From Homeless to TikTok Queen with Keenya Kelly

Jordan Mendoza (00:01.456) Hello everyone and welcome to the blaze your own trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza. I'm your host. And today I'm joined by a very special guest today. Her name is Kenya Kelly, and I'm going to have her tell you a little bit about who she is and what she does today. Keenya Kelly (00:16.568) So, hey everyone, I'm Kenya. So I, right now what I do is I teach people video marketing and social media strategies. Most people call me the TikTok queen because I teach TikTok marketing, but it's more short video, Instagram reels and TikTok marketing. Jordan Mendoza (00:30.576) love it. And that's such a needed skill set in today's marketplace. didn't, didn't used to be that prevalent, but I'm excited to get into some of your knowledge base. But my favorite part of the show Kenya is I love to take a rewind and truly get deep context into our, our guest story, their journey, you know, what makes them tick and, and you know, how they are blazing trails out there. So if you can share with the audience, know, where were you born and raised and what kind of kid were you, what type of things did you get into? Keenya Kelly (00:44.952) you Keenya Kelly (00:59.63) Yeah, so I was born in Chicago, Illinois, and I am the youngest of four girls. We are all two years apart each. And I think that when I was a kid, what I learned was that what I learned about myself as a kid is that I was very entrepreneurial as a kid. Apparently, I'm also a hostage negotiator as a kid, but also as an adult salesperson. But I was the kid who was buying candy for five cents at the neighborhood grocery store and then selling it. 25 cents. I even sold pickle juice to people to put on their Doritos, because that was the thing. And so I've always, always, always been very creative, entrepreneurial. Now I also was a very big bookworm too, where I was like in competitions and stuff like that. I didn't have the greatest grades, but I was determined in the things that I was doing for sure. Jordan Mendoza (01:54.8) That's great. Yeah. I that that is a lot of folks that come on the show. We all have that, you know, we have that where it was lemonade stands, was baseball cards, it was candy, you know, figuring out something, trying to solve problems. You know, that's what good entrepreneurs do. You have great ideas and you go try to solve it and whether it works or not, you know, it's about the attempt. So talk a little bit about how that translated as you kind of moved into middle and high school. Keenya Kelly (02:06.67) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (02:16.076) Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (02:22.14) Was fundraising something that you enjoyed or did you did you like? Any side of the academics you said you were that grade in school, which is very similar to me. I was too distracted ADHD I'm sure but so what was it? That happened like in middle and high school that kind of showed you those roots again. I'm sure there were probably times Keenya Kelly (02:43.758) Yeah. So what I really remember back then was I had this teacher, Ms. Phillips, and she was very, she took a very deep interest in me. Now what happened was I was in an English class and I guess I was a slow learner. And so they put me in one of those special classes and initially it was very, you know, nobody wants to be put into the special class, you know, um, but it ended up becoming like the catapult, like the catalyst for my life because someone, she was able to have more attention with me. And she was the one who really invested time and interest in like cultivating, you know, my personality, my reading, just really, cause kind of pushing me to let me know that I could do more than what I was currently doing. so, by the time I that was like middle school, but by the time I got to high school, I had already been pushed from her and has seen success of winning a competition or whatever. that I found myself like really excel. I'm a very good, person at math. Not like, not like the next level math, but I was very good at math, very good at talking and whatever, you know? And so I found myself like, I wasn't in speech, but I would always do some type of presentations. And I was just very good, very charismatic in presentations. Of course, ran for class president, ran, I won every single year until senior year because people got tired of me winning. I also ended up like, I was nominated for homecoming queen and the creative side of me was like, well. A lot of these people don't know that I exist. So I'm going to go and campaign the morning of homecoming. And I was like, went into all the like little rooms and was like, vote for me, vote for me. And as a junior, I beat all the seniors for homecoming queen. And so it's like my determination and creativity and strategy has just like follows me my whole life. Jordan Mendoza (04:28.609) That's great. Yeah. And, know, energy, it attracts people, know, charisma when, when you can have that kind of it factor, right. And you're not afraid to put yourself out there. people see that and they want to be around it. You know, you can, easy, could even just kind of picture you drawing a crowd of people that are just like, what's happening? Like, what is, why am I, I don't know why, but I want to vote now. Right. And, and, and I'm sure your other peers weren't campaigning like that. Yeah. They weren't. Keenya Kelly (04:32.748) Yeah. Yeah. Keenya Kelly (04:39.266) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (04:48.419) Yeah. Yeah. Keenya Kelly (04:56.045) No. Jordan Mendoza (04:56.731) putting or going the extra mile and putting in those reps. So let's talk a little bit about after high school. You know, you, met, again, you mentioned academics kind of weren't your thing. So was, did you know, Hey, I don't really want to go to college. That's maybe a route I don't want to go. Or was there a topic or subject as you grew in academics in high school where you said, you know what, maybe there are some things I want to go learn. I'd love to kind of figure out what route you ended up taking. Keenya Kelly (05:21.484) Yeah. So when I was in high school, I think I knew I wanted to go to college. and I think it was because you always hear that that's the next step. That's the next place that you go. And then all of my friends, had, like, I didn't have parents who really like invested time or any of that in me, but my friends, my closest friends, they had very strict parents and they were very academic. And I was like, well, I want to go their route. Cause I don't know. They're going somewhere. I want to follow them. So I ended up applying to college, got into the university and I followed one of my closest friends to her university. Cause I was like, okay, I feel safe going here because somebody's going there. And initially I was going to