuck through it with me. She wanted me to better myself, and she loved me through my flaws. Also, when dating, I noticed how nurturing she was toward her younger cousins. I saw a mother quality to her.
Courtesy of Kathlyn and Sean
"I knew I wanted to be with him but I didn't want to make the choice based on just my feelings. I really had to seek God on that."
Biggest Fears:
Kathyln: My biggest fear was divorce because no one in my immediate family had a lasting marriage. My grandmother didn't, a lot of my aunts, and my mom---I just grew up seeing her brokenhearted, one after the other. That worried me. I feared, 'Are we actually going to make it?' I knew I had to trust God and work at breaking those family [patterns] to have a healthy and long-lasting marriage.
Sean: We knew each other for so long, I had a fear of the unknown once we got married. I had unrealistic expectations of how life would be after marriage. When marriage came, there were so many things we had no idea about [that were different]. I wasn't entirely sure that the relationship would be the same.
Courtesy of Kathlyn and Sean
Overcoming Challenges:
Kathlyn: A big one for me was habits. He's very musically inclined, so in the beginning stages, he'd always be working on his music [projects]. So when it came down to me just wanting to cuddle, he'd be very focused on the music. He needed to be more understanding on my love language and how to balance spending time with me and doing what he is passionate about. I also had to take a step back and say it's not always about me. I had to give him his space to enjoy his music and his time.
Sean: I had to prioritize my time as well and realize that my wife is my priority. I needed to make that time and condition myself to being in that realm of, 'Music is cool, but my wife is my first priority. If I don't have her, what is music?' She's also a big communicator. For me, I'm the opposite---I can shut down and be to myself very easily---especially in times where I feel wronged. I'm used to walking away from things. It's part of what I saw growing up. I've learned that communication is needed. If you're both on the same page, you cannot lose. It's a necessity. I'm still learning and trying to open up with how I feel and part that is making sure I'm meeting her needs as well.
Courtesy of Kathlyn and Sean
"I've learned that communication is needed. If you're both on the same page, you cannot lose. It's a necessity."
Money Talks:
Kathlyn: [You have to] let one another know what you're spending on. We were trying to save up for a house, so we just knew we needed to be more cautious. It made sense that if he wants to buy something, he just lets me know [and vice versa.]
Sean: She's more financially conscious. I trust and know that since she oversees and manages [finances], she knows if we're saving the right amount of money. I have no problem at all. We [also] both help each other with our work. We're collaborating and making one another income. Whenever we get paid for something, we high-five and celebrate that. That's important as well.
Courtesy of Kathlyn and Sean
Love Lessons:
Kathlyn: I love doing life with you, and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else.
Sean: She helps me grow and is truly my life partner. I'm still working on this every day, but when we put each other first, that's how the marriage flourishes.
For more on Kathlyn and Sean, follow them on Instagram @kathlynceleste and @crualxndr.
Want more Our First Year love stories? Check them out here.
Exclusive: Dreka Gates Talks Farm Life, Self-Mastery, And Her Wellness Brand
Dreka Gates is making a name in wellness through authenticity and innovativeness. Although we were introduced to her as a music manager for her husband, Kevin Gates, she has now carved out her own lane outside of music as a wellness entrepreneur. But according to Dreka, this is nothing new.
In an xoNecole exclusive, the mom of two opened up about many things, including starting her wellness journey at 13 years old. However, a near-death experience during a procedure at 20 made her start taking her health more seriously.
“There's so many different levels, and now, I'm in a space of just integrating all of this good stuff that I've learned just about just being human, you know?” Dreka tells us. “So it's also fun because it's like a journey of self-discovery and self-mastery. That's what I call it. So it's never-ending.”
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If you follow Dreka, then you’re familiar with her holistic lifestyle, as she’s no stranger to promoting wellness, self-care, and holistic living. She even lives part-time on a Mississippi farm, not far from her grandmother and great-grandmother’s farm, where she spent some summers as a child.
While her grandmother and great-grandmother have passed on, Dreka reflects on that time in her life and how having a farm as an adult is her getting back to her roots. “So the farm was purchased back in 2017, and it was like, ah, that'll just be a place where we go when we're not touring or whatever,” she said.
