April 22, 2025 • 41 mins
TUESDAY 4/22 at 11 AM EST!
I am SO excited to welcome Serena Brown-Travis—daughter of the legendary Dr. Les Brown (International Motivational Speaker) to The Kim Jacobs Show!
Serena is a motivational speaker, bestselling author, business coach, restaurateur, and minister with a heart for helping others succeed.
We’ll dive into her passion for helping others reach their full potential, her journey as a proud Ohio native and Hampton alum, and the legacy of positivity and purpose that drives her every move.
WATCH LIVE: Https://youtube.com/kimjacobsshow
SUPPORT THE KIM JACOBS SHOW? PayPal.me/kimjacobsinc or Zelle or Apple Cash: 704-962-7161 or Venmo @Thekimjacobsshow
#TheKimJacobsShow
#SerenaBrownTravis #Motivation #FaithAndBusiness #PurposeDriven #LesBrown#ChristianWomen #WomenInLeadership #FaithBasedCoach .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}
I am SO excited to welcome Serena Brown-Travis—daughter of the legendary Dr. Les Brown (International Motivational Speaker) to The Kim Jacobs Show!
Serena is a motivational speaker, bestselling author, business coach, restaurateur, and minister with a heart for helping others succeed.
We’ll dive into her passion for helping others reach their full potential, her journey as a proud Ohio native and Hampton alum, and the legacy of positivity and purpose that drives her every move.
WATCH LIVE: Https://youtube.com/kimjacobsshow
SUPPORT THE KIM JACOBS SHOW? PayPal.me/kimjacobsinc or Zelle or Apple Cash: 704-962-7161 or Venmo @Thekimjacobsshow
#TheKimJacobsShow
#SerenaBrownTravis #Motivation #FaithAndBusiness #PurposeDriven #LesBrown#ChristianWomen #WomenInLeadership #FaithBasedCoach .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we have a great show lined up for you.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm your host, Kim Jacobs, better known as the Balance Doctor,
and all of our guests that come on there either
people that have overcome some tremendous odds in their own
lives as they balance these things called life, or they're
experts and they're here to share tips and strategies that
will help you better balance.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And manage your life.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Grab your virtual seats and let's get ready for some real,
relevant and relatable content on today's episode of The Kim
Jacobs Show. That second, Hello, everyone, and welcome to this
(00:41):
episode of The Kim Jacob Show where we are bringing
balance to the world, one household at a time. And
guess who we're bringing balance to the world with today,
none other than Serena Brown Travis.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
How are you, Serena? Listen? I am so grateful to
be here to see your smiling face. I forgot how
much fun you are. You have such a great energy
about you, so I'm already excited to be here with
you today and super grateful.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, I'm grateful to be here with you and people
don't know you have a funny side to you. We're
going to talk about that y'all. This woman is actually
known as what's called the pulpit Chick. So y'all are
in for a tremendous treat today to hear from Serena
Brown Travis. I really when I was when I was
researching how to kind of make this all merge together,
(01:25):
I feel like it's where motivation is meeting ministry.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And that's what it felt good, wasn't it. Yeah, look
at you, Look at you.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I really believe that when it comes to who you
are in a nutshell, it's like you are. You're this
woman that is infusing motivation and the legacy that you're
going to continue to carry out. Your dad is alive
Less Brown. Everybody is her father. Just doctor Les Brown
is her dad. But you're still walking in your own
(01:57):
destiny and your own purpose, and you're doing that in
a very creative way. So I am excited about you
being here today. Serena Brown Travis is a best selling author.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
She's an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
She encourages speakers, she's a business coach, and she's like
us women that are tuning in today, men that are
tuning in in a lot of different ways. She has
a family, she's a wife, a mother. She's a proud
Ohio native, so all of you Ohio Natives out there,
and she is the daughter of the legendary still alive,
(02:29):
kicking a strong eighty years old. Right, he's eighty now.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Right, he is eighty, A proud eighty two. Can't tell
him nothing.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
A proud eighty year old, legendary motivational speaker, doctor Les Brown.
And you're going to learn a lot more today from
Serena herself.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So I'm not going to give you all of the.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Details, but she's a part of what's known as the
First Family of Motivation, and who that consists of. I'll
make sure she gets a chance to talk to you
about it. Welcome Serena to the Kim Rikim Show. Thank
you so much again.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
You know, first of all, as you were doing all
those accolades, I'm like, who should talk about? So I
must say to God be the glory for the great things.
God continues to do that, right, yes, and He is
doing some tremendous things through you. And like I said,
when I think about you, I think about legacy and motion.
You're moving forward, but you still have your own story,
(03:23):
your own journey, your own purpose and passion and things
that make you who you are today.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So I wanted to just start our conversation. You know
how you can go in so many different directions. I
thought it would be good to maybe just start about
you being a part of this first family of motivation
and what it's even been like growing up with the
attachment that doctor Les Brown is your father.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Right, So first off, it is very interesting. It was
very normal to me for you know, Dad to be dad.
He's dad, that's all. It became interesting that every time
we would go out, people would stop us, and so
that was interesting. And then, if I can be honest,
also aggravating, like Dad, why can't we just go to
the movies and sit down and mind our business? And
(04:11):
so now, one of the things that I appreciate that
he always did and still continues to do, is that
he talks and he entertains everyone. And he always said, baby,
you never know how I can encourage. You never know
what this means to someone else when you know they
happen to interact with me. So that that changed my view.
Of course, as a kid, not understanding all of that,
(04:33):
I would, you know, be honest to say that it
was an inconvenience, but now as an adult, and you know,
when you have people who say, hey, you know what,
I met your dad at the movie theater. I met
your dad as I was walking through the airport. He
took the time to talk to me. Those are the
stories that at least make it worth it, so that
as children, at least we haven't heard your dad was
(04:53):
a complete jerk, you know, would say that about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
and so it can happen. And so being a part
of the First Family and motivation, as you can imagine,
we have now we have an unorthodox family, so there's
no need for me to play for ten. We have
an unorthodox family, like a lot of other families, non traditional.
(05:15):
My father has nine kids, and he says that, hey,
when God tell him to be fruitful and multiply, he
took the Lord seriously. He did. And so therefore therefore
I am the eighth of nine children. I am the
youngest girl, and now everyone treats me like I'm the oldest.
So if something goes down, everyone calls me Rena Rena.
But nonetheless, we decided as siblings to call ourselves the
(05:38):
First Family. Motivation because as you said, people have called
us for advice we give we I mean, we just
give advice and people are like, wait a minute, what's
our feet And it's like, no fee, We're just trying
to help you out. And then as a result of that,
as you know, just finding your own little small gifts
and talents and areas that you least expect. It's like,
you know, what guys should do this. My sister ownA
(06:01):
Brown has been a coach, a speech coach, a message
met wife for years. She has traveled nationally internationally, so
she keeps us all the way together in terms of
our messaging and our branding. She's a dynamic force. My
younger brother, John Leslie Brown, which you'll see him right
over to the left. Yeah, well you're left by right
(06:22):
right right right there, we go make it simple. Also,
it's a dynamic coach and father and so he's done
great work as well. And so for a while it
was very easy for as Les Brown's children to just
stand behind him, to just support him, support my siblings,
to just it was okay to be to be in
(06:45):
the background. And after a while, people like you, the reverend,
doctor Kim Jacobs and other people said, hey, this this
behind the scenes stuff is not working. Not working for you.
It's not working for your personality. So, as my father
would say, we also I also had to leap and
grow my wings on the way down because I figured
out the Lord was not allowing me to stay behind
(07:07):
the scenes. And I realized that God has been pushing
me and nudging me. And then people like you. The
message the balanced doctor is like you, no, glad to
meet you, and this is what you're going to do next, right.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
And you know, I'm really glad you said that because
a lot of times people think that there's so much competition.
