September 9, 2025 • 23 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Kimberly Kelly.
A real estate broker and entrepreneur who overcame a challenging upbringing in foster care, teen motherhood, and systemic adversity to become a successful businesswoman. Kimberly shares her journey of resilience, faith, and determination, offering inspiration to anyone facing difficult circumstances. Her story is a testament to perseverance, adaptability, and the power of believing in oneself.
🧭 Key Points 🌱 Early Life & Adversity
- Raised in foster care from a young age due to her mother’s struggles with addiction.
- Took on a caregiver role for her younger brothers at age 9.
- Became a mother at 15 and had two children by 18, while still caring for her siblings.
💪 Resilience & Mindset
- Developed a survival mindset early on, driven by responsibility and love for her family.
- Found faith and spiritual grounding during her time in foster care.
- Never doubted her ability to succeed despite overwhelming odds.
🎓 Education & Career Path
- Returned to complete her high school diploma and pursued technical education.
- Earned a degree in electronics engineering and transitioned into the IT world.
- Later became a licensed real estate agent and opened her own brokerage.
🏡 Business Ventures
- Founder of a real estate brokerage in McDonough, Georgia.
- Focuses on educating and empowering first-time homebuyers and entrepreneurs.
- Co-owner of a property preservation company, Get Adventurous, with her husband.
🤝 Leadership & Branding
- Leads a small team of agents with a hands-on, mentorship-driven approach.
- Emphasizes adaptability, personal growth, and celebrating small victories.
- Operates within a price range of $250K–$750K and above, adapting to market trends.
💬 Notable Quotes
“I’m superwoman. I’m phenomenal.”
“Foster care is supposed to be temporary, but sometimes it becomes permanent.”
“It never dawned on me that I wouldn’t be successful.”
“You can do anything. There is nothing you can’t do in this life.”
“Practice resilience. If you don’t have a support system, look in the mirror and talk to yourself.”
“I’m always in the mindset of staying adaptable.”
“My goal is to educate, motivate, and teach people that we can own real estate.”
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. If
you want to be a guest on my show, please
visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click to
be a guest button Chris submit and information will come
(00:23):
directly to me. Now, let's get this show start. My
guests push you some difficult circumstances to achieve significant professional
progress and become a business mogul m O g U L. Please.
Who's welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Kimberly Kelly, How
you doing, Kimberly.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm doing phenomenal? How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Phenomenal? Using all them positive when you're coming out.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The box, Yes, you gotta stay positive.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'm superwoman. I'm a superwoman. You're coming out of the boxes.
I'm super Warman, a phenomenal woman. I love it. I
love it that positive activity. Is that what drives your success?
You being positive? Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yes, absolutely, that drives That gives keeps me with perseverance,
keeps moving forward no matter what difficult moments, you know, happen.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Now, let's let's talk. Let's talk about you in difficult moments,
you know, because I think that that stops a lot
of people. You know, uh, because we all have valleys,
you know. You know, COVID knocked out a whole country
and created a difficult moments and forced us to live
from our home and also send us into a mental spiral.
(01:33):
But difficult moments sometimes we can't control. So what is
a difficult moment that you can share with us?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I have, And that's a great question. I have a
pretty lot of difficult moments. But just even if I
start talking to just about my upbringing, being coming from
where I come from, South Florida and basically raising myself
on my own sins, how about six to seven years old,
probably six, and being brought up in foster care, and
(02:05):
even after that, being able to live on my own
at the age of fifteen and have kids, and being
able to push through even though I was placed in
falster care, even though I had basically raised my brothers,
and even though with those obstacles by face, I persevere
and it overcame those adversities which kind of shaped me
(02:28):
into being the resilient person I am today. So I
didn't let that be me coming from that having a
mother who was innovating drugs and not really having a
support system and things of that nation having to figure
out how to raise myself. So even with that, I
continued to move forward because there was really no sath
in it for me at that point. So that was
(02:51):
one of the things that you know, kept me pushing
forward and persevering through the difficulty moments.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
You mentioned it a very young age. We explain to
everybody what exactly is foster care.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So falter care is a place that they put you
in basically when you when the parents has either they
have it can be from abuse. My situation with my
mom was alcoholic and drug abuse there and they put
you there. It's supposed to be a temporary placement, but
some of some kids get lost in the shuffle and
some of them stay until they either age out or
(03:28):
either family member decides they want to take them. And
our kids who stayed for some years, and one of
my aunts took us, but she didn't realize having three
kids because it was me and my two younger brothers
and we would place we were in that place with
her out of foster care. So foster care is a
place that goes where kids are and went through trump
(03:49):
traumatic situations and they have nowhere to go. So that's
It's supposed to be a temporary placement, but sometimes it
becomes permanent.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
It's really interesting that I'm trying to I'm trying to