major in business until after my first semester and I was not doing good in the college of business. I was like, okay, this is not going well. So they transferred me to the college of arts and science, guess it was called. And so communication, I can major in communication. And that was. that was more my speed. I was in speech classes, I was giving presentations, very charismatic. I was learning all these different things and I just found myself really excelling in my personality. But even outside of that, what ended up happening was I got recruited into network marketing. So I had gone to like a sorority convention or something, met this guy. And I was so attracted to this guy. And so like after I came home, I'm calling him and he is just not, we're talking, but he's not trying to date me. He's trying to recruit me in this company. And I'm like, like what is going on? Eventually his, when his roommates keeps calling me and I'm like, Oh my God, I don't want to deal with them. But at the time I was working as a server in a restaurant and I had had it because people were like doing drugs. I mean, it was just a wild time and I was like, this is not working. So I ended up calling that guy and was like, look, I don't know if what you got is a pyramid scheme, but if you can promise me that you will help me, I will join this because you have to spend money. And that literally changed my life forever. It's like forever being in that with him. Jordan Mendoza (07:19.42) All right. So let's talk about this. You know, I've done, you know, whether we want to call them pyramid scheme, you want to call them network, you know, whatever you, you want to label them as. I tried a bunch of them, you know, over the years, probably like most people, whether it's selling knives or, you know, selling, lotions and potions and, you know, stuff that's supposed to make you more ageless. You know, I mean, I think I tried them all and I did not have a lot of success. And I think it's probably. Keenya Kelly (07:26.668) Network marketing. Keenya Kelly (07:34.479) Factor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Jordan Mendoza (07:47.665) a lot about my personality. can't just do one thing. That's why I've got a business in the States. I've got stuff in Europe. I've got podcasts. I've got all these things going on. I just cannot focus on a singular thing. So I'd love to hear what was your experience. So you obviously were taking a risk, right? You're like, I want to date this guy and he's trying to sell me a business. And then now I like want to get out of what I'm doing now. So I might want to at least attempt this. So let's talk about you saying yes, you joining and then what happened next? What was the because you said it changed your life. this had to be pretty impactful. Keenya Kelly (08:19.49) Yeah. Yeah, it was. So when I joined, thank God he, the company was called prepaid legal back then today is called legal shield. he think he was a good person, right? And he had a good mentor. And so they saw something in me. And so they started kind of teaching me from afar, you know, how to understand the company's product, how to understand the compensation. And he started to fly in the town to like help me do these presentations, but. At one point time, he said to me, I can't work with you. You are so negative. Like, I just cannot work with you. You're so negative. You've got to read these books. And he said, because you can't, I can't do anything with you the way that you are. And I was not happy about that, but I didn't, I understood that something was off. And so he had me, my first book I read was the 21 Indispensable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. And then it was Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And the two of them together, was like, I'm sorry, what? This is like a, this can happen in your life. Like all these things could are possible. And so then I became so invested in learning the personal development books that I was neglecting my schooling. Like at one point in time, I was reading like three books a month. I was so invested. Like I turned off my cable. didn't listen to any, any like music. And I was only listening to personal development, like Les Brown, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, you know, all those people. And they started to really, reprogram me and ended up like I was growing a team. And I think it was like the eighth month in, we realized that I had this opportunity where I could probably hit this quote unquote top position in the company. And I just made a decision, okay, I can do this. And so like, I took all the like quotes and stuff and I like had like hundreds of, well, maybe like 50 quotes around my house that were just like encouraging me and telling me things. Keenya Kelly (10:13.8) And outside of my apartment door, I had this little note that said, I will be executive director by this date. And every time I would come home, I would see that little note there. And this, this was everywhere, all over my apartment. And I ended up hitting that position, after that eighth month. And it was so funny because I came home one day and took it down and my neighbor knocked on my door and she was like, Hey, what happened? I was like, what do mean? goes, the note on your door. Did you get it? I was like, yeah, I got it. And she's like cheering for me because it had been there for like a long time, you know? And so, yeah. Jordan Mendoza (10:47.644) That's great. Yeah. And, you know, in my experience too, professional development is, is life changing, know, especially you mentioned that, you know, he kind of brought something up to you that you didn't really want to hear. And it was that you're negative. And the only way to get positive is you got to feed positive stuff into your world. You know, you have to invest in yourself. So I love the fact that you're reading three books a month. And if I'm being transparent, I think I've talked about this in my audience probably knows, but Keenya Kelly (11:00.952) Right. Keenya Kelly (11:07.438) Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (11:17.508) I didn't pick up a book Kenya until I was in my thirties. I had no interest. I was like, what are, like, I don't want to read like reading, like who wants to do that? You know? And then when I got into, property management, I started in, as a leasing agent and became an assistant and then a manager. And then I got into the corporate space and I started realizing, you know what? Maybe there's some content in here that could help, you know? And then we started having to consume content as part of workshops. And then I started. Keenya Kelly (11:20.78) Mm. Keenya Kelly (11:24.876) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (11:40.726) Mm-hmm. Jordan Mendoza (11:45.841) teaching and facilitating and now I've got a couple books of my own and so I agree with you