Whenever I started traveling with your dad back when I
was like twenty four years old, I'm fifty four now,
so it's been thirty years since he became a mentor
of mine. And literally we got in the car at
a pharmaceutical event where he came to speak, and he
(07:40):
just took me under his wings and allowed me to
start traveling the country with him. But then when I
met you all, I was like, oh my gosh, wait
a minute. I met owner first, I said, you have
these incredible children that are like more doing behind the
scenes stuff. Oh no, I felt like at that point
it was my goal to help pull you all out too,
(08:01):
Not like I was like became your mom or anything
like that. I just felt like I was like, you
know what, you are such a dynamic speaker and motivator
around the world. But this legacy of children that's going
to carry the baton, that's going to carry on well
beyond your years here on this earth, has to happen.
And so I'm just really grateful that each of you,
(08:22):
from your various walks of life came and bloomed and blossomed.
If you've ever heard of the saying that flowers don't
compete with other flowers, they just let all of the
flowers bloom. Yeah, and that's how I feel about your family.
I love you all so much.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Oh well, thank you, And yes, no no competition. We
we come from a competitive family. We come from a
competitive family. But as it relates to tach of us
individually stepping into our gifts and talents, there's no reason
and no way to even think about competing with something
(09:00):
that God has given you or something that God has
given own our jo unless they're Patrick or Calvin for
that matter, It just it does not make sense. And
so we like to all operate in our own gift
and we support one another as we're doing so. And
our father, who still can poke us every now and again,
even to challenge us, he also allows us to step
into and work in our gift as well. I'm so
(09:23):
glad about that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
And so when I think about you, Serena, you wear
so many different hats. What is the greatest lesson that
you've say you learned from your dad and even your siblings,
and even being a wife and a mother. What's the
greatest lesson that you've learned in your opinion?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So far, there's so much, I guess the one thing
that comes to mine immediately is, as my father would say,
when things go wrong, don't go with them. I have
had to read. I have had to learn over these
over the course of the past few years to get muscle,
to get my muscle resilience. I was used to being
(10:03):
behind the scenes, as I said, And so as you
start to step out in the front, you then face
opposition and things that are gonna come against you. In
the spiritual world, you know, we'll call it the attack,
and then outside of that we just call it crazy
people trying you, People are testing you. And so I
have had to learn that when things go wrong, don't
(10:24):
go with them. I ordinarily am the type of person
and when something goes wrong, you can find me in
the bed, covered up, not getting out the bed, even
with Les brownbe and my father, and so people are like, oh,
my goodness, well you've been around all the quotes and
he's your dad and you should be super motivated. Yeah,
and if something goes wrong, I typically will find myself
(10:45):
in the bed. I don't want opposition and yeah, yeah.
So as a result of that, I have really had
to learn how to develop that muscle of being resilient,
of being resilt not not allowing anything to take me
off off course. And that has been a difficult lesson.
(11:07):
It doesn't even sound all deep and profound, but the
truth of the matter is that that has been it
to learn and to operate in the space of being resilient.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
That's so good, Serena, And you know, I would almost
say we're like twins in this regard, because sometimes when
it's really stressful things happening, I don't know if it's
a gift from God or not. I personally think it's
a gift that I will just get into bed, or
even if it's not in bed, I could be right
sitting in my chair and just be.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
People are like, I know, this is what's happening for
you to be getting a good night's rest right now.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, you know, and if we go into our our
core beliefs, you know when you think of Jesus being
being asleep and there's a whole storm, a whole storm,
and Jesus, let look peace, I'm I'm sleep still. Yeah, yeah,
it might be a gift. But here's the challenge, but
(12:03):
that we still wake up and there's still things that
we have to face.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
So put my red glasses on for that one silence.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So we can say peace be still all we want.
But after a while, we still got to get up
and face should wake up and face what we what
we're supposed to tackle.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
So that's so funny because that's that's so true. Sometimes
we got to get up and take faith and step
out into the water and know that it's got Jesus
bidding us to come, because it's like I know the
season that you're in, and I knew you were going
to be in the midst of this storm.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
But just keep your eyes focused on me.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I'll get you where you need to go absolutely, And actually,
speaking of that for you from a spiritual perspective, you've
become a minister and you've created this platform of faith
where your spiritual journey has also kind of collided with
your professional journey. How has that worked, especially with the
You gotta talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
The pool, Well, I love it well, first of all,
if I can be completely honest, I felt a nutge
for the call, and I said no, and I was
trying to negotiate my way out of it, tied my
way out of it, do good works. I'm like, I'm
gonna work in the kitchen, I'm gonna sweep the parking lot.
Just Lord, no, not me. And the resistance of the
(13:23):
call became. I just could not deny it, and so
therefore I had to say yes. Now, be honest for
those who are filling the pool. When I said yes,
as people tell you, the target on your back grows
so much bigger. And so people told me that. But
it did not really hit and resonate until you start
(13:44):
walking through the storms of life. And I'm thinking, away,
my god, I did everything you told me to do.
You knew I didn't want to do this anyhow, I
told you, that's why yes, all of that, all of that. So,
in fact, the name pool happened as a result of
me doing a rant. I was talking to a close girlfriend.
(14:05):
I said, look, I left the church for a reason.
I don't want to do this. I am not a
pool pitchick. And then lo and behold, I said, Lord,
I guess I'm a pool pitchick and a pool pitchick.
So who she is is I've had to do seminary,
I've gone through all those courses. I'm currently working on
a doctoral degree right now, you know, in social justice.
(14:29):
But what I also realized is that ministry is not
necessarily church. It is not necessarily pool pit only. And
so the place where I feel God calling me is
to almost be a disruptor to the church and to
the pool pit, to say, hey, listen, we've got to
get our message out in a different way that can relate.
And so that is, as you said, as you perfectly
(14:51):
coined message and motivation altogether. We can talk about Jesus
all day, and if we don't talk about Christ and
how to our lives, even the harder stuff, even though
some of those old old Testament stories that we have
to dive into and figure out you know what was
going on between David and Saul, and David and Sam.
You know all of those things. And so the message
(15:14):
in motivation for me is to take take some of
our some of our scripture and put it in a
place that is relatable. And that's hard to do because,
as you know, we have so many other messages and
voices and so so much more so many other distractions
going on, not to mention this climate that we're living
in that's device of and we forgot how I love
(15:35):
each other as neighbors. And so my prayer is that
whatever the Lord is putting, whatever path God is putting
me on, it will be both motivation and a message
and all of all of the above to put us
back in in alignment with what God, God will have
us do at this moment.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm glad you're taking that approach that I think I
just kind of help you coin something message in motivation,
minished movation, merging together because even your funny side, because
there's a whole funny side to Serena everybody that is
comical that I didn't even know you even had that
talent until I started following you more. I'm like, you
(16:15):
got some comedy in you.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
You know, everyone says that I just yeah, I guess
I'll accept it. I'll accept it. Not intending to do that.
Was that not the point. I would never never trying
to be funny until other people said, you know what,
that is so interesting, that's hilarious, and I'm like, no,
but I'm serious, and they're like, yeah, that's funny that
you don't even see that that's funny, and then it
makes it funnyeer So.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
That's funny that you don't think it's funny, but it's
happening and everybody else's benefit. So you don't do like
it's not a comedy tour thing. I have lots of
ideas for you. I could become like, I don't want
to say a manager or anything, but just a sister
in Christ. Right.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Well, you know that's now let me turn the tables
on you real quick. That's to be the of you,
Kim Jacobs, is that when we met you, you are
full of ideas. And so that's why I love what
you do. I love your show. I love the people
that you bring on here because you're like, hey, I'm
gonna showcase you. But the truth of the matter is
so we're gonna need to turn the tables and start
interviewing you, because you see, you always see possibilities for
(17:14):
people where you, you know, where other people may see problems.