get in to your world. You know, a young person, Okay,
you know and was the faith player role in your
life at that early age?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, well I didn't have the faith, but I gained
it there while I was imposter care. I did gain
it there. They would take us to like little outings
and things in one of the places we would go
would be the church, And I had no idea of
that during that time, but I did learn it as
a young adolescent. During that time, I did learn how
(04:28):
to pray. And it just seems so it seems so
natural like I had been. It was a part of
who I was in my essence because I remember times
where I'm like, Okay, I just feel like I had
the presence of God with me during those difficult years.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And growing up, because you got to have something to
believe in you, you got to have something to hold
on to because your world, I think it's just spinning
out of control, and you have the age where you
can control and that belief. In your conversation early on,
you said you had a child at a young age.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yes, I did. I ended up and it became like
you know, the basically kind of stereotypes difficult, that kind
of thing. My mom had me young. I ended up
in foster care and my brother's ended up in foster
care because we really didn't have any direction, no one
really raising us. And then I became a young mother
(05:20):
as well. At that time, even though I was raising
my brothers, and because I didn't have anyone basically taking
care of me, I got in with the wrong people,
not having any adult super vision, and made some made
made made not so great choices at that time.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Right. You know the reason I'm just talking about this
because I wanted to because you're a very successful person,
your business mogul. But I just wanted to lay out
because a lot of people don't know how did they
get that? You know, she real story age aid and
she's mobilizing out there, she's running business. But everybody's journey
to that path is not to say everybody's journey is
(06:01):
not through college. Everybody's journey is not PhD. Everybody's journey
is not two parents. But it always amazes me when
people like you. I grew up, my parents stayed together
my whole life, you know, and that impacted me, you know,
not saying I had the greatest parents, but I had
(06:21):
parents who were there to me, saw me through high
school and saw me through college, and it forced me
to be a better person because I had two people
I can communicate with. You're in foster care, you have
two brothers that you're trying, younger brothers. Then you become
a young mom. At what point in your life do
you say enough, it's enough, or you start saying you
(06:43):
know some I got to get my life together. I
got to control the narrative.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So to be transparently honest with you, it wasn't even
an option for me. I always had that mindset because
I had been taking care of my brother since I
was so young. So, just to give you a clue,
when we got when we were taken into post care,
I literally would not go inside the home of the
foster mother until because they had separated me and my
(07:11):
two brothers. I was I sat on the step and
just sat there and begged them to please when my
brother's with me, and they put us all together to
keep us together. So it wasn't even a thought process
of okay, it had all. I just always had to
be in like that kind of survival mode. So whatever
(07:33):
I had to do, it was like I had to
make sure they was taking care of because there was
nobody really I couldn't look and say, Okay, this person
or these people are going to make sure me and them.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Are good, right, and that I was just ask you
just just you know, because I am a very strong
person size wise, what were you like doing five two
five three five four when you were like, well just
live be the person telling you I'm not going in
this is me. I'm sorry. Where were you at physically
(08:05):
being this demonstrative? And I said demonstrative in a good way,
demanding that you have standards and you're not going to
accept standards that you feel is below below what you want,
living conditions you want for your brothers, for yourself. That's
pretty admirable for somebody young. Where did that come from?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
So?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think it just came from the me facts of
me taking care of them and knowing that like say,
for instance, if my mom would leave us home for
a couple of days, right, I just knew. I just
kind of automatically took that motherly role to them. So
it was just like they were even though they were
my brothers, I was like their big sister and I
(08:47):
was a protector. So when it came for when they
came and took me away from the school and then
I didn't have my brothers, it was like I was
just sitting there and I was it was like, where
are my brothers? Please find get me my brother And
it wasn't like a mean think. It was more so
like I was in distress, like we give, please get
my brothers. I was about nine or ten at the time,
(09:08):
so I probably I'm ninety nine pounds by five because
I'm five to eight now, so I would think I
will be like five about five to five at the time,
so I know I was ninety nine pounds to say,
weighing that time. So and then the thing and the
blessing was I think God had a path at that
time because my foster mother, she was she was kind enough,
(09:31):
and she saw what I was experiencing, and I was
laid to the right person because she was able to
facilitate that and make sure me and my brother stayed together.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Tell us about your company.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yes, So I have a real estate brokers here in
the South Side and McDonough. I start off as a
relator and then I decided, Hey, you know, I love
what I do because my goal is to educate, motivate,
and basically teach people. You know that we can do this,
like we can own real estate, and there's so much
(10:04):
out here that we can do as far as entrepreneurs
or whatever it may be, whatever your desires and dreams are.