professional development can shift your world upside down for the better you know and listening to great minds that are positive that are doing productive things that are about growth not trying to hold people down there it's really worth its weight in gold and so I'd love for you to share Keenya Kelly (12:07.254) Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (12:09.978) You know, you, now reach this top pinnacle, you know, you're at the top position, which I'm sure there was some good revenue that was occurring there. but I'm sure that wasn't enough for you. like what, what happened after that? Keenya Kelly (12:23.605) Yeah. So what happened after that was the, I guess I was like doing so well in my state that the company was looking for somebody to train everybody in the state how to do the company. So I became this trainer for the state and I was like 21 years old, training the state of Kentucky. And I ended up becoming the top three trainer in the whole company. and so, I'm being flown out and all these different things are happening, um, with me being recognized and they had the convention. Like there's a picture of me right back here. Um, when I was 22 and they had this convention and they wanted to highlight certain people on stage. And for whatever reason, my, biggest upline we had recommended me to the convention, you know? And so I get up there, they like, you've got two minutes, tell your story, whatever. Fine. So I come out and I am just. saying who I am, saying my story, doing my two minutes. And then I, I guess I lost it. Whatever I said. I see the whole crowd stand up on their feet and people are cheering and going crazy. And I start to cry and I just like walked off stage cause my time was up. And then the guy that was doing the presentation or whatever, he comes back going and trying to talk and he cannot, they won't let him. So they pushed me back on stage and I am standing there like, what is happening? And then I go off stage and then, I mean, everybody's like rushing me. People are like coming to me crying, autograph. And it became this, I was this thing. I was this successful home magazine. And it was this amazing moment, but also it was like my downfall because, you know, pride comes before the fall. And so I was so puffed up and proud of me and this is in this that I lost sight of my team, of what what I was really supposed to be doing because I had never received this type of recognition or whatever before. And eventually I just stopped doing what I needed to be doing, lost everything, was homeless and had to go live with my sister and her kids. Jordan Mendoza (14:27.642) Wow. Yeah. that's, and so now folks, this is where we're getting to a pivotal moment, you know? so you're at the pinnacle of success and it breaks you and you, and you fall, mean, homeless, having to, you know, trying to struggling to make ends meet when you were at the top level, you know, and there's not a lot of people that experience that in their, in their timeline of reaching the top and then Keenya Kelly (14:39.307) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (14:49.185) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (14:56.577) Mm-hmm. Jordan Mendoza (14:57.392) going back down to the very bottom and then having the tenacity and the grit and determination to eventually build that back up again. So what I'd love to find out is who or what was the catalyst for you shifting directions to the upward area again. Keenya Kelly (15:05.079) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (15:17.011) what happened there? So once I was at my sister's with her kids, I had to get a regular job and it was like, it was just the most humbling thing. I got a job and I think life still wasn't going where it needed to be. There was so much stuff in between. But I ended up feeling like a big fish in a small pond because that same guy that had recruited me in the company, he was getting married and he was like, you know, to my wedding. So of course I went out to their wedding. And when I was out in Virginia, I was like, whoa, this is, this is amazing. Like I had never left the state of Kentucky. Well, a little Chicago, but I was such a kid when I left that I was like, I want to move here. And so I just felt like this big fish in a small pond. So I sold everything and I moved to Richmond, Virginia, like a month after I had, I visited there. And I think it was there that I started to see that the world was bigger. Right. I got a nice sales job and the, the other catalyst happened as this is the spiritual side of me. was always a guy, there was this guy that I was interested in. He wasn't really interested in me and they were doing this fast and I had never heard of fasting before for Lent. Never heard of Lent, have never heard of fasting. And I said, I was going to do this 40 day fast. And so I did like no chips, no something for 40 days. And at the end of the 40 days, I'm at church and it's the first time I decide I'm going to tithe 10 % as a Christian. And when I'm trying to write my tithe, I hear God say, this is your last Sunday. I'm looking around and church like, who is talking? And I'm thinking it's the pastor, but I look up at him and he's talking about something totally different. And I'm like, I think I hear God. And he was like, no, this is your last Sunday here. And I'm like, where am I going? And so then he tells me to go to this other church and there. is when I met for me, what we call the Holy Spirit. I don't know what your religion is, but I met the Holy Spirit and the awareness of life and beyond and who I am became this supernatural type of thing to where I still had this job, but it was kind of like, as I was growing my relationship with God and the Holy Spirit, it was like, I was growing closer to him, but also Keenya Kelly (17:32.014) all these entrepreneurial things kept like rising back up to the surface. Cause I had this sales job, but I had always known that people had made $150,000 a month. I had seen what people could do, but I was in the job mode. And so I was growing closer to God and it felt like I was growing more in myself. was all these little things were happening all at the same time. And it was so much happened. I ended up cutting up all my hair, how do I describe this? So black women always straighten their hair with this chemical. And as I was growing into myself and my relationship with God, I started having this thought of who am I and what is this hair on my head? Why? Let me, maybe I should see how does my hair actually grow out. And so I did this thing called the big chop where I cut off all the relaxer hair and my hair started to grow out curly. And so in all that time, I'm really coming into who I am at the core and not who I was pretending to be, not my job, not whatever. And in that time, I was like, what am I going to do? And I decided to launch a natural natural hair care