You're like, oh no, absolutely not. Here's how we solve
that immediately. So let me just applaud you for just
being a great coach, a great mentor a great woman
of God to see things in the supernatural that other
folks like me would not see. But yeah, well we'll
let well, I'll let you come back to interview with me.
(17:36):
But I had to insert that because again, you have
been dynamic throughout all of all the times that I've
known you, and certainly have even been an asset to
my father as well.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, so back to
back to our time together here. So this coach an entrepreneur,
what's the biggest advice? Because a lot of people go
through life and they're doing so many different things. They're
wearing a lot of hats like you do. You're a mother,
your wife, you are in ministry as a leader in ministry.
(18:09):
You're under a legendary father, your first family of motivation.
So that's this whole other expectation you have a lot
of hats that you wear. What advice would you give
to someone that's trying to find their purpose in starting
a new business venture and stepping out of faith.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Right, So the one piece of advice I would start
with is not to get overwhelmed. Not to get overwhelmed
by everything that you're feeling. You, as you all know,
you cannot eat an elephant all at once. It is
won by at a time. And so that's the first
piece of advice. Now the second piece of advice is,
while I have a lot going on, I had to
(18:46):
learn to compartmentalize of what was tugging at me first.
So by nature, I'm Les Brown's child. By nature, I
know that there's a legacy that I have to uphold.
But then on top of that, thankfully my mother also
said you are your own person. So I had to
develop who I was as an individual. I don't walk
in a room and have on my forehead I'm Les
(19:07):
Brown's daughter, because there might be someone who says, so what,
who cares? What does that mean for this situation? So
another piece of advice I would give is develop yourself,
develop who you are, develop your own message, develop your voice,
and so you may say, well, how do I develop
my message? Well, what do people talk to you about?
What do people come to you to get advice on?
(19:28):
What are the things that keep you up at night?
And one of the ways that I decided that that
I felt a nudge is I became as you mentioned,
I'm a wife and a mother, and being a mother,
as you know, you're super busy. You have school, you're
dropping off at practice, you're picking up from practice, you're
working on homework. And I realized I wasn't taking the
time to tell my children how much they meant to me.
(19:52):
I mean, you know, oh, but you know, you wake up,
you pray, baby, have a good day her yet yeah.
And so as a result of that, I unintentionally became
an author of a book called in Case, In case
I forget to tell you. And the reason why is
that one day my daughter was getting out of the
car and I'm watching your daughter. These are my two daughters,
(20:15):
my girls, and I was watching. I was watching her
walk away, and I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, did I
remember to tell her I loved her that. I mean,
here we are, we're working on site. Words in the car.
How was your day? Eat? Eat your food? Drink your water. Yeah,
all of that, And so I developed a book in
(20:35):
terms of you know, learning your gifts and talents. It
just literally came in an everyday situation, dropping my daughter
off of practice, watching her walk away, and me saying,
did I in case I forget to tell you? Baby?
And I wrote down the window, hey, in case I
forgot to tell you, I love you? And I'm thinking
I can't do that anymore. We cannot show affection and
(20:57):
love on each other in passing and so being lustbound
starters in terms of upholding the legacy, as you know,
positive words is something that is deeply steeped and is
a value within our family. And so as a result
of that, that is how I started coming into my
own realizing what was around me, what's at my fingertips?
As we know we go to the scripture, what what
(21:19):
can you grab on immediately without I mean a lot
of a lot of times we have things right at
our fingertips that we don't even have to leave the
house for it's already in us. So God has already
placed it in us. And so realizing that not trying
to do anything outside of what already comes natural is
(21:40):
what I have yet what I've literally tried to train
myself to do.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I'm so inspired.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
You see what I'm saying. You have this in your blood.
It's not a joke.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And I know what I said when I was in
my twenties and now here at fifty four years old,
I'm still saying the same thing about you. There is
something so unique and special about each and every one
of you that make up the First Family and motivation
that the world would miss out significantly if each of
you don't tap into your individual gifts. What you just
shared is not loving our family members. Just in passing,
(22:13):
somebody type that in the comments section, don't just turn
to the back of your child and I hope everything.
Did we forget this?
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Did we forget that you're saying? No, be intentional, Be intentional,
Be intentional.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Time to carve out the space to love on your family.
That is to me, just if nothing else happened in
this interview today, Serena, that's going to change so many
people's lives from a balanced perspective.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, I pray, and let me also share. It's uncomfortable,
but share some transparency. Is that one of the stories
that my father shares is that he is adopted. So
as he became a parent, there were certain things, there
were certain patterns, certain generational things that he was used
to that did not work in terms of being a father.
(23:04):
And so we as his children, had to say, hey, listen,
and every now and again, it is okay when you
find your voice as a child to say, hey, dad,
you're out motivating the masses. And then when we're together,
you're on your phone, or you're sleep, or we have
other people that we have to entertain. And so we
had to learn that as a family, how to be
(23:26):
intentional about spending time together loving on each other. As
we know as parents, you know, you want to say, well, listen,
if I don't make this phone call, I'm not making money.
If I don't kill, I don't eat. All of those
things that we all would say as entrepreneurs. That didn't
matter to us when we were kids. We just wanted
to spend time with our father, you know, joke, laugh, giggle,
(23:49):
you know, whatever that looked like. And so the intentionality
behind and here's the thing, Kim, I was picking up
the exact same pattern. So I had to be transparent
about oh wait a minute, my father did that way.
Oh I'm doing the same thing now. I could argue, well,
(24:10):
if I didn't, you know, we didn't practice spelling words
and do all this stuff on the road, then you
wouldn't be where you are now. Those things didn't matter
to my children. What mattered is Mommy was present, mommy.
Mommy is intentional about edifying them and uplifting them. And
so that is one of the beautiful things that as
the Brown family we have had we've overcome. You know,
We've had to have tough conversations about how to muscle
(24:33):
through the tough places of life and to be intentional
about loving each other, supporting one another, developing each other,
or pouring into each other. And by the grace of God,
we have made it. And we have put aside many
of our generational traumas and bad behaviors that have allowed
us to stick together thus far.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Wow, that is a lot of people aren't willing to
be transparent like that, and I love that you took
the moment to do that, because there are things that
we all can learn from our parents and some of
the mistakes.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
That they've made.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I get emotional because thinking about some of the things
that my dad did growing up that I saw the
mistakes he made. But then fast forward, I was there
to hold his hand on his deathbed when he took
his last breath, and only God could orchestrate something like
that whenever It's no human way possible for that to
have happened, right, not based on all of the abandonment
(25:31):
and things that had happened throughout our lives. So for
you to pull the avail back and say I learned
from some of the errors that my dad made too,
so that I don't do some of those same things,
it's like you're breaking almost like generational curses, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, yeah, so I am. And I actually have written
a book on generational curses. I'm editing it again and
just making sure because it's so difficult to expose your
family in such a vulnerable way. You know, we are
told we don't we don't share family business, you know,
keep whatever happens in this house stays in this house.
(26:07):
But we also realized that people love to hear the
warm and fuzzy. But as I said, my father is adopted.
He had to learn again, I'm one of nine children.
I did not grow up in a household with all
nine of us, So you can kind of sort of
do the mask. You know, prior to my father being
a motivational speaker, he was good at motivating folks in
(26:30):
other areas. Amen. So with that being said, we had,
as I mentioned, a non traditional family that we had
to learn and grow together. We have different mothers and
different again different households, and then when we come together,
we're bringing all of those individual beliefs and family systems
and so on and so forth. And it was we
(26:51):
had some difficult days. But to God be the glory,
tough conversations being intentional. Again, my father has done amazing works.