So at the third year point, I was like, Okay,
can't believe you're going to be a boker, you know.
And then as the market changes, we went into COVID.
So many things transpired during that time. So I'm always
in the mindset of Okay, you want to be be adaptable,
stay adaptable. And then I decided to open up my brokerage.
(10:26):
And I'm so excited about that because we're learning, we're
going together, and I'm learning as well along the with
with the path going with my agents, and as we grow,
it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Now your own money making conversations master class. Now, so
we're about to go with the master class here with
Labert L. Kelly. Okay, now you're broken. Now now you
got Now you've got agents under you. How does that
model work? How does that financial model work. I'm not
trying to ask for any money in today, but for
you to be because you could just do it by yourself.
(10:58):
Now you got agents. How are you convincing to work
under you? How does that model work for your agency?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So the model for my agency is more so like
I am, how can I articulate this properly? I It's
usually by word of mouth, believe it or not, it's
usually by word of mouth. And the agents that come
to me are agents who really who want that kind
(11:26):
of that one on one I'm a smaller brokerage. I'm
not a big one yet let's say yet I like
that one on one person. I like that one on
one personal touch with my with my model with my
agents where I can sit down and I can talk tout.
I answer my phone every time. So as I'm growing,
I'm going with myself with the agent. So the model
(11:47):
is it's not a big corporate model, but it's a
model that works for a smaller brokers where I can
do that one on one training. I can do that
one on one marketing strategy. I can do that one
on one we can do we can continue to visualize things,
(12:07):
celebrate from all victories, and can continue to educate ourselves
and grow whatever in the real estate space. That's really
even with the trends.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Right right now. When I when I, when I listen
to you, you know, it's about it's about relationships. Okay,
it's a by branding. It's by branding. Is there a
price range that your firm handles as far as houses
do we shine? We hound to houses from two fifty
to a half million, We hound the houses from half
menon to me, is there a price range in your agency?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Well, within my agency, when I started out my agency,
it was more so about my goal was to to
educate first time home by It's because coming from where
I come from, that is that was very important for
me because where I grew up with you really and
seeing it homeowners. So that within myself that was a passion.
(13:04):
But now as I've grown, it is like two fifty
and above because of the changes within the market, you
really cannot find anything. And you know, like the one
hundred thousand dollars price point, so like two fifty three
hundred and about up to a million and even father
than that now, but most basically the main is two
(13:27):
fifty to about seven to fifty right now.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Okay, great. When we come back, we're gonna hear more
from the Business Mobile. And it's important to understand her
story because her story might be your story. She's not
reading other people's success stories, she's playing her own. Don't
go nowhere, be right back for more, Kimberly.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Kelly, Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashan mcdonn.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
When the interview was brought to me, you know she's successful,
but that's not the story she wanted to tell. She
wanted to tell the part about overcoming difficult circumstances, you know,
going against the odds, being a single mom, teen mom,
and still being successful, which means that a lot of
people need to hear that side of the story because
(14:22):
guess what a lot of people dealing with situations where
they might consider catastrophic and she said, living in foster care.
You know her mom was on drugs. That didn't stop her.
You know, she wanted to maintain her family, her two
young brothers. That didn't stop her. You know, getting a
clear understanding that success was somewhere out there for you, Kimberly,
(14:45):
you just knew you just had to figure out how
to find it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Correct, absolutely, absolutely absolutely, Now tell us about your son.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Okay, you had them at what you said fifteen?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yep, I had him.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And hmm okay, so you continue, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yes, and then I ended up having another one by
the time I was eighteen, I had two. Okay, so
here I am a mom. I'm eighteen and I went
to eighteen. Basically were two kids. And then I also
have my brothers, right and.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Were they? How were they at that time?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
So one is I want to say, about four years
younger than me, and then the other ones probably like
six years. So we're all we're all like teenagers, are
adolescents at this time that we're two young kids that
you yeah, we're two young kids, yes, yes, absolutely, yes,
(15:46):
So we're all basically living.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So let's put this way. The success sign is not
hanging over that door for you, and it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Is not it is not at all at that point,
is like, okay, But it never dawned on me that
it never dawned on me, or ever was told, was
never told, was never taught to me, dawned on me
that I wouldn't be successful. Does that make sense? Because
it was like I wasn't brought up with the Okay,
(16:17):
well you go to school, you get a degree. I
kind of just had to figure out my own lane
without what what would work for me At that time.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
It wasn't an emphasize with the audience here, Now we
got to get forward, the forward motion the engine, the
train track is starting to pick up steam. When did
you start getting on that track? Kimberly, I actually.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
It was like a situation where I totally like looked
around one day and I was just like, I had
my brother, my kids, and I probably was like nineteen
at this time, and I'm still trying to get my
high school diploma. Even it just so much was happening,
and I was just like, no, I gotta, I gotta,
I gotta, I got to get it together. And at
(17:01):
that time we used to call them our shorties or whatever.
