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everybody it's Kristianna Mrjenovich your
second chance queen and welcome to the

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very first episode of the second chance
queen podcast.

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I'm super excited to be launching this
podcast not only as a way to tell my story

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but as a way for other women to use this
as a platform to tell their stories.

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So I'm going to be telling my story on
this very first episode second chance

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queen who?

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And then in the coming weeks, I will be
interviewing some amazing, powerful women

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that are going to share their stories.

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Now this podcast is all about second
chances.

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My personal second chance is starting my
life over after leaving a domestic abuse

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situation.

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Other women's second chances, they may
look a little bit different, but this is

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the Second Chance platform.

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So if you have given or received a second
chance,

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then this is the podcast for

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feel like it's appropriate to talk a
little bit about who am I?

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The Second Chance Queen.

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I am a mother of three.

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I have two incredible boys and a daughter
that I recently had with my new husband,

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newer husband.

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am a business owner.

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I'm

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president of a property management firm
and a vice president with my husband and

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I's leather working embroidery business.

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So I'm a two time entrepreneur and I am
also a wife, obviously, a friend, a

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daughter,

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one of the biggest aspects about me is I
am a domestic abuse advocate.

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I'm a survivor.

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I'm an advocate.

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and I'm huge on promoting confidence in
young girls because this is a day and age

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where confidence is something you really
have to have.

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So that's where I am at.

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That's who I am.

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I love sharing my story.

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I've had a couple women come forward and
say that hearing my story inspired them to

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leave domestic abuse situations and to
give themselves a second chance at the

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life that they always wanted.

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So I'm hoping with this podcast, I'm able
to reach at least one woman who's in the

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throes of a domestic abuse situation that
is finally ready to say enough is enough

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and to take that final step.

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Because by sharing my story and my
testimony, I can show you, you absolutely

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can do it.

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So for the rest of this story, I'm going
to take this off because these things can

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get a little

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Crown off, bun up.

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That's the best way to tell stories.

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now that you know a little bit about me,
I'm going to start from the very beginning

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with my story.

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So this is going to be your trigger
warning for anybody that is upset by

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domestic abuse, domestic violence, sexual
assault, sexual abuse, rape.

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If those things are something that you're
not comfortable hearing about.

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And then I'm going to urge you now that
this podcast might not be for you or at

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least this episode

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I'm going to be sharing my story that does
have those sensitive subjects in it.

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So you have been warned.

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Proceed with

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My story starts back in 2010.

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was 17 years old.

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I was still in high school and I was in a
two year long relationship from 2010 to

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2012

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a man that was older than I was.

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He graduated several years ahead of me.

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He was even held back, so he was older
than

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And he was a very terrible person.

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The entirety of our two year relationship,
he used coercion, manipulation to sexually

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abuse me.

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Not gonna go into the details of

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everything that he did to me because that
doesn't need to be shared.

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But those two years were, they shaped a
lot of what I thought love was and what I

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thought relationships were.

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So my introduction to adulthood and
relationships involved sex being a chore,

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sex being a job, sex being an obligation,
sex being something that you had to do for

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your partner.

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Didn't matter if you liked it, didn't like
it.

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didn't want to do certain things, you had
to do those things because that was your

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job and if you didn't do

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they were going to leave you and they were
going to replace you or they were going to

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cheat on you.

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So that was my introduction to
relationships.

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It was not a very good introduction to
relationships and I will do my damnedest

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to make sure that my daughter does not
have that introduction into relationships.

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But that is what I experienced.

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So there was a lot of sexual

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My most traumatic experience occurred in
that two year time span and I'm going to

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share this because it does play into the
future as

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And one night when I was in that
relationship, he abused prescription drugs

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that interacted badly with himself

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He got extremely violent.

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He was threatening to kill me.

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He was threatening to kill my family
because we lived with family at the time.

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And I was terrified.