convention for women with curly hair. Jordan Mendoza (18:38.563) Yeah, that's a big shift and change. you know, I'm a Christian as well. You know, the Holy Spirit, the word says, we're sending you a helper, right? And so I believe that that's what that was, right? You have this radical encounter you hear, and then you go shift, you get access now to things that you didn't have access to before. And that really started to arise the person that you were meant to be. Keenya Kelly (18:41.729) Yeah, no good. Keenya Kelly (18:53.556) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (19:00.406) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (19:07.317) Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (19:07.789) And so that you can go do the things that God has called you to do. So, I mean, what a wild change too, right? Like from sales into now you're at a curly hair con... I mean, you just, can't make this stuff up folks, right? You just can't make it up. But that's how I know God has a sense of humor because I get sent places and I've been on in some things that like, I'm like, you're sending this knucklehead? Are you sure? Keenya Kelly (19:11.181) Crazy. Keenya Kelly (19:25.421) All right. Jordan Mendoza (19:33.636) Are you sure I'm the right guy for this? Because I feel very unqualified, but he does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. And so I'd love for you to share this story of talk about this. I never even heard of a curly haired convention. like, what do you, what do you do here? Is this to basically highlight products? Is this to show like how curly your hair could get? I have no clue. So I'm very curious. Keenya Kelly (19:35.159) Yeah. Yeah. Keenya Kelly (19:42.337) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (19:57.142) Yeah. So what happened was my hair started to grow out curly and I didn't know what to do with it. So I'm like trying to find all these resources. And I found out about this hair show in Atlanta where they like, they rent the convention center. There's booths, they're selling products. There's also people that are teaching and all this type of stuff. And I said, I'm going do that. You know, like here I am. Like I can do it. Right. I had no hair care background, nothing. And I decided that. I'm going to do this. And so a friend of mine and I, did a video and put it on YouTube and we were like, we're just going to host a small event and we'll get like a hundred people, 500 people showed up. Okay. It was crazy. And as her and I are navigating this thing, we're navigating the relationship of like, she likes hair, but she doesn't know business. And so it was very bad breakup, but I knew what I was, I knew how to be all these, these entrepreneurial things and she didn't. And so we had a, eventually we parted ways. And I said, okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this my way, the way that I would do it. So I was like, I'm going to get an amazing media kit, beautiful, an amazing website. Cause I was in sales. I knew how to sell things before it was a thing. And I went to the convention center and was like, I'm going to have an event here. How much does it cost? It was a lot. And I was like, I'm going to sell vendor booths. I'm going to sell sponsorships. Cause I was in sales. I knew how to sell things for other people. So was like, I can do this. And. In the midst of that, I was still growing in my relationship with God. And so on my tithe envelope, I would write all the things that I want to happen. Here's all the people that I want to come, the amount of money I want to make. And I was just writing this every time I I gave like a gift, you know, a church or whatever. And I was just praying and doing the work. And at the end of this event, had 1500 people had showed up. We had like 60 something vendors and every single person that I had written on my tithe envelope had come to this event. And it was quite the affair, you know, that I was able to put on and I did it a couple of times. I didn't make a whole lot of money, but it was like, here's what I knew that I was capable of doing. We were on the news many times, magazines. We were even in different cities for a little while and it didn't stop until I got married, went through a divorce, but we can talk about that. But that's how it like kind of started. Jordan Mendoza (22:12.355) Love it. Yeah. And I love the fact that you're just like, well, I can do that. Let me just go do it. You know, I think that's a lesson for a lot of people because I meet people all the time, you know, prospective clients, current clients, and they're like, I don't know if I can do it. And I don't know if I want to try. And I'm like, you can do it and go try. Like you don't know until you, it's like I tell my kids all the time, like, if you try it, you will like it. Like you, you don't know until you actually go put in the reps and do it, you know, Keenya Kelly (22:29.164) Right. And that's Keenya Kelly (22:37.249) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (22:41.14) Exactly. Jordan Mendoza (22:41.975) And so, yeah, let's talk a little bit. So you have two successful events, completely other niche, but you had the sales background and folks, this is so key. If you know how to sell, if you understand people, you will never not have revenue. Let me say it again. If you know how to sell, if you know how to build relationships, if you know how to bring people together, you will always have something. Okay. And so that's something that I really am catching onto with you is you're leveraging your God given talents and gifts and ability in every endeavor you do. And that just happens to be sales and communication. And when you have those two ingredients, there's really nothing that can stop any of the things that you want to go after. And so you mentioned you're now at a place where you get married. So I'm assuming you. Keenya Kelly (23:20.567) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (23:27.307) Right. Jordan Mendoza (23:32.879) you met somebody who also liked you instead of the other ones that were in it for other reasons. And so you end up getting married and then you also talked about the marriage not working out. So can you give a little context on how everything kind of came to be and then what you end up doing after the divorce? Keenya Kelly (23:35.885) This time. Keenya Kelly (23:45.387) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (23:53.226) Yeah. So I ended up, meeting, so there was a time in my life, everything was just going in the right direction. Everything was perfect. My body was perfect. Everything was perfect. And all that was missing was a partner. Right. And so I met this guy at a Christian event and we started dating. There was a lot of red flags in the beginning, but I think I was very naive. I was so new to relationships. was just, and ended up dating him for a couple of