I got to take care of my kids and I
went back and got my high school diploma. I just
full fledged started going to these They had these teenage
workshops where you can go and learn how to do interviews,
how to write resumes that the you know, the government
(17:22):
had offered, and I just threw myself into that, started learning, learning, learning.
I knew that education was going to be I kind
of folked an outlet for me at that time, and
with that, I just anything that I could learn. Because
I was an avid reader. I just learned and I
just picked up books and I just kind of carried
it along with me. And so then I was like, Okay,
(17:43):
I'm going to college. And then I went to school
and I got my degree in electronics engineering.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
What college you go to? What college did you go to?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Actually? I just went to I started going it's called
Barwock County Communication, bar County College, and then I came
up to Atlanta and then I went to the Camp
Tech and I got my technical degree in electronic engineering.
And after that I just kind of just just went
(18:10):
full flash or in just learning as much as I
can about the IT world because that's what it was
at that time.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And so it's really thank you for sharing this story
so far. You know, because of the fact that I
always fact. You know, you got to figure out your path.
Everybody who's listening to this conversation or any conversation you
here on the show, it's your path. This is a
path that she is going about doing it. You know
my previous interview. You know she went to Spelman and
(18:40):
went to University of Georgia. You know that's not your story.
But she also didn't have two kids before the age
of nineteen. She also wasn't in for foster care. And
not saying that's the path that she went that nobody
else can be successful. There are people who have stories
that may be even more dire than Kimberly Kelly, but
(19:02):
her story deserves a platform to be heard. And that's
what I'm allowing to happen because I don't want excuses.
Not out of here in Kimberly's store, ain't there right?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Kimberly, thank you very much. Absolutely absolutely you can do anything.
You can do anything. There is nothing that you can't
do in this life. And once you believe in yourself
and you know that as long as there's aaron opportunity
and you wake up in the morning, you can do it.
You can absolutely do it. Trust me if I did
(19:34):
it from where I come from. I promise you if
you just believe in yourself, if you just look in
front of you, you put one foot, get up in
the morning, put one foot in front of the other.
And regardless, irregardless of you may feel like the world
is caven in on you, and sometimes it is caven
in on you. Give yourself a break to breathing, praise
(19:55):
you have a spiritual sense, but practice resilience. If you
have a work system, seeks you know, a strong support network,
and even if you don't have that, go look in
the mirror and talk to yourself and say, hey, you
know what I can do this I And then if
you have, especially if you have your children, just look
in their eyes and that that and it self is motivation. Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
You know, the one thing I really appreciate this conversation
is that you know it's a journey. When you could
have not went and got your degree, you could have
not went to technical you could have not pursued because
even when you know you got to get a license
to be a real estate broker, you know you got
to study, you know, and they're not just passing it
out with a check. And then the fact that now
(20:43):
you're a leader, you're a leader of people, you know,
which means that that's even more important. But when you're
in business, you have people want to get in business
with your partnership postpouses. How does that work? Are you
in business by yourself or you in business with another partner?
Are you just a solo entrepreneur?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I'm a business when I went my spouse, I'm in
business with my husband, so he we have a couple.
We have actually we have three businesses. I have the
real estate side, which is you know, the real estate brokerage.
And we have something called we have a business called
k Kelly Ventures, which is property preservation. So with all
the things that were happening within the market of I'm
(21:25):
always on, okay, what how can I how can I
say adaptable? How can I if any change coming? So
I created the Property Preservation company and that is doing
well and sell so and that basically is something where
you just go in and you work with banks and
asset manages, manage management to provide services such as repair
(21:48):
of inspections, maintenance for vacant and maintaining vacant properties. In
the real estate world, you just.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That you just money making machine, just money making machine.