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So I hid his weapon and barricaded it in a
closet so that he could not do the things

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that he was threatening to do.

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And he was so out of his mind that I was
able to kind of distract him away from

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and keep it in the

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decided that the best way to distract
himself was going to be by raping

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assaulted me.

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And I remember thinking, there's no way
this is happening to me right now because

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This is my boyfriend.

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I've been in a relationship with him.

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You know, I didn't realize all of the red
flags at the time.

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So I just remember thinking, there's no
way this is happening to me right now.

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I was hysterical.

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I was sobbing.

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I was looking into his eyes and they were
just black.

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There was nothing in them.

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He was looking at me in the face and no
reaction.

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I made it through that night.

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The next day he had no recollection of
what happened.

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And I said, do you remember what happened
last night?

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He didn't.

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So I told him the story and kind of what
took place.

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And his response, I'll never forget, was,
sounds like I had a really good night.

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And I remember thinking, there's no way.

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of this person just responded this way to
me.

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But he

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that was one of the first red flags that
really stuck off him in my mind, because I

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remember thinking someone that loves you
should not be thinking, I had a good night

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because I assaulted my girlfriend.

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that was.

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Toward the end of our relationship, we
didn't break up immediately after that.

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He gaslit me about the event.

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He didn't remember it, but he controlled
the narrative.

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He convinced me that I was overreacting,
that if you're in a relationship with

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somebody, they can't assault you or they
can't rape you because you're in a

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relationship with them.

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That is something that I really want
people to know is that coercion is not

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consent.

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and that relationships do not entitle you
to anything because I did not realize as a

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young naive girl that he was wrong.

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And it took a long time for me to realize
that he was wrong.

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So I share that part of my story so that
other women can realize it does not matter

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if it's your husband, it does not matter
if it's your boyfriend, it doesn't matter

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if you've said yes, but now you say no.

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Rape is not what you see on Law and Order
SVU.

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It's not always strangers.

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It's not always a violent beat down
assault.

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It can, yeah, absolutely.

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And I'm not invalidating those attacks by
any means.

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But rape can also look much different.

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And sexual assault can look much different
than what you see on TV and the

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So that occurred in probably 2011, early
2012.

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was young and naive, and we got married.

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our marriage did not last more than six
months.

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We wound up getting divorced.

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We went to marriage counseling and on the
second session of counseling, the

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therapist was like, this is not gonna
change for

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I said I wanted a divorce and I realized
that he did not mind that because he

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already had been cheating with somebody
else at this point and had his next person

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lined up.

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So we finalized our divorce and he hopped
into the next relationship in the fall of

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2012.

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That was the end of that.

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Or so I thought.

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wound up meeting my second husband while
my divorce was in the process of being

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finalized.

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I've moved very quickly.

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I've realized that that is a huge
personality flaw with me and not something

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that I recommend.

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Don't try that at home.

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But that is something about me that I
definitely have realized is that I move

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very quickly.

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And

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I met this man and he was only a couple of
years older than me.

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And he was much different than my ex
-husband was.

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So I thought, okay, different is better.

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Different is not always better.

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And I learned

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I was in that relationship for eight
years.

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So from 2012 to 2020, I was in that
relationship.

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We were together for four years and then
married in four years after that.

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And that relationship was an entirely
different situation.

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It was, it had its own set of issues.

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He was never physical with

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but emotionally I underwent abuse in that
relationship.

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I was always taking care of the kids, the
house, literally everything.

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and he worked and I worked as well and
that dynamic I thought worked for me.

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for a really long

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But hindsight is 20 -20.

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And that relationship, I'm not gonna go
into as much detail with that

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relationship, not out of respect for my
abuser, but out of respect for my boys,

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because I have my two boys who are now
almost 10 and five, and that is their

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father.

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And

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I want to let them find out about their
father in their own time when they're

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that relationship was littered with
emotional abuse,

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controlling.

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There were things like not being able to
order groceries delivered to my house

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because he didn't like delivery people in
the height of COVID.