And on top of that, I applaud him for doing
the better work of learning how to become a different
person and a different parent as he has aged.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And that's taken you and your siblings to have those
transparent family conversations to say we don't like this, but
we want to see change in this area, and him
being willing to say, oh, okay, let me make the
course in the adjustment to course correct the situation. I
think that is just such a beautiful that alone could
be one of your Okay, I'll just tell you that
(27:33):
that there could be the first family of motivation guide
to families that have dealt with adoption, dealt with celebrity
status parents.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Anyway, I got a lot of you.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I'll call you, I have lots of ideas.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Right appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
But when you're talking also about some of the books
that you've written, because you've written quite a few books,
and I want to share the page on some of them.
But let's just talk through what is it the messages
that you want people to walk away with all of
these books that you've written. So I appreciate that the
books are children. So I've written a few, as you
(28:14):
may mention of, but more importantly, I wrote children's books
based off of not the happy, go lucky stuff, but
based off of a child that may be this enfranchised,
may be marginalized, to see themselves in a book in
a place that you go, you know what, this kid
seems to have had a tough life.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I have a tough life. This kid seems to have
had someone inspire them to go to a new level
in life. And I can be intentional about finding a teacher,
finding a coach, finding someone to pour into me to
help make my life and take my life better to
a better place. So again, when we grew up. You know,
(28:56):
we had you know, Mama Bear at work, Daddy Bear
at work, and Grandma in the kitchen, you know, making
a sweet potato pie. That's not that's not the stories
of our young people these days. And so my goal
is to have and that's what I've done, and I
pray that they are blessing to people. But I have
books that help and teach children how to overcome odds
(29:19):
in a fun way, in a unique way, and in
a way that makes them laugh, and they can see
themselves in the book and go, wait a minute, if this,
if I have one care to name Penny, If Penny
has overcome me, Okay, let's let's let's go.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Let's go, and let's go in order for a second,
your most popular one is in case I forgot to
tell you, this is like the best selling Everybody's Loving
These That is correct, in case I forgot to tell you,
tell us the message in that book, and they're so
reasonably priced, everybody.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
It is it is. And again the reason why, in
case I forget to tell you, as I mentioned, it
is that we learn to love and or reset the
relationships that we have with our children and young people
in our lives to edify them, to let them know
how special they are, to let them know, hey, life
got busy for me. But in case I forget to
tell you, you are special, You are amazing. You make
(30:15):
me smile every time I see you. And so what
I found for that book is that book has really
helped to forge and heal some relationships because I've had
grown folks say, hey, my mom just put this in
the mail for me for my birthday. And Mom was
never good at complimenting me, but I felt like Mom
(30:37):
said a lot in this book. I felt like Mom
said a lot to me by sending me this book.
So even if mom never knows how to open her
mouth and give a compliment, I'm good Mom sent me.
Dad sent me in case I forget to tell you,
And that helped to fill in some gaps that I
was having. And so when I had those yeah, when
(31:00):
I have those kind of heartwarming stories, that makes it
all the better. You better believe in.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And this is these are books that I think people
can have. I have a book that it's a book
about a baby and the mom is caring for the
baby growing up, but then and it's about I love you.
It's just a book that they give you in the
hospital when you have a baby, and then at the
end of the day, the whole book goes into the
child is carrying the mother at her at her elderly age.
(31:29):
It's such a memorable book. That's what these books remind
me of. In case I forget to tell you, every church,
every pastor, every youth department, every author, motivational speaker should
be given these books out. In case I forget to
tell you, perfect Penny tell us about perfect Penny.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
So perfect Penny, Perfect Penny was born in a dumpster.
She First of all, we know Penny, that's the lowest
denomination of money, and so Penny is just hopelessly optimist.
I mean, nothing can hold pennyback. And so I'm not
sure if also you have one there in case I'm sorry,
this one is it's not over until I win. I'm
(32:10):
not sure if it's on oh perfectly, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So this is also one of my signature that I'm
very grateful. As we know, my father is famous for
saying it's not over until I win. So he has
an adult speech and a whole adult series around it.
But I decided, and you know, by divine intervention to
(32:31):
have a kid series of It's not over until I win.
So Penny is sure everything is working against Penny. She
keeps losing. How about that she keeps losing And the
only thing Penny says that everyone who's laughing at her
and teasing her is not over until I win. And
so when I look at and as you know, we
look at children who are living in challenged areas, the
(32:55):
book was written for them that even though if you
feel like you're not winning in life, even though you've
maybe received a bad grade, maybe you're on a basketball
team that just can't win, not one game, to not
be defeated, to not take the spirit of you know,
I just can't do it anymore, to find a spot
to say it's still not over. It's not over until
(33:17):
I win. And that again is the goal that we
have books that encourage people, that encourage young people that
everything in life is not going to always be a
happy ending. However, we still have to find that place
in life that you understand it's not over until you win,
and it's.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Not over until you not over and everything has purposed
you to do. And so if there was one thing
that you want to leave people with today, What would
that one thing be, even some advice that you would
even give to your younger self than maybe right now
it's like, oh I wish i'd take loud advice back
in the day.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Anything. Yeah, so you know, one of the things. Again,
my father's known to say a lot, but what I
think resonates with me more nothing even super profound. My father,
the legendary motivational speaker, the Reverend doctor Les Brown, says
it's possible. And with that to leave with your audience
that no matter what it is you're trying to do,
(34:17):
it can look like you will not succeed. It's possible.
Every odd can be stacked against you. It's possible. And
so when I think of messages today, I think of
how do we overcome some of the odds that we're experiencing.
I don't care what it looks like. There's some area,
there's something, there's some type of way that you can
(34:39):
stay in your mind, you know what. It looks pretty grim,
but it's possible. And so whatever it is that you're
trying to do, individually, business wise, collectively as a family,
get over heartbreak, get over trauma, it's going to take
some work. But it's possible.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
It's so possible, so possible, this picture of you and
your mom.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
But I'm definitely gonna put it up. Oh yes, I
love my mom. That's that's my homie right there. I
was like, I'm not going to only put a picture
up of you and your dad.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Whenever I know that your mom has played a key
role in being who you are today. Any comment about
your mom, your mom, my mom.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Was, it was and still is. She's still here with us,
thank god. Extremely wise. As I made mention, my mom said,
know who you are. So yes, it might be a
big deal that your lest frown's daughter. But my goal,
my job is your mother is to develop you, and
so you have your own identity. And so for that
I am very grateful. She taught me very early on,
(35:39):
have good credit. In my mind, I'm paying well, my
dad got money. It ain't your money. You keep good credit,
keep your own money. My mom played no games, and so,
as I made mention, I grew up. Everything was unorthodox.
So she was a single mother. Certainly, my father was there,
he provided all that good stuff, but she raised me
(36:00):
to be an independent woman that still has value for
my husband and my children. And so on and so forth.
But again, the best part she could have done for
me is to teach me who I am individually without
walking in and saying less proud as my dad. Yep,
that's my husband. That brownie points.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I'm like, if I don't put his picture about something
who she is, but you showed him, gett no brownie
points to say, you say nothing about.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Me, right right right, right right right, Yeah, So that
is my husband. We have been together for twenty one years,
so we've had tons of ups and tons of downs.
And again, as you're trying to make it through life
and make it through navigating what it's like to date
your twenties and then now you're forty and life is,
you know, hitting you at different levels. You can figure
(36:48):
it out. It's possible to figure it out and become
new people together.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I'm so proud of you, Serena Crown Travis, and tell
everybody how they can stay connected with you.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Please listen. I am on Facebook so the pool pit chick,
as has been mentioned here, that's probably the best way
to stay in touch with me. You can also go
to my website Serena Browntravis dot com and let me
just say to you Kim Jacobs, you have an amazing testimony.