You're on the right show to tell your story, kimber
Le Kelly. All right, really, you know when, I I'm
so happy that you're honest about your life because so
many people want to like tell a part of it
that that feels makes them feel good, but then they
leave out important information that don't help the average person
(22:15):
understand it can be them too, that they can make
it too, they can achieve success. So I want to
thank you from botty my heart for coming on Money
Making Conversation and sharing your story, but also both sides,
the success of being a single mom, the success of
being a black woman who is being stereotyped, the success
of being a business owner, success of being married to
(22:35):
a wonderful man, success of being an entrepreneurial spirit with
your husband. Continue success in your life, kimbri La Kelly,
And thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass,
and thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm so honored that you have me on your show.
And thank you for all that you do and pouring
into piece the way you do workshop.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I appreciate it. Are you you boored in me now? Kimberly,
there's two ways now, Okay, you boored to me. Now
you inspired me. So when I feel bad when I'm
getting up at four point thirty, I just gotta thank you.
Kevin Kelly, you thank you my fraid for coming to
my show. Okay, this has been another edition of Money
Making Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you
(23:16):
to our guests on the show today and thank you
O listening to audience now. If you want to listen
to any episode I want to be a guest on
the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle
is money Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember
to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
Hi. I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this
show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading
other people's success stories and start living your own. If
you want to be a guest on my show, please
visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click to
be a guest button Chris submit and information will come
(00:23):
directly to me. Now, let's get this show start. My
guests push you some difficult circumstances to achieve significant professional
progress and become a business mogul m O g U L. Please.
Who's welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Kimberly Kelly, How
you doing, Kimberly.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm doing phenomenal? How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Phenomenal? Using all them positive when you're coming out.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The box, Yes, you gotta stay positive.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'm superwoman. I'm a superwoman. You're coming out of the boxes.
I'm super Warman, a phenomenal woman. I love it. I
love it that positive activity. Is that what drives your success?
You being positive? Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yes, absolutely, that drives That gives keeps me with perseverance,
keeps moving forward no matter what difficult moments, you know, happen.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Now, let's let's talk. Let's talk about you in difficult moments,
you know, because I think that that stops a lot
of people. You know, uh, because we all have valleys,
you know. You know, COVID knocked out a whole country
and created a difficult moments and forced us to live
from our home and also send us into a mental spiral.
(01:33):
But difficult moments sometimes we can't control. So what is
a difficult moment that you can share with us?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I have, And that's a great question. I have a
pretty lot of difficult moments. But just even if I
start talking to just about my upbringing, being coming from
where I come from, South Florida and basically raising myself
on my own sins, how about six to seven years old,
probably six, and being brought up in foster care, and
(02:05):
even after that, being able to live on my own
at the age of fifteen and have kids, and being
able to push through even though I was placed in
falster care, even though I had basically raised my brothers,
and even though with those obstacles by face, I persevere
and it overcame those adversities which kind of shaped me
(02:28):
into being the resilient person I am today. So I
didn't let that be me coming from that having a
mother who was innovating drugs and not really having a
support system and things of that nation having to figure
out how to raise myself. So even with that, I
continued to move forward because there was really no sath
in it for me at that point. So that was
(02:51):
one of the things that you know, kept me pushing
forward and persevering through the difficulty moments.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
You mentioned it a very young age. We explain to
everybody what exactly is foster care.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So falter care is a place that they put you
in basically when you when the parents has either they
have it can be from abuse. My situation with my
mom was alcoholic and drug abuse there and they put
you there. It's supposed to be a temporary placement, but
some of some kids get lost in the shuffle and
some of them stay until they either age out or
(03:28):
either family member decides they want to take them. And
our kids who stayed for some years, and one of
my aunts took us, but she didn't realize having three
kids because it was me and my two younger brothers
and we would place we were in that place with
her out of foster care. So foster care is a
place that goes where kids are and went through trump
(03:49):
traumatic situations and they have nowhere to go. So that's
It's supposed to be a temporary placement, but sometimes it
becomes permanent.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
It's really interesting that I'm trying to I'm trying to
get in to your world. You know, a young person, Okay,
you know and was the faith player role in your
life at that early age?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, well I didn't have the faith, but I gained
it there while I was imposter care. I did gain
it there. They would take us to like little outings
and things in one of the places we would go
would be the church, And I had no idea of
that during that time, but I did learn it as
a young adolescent. During that time, I did learn how
(04:28):
to pray. And it just seems so it seems so
natural like I had been. It was a part of
who I was in my essence because I remember times