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I was out grocery shopping with the kids
in public because he would rather I go

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grocery shopping with the kids in public
than have groceries delivered to the

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house.

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So there was just a whole different set of
dynamic issues.

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There was a lot of cheating in that

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not going to go into details about that,
but I found out more and more and more as

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time went

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That is something that I sincerely hope
that he has addressed and moved on from.

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But that's a part of my story.

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And so it is what it

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But it left me with a lot of trust

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So I was in this relationship that was
emotionally abusive.

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I was cheated on constantly and I just did
not have a healthy version of love.

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got to the breaking point for me when my
almost 10 year old was about five at the

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one day I was crying and

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He said, I'm sorry you're crying mommy or
I'm sorry you're upset mommy.

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I said, it's okay buddy, it's not your
fault.

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That was my default answer.

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And he said, I know, it's daddy's.

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Daddy always makes you cry.

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and a light bulb went off in that moment
for me that my god this is the example of

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love that my kids are learning and that is
absolutely not okay with me.

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I knew I had to break that cycle because
he grew up in a broken household and his

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version of love was

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from those parents.

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And I thought fighting to stay together
was gonna solve that.

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And I never, no one ever imagines raising
kids in a broken home.

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So I thought, no, I grew up with both my
parents together and that's what I'm gonna

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give them.

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So I fought tooth and nail to stay until
that moment.

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Hearing that, that was my son's example of
love, was an instantaneous absolutely not.

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My mental health was down the drain.

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I was suicidal.

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I was stuck in this really dark place.

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hearing that from my

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It was the kick that I needed.

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realized I had to change things.

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And if that relationship wasn't going to
change, which we tried, we did counseling,

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he did counseling.

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It

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sometimes people are not compatible and
that's

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No matter how much you want to be a
version that somebody wants you to be,

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it's not natural for you, it's never going
to work.

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It doesn't last.

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You have to want to be who you are and
want to be a certain person for it to

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work.

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And that relationship was just two people
that were too different and it was not

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going to

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wound up getting into a huge fight in
October of 2020.

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And I finally told him I wanted a divorce.

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had a lot of discussions, but that was
what I felt was best.

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And so I started looking at apartments and
I found one and I signed a lease on an

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apartment that was a low income apartment.

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I was able to get a three bedroom
apartment for me and the two boys.

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And I signed my lease the day before
Thanksgiving in November of 2021 and got

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to go up to IKEA and get all new furniture
and

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really start a new chapter for myself.

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That was in November and with the holidays
coming, I really wanted to give the boys a

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little bit of a sense of normalcy with
moving into the apartment and getting them

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used to two homes and the

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did a lot of things together still as a
family unit to try

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see what that was going to look like.

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And I had a conversation where I said, you
know what, I'm not going to close the

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door, but I'm going to live in my
apartment.

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I'm going to do my own thing.

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If you want to try and earn your family
back, then you can do that.

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But I'm going to do my own thing.

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I have things I need to heal from and
things you need to work on and heal from.

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And I don't want to be there while you do
it.

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You need to do it yourself and for
yourself.

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Not for me, not for the kids, for you.

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went through the holidays like that.

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And then in January, we started fighting
again.

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And so by mid and January, I said, I want
a

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didn't wind up starting that process for a
couple of weeks.

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But in the meantime, I was making friends
I had.

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you know, my girlfriends around me.

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I had a support system of

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I hosted girls nights.

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I talked to people.

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I downloaded TikTok and I would watch
TikToks and I wound up watching a TikTok

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that would forever change my life in 2021,
January, 2021.

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And it was about a girl who met the love
of her life on Omegle.

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I'm not gonna go into the huge story about
how I met my husband because that is in

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episode two of this podcast so stay tuned
for the next episode because you will hear

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straight out of our mouths how we met each
other and our whirlwind of a love story

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but that is the night I met James was on
Omegle and

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we rewrote history.