years. And then we decided to get married and This was in the midst of while I was doing these big hair shows, right? And within eight months of us being married, I started having dreams at night that he was being unfaithful. And I didn't know at the time, but that's how God communicated to me, but that's what was happening. And I confronted him and he's like, no, I'm not doing anything. And then finally one morning God wakes me up and says, Hey, go check your phone records. And I'm like, what do you mean? And I go check the phone records and bam, there she is, there they are. Um, and I am like, devastated, you know, cause like I'm Christian girl. So it's like, he was my first, you know, at 30 years old. And so it was like the most devastating thing ever. but the create, like, I'm not the typical divorcees. I have to say this because some women that may hear this may feel like, dang, she's like, she's a narcissist. but because within 30 days of me finding out, cause he wasn't repentant or anything like that. Then 30 days I left within 90 days I filed. within six months it was over. And I tell people the reason why I even had the wherewithal or the ability to lead was because all those years when I was in network marketing, I had read all those books. And so I only needed them for a little thing. But when the most hardest thing happened to me in my life, when that was happening, I could hear Les Brown and Tracy Lynn and Zing, I could hear them all talking to me. encouraging me about who I am and what I deserve. And I was like, yeah, I, yeah. And so I was able to just like leave. It was still the hardest thing I've ever done. But I said to myself, this is the greatest thing I can do for myself because if this person is doing this, this early on, what's this person going to do later on? like, I'm getting out of here. Jordan Mendoza (26:11.291) Yeah, well, sorry that you had to go through that, but you know, as you know, every experience, good or bad, there's always something we can learn. There's always lessons, you know, with, you know, every adversity and trial, there's always an equal or greater opportunity on the other side. And so I'd love to, let's talk about the transition after, you know, did you, do you still stay in the curly hair game or do you, do you start doing something else? Keenya Kelly (26:13.516) Me too. Keenya Kelly (26:18.88) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (26:26.165) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (26:38.645) Yeah. So afterwards I got a job again, to stabilize myself. then somebody, somebody I knew from back in the day from the other network marketing company reached out to me and recruited me back into network marketing. And so was making six figures at my job. made $400,000 really fast in the network marketing company. And I decided to move to Houston, Texas. And once I moved to Houston, I started to rebuild my life and got introduced to the coaching and consulting industry. because people were on live stream using Periscope live stream to sell services. And I was like, I don't know what that is, but I want to learn it and I want to do it. And so I invested in my first coach and they of course saw what was in me, saw the charisma and started pulling things out of me. And I launched the King and Kelly brand, which was coaching people on how to build a personal brand while I was still running that network marketing company and having a full-time job. Eventually quit that job and started focusing in on. the Kenya Kelly brand and decided to build a design agency and outsourcing logo design and web design to a team in India. And I started using video in order to build an online audience. And in 2020 was when I got connected to TikTok. Jordan Mendoza (27:53.916) Love it, love it. Yeah, and so, yeah, we're now getting close to like five years ago, which is it's pretty quick. Five years flies by. And so now, you you were in COVID, you're, you know, 2020. I don't know when you launched. Was it beginning? Was it during the lockdown? Okay, so beginning, I actually launched this podcast January 1st, 2020. I had no clue like what was going to happen. And now here we are five and a half years later. So I know what can be created out of nothing. Keenya Kelly (28:01.26) Yeah Keenya Kelly (28:08.278) beginning. Keenya Kelly (28:14.753) wow. Keenya Kelly (28:18.807) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jordan Mendoza (28:21.583) especially in a time like a pandemic. And there's really three people that came out of the pandemic. There's the people where everything sucked and everything was bad. Okay. And then you got the people where everything was great and this is the best opportunity ever. And then you got to kind of get the people that are like in the middle or in between, you know? And so it sounds like you were on that second phase where you said, man, what great opportunity do we have? And that's actually how I felt about my show as I was like, everybody's home. Like, do you know how... Keenya Kelly (28:35.703) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (28:42.572) Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (28:51.427) hard it is to get in touch with people that run seven and eight figure businesses prior to COVID. It was difficult. Now I could literally DM somebody on LinkedIn or Instagram and be like, Hey, I got a podcast. That's about entrepreneurship. Would you like to come on? And Dave Meltzer's like, yeah, I'll come on. Mark Victor Hansen. I'll come on. Like, and so I started bringing on these incredible thought leaders, people that I had respected and they're now like listening and talking to me. was like really weird. Keenya Kelly (28:53.708) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (28:57.485) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (29:06.998) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (29:12.746) you Keenya Kelly (29:18.861) Wow. Jordan Mendoza (29:19.949) I'd love to hear, you know, in that initial starting this business now where now you're starting to coach people, you're starting to teach people about the thing that we're doing right now, which is video. What was that like at first? was it strange? Did it come natural and easy to be on camera? I'll tell you afterwards, like my experience when I started on camera in 2012, like it was bad. I couldn't get two words. wouldn't look at the camera. So I'd love for you just to share the beginnings of that. And then, and then let's kind of go into, you know, the early days of Tik Tok, cause I know 2020, I mean, it was really, really blowing up at that time. I actually got verified on Tik Tok in 2021. when I had, think 1800 followers, that's another strange, very strange story. But, but yeah, let's, let's talk a little bit about the beginnings of building this new agency. Keenya Kelly (29:56.781) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (30:04.13) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (30:09.089) Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (30:13.935) where you're now coaching people on video. Keenya Kelly (30:13.963) Mm-hmm. Yeah. So 2016, was, I was watching people, you know, make money using live stream. And I said, okay, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going come on here and just start talking and see what's happening there. And somebody that I knew I was watching her, people were paying her hourly to just coach them. And so I said, I'm going to pay her an hour, even though I know her, I'm going to pay her an hour and I'm going to see what she says. And she starts telling me about what I could be doing outside of my network marketing business. And so I then learned about this coach who was in Houston when I lived here previously. And I invested in a year long coaching program with her and she started teaching me about live stream, about Facebook live and building an audience online. And when I first got on, I was terrible. You know, like, I didn't know, like the buttons, I don't know how to flip the camera to make it to be on this side versus the other side. was terrified of first of all, it was my ex-husband gonna show up on my live street, you know, to where people are going to be talking about my past, you know, on the live stream, but also like what was gonna, was I gonna freeze? Was I gonna faint? What was gonna happen when I went live? But I just kept telling myself, well, the worst thing that could happen is that all that happens. But the best thing that could happen is that none of that happens. And so I just had to like encourage myself every day when I hit the live button. And of course for the first couple of weeks, nobody was watching. but eventually I was learning how to ask people to share if they came in and then they would, when they would share, they would invite their audience to come in. And then every day I just decided that, okay, if I'm going to do this, I've got to take it seriously. So then I started what I call the King of Kelly morning show and I was live every morning at nine AM and I would talk for 30 minutes and people would watch me or listen to me as they on their drive to work. Keenya Kelly (32:07.681) And I started going, this is my thing. You can do this and whatever is going to be, it's going to be. And the first person bought an hour of my time. And I was so thankful. I gave her two hours, you know, and from there she was singing my praises. So more people wanted me and more people wanted. And then I realized there's only so much money I could make with hours of my time. And the coach was telling me to start a design agency. So then I said, okay, I'll use live stream to get clients. but by the end of 2019, I was over it. Cause it's like, I love design, but when you're doing somebody's website, you're waiting on them and their timeline to give you certain things. So I was very limited on how much I, it was just, it was just getting hard at the own agency. And we knew something was happening in the world with COVID. We didn't know what it was. So I was just praying, like, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's going on. And I heard God tell me to get on TikTok. And I said, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Jordan Mendoza (33:09.955) Yeah, sometimes we hear things like, are you sure? Are you sure about that? Yes, I'm sure about that. And so, and now would you say that was the dumbest thing or the best thing that's happened? Keenya Kelly (33:12.629) Yeah. Oh, that's the greatest thing ever happened to my business. Yeah, for sure. Like I didn't know what I was doing. Nobody was talking about it. Nobody was teaching it. And all of 2020, I was just trying to figure it out. Like there was one point in time in 2020 when I almost didn't do it, when George Floyd was murdered. And as a black person, I was like, I was so scared for all these different reasons. And I just had this moment in my prayer time and he said, are you currently in danger? No. Well, I need you to focus. And I was like, what do mean? goes, I'm trying to do something. I need you to focus on TikTok. If you focus, going to, I'm going to change your life. And I was like, I think I'm going crazy, but I know I hear God. So let me just do what I think I'm hearing. within four or five months, I kept going viral over and over and over again. Jordan Mendoza (34:06.061) Love it. Love it. And let's talk a little bit about that because there's a lot of people that, you know, listen to the show or watch the show and, maybe they've never gotten viral. Maybe they've never had a video, and viral to them could be a thousand views. Right. And so let's talk about what virality is. Let's talk about the cost of virality because I think there's a cost that comes with it. And, and then let's talk about, you know, is there a system or framework that you leverage to help? Keenya Kelly (34:17.367) For sure. Jordan Mendoza (34:33.977) your cause at potentially going viral. So let's kind of answer those three things. Keenya Kelly (34:36.397) Yeah, for sure. So going viral by definition is a video that hits a million views, right? And so for me at the time viral was like 10,000 and then it was 10,000 then 100,000 and 300,000. And it just kept kind of going from there. Now I was learning the formula at that time. was just, I didn't know why it was happening, but it was happening. And some of the things that started to, that it started to do was it started to teach me that, something's special is happening on this platform that nobody knows, but I'm being privileged to. And I started using that to market my design agency business, right? And I was getting more clients and I wrote a book that had nothing to do with that, but I did a video and I showcased the book in the video and the video went viral. And my book was selling like crazy on Amazon and on my website. And I was like, man, I've got to really narrow down this thing here, right? Um, and that was the beauty that I grew really, really fast. Right? So the beauty side of that was I was growing. The downside was I was growing all the wrong people. If I was going to focus on my business, I was growing the wrong people that were following me or whatever. Um, but also during 2020, you had people who were pro Brown people and people that were anti Brown people. And at one point in time, uh, my video landed on the anti-brown people side of TikTok. And there were people who were trying to find out where I lived. They were doing videos in reaction to me with guns in their hands. I mean, I was just like, you know, what is going on? You know what I mean? So granted nobody showed up, but it was kind of like, that was the downside of virality for me. Jordan Mendoza (36:27.353) That's it. And so let's talk a little bit about what people can do today. You know, they watch