where I'm like, Okay, I just feel like I had
the presence of God with me during those difficult years.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And growing up, because you got to have something to
believe in you, you got to have something to hold
on to because your world, I think it's just spinning
out of control, and you have the age where you
can control and that belief. In your conversation early on,
you said you had a child at a young age.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yes, I did. I ended up and it became like
you know, the basically kind of stereotypes difficult, that kind
of thing. My mom had me young. I ended up
in foster care and my brother's ended up in foster
care because we really didn't have any direction, no one
really raising us. And then I became a young mother
(05:20):
as well. At that time, even though I was raising
my brothers, and because I didn't have anyone basically taking
care of me, I got in with the wrong people,
not having any adult super vision, and made some made
made made not so great choices at that time.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Right. You know the reason I'm just talking about this
because I wanted to because you're a very successful person,
your business mogul. But I just wanted to lay out
because a lot of people don't know how did they
get that? You know, she real story age aid and
she's mobilizing out there, she's running business. But everybody's journey
to that path is not to say everybody's journey is
(06:01):
not through college. Everybody's journey is not PhD. Everybody's journey
is not two parents. But it always amazes me when
people like you. I grew up, my parents stayed together
my whole life, you know, and that impacted me, you know,
not saying I had the greatest parents, but I had
(06:21):
parents who were there to me, saw me through high
school and saw me through college, and it forced me
to be a better person because I had two people
I can communicate with. You're in foster care, you have
two brothers that you're trying, younger brothers. Then you become
a young mom. At what point in your life do
you say enough, it's enough, or you start saying you
(06:43):
know some I got to get my life together. I
got to control the narrative.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So to be transparently honest with you, it wasn't even
an option for me. I always had that mindset because
I had been taking care of my brother since I
was so young. So, just to give you a clue,
when we got when we were taken into post care,
I literally would not go inside the home of the
foster mother until because they had separated me and my
(07:11):
two brothers. I was I sat on the step and
just sat there and begged them to please when my
brother's with me, and they put us all together to
keep us together. So it wasn't even a thought process
of okay, it had all. I just always had to
be in like that kind of survival mode. So whatever
(07:33):
I had to do, it was like I had to
make sure they was taking care of because there was
nobody really I couldn't look and say, Okay, this person
or these people are going to make sure me and them.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Are good, right, and that I was just ask you
just just you know, because I am a very strong
person size wise, what were you like doing five two
five three five four when you were like, well just
live be the person telling you I'm not going in
this is me. I'm sorry. Where were you at physically
(08:05):
being this demonstrative? And I said demonstrative in a good way,
demanding that you have standards and you're not going to
accept standards that you feel is below below what you want,
living conditions you want for your brothers, for yourself. That's
pretty admirable for somebody young. Where did that come from?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
So?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think it just came from the me facts of
me taking care of them and knowing that like say,
for instance, if my mom would leave us home for
a couple of days, right, I just knew. I just
kind of automatically took that motherly role to them. So
it was just like they were even though they were
my brothers, I was like their big sister and I
(08:47):
was a protector. So when it came for when they
came and took me away from the school and then
I didn't have my brothers, it was like I was
just sitting there and I was it was like, where
are my brothers? Please find get me my brother And
it wasn't like a mean think. It was more so
like I was in distress, like we give, please get
my brothers. I was about nine or ten at the time,
(09:08):
so I probably I'm ninety nine pounds by five because
I'm five to eight now, so I would think I
will be like five about five to five at the time,
so I know I was ninety nine pounds to say,
weighing that time. So and then the thing and the
blessing was I think God had a path at that
time because my foster mother, she was she was kind enough,
(09:31):
and she saw what I was experiencing, and I was
laid to the right person because she was able to
facilitate that and make sure me and my brother stayed together.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Tell us about your company.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yes, So I have a real estate brokers here in
the South Side and McDonough. I start off as a
relator and then I decided, Hey, you know, I love
what I do because my goal is to educate, motivate,
and basically teach people. You know that we can do this,
like we can own real estate, and there's so much
(10:04):
out here that we can do as far as entrepreneurs
or whatever it may be, whatever your desires and dreams are.
So at the third year point, I was like, Okay,
can't believe you're going to be a boker, you know.
And then as the market changes, we went into COVID.
So many things transpired during that time. So I'm always
in the mindset of Okay, you want to be be adaptable,
stay adaptable. And then I decided to open up my brokerage.
(10:26):
And I'm so excited about that because we're learning, we're
going together, and I'm learning as well along the with
with the path going with my agents, and as we grow,
it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Now your own money making conversations master class. Now, so
we're about to go with the master class here with
Labert L. Kelly. Okay, now you're broken. Now now you
got Now you've got agents under you. How does that
model work? How does that financial model work. I'm not
trying to ask for any money in today, but for
you to be because you could just do it by yourself.