Everything about you has always been on the up and up.
We have never had a challenge. You've always been incredibly
(37:20):
honest and the most important thing I love about you
is that you're always pouring into other people. So let
me applaud you and to show my my I mean
the biggest appreciation I just have for who you are,
who you have been to our family, and who you've
been to my father. Even behind the scenes when it
didn't even pay you were still and have been always solid,
(37:42):
and for that I want to thank you. Can you
also tell people to sew into the Kim Jacobs Oh, listen, listen, listen.
Then if you sow, let me just say that that
you're sowing on good soil. You know, you know, judging
try by the fruit of bears. Sister Kim has just
always been great. She's just always been gracious. And so
make sure you see the link below PayPal me, slash
(38:05):
Kim Jacobs ink or whichever Vimeo whatever. Just make sure
it is going into good soil. I know for sure
without even talking to you, you've done some great work
around heart around I'm sorry, around the Heart Association, Healthy
heart and again you've just done so much amazing work period,
(38:26):
but I just love the way you have. Again here
I am saying you've sown into me, so you sow
into other people. And again, without question, if there is
anything you can do as you're listening and hopefully enjoying
this show and all the others, is sewing into Kim Jacobs.
The seed will fall on good, good soil.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And the reason we're talking all quick like this everybody
is because she has a big college tour with her daughter,
and we are excited about her children preparing.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
For their future.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
And as a parent, we have to balance our lives
and make sure we're there to make them be able
to have a great outcome and some of the decisions
that they're making, even though they're young adults now, we
want to make sure that we're alongside them on the journey.
So you all stay connected with Serena Brown. Serena Brown,
but Serena Travis Brown, because we got to keep it
(39:21):
right Brown Travis. Yep, wait, wait, it's not Serena. It's Serena.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
It's okay, it's Serena Browntravis dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
So Serena Serena Brown because her website is beautiful, y'all.
Serena Brown Travis dot com. We want to y'all have
the right way to stay connected with her. She has
an adult book as well. Positive vibes only, positive vibes only,
(39:51):
and positive words, not vibes positive.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I like that you may you may listen that we
may be changing the title child. That's all right with
me again, right well, you're gonna have to have a
consulting session after after this.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
I mean, I have so many ideas for you, Serena.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, and you
are you are destined for greatness.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
Like a city sitting.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
On a hill, people are really want to know more
about Christ just because you're the pulpit chick and they
can look and say, what God does she serve? That's
the God I want to serve. Serena Browntravis dot com. Everybody,
Serena Browntravis dot com, thank you all so much for
tuning into today's episode.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
I'm the Kim Jacob Show. Go help your.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Daughter be great, and everybody, we will see you again
Monday through Friday at eleven o'clock am Eastern Standard Time
right here on The Kim Jacob Show. I love each
and every one. If you love you last, love you
first man. Thank you for tuning in to today. Thank
you for tuning in to today's episode of The Kim
Jacob Show, and for being in.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
The Virtual studio audience.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Your presence truly does make a difference, and I look
forward to you bringing your friends and family to join
you in the Virtual Studio audience Monday through Friday at
eleven o'clock am Eastern Standard Time. I look forward to
seeing you and make it a great day.
And we have a great show lined up for you.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm your host, Kim Jacobs, better known as the Balance Doctor,
and all of our guests that come on there either
people that have overcome some tremendous odds in their own
lives as they balance these things called life, or they're
experts and they're here to share tips and strategies that
will help you better balance.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And manage your life.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Grab your virtual seats and let's get ready for some real,
relevant and relatable content on today's episode of The Kim
Jacobs Show. That second, Hello, everyone, and welcome to this
(00:41):
episode of The Kim Jacob Show where we are bringing
balance to the world, one household at a time. And
guess who we're bringing balance to the world with today,
none other than Serena Brown Travis.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
How are you, Serena? Listen? I am so grateful to
be here to see your smiling face. I forgot how
much fun you are. You have such a great energy
about you, so I'm already excited to be here with
you today and super grateful.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, I'm grateful to be here with you and people
don't know you have a funny side to you. We're
going to talk about that y'all. This woman is actually
known as what's called the pulpit Chick. So y'all are
in for a tremendous treat today to hear from Serena
Brown Travis. I really when I was when I was
researching how to kind of make this all merge together,
(01:25):
I feel like it's where motivation is meeting ministry.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And that's what it felt good, wasn't it. Yeah, look
at you, Look at you.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I really believe that when it comes to who you
are in a nutshell, it's like you are. You're this
woman that is infusing motivation and the legacy that you're
going to continue to carry out. Your dad is alive
Less Brown. Everybody is her father. Just doctor Les Brown
is her dad. But you're still walking in your own
(01:57):
destiny and your own purpose, and you're doing that in
a very creative way. So I am excited about you
being here today. Serena Brown Travis is a best selling author.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
She's an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
She encourages speakers, she's a business coach, and she's like
us women that are tuning in today, men that are
tuning in in a lot of different ways. She has
a family, she's a wife, a mother. She's a proud
Ohio native, so all of you Ohio Natives out there,
and she is the daughter of the legendary still alive,
(02:29):
kicking a strong eighty years old. Right, he's eighty now.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Right, he is eighty, A proud eighty two. Can't tell
him nothing.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
A proud eighty year old, legendary motivational speaker, doctor Les Brown.
And you're going to learn a lot more today from
Serena herself.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So I'm not going to give you all of the.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Details, but she's a part of what's known as the
First Family of Motivation, and who that consists of. I'll
make sure she gets a chance to talk to you
about it. Welcome Serena to the Kim Rikim Show. Thank
you so much again.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
You know, first of all, as you were doing all
those accolades, I'm like, who should talk about? So I
must say to God be the glory for the great things.
God continues to do that, right, yes, and He is
doing some tremendous things through you. And like I said,
when I think about you, I think about legacy and motion.
You're moving forward, but you still have your own story,
(03:23):
your own journey, your own purpose and passion and things
that make you who you are today.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So I wanted to just start our conversation. You know
how you can go in so many different directions. I
thought it would be good to maybe just start about
you being a part of this first family of motivation
and what it's even been like growing up with the
attachment that doctor Les Brown is your father.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Right, So first off, it is very interesting. It was
very normal to me for you know, Dad to be dad.
He's dad, that's all. It became interesting that every time
we would go out, people would stop us, and so
that was interesting. And then, if I can be honest,
also aggravating, like Dad, why can't we just go to
the movies and sit down and mind our business? And
(04:11):
so now, one of the things that I appreciate that
he always did and still continues to do, is that
he talks and he entertains everyone. And he always said, baby,
you never know how I can encourage. You never know
what this means to someone else when you know they
happen to interact with me. So that that changed my view.
Of course, as a kid, not understanding all of that,
(04:33):
I would, you know, be honest to say that it
was an inconvenience, but now as an adult, and you know,
when you have people who say, hey, you know what,
I met your dad at the movie theater. I met
your dad as I was walking through the airport. He
took the time to talk to me. Those are the
stories that at least make it worth it, so that
as children, at least we haven't heard your dad was
(04:53):
a complete jerk, you know, would say that about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
and so it can happen. And so being a part
of the First Family and motivation, as you can imagine,
we have now we have an unorthodox family, so there's
no need for me to play for ten. We have
an unorthodox family, like a lot of other families, non traditional.
(05:15):
My father has nine kids, and he says that, hey,
when God tell him to be fruitful and multiply, he
took the Lord seriously. He did. And so therefore therefore
I am the eighth of nine children. I am the
youngest girl, and now everyone treats me like I'm the oldest.
So if something goes down, everyone calls me Rena Rena.