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So that was January end, very end of
January 2021.

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started off as friends.

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I think as anybody does that is on Omegle
or in that situation, you just need

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somebody to talk to.

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And so we started off on Snapchat, just
Snapchat friends.

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We'd send little videos back and forth.

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And it wound up developing.

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into a relationship pretty quickly.

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By February we realized that like this
there could actually be something here and

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so we did long distance.

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I was in Florida and he was in Illinois
until May 2021 and in May he moved down

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sight unseen all of his stuff in his GMC
terrain to Florida and

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rest is history.

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Two weeks later we got legally

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But the absolute best decision that I've
ever

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here we are in July of 2024

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Definitely make sure you watch episode
two.

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We've been married three times.

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We had our incredible daughter, Nora, and
we're now a family of five.

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He treats the boys like they're his very
own kids and we love life.

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We built our dream house this year and
January we closed on that and moved in and

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now doors

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opened.

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When I was postpartum with Nora in May of
2023, I was in a really dark place and I

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needed something to bring me out.

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I remember looking up baby pageants and
came across a pageant that I enrolled her

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in and they had a Mrs.

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Division and it sent me down a rabbit hole
because I'm like, my gosh, I did pageants

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a couple of times when I was younger,
didn't have a ton of success, but I loved

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them.

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And I wound up finding the pageant title
that I held last year in 2023.

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I was Mrs.

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Colorado, USA Earth.

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for

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when I really realized pageantry is where
I want to

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I started my Can Queen initiative that is
a recycling initiative and all of the

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funds that I collect from the can
recycling are donated to nonprofit

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organizations, national and local
nonprofit organizations.

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I've been focusing on domestic abuse and
mental health nonprofits.

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in the recent months.

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So I started the Can Queen Initiative and
I won the 2024 Iconic Impact Award for my

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work in that pageant system and for that
project.

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And I'm really proud of that.

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So that's ongoing.

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I still collect those cans.

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I still donate those funds.

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I've kind of realized that

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My heart is in mental health and domestic
abuse awareness.

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And that's where I find myself focusing
and really wanting to make a difference.

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I've had a couple people reach out on
Messenger who have told me that sharing my

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story about meeting my husband and our
happily ever after has encouraged them

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to...

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chase their dreams and give themselves a
second chance.

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And that's how the Second Chance Queen
podcast idea kind of took root was that

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other women started coming forward to me
saying, you sharing your story encouraged

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me to leave my marriage that I was not
happy in or that I was being abused in.

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And I've

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met the love of my life and I'm living the
dream.

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And so this idea was

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I'm going to use this platform to share
those stories, to interview women that

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have been in the same situation that I've
been in, and to make it more widespread,

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not just domestic abuse or, you know,
leaving, but also second chances in

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general, because

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A second chance is a really beautiful
thing.

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You can be at the darkest point in your
life thinking that it's never gonna get

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better.

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And I'm living proof that it does get
better if you give yourself that second

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chance.

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don't know what life is gonna look like in
a week.

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But give yourself a second chance for
tomorrow.

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because you never know what can happen in
a day.

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I hope that you continue to follow along
and hear all of the exciting things that I

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have planned.

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Just a couple of weeks ago, I walked in
Miami Fashion Week as a plus size model.

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I am getting ready to commit to New York
Fashion Week in February of 2025.

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I have a super secret project with the
Girl Scouts in my area that I'm super

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excited about.

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And I'm hoping that the second chance that
I gave myself can continue to growl into

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something beautiful for my kids and my
daughter.

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And also for the women that don't think
that it gets better or that they can do

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better because you absolutely can.

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I am a plus size woman that is now a
pageant queen.

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I'm competing for International Ms in
September of this year and I'm hoping to

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show just how powerful a second chance can

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I hope you enjoyed this episode and stay
tuned for episode two lobster of my life

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and I can't wait to share this with