(10:58):
Now you got agents. How are you convincing to work
under you? How does that model work for your agency?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So the model for my agency is more so like
I am, how can I articulate this properly? I It's
usually by word of mouth, believe it or not, it's
usually by word of mouth. And the agents that come
to me are agents who really who want that kind
(11:26):
of that one on one I'm a smaller brokerage. I'm
not a big one yet let's say yet I like
that one on one person. I like that one on
one personal touch with my with my model with my
agents where I can sit down and I can talk tout.
I answer my phone every time. So as I'm growing,
I'm going with myself with the agent. So the model
(11:47):
is it's not a big corporate model, but it's a
model that works for a smaller brokers where I can
do that one on one training. I can do that
one on one marketing strategy. I can do that one
on one we can do we can continue to visualize things,
(12:07):
celebrate from all victories, and can continue to educate ourselves
and grow whatever in the real estate space. That's really
even with the trends.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Right right now. When I when I, when I listen
to you, you know, it's about it's about relationships. Okay,
it's a by branding. It's by branding. Is there a
price range that your firm handles as far as houses
do we shine? We hound to houses from two fifty
to a half million, We hound the houses from half
menon to me, is there a price range in your agency?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Well, within my agency, when I started out my agency,
it was more so about my goal was to to
educate first time home by It's because coming from where
I come from, that is that was very important for
me because where I grew up with you really and
seeing it homeowners. So that within myself that was a passion.
(13:04):
But now as I've grown, it is like two fifty
and above because of the changes within the market, you
really cannot find anything. And you know, like the one
hundred thousand dollars price point, so like two fifty three
hundred and about up to a million and even father
than that now, but most basically the main is two
(13:27):
fifty to about seven to fifty right now.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Okay, great. When we come back, we're gonna hear more
from the Business Mobile. And it's important to understand her
story because her story might be your story. She's not
reading other people's success stories, she's playing her own. Don't
go nowhere, be right back for more, Kimberly.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Kelly, Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashan mcdonn.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
When the interview was brought to me, you know she's successful,
but that's not the story she wanted to tell. She
wanted to tell the part about overcoming difficult circumstances, you know,
going against the odds, being a single mom, teen mom,
and still being successful, which means that a lot of
people need to hear that side of the story because
(14:22):
guess what a lot of people dealing with situations where
they might consider catastrophic and she said, living in foster care.
You know her mom was on drugs. That didn't stop her.
You know, she wanted to maintain her family, her two
young brothers. That didn't stop her. You know, getting a
clear understanding that success was somewhere out there for you, Kimberly,
(14:45):
you just knew you just had to figure out how
to find it.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Correct, absolutely, absolutely absolutely, Now tell us about your son.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Okay, you had them at what you said fifteen?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yep, I had him.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And hmm okay, so you continue, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yes, and then I ended up having another one by
the time I was eighteen, I had two. Okay, so
here I am a mom. I'm eighteen and I went
to eighteen. Basically were two kids. And then I also
have my brothers, right and.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Were they? How were they at that time?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
So one is I want to say, about four years
younger than me, and then the other ones probably like
six years. So we're all we're all like teenagers, are
adolescents at this time that we're two young kids that
you yeah, we're two young kids, yes, yes, absolutely, yes,
(15:46):
So we're all basically living.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So let's put this way. The success sign is not
hanging over that door for you, and it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Is not it is not at all at that point,
is like, okay, But it never dawned on me that
it never dawned on me, or ever was told, was
never told, was never taught to me, dawned on me
that I wouldn't be successful. Does that make sense? Because
it was like I wasn't brought up with the Okay,
(16:17):
well you go to school, you get a degree. I
kind of just had to figure out my own lane
without what what would work for me At that time.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
It wasn't an emphasize with the audience here, Now we
got to get forward, the forward motion the engine, the
train track is starting to pick up steam. When did
you start getting on that track? Kimberly, I actually.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
It was like a situation where I totally like looked
around one day and I was just like, I had
my brother, my kids, and I probably was like nineteen
at this time, and I'm still trying to get my
high school diploma. Even it just so much was happening,
and I was just like, no, I gotta, I gotta,
I gotta, I got to get it together. And at
(17:01):
that time we used to call them our shorties or whatever.
I got to take care of my kids and I
went back and got my high school diploma. I just
full fledged started going to these They had these teenage
workshops where you can go and learn how to do interviews,
how to write resumes that the you know, the government
(17:22):
had offered, and I just threw myself into that, started learning, learning, learning.