But nonetheless, we decided as siblings to call ourselves the
(05:38):
First Family. Motivation because as you said, people have called
us for advice we give we I mean, we just
give advice and people are like, wait a minute, what's
our feet And it's like, no fee, We're just trying
to help you out. And then as a result of that,
as you know, just finding your own little small gifts
and talents and areas that you least expect. It's like,
you know, what guys should do this. My sister ownA
(06:01):
Brown has been a coach, a speech coach, a message
met wife for years. She has traveled nationally internationally, so
she keeps us all the way together in terms of
our messaging and our branding. She's a dynamic force. My
younger brother, John Leslie Brown, which you'll see him right
over to the left. Yeah, well you're left by right
(06:22):
right right right there, we go make it simple. Also,
it's a dynamic coach and father and so he's done
great work as well. And so for a while it
was very easy for as Les Brown's children to just
stand behind him, to just support him, support my siblings,
to just it was okay to be to be in
(06:45):
the background. And after a while, people like you, the reverend,
doctor Kim Jacobs and other people said, hey, this this
behind the scenes stuff is not working. Not working for you.
It's not working for your personality. So, as my father
would say, we also I also had to leap and
grow my wings on the way down because I figured
out the Lord was not allowing me to stay behind
(07:07):
the scenes. And I realized that God has been pushing
me and nudging me. And then people like you. The
message the balanced doctor is like you, no, glad to
meet you, and this is what you're going to do next, right.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
And you know, I'm really glad you said that because
a lot of times people think that there's so much competition.
Whenever I started traveling with your dad back when I
was like twenty four years old, I'm fifty four now,
so it's been thirty years since he became a mentor
of mine. And literally we got in the car at
a pharmaceutical event where he came to speak, and he
(07:40):
just took me under his wings and allowed me to
start traveling the country with him. But then when I
met you all, I was like, oh my gosh, wait
a minute. I met owner first, I said, you have
these incredible children that are like more doing behind the
scenes stuff. Oh no, I felt like at that point
it was my goal to help pull you all out too,
(08:01):
Not like I was like became your mom or anything
like that. I just felt like I was like, you
know what, you are such a dynamic speaker and motivator
around the world. But this legacy of children that's going
to carry the baton, that's going to carry on well
beyond your years here on this earth, has to happen.
And so I'm just really grateful that each of you,
(08:22):
from your various walks of life came and bloomed and blossomed.
If you've ever heard of the saying that flowers don't
compete with other flowers, they just let all of the
flowers bloom. Yeah, and that's how I feel about your family.
I love you all so much.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Oh well, thank you, And yes, no no competition. We
we come from a competitive family. We come from a
competitive family. But as it relates to tach of us
individually stepping into our gifts and talents, there's no reason
and no way to even think about competing with something
(09:00):
that God has given you or something that God has
given own our jo unless they're Patrick or Calvin for
that matter, It just it does not make sense. And
so we like to all operate in our own gift
and we support one another as we're doing so. And
our father, who still can poke us every now and again,
even to challenge us, he also allows us to step
into and work in our gift as well. I'm so
(09:23):
glad about that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
And so when I think about you, Serena, you wear
so many different hats. What is the greatest lesson that
you've say you learned from your dad and even your siblings,
and even being a wife and a mother. What's the
greatest lesson that you've learned in your opinion?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So far, there's so much, I guess the one thing
that comes to mine immediately is, as my father would say,
when things go wrong, don't go with them. I have
had to read. I have had to learn over these
over the course of the past few years to get muscle,
to get my muscle resilience. I was used to being
(10:03):
behind the scenes, as I said, And so as you
start to step out in the front, you then face
opposition and things that are gonna come against you. In
the spiritual world, you know, we'll call it the attack,
and then outside of that we just call it crazy
people trying you, People are testing you. And so I
have had to learn that when things go wrong, don't
(10:24):
go with them. I ordinarily am the type of person
and when something goes wrong, you can find me in
the bed, covered up, not getting out the bed, even
with Les brownbe and my father, and so people are like, oh,
my goodness, well you've been around all the quotes and
he's your dad and you should be super motivated. Yeah,
and if something goes wrong, I typically will find myself
(10:45):
in the bed. I don't want opposition and yeah, yeah.
So as a result of that, I have really had
to learn how to develop that muscle of being resilient,
of being resilt not not allowing anything to take me
off off course. And that has been a difficult lesson.
(11:07):
It doesn't even sound all deep and profound, but the
truth of the matter is that that has been it
to learn and to operate in the space of being resilient.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
That's so good, Serena, And you know, I would almost
say we're like twins in this regard, because sometimes when
it's really stressful things happening, I don't know if it's
a gift from God or not. I personally think it's
a gift that I will just get into bed, or
even if it's not in bed, I could be right
sitting in my chair and just be.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
People are like, I know, this is what's happening for
you to be getting a good night's rest right now.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Well, you know, and if we go into our our
core beliefs, you know when you think of Jesus being
being asleep and there's a whole storm, a whole storm,
and Jesus, let look peace, I'm I'm sleep still. Yeah, yeah,
it might be a gift. But here's the challenge, but
(12:03):
that we still wake up and there's still things that
we have to face.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
So put my red glasses on for that one silence.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So we can say peace be still all we want.
But after a while, we still got to get up
and face should wake up and face what we what
we're supposed to tackle.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
So that's so funny because that's that's so true. Sometimes
we got to get up and take faith and step
out into the water and know that it's got Jesus
bidding us to come, because it's like I know the
season that you're in, and I knew you were going
to be in the midst of this storm.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
But just keep your eyes focused on me.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I'll get you where you need to go absolutely, And actually,
speaking of that for you from a spiritual perspective, you've
become a minister and you've created this platform of faith
where your spiritual journey has also kind of collided with
your professional journey. How has that worked, especially with the
You gotta talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
The pool, Well, I love it well, first of all,
if I can be completely honest, I felt a nutge
for the call, and I said no, and I was
trying to negotiate my way out of it, tied my
way out of it, do good works. I'm like, I'm
gonna work in the kitchen, I'm gonna sweep the parking lot.
Just Lord, no, not me. And the resistance of the
(13:23):
call became. I just could not deny it, and so
therefore I had to say yes. Now, be honest for
those who are filling the pool. When I said yes,
as people tell you, the target on your back grows
so much bigger. And so people told me that. But
it did not really hit and resonate until you start
(13:44):
walking through the storms of life. And I'm thinking, away,
my god, I did everything you told me to do.
You knew I didn't want to do this anyhow, I
told you, that's why yes, all of that, all of that. So,
in fact, the name pool happened as a result of
me doing a rant. I was talking to a close girlfriend.
(14:05):
I said, look, I left the church for a reason.
I don't want to do this. I am not a
pool pitchick. And then lo and behold, I said, Lord,
I guess I'm a pool pitchick and a pool pitchick.
So who she is is I've had to do seminary,
I've gone through all those courses. I'm currently working on
a doctoral degree right now, you know, in social justice.
(14:29):
But what I also realized is that ministry is not
necessarily church. It is not necessarily pool pit only. And
so the place where I feel God calling me is
to almost be a disruptor to the church and to
the pool pit, to say, hey, listen, we've got to
get our message out in a different way that can relate.
And so that is, as you said, as you perfectly
(14:51):
coined message and motivation altogether. We can talk about Jesus
all day, and if we don't talk about Christ and
how to our lives, even the harder stuff, even though
some of those old old Testament stories that we have
to dive into and figure out you know what was
going on between David and Saul, and David and Sam.