“But COVID hit, and I was there, and I was on the land, and I just started remembering back to going to my grandmother's during the summertime and freaking picking peas and going and eating mulberries off the freaking tree in the bushes.
“And she literally had cotton plants. I know some people feel weird about picking cotton and stuff. She had cotton plants and I would go and pick cotton out of her garden. And she had chickens, and I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.”
"I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots."
You can catch glimpses of Dreka’s farm life on Instagram, which shows her picking fruit and vegetables and loving on her animals like her camel Eessa. Her passion for growing and cultivating led her to try and grow all of her ingredients for her wellness brand, Dreka Wellness. However, she quickly realized that she might be biting off more than she could chew. But that didn’t stop her from fulfilling her vision.
Watch below as Dreka talks more about her business, her wellness tips, breaking toxic cycles, becoming a doula, and more.
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Tia Mowry Details The Status Of Her Relationship With Twin Sister Tamera
When we think of iconic sister duos, twin stars Tia and Tamera are often the first that come to mind. However, it seems their once inseparable bond may have drifted apart over the years.
During a sneak peek of her all-new docuseries on We TV, Tia Mowry: My Next Act, the Sister, Sister actress spoke openly about her new life following her divorce from ex-husband Cory Hardrict.
"I came into this world with a twin, and right after that, I went into a 22-year relationship," Tia shared, referring to her 14-year-long marriage with Hardrict. In the clip, she also added how challenging it’s been to cope with online chatter concerning her public separation. "People are wanting to know what happened and why it happened so much that they are trying to create narratives and stories in their own head and then putting it out there," she says.
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Tia reveals that after signing her divorce papers, she had to immediately return to work, making it difficult for her to fully process the situation without support. "I wasn't really able to fully process what really was going on," she shared. "I knew what was going on, I knew what I was doing, but I didn't have time to just stop and really process what had just happened."
"Being alone has been the most challenging part of my divorce,” Tia added. “It's times like this when I feel and wish that my sister and I were still close and I could pick up the phone and call her, but that's just not where we are right now."
However, signs of a riff in their relationship have been present for some time.
In May, Tamera spoke withET's Denny Directo at the 49th annual Gracie Awards and shared that she didn’t plan on playing Cupid for her sister Tia, following her divorce.
“See, this is the thing, Tia is living her life right now and Tia is doing Tia,” she told the reporter. “I feel like she doesn’t want any of our input right now, and I can only respect that.”
"I think she is doing her,” Tamera added.
When Tia's reality show was first announced in April, Tamera told ET that the news came as a surprise to her, as she only found out after it was made public.
"I didn't know until I found out with the rest of the world," she said. When asked if she would appear on Tia’s new series, Tamera responded candidly, "She didn't ask me. She didn't, so I take that as no."
In the past, Tia and Tamera have alluded to communication breakdowns, most apparently in their reality TV show, Tia & Tamera. On the show, the two discussed preferring to resolve issues through email rather than phone calls to avoid potential disagreements. In one episode, Tamera candidly admitted, "We really don’t have any" communication skills.
“I think we get defensive; it escalates to something more than what the argument was really about,” Tamera told her sister at the time. “We end up yelling at each other.”
“That’s not a good way of communicating. My way isn’t a good way of communicating and your way isn’t a good way of communicating,” Tia added. “And we need to find better ways of communicating.”
Now Tia embarking on a new journey with her show, Tia Mowry: My Next Act, premiering on Friday, October 4 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on We TV. The eight-episode reality series follows Tia as she “navigates her newly single status, a new phase of motherhood, as well as building businesses and juggling her ever-evolving career,” while reclaiming the narrative around her life and relationship post-divorce.
"I mean, I'm all about being authentic,” Tia told PEOPLE about the show in July. "[The show will] basically dive in and show the world who I am as a person. And I really wanted to do this to share my story.
She continued. "I feel like a lot of people were creating narratives without knowing a story and understanding me and understanding my feelings. And this is my opportunity to use that platform to share my truth."
Having always been part of a duo — first as a twin sister and later as a wife — Tia is now ready to embrace her independence. And we’re here for the journey.
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Featured image by Arnold Turner/Getty Images for ESSENCE