I knew that education was going to be I kind
of folked an outlet for me at that time, and
with that, I just anything that I could learn. Because
I was an avid reader. I just learned and I
just picked up books and I just kind of carried
it along with me. And so then I was like, Okay,
(17:43):
I'm going to college. And then I went to school
and I got my degree in electronics engineering.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
What college you go to? What college did you go to?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Actually? I just went to I started going it's called
Barwock County Communication, bar County College, and then I came
up to Atlanta and then I went to the Camp
Tech and I got my technical degree in electronic engineering.
And after that I just kind of just just went
(18:10):
full flash or in just learning as much as I
can about the IT world because that's what it was
at that time.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And so it's really thank you for sharing this story
so far. You know, because of the fact that I
always fact. You know, you got to figure out your path.
Everybody who's listening to this conversation or any conversation you
here on the show, it's your path. This is a
path that she is going about doing it. You know
my previous interview. You know she went to Spelman and
(18:40):
went to University of Georgia. You know that's not your story.
But she also didn't have two kids before the age
of nineteen. She also wasn't in for foster care. And
not saying that's the path that she went that nobody
else can be successful. There are people who have stories
that may be even more dire than Kimberly Kelly, but
(19:02):
her story deserves a platform to be heard. And that's
what I'm allowing to happen because I don't want excuses.
Not out of here in Kimberly's store, ain't there right?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Kimberly, thank you very much. Absolutely absolutely you can do anything.
You can do anything. There is nothing that you can't
do in this life. And once you believe in yourself
and you know that as long as there's aaron opportunity
and you wake up in the morning, you can do it.
You can absolutely do it. Trust me if I did
(19:34):
it from where I come from. I promise you if
you just believe in yourself, if you just look in
front of you, you put one foot, get up in
the morning, put one foot in front of the other.
And regardless, irregardless of you may feel like the world
is caven in on you, and sometimes it is caven
in on you. Give yourself a break to breathing, praise
(19:55):
you have a spiritual sense, but practice resilience. If you
have a work system, seeks you know, a strong support network,
and even if you don't have that, go look in
the mirror and talk to yourself and say, hey, you
know what I can do this I And then if
you have, especially if you have your children, just look
in their eyes and that that and it self is motivation. Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
You know, the one thing I really appreciate this conversation
is that you know it's a journey. When you could
have not went and got your degree, you could have
not went to technical you could have not pursued because
even when you know you got to get a license
to be a real estate broker, you know you got
to study, you know, and they're not just passing it
out with a check. And then the fact that now
(20:43):
you're a leader, you're a leader of people, you know,
which means that that's even more important. But when you're
in business, you have people want to get in business
with your partnership postpouses. How does that work? Are you
in business by yourself or you in business with another partner?
Are you just a solo entrepreneur?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I'm a business when I went my spouse, I'm in
business with my husband, so he we have a couple.
We have actually we have three businesses. I have the
real estate side, which is you know, the real estate brokerage.
And we have something called we have a business called
k Kelly Ventures, which is property preservation. So with all
the things that were happening within the market of I'm
(21:25):
always on, okay, what how can I how can I
say adaptable? How can I if any change coming? So
I created the Property Preservation company and that is doing
well and sell so and that basically is something where
you just go in and you work with banks and
asset manages, manage management to provide services such as repair
(21:48):
of inspections, maintenance for vacant and maintaining vacant properties. In
the real estate world, you just.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
That you just money making machine, just money making machine.
You're on the right show to tell your story, kimber
Le Kelly. All right, really, you know when, I I'm
so happy that you're honest about your life because so
many people want to like tell a part of it
that that feels makes them feel good, but then they
leave out important information that don't help the average person
(22:15):
understand it can be them too, that they can make
it too, they can achieve success. So I want to
thank you from botty my heart for coming on Money
Making Conversation and sharing your story, but also both sides,
the success of being a single mom, the success of
being a black woman who is being stereotyped, the success
of being a business owner, success of being married to
(22:35):
a wonderful man, success of being an entrepreneurial spirit with
your husband. Continue success in your life, kimbri La Kelly,
And thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass,
and thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm so honored that you have me on your show.
And thank you for all that you do and pouring
into piece the way you do workshop.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I appreciate it. Are you you boored in me now? Kimberly,
there's two ways now, Okay, you boored to me. Now
you inspired me. So when I feel bad when I'm
getting up at four point thirty, I just gotta thank you.
Kevin Kelly, you thank you my fraid for coming to
my show. Okay, this has been another edition of Money
Making Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you
(23:16):
to our guests on the show today and thank you
O listening to audience now. If you want to listen
to any episode I want to be a guest on
the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle
is money Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember
to always leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
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