You know all of those things. And so the message
(15:14):
in motivation for me is to take take some of
our some of our scripture and put it in a
place that is relatable. And that's hard to do because,
as you know, we have so many other messages and
voices and so so much more so many other distractions
going on, not to mention this climate that we're living
in that's device of and we forgot how I love
(15:35):
each other as neighbors. And so my prayer is that
whatever the Lord is putting, whatever path God is putting
me on, it will be both motivation and a message
and all of all of the above to put us
back in in alignment with what God, God will have
us do at this moment.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm glad you're taking that approach that I think I
just kind of help you coin something message in motivation,
minished movation, merging together because even your funny side, because
there's a whole funny side to Serena everybody that is
comical that I didn't even know you even had that
talent until I started following you more. I'm like, you
(16:15):
got some comedy in you.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
You know, everyone says that I just yeah, I guess
I'll accept it. I'll accept it. Not intending to do that.
Was that not the point. I would never never trying
to be funny until other people said, you know what,
that is so interesting, that's hilarious, and I'm like, no,
but I'm serious, and they're like, yeah, that's funny that
you don't even see that that's funny, and then it
makes it funnyeer So.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
That's funny that you don't think it's funny, but it's
happening and everybody else's benefit. So you don't do like
it's not a comedy tour thing. I have lots of
ideas for you. I could become like, I don't want
to say a manager or anything, but just a sister
in Christ. Right.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Well, you know that's now let me turn the tables
on you real quick. That's to be the of you,
Kim Jacobs, is that when we met you, you are
full of ideas. And so that's why I love what
you do. I love your show. I love the people
that you bring on here because you're like, hey, I'm
gonna showcase you. But the truth of the matter is
so we're gonna need to turn the tables and start
interviewing you, because you see, you always see possibilities for
(17:14):
people where you, you know, where other people may see problems.
You're like, oh no, absolutely not. Here's how we solve
that immediately. So let me just applaud you for just
being a great coach, a great mentor a great woman
of God to see things in the supernatural that other
folks like me would not see. But yeah, well we'll
let well, I'll let you come back to interview with me.
(17:36):
But I had to insert that because again, you have
been dynamic throughout all of all the times that I've
known you, and certainly have even been an asset to
my father as well.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, so back to
back to our time together here. So this coach an entrepreneur,
what's the biggest advice? Because a lot of people go
through life and they're doing so many different things. They're
wearing a lot of hats like you do. You're a mother,
your wife, you are in ministry as a leader in ministry.
(18:09):
You're under a legendary father, your first family of motivation.
So that's this whole other expectation you have a lot
of hats that you wear. What advice would you give
to someone that's trying to find their purpose in starting
a new business venture and stepping out of faith.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Right, So the one piece of advice I would start
with is not to get overwhelmed. Not to get overwhelmed
by everything that you're feeling. You, as you all know,
you cannot eat an elephant all at once. It is
won by at a time. And so that's the first
piece of advice. Now the second piece of advice is,
while I have a lot going on, I had to
(18:46):
learn to compartmentalize of what was tugging at me first.
So by nature, I'm Les Brown's child. By nature, I
know that there's a legacy that I have to uphold.
But then on top of that, thankfully my mother also
said you are your own person. So I had to
develop who I was as an individual. I don't walk
in a room and have on my forehead I'm Les
(19:07):
Brown's daughter, because there might be someone who says, so what,
who cares? What does that mean for this situation? So
another piece of advice I would give is develop yourself,
develop who you are, develop your own message, develop your voice,
and so you may say, well, how do I develop
my message? Well, what do people talk to you about?
What do people come to you to get advice on?
(19:28):
What are the things that keep you up at night?
And one of the ways that I decided that that
I felt a nudge is I became as you mentioned,
I'm a wife and a mother, and being a mother,
as you know, you're super busy. You have school, you're
dropping off at practice, you're picking up from practice, you're
working on homework. And I realized I wasn't taking the
time to tell my children how much they meant to me.
(19:52):
I mean, you know, oh, but you know, you wake up,
you pray, baby, have a good day her yet yeah.
And so as a result of that, I unintentionally became
an author of a book called in Case, In case
I forget to tell you. And the reason why is
that one day my daughter was getting out of the
car and I'm watching your daughter. These are my two daughters,
(20:15):
my girls, and I was watching. I was watching her
walk away, and I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, did I
remember to tell her I loved her that. I mean,
here we are, we're working on site. Words in the car.
How was your day? Eat? Eat your food? Drink your water. Yeah,
all of that, And so I developed a book in
(20:35):
terms of you know, learning your gifts and talents. It
just literally came in an everyday situation, dropping my daughter
off of practice, watching her walk away, and me saying,
did I in case I forget to tell you? Baby?
And I wrote down the window, hey, in case I
forgot to tell you, I love you? And I'm thinking
I can't do that anymore. We cannot show affection and
(20:57):
love on each other in passing and so being lustbound
starters in terms of upholding the legacy, as you know,
positive words is something that is deeply steeped and is
a value within our family. And so as a result
of that, that is how I started coming into my
own realizing what was around me, what's at my fingertips?
As we know we go to the scripture, what what
(21:19):
can you grab on immediately without I mean a lot
of a lot of times we have things right at
our fingertips that we don't even have to leave the
house for it's already in us. So God has already
placed it in us. And so realizing that not trying
to do anything outside of what already comes natural is
(21:40):
what I have yet what I've literally tried to train
myself to do.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I'm so inspired.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
You see what I'm saying. You have this in your blood.
It's not a joke.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And I know what I said when I was in
my twenties and now here at fifty four years old,
I'm still saying the same thing about you. There is
something so unique and special about each and every one
of you that make up the First Family and motivation
that the world would miss out significantly if each of
you don't tap into your individual gifts. What you just
shared is not loving our family members. Just in passing,
(22:13):
somebody type that in the comments section, don't just turn
to the back of your child and I hope everything.
Did we forget this?
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Did we forget that you're saying? No, be intentional, Be intentional,
Be intentional.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Time to carve out the space to love on your family.
That is to me, just if nothing else happened in
this interview today, Serena, that's going to change so many
people's lives from a balanced perspective.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, I pray, and let me also share. It's uncomfortable,
but share some transparency. Is that one of the stories
that my father shares is that he is adopted. So
as he became a parent, there were certain things, there
were certain patterns, certain generational things that he was used
to that did not work in terms of being a father.
(23:04):
And so we as his children, had to say, hey, listen,
and every now and again, it is okay when you
find your voice as a child to say, hey, dad,
you're out motivating the masses. And then when we're together,
you're on your phone, or you're sleep, or we have
other people that we have to entertain. And so we
had to learn that as a family, how to be
(23:26):
intentional about spending time together loving on each other. As
we know as parents, you know, you want to say, well, listen,
if I don't make this phone call, I'm not making money.
If I don't kill, I don't eat. All of those
things that we all would say as entrepreneurs. That didn't
matter to us when we were kids. We just wanted
to spend time with our father, you know, joke, laugh, giggle,
(23:49):
you know, whatever that looked like. And so the intentionality
behind and here's the thing, Kim, I was picking up
the exact same pattern. So I had to be transparent
about oh wait a minute, my father did that way.
Oh I'm doing the same thing now. I could argue, well,
(24:10):
if I didn't, you know, we didn't practice spelling words
and do all this stuff on the road, then you
wouldn't be where you are now. Those things didn't matter
to my children. What mattered is Mommy was present, mommy.
Mommy is intentional about edifying them and uplifting them. And
so that is one of the beautiful things that as
the Brown family we have had we've overcome. You know,
We've had to have tough conversations about how to muscle
(24:33):
through the tough places of life and to be intentional
about loving each other, supporting one another, developing each other,
or pouring into each other. And by the grace of God,
we have made it. And we have put aside many
of our generational traumas and bad behaviors that have allowed
us to stick together thus far.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Wow, that is a lot of people aren't willing to
be transparent like that, and I love that you took
the moment to do that, because there are things that
we all can learn from our parents and some of
the mistakes.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
That they've made.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I get emotional because thinking about some of the things
that my dad did growing up that I saw the
mistakes he made. But then fast forward, I was there
to hold his hand on his deathbed when he took
his last breath, and only God could orchestrate something like
that whenever It's no human way possible for that to
have happened, right, not based on all of the abandonment
(25:31):
and things that had happened throughout our lives. So for
you to pull the avail back and say I learned
from some of the errors that my dad made too,
so that I don't do some of those same things,
it's like you're breaking almost like generational curses, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, yeah, so I am. And I actually have written
a book on generational curses. I'm editing it again and
just making sure because it's so difficult to expose your
family in such a vulnerable way. You know, we are
told we don't we don't share family business, you know,
keep whatever happens in this house stays in this house.
(26:07):
But we also realized that people love to hear the
warm and fuzzy. But as I said, my father is adopted.
He had to learn again, I'm one of nine children.
I did not grow up in a household with all
nine of us, So you can kind of sort of
do the mask. You know, prior to my father being
a motivational speaker, he was good at motivating folks in
(26:30):
other areas. Amen. So with that being said, we had,
as I mentioned, a non traditional family that we had
to learn and grow together. We have different mothers and
different again different households, and then when we come together,
we're bringing all of those individual beliefs and family systems
and so on and so forth. And it was we
(26:51):
had some difficult days. But to God be the glory,
tough conversations being intentional. Again, my father has done amazing works.
And on top of that, I applaud him for doing
the better work of learning how to become a different
person and a different parent as he has aged.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
And that's taken you and your siblings to have those
transparent family conversations to say we don't like this, but
we want to see change in this area, and him
being willing to say, oh, okay, let me make the
course in the adjustment to course correct the situation. I
think that is just such a beautiful that alone could
be one of your Okay, I'll just tell you that
(27:33):
that there could be the first family of motivation guide
to families that have dealt with adoption, dealt with celebrity
status parents.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Anyway, I got a lot of you.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I'll call you, I have lots of ideas.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Right appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
But when you're talking also about some of the books
that you've written, because you've written quite a few books,
and I want to share the page on some of them.
But let's just talk through what is it the messages
that you want people to walk away with all of
these books that you've written. So I appreciate that the
books are children. So I've written a few, as you
(28:14):
may mention of, but more importantly, I wrote children's books
based off of not the happy, go lucky stuff, but
based off of a child that may be this enfranchised,
may be marginalized, to see themselves in a book in
a place that you go, you know what, this kid
seems to have had a tough life.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I have a tough life. This kid seems to have
had someone inspire them to go to a new level
in life. And I can be intentional about finding a teacher,
finding a coach, finding someone to pour into me to
help make my life and take my life better to
a better place. So again, when we grew up. You know,
(28:56):
we had you know, Mama Bear at work, Daddy Bear
at work, and Grandma in the kitchen, you know, making
a sweet potato pie. That's not that's not the stories
of our young people these days. And so my goal
is to have and that's what I've done, and I
pray that they are blessing to people. But I have
books that help and teach children how to overcome odds
(29:19):
in a fun way, in a unique way, and in
a way that makes them laugh, and they can see
themselves in the book and go, wait a minute, if this,
if I have one care to name Penny, If Penny
has overcome me, Okay, let's let's let's go.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Let's go, and let's go in order for a second,
your most popular one is in case I forgot to
tell you, this is like the best selling Everybody's Loving
These That is correct, in case I forgot to tell you,
tell us the message in that book, and they're so
reasonably priced, everybody.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
It is it is. And again the reason why, in
case I forget to tell you, as I mentioned, it
is that we learn to love and or reset the
relationships that we have with our children and young people
in our lives to edify them, to let them know
how special they are, to let them know, hey, life
got busy for me. But in case I forget to
tell you, you are special, You are amazing. You make
(30:15):
me smile every time I see you. And so what
I found for that book is that book has really
helped to forge and heal some relationships because I've had
grown folks say, hey, my mom just put this in
the mail for me for my birthday. And Mom was
never good at complimenting me, but I felt like Mom
(30:37):
said a lot in this book. I felt like Mom
said a lot to me by sending me this book.
So even if mom never knows how to open her
mouth and give a compliment, I'm good Mom sent me.
Dad sent me in case I forget to tell you,
And that helped to fill in some gaps that I
was having. And so when I had those yeah, when
(31:00):
I have those kind of heartwarming stories, that makes it
all the better. You better believe in.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
And this is these are books that I think people
can have. I have a book that it's a book
about a baby and the mom is caring for the
baby growing up, but then and it's about I love you.
It's just a book that they give you in the
hospital when you have a baby, and then at the
end of the day, the whole book goes into the
child is carrying the mother at her at her elderly age.
(31:29):
It's such a memorable book. That's what these books remind
me of. In case I forget to tell you, every church,
every pastor, every youth department, every author, motivational speaker should
be given these books out. In case I forget to
tell you, perfect Penny tell us about perfect Penny.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
So perfect Penny, Perfect Penny was born in a dumpster.
She First of all, we know Penny, that's the lowest
denomination of money, and so Penny is just hopelessly optimist.
I mean, nothing can hold pennyback. And so I'm not
sure if also you have one there in case I'm sorry,
this one is it's not over until I win. I'm
(32:10):
not sure if it's on oh perfectly, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So this is also one of my signature that I'm
very grateful. As we know, my father is famous for
saying it's not over until I win. So he has
an adult speech and a whole adult series around it.
But I decided, and you know, by divine intervention to
(32:31):
have a kid series of It's not over until I win.
So Penny is sure everything is working against Penny. She
keeps losing. How about that she keeps losing And the
only thing Penny says that everyone who's laughing at her
and teasing her is not over until I win. And
so when I look at and as you know, we
look at children who are living in challenged areas, the
(32:55):
book was written for them that even though if you
feel like you're not winning in life, even though you've
maybe received a bad grade, maybe you're on a basketball
team that just can't win, not one game, to not
be defeated, to not take the spirit of you know,
I just can't do it anymore, to find a spot
to say it's still not over. It's not over until
(33:17):
I win. And that again is the goal that we
have books that encourage people, that encourage young people that
everything in life is not going to always be a
happy ending. However, we still have to find that place
in life that you understand it's not over until you win,
and it's.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Not over until you not over and everything has purposed
you to do. And so if there was one thing
that you want to leave people with today, What would
that one thing be, even some advice that you would
even give to your younger self than maybe right now
it's like, oh I wish i'd take loud advice back
in the day.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Anything. Yeah, so you know, one of the things. Again,
my father's known to say a lot, but what I
think resonates with me more nothing even super profound. My father,
the legendary motivational speaker, the Reverend doctor Les Brown, says
it's possible. And with that to leave with your audience
that no matter what it is you're trying to do,
(34:17):
it can look like you will not succeed. It's possible.
Every odd can be stacked against you. It's possible. And
so when I think of messages today, I think of
how do we overcome some of the odds that we're experiencing.
I don't care what it looks like. There's some area,
there's something, there's some type of way that you can
(34:39):
stay in your mind, you know what. It looks pretty grim,
but it's possible. And so whatever it is that you're
trying to do, individually, business wise, collectively as a family,
get over heartbreak, get over trauma, it's going to take
some work. But it's possible.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
It's so possible, so possible, this picture of you and
your mom.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
But I'm definitely gonna put it up. Oh yes, I
love my mom. That's that's my homie right there. I
was like, I'm not going to only put a picture
up of you and your dad.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Whenever I know that your mom has played a key
role in being who you are today. Any comment about
your mom, your mom, my mom.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Was, it was and still is. She's still here with us,
thank god. Extremely wise. As I made mention, my mom said,
know who you are. So yes, it might be a
big deal that your