this on one of our platforms. They hear the sound of your voice. You know, what are three things you can share with all of our listeners that can help their cause at trying to reach the right audiences from a virality standpoint? Keenya Kelly (36:35.085) and Keenya Kelly (36:47.277) For sure. So now we've learned the formula. and one of the things is that no matter which platform you're creating on, you've got to make sure that that content, you're very clear on who you're trying to reach. Right? So like I have my main account and take that that has 500,000. And then I started a new one six months ago that now has 50,000. And that one, I said, I'm going to make this be about Houston and I'm going to connect with all people in Houston. And so I started to create content that, that was about me, but I always talked about, kept using phrases like Houston and certain areas in Houston. And so what I learned from a geo targeting standpoint is that if you're using, using social media to do it, you've just got to be very intentional with like, whether it's tagging the location, the language that you're using, the SEO keywords you're using and or hashtags. but. in terms of going viral with the content, it's first you got to ask yourself who is it that you're trying to target with the content. And once I started to make changes to my content and be very specific about who I was targeting, then my language was speaking directly to those people. Okay. The second thing I had to, you, have to do in order to create amazing content is we have to understand what is happening on the other side of the screen. As much as we want to go viral, We only go viral because other people watch our content, they rewatch it and they share it. So we have to learn the art of getting people to stop and watch our content. And so I started to learn that like, how quickly do I give people, you know, before I scroll away from them? Well, it's like two seconds, two or three seconds. So then I realized that that first two to three seconds of that video is the most important part of the video. It's not the rest of the video. It's the beginning. So we, started learning how to do, I call them hooks, how to do a hook in the beginning of the video that speaks directly to the audience I'm trying to reach and makes them want to stop and watch my content. And then the next thing is I focus on the storyline because people don't log on social media for business people. They log on to be entertained. So I said, all right, if I'm going to get them to do what I want them to do, something about my content has to be entertaining to them. Keenya Kelly (39:06.527) So I had to focus on some kind of creative storyline and make that whatever's happening with that entire video, make them want to rewatch it and share it with people because the only way a video goes viral is if people keep sharing it with other people and they keep watching it and engaging. So I started going, okay, I can create strategic business content, but I can be very intentional and creative with talking to the women that typically work with us. entertaining her in some type of way and then making it so irresistible that all she wants to do is to her friends about it. And when our clients are utilizing that formula, they're finding themselves exploding. Like one of our clients, she's a naturopathic, a holistic pediatrician. And she's, mean, so the doctor, so she's limited on the goofy things or whatever. So she's not doing that, but we taught her the art of saying what she wants to say, how she needs to say it to her audience. had a video that hit three million views, 80,000 followers in three days. Jordan Mendoza (40:07.195) Yeah, that's incredible. And I love the fact that you've, you know, a, we're able to extract what the system is because when you have a framework, then you just have to put that framework into practice. And obviously there's, I'm sure there's plenty of tweaks. There's plenty of iterations. There's plenty of, well, that one flopped in. And, I'd love to ask a question that I'm at least curious about. How many drafts do you have, on your two accounts at any given moment? Keenya Kelly (40:19.498) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (40:36.813) Oh my God, that is so funny. I think if I looked at my business TikTok right now, you will be, you will be dumbfounded. You'll be like, what in the world? So my main account on TikTok has 326 drafts in it. Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (40:51.579) Okay. That's why I was asking. I, I figured it was going to be in the hundreds because of what you do. Does that make sense? Because now you can go to your drafts you can go, okay, I want to post this one. You know, it just makes it convenient and easy. So folks, if you want to hack on how to get a lot of content prepped and ready, go create a bunch of drafts, you know, because then it makes the process easy. If you go into the draft scrolling through the 326 or 26, if you're not Kenya, Keenya Kelly (40:56.085) Yeah. Yeah. Keenya Kelly (41:12.716) Yes. Jordan Mendoza (41:21.535) And finding something that you're like, Hey, this today, like, let's rock with this. Right. and so is that why you leverage drafts or what's, what's the reason for it? Or do you just always have ideas? And so you're just like, all right, well, I don't want to do this. And you just kind of put it to the wayside for a good time. Keenya Kelly (41:25.847) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (41:37.877) Yeah, so a couple of reasons. So one, I don't always want to create content, right? And so when I'm in that mode of, want to create content, then I'm like, let me film a whole lot. And I'll just have a lot there. But I also, like, I don't want to burn out. I've burned out before. And I'm like, one of the ways to not burn out is to have as much stuff available to you. but also what I do once a month, I'll take an hour once a month and I will just film and film and film and film and I'll put it on Tik TOK, but I also will put it in like, we use a tool called playbook and we put it in a folder that says social media 2025 and we have thousands of videos in there and then in our draft. So it's like, I don't have to constantly be refilming. I just get to go into the folder search for what I did in the video. And then I can edit from there, or I could just give it to a social media team to edit. Jordan Mendoza (42:29.57) Love it. Love it. Great advice there to do that. And I think it's super useful and helpful to batch. Because again, yeah, there are days when you could be the most extroverted human on the planet and you just don't want to like look into a camera that day. I know I get that way too. It's like, I just don't want to do this. Like I just don't want to do it right now. And so either you got stuff in the archive or you don't and then you got to do something that you don't want and you're probably not going to show up the best when you do it. So. Keenya Kelly (42:35.681) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (42:42.653) Exactly. Keenya Kelly (42:51.532) Yeah. Yup. Jordan Mendoza (42:57.562) I want to get your thoughts on the power of collaboration when it comes to audience growth. Because there are some people that they're like, that's you're cheating. Like if you, if you collaborate. And then I look at like the rock and Kevin Hart and those guys are like collaborating like crazy and leveraging their millions of audience to cross pollinate communities. So what are your thoughts on that? Is it cheating Kenya or is it smart? Keenya Kelly (43:05.451) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (43:19.617) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jordan Mendoza (43:27.032) because you're leveraging people and you guys can all help each other rise to the top. Keenya Kelly (43:33.337) No, I think exactly what you said. It's like everybody rises to the top. It's like when you were talking, I was thinking about Adam Sandler. You think about Adam Sandler's movies, he's always has the same people in his movies, you know? yeah, and everybody rises, you know I mean? And so when you think about whatever it is you're building, it's lonely at the top one, you know? And it's hard to do it by yourself, you know, but... Jordan Mendoza (43:43.032) It's his buddies, it's all his friends, it's his wife, know, yep. Keenya Kelly (43:57.163) When you get in the mode where you realize that you can't do it by yourself or you shouldn't do it by yourself or you don't want to do it by yourself, you start to realize just how much can be accomplished, not just for you, but the other person. And it's also very fulfilling when you are watching what's happening for someone else because of what you have opened up to. And it's also humbling when someone opens the door for you and they didn't have to, but they chose to. Right. And so it's kind of like, I think that. people have to come to terms with why they feel like it's cheating. but there's actually, probably something going on on the inside of them that they may not understand unconsciously. but if they were very conscious, they would see just how fast they can grow and other people can grow beyond their capacity because you don't know who one person is connected to, but not only that, but you don't know what one door will open. We always hear those stories about that person who was rich and they They stuck their hand out for this guy. And then 10 years later, the guy comes back and helps them. And you're like, how did that even happen? It's because somebody, when they didn't have to, chose to. And if we have that same kind of attitude, you just never know where it's going to go. Cause it may not be that same person you open a door for, but it's somebody else. And it's like, you just sprinkled this over here, but it watered something that in your future. Jordan Mendoza (45:16.236) Love it. Yeah. I'm, I'm always, I've always been collaboration over competition. know, there, there's so much abundance out there. You know, there's so, so much money to be made. There's so much views to be had. but when you can do it with other people, there's a lot more joy and fulfillment seeing other people win. Like I love when people win. I'm like, man, that's great. You won. Like if I can help you in any way, if I can add value to helping you do that, that to me is, is, Keenya Kelly (45:26.144) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (45:32.138) Yeah, exactly. Keenya Kelly (45:41.685) Yeah. Jordan Mendoza (45:44.219) one of the best feelings in the world, just seeing someone reach their goals and get to success. Well, I want to say this has been great having you on the show. You have definitely blazed many trails and I know you're continuing to do that out in the marketplace. And so I'd love just to give you, know, 60 seconds. there any parting words you have for the audience? Anything you want to say? Keenya Kelly (45:52.14) Thank you. Keenya Kelly (46:04.148) Yeah. So I would say first, if someone is thinking about going on a journey, partner with your mind. Okay. So it's like, it's one thing to have the desire to do something, but you got to partner with your mind in terms of what you're listening to, because your mind needs to be reprogrammed for wherever you're trying to go. So partner with books and podcasts to really help you with that. And then the second thing would be, sorry, my cat's jumping on screen. the second thing would be that you want to, if you're not using video to build whatever it is you're trying to build, you want to start doing that. It's the fastest way to build anything today. And it may be awkward at first, but it will literally catapult whatever it is you're trying to build faster than anything you could do. Jordan Mendoza (46:47.29) love it and love the advice. And actually that's kind of, you know, how I grew an audience of 60 something thousand on LinkedIn, started creating video back in 2019 when it first came out. And all of a sudden you have people all over that are engaging and commenting and, and it's just so much more personal, right? You get to see people, you get to kind of read their body language, their facial expressions, their emotions, and there's nothing better, right? This was why we watch movies. It's why we go to Keenya Kelly (46:54.612) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (47:05.633) Yeah. Keenya Kelly (47:12.542) Yeah. Yeah! Jordan Mendoza (47:15.224) comedy shows or concerts that we want to feel that we want to be able to feel the person. And so I agree video is an awesome place to do that. So if folks listen to this and they want to reach out to you because you've provided so much value today through the storytelling, just through your tenacity, your grit and your determination, I know people are going to want to reach out. So where's the best place you want folks to go and find you. Keenya Kelly (47:18.206) Mm-hmm. Keenya Kelly (47:39.53) Yeah. So you literally can go to my website, Kenya Kelly.com or I'm on social media, every social media platform, including LinkedIn under my name, Kenya Kelly. Jordan Mendoza (47:50.37) of and we're going to link all of that in the show notes folks. Do not walk. Make sure you run to the show notes. Make sure you click on that website because action folks creates momentum. Momentum creates consistency. Consistency creates habits and habits are the things that turn into the results that we're looking for. So be an action taker. Reach out to Kenya. Kenya, thank you so much for adding so much value today on the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast and I cannot wait to do a round two here in the future. Keenya Kelly (48:18.708) Yeah, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Jordan Mendoza (48:21.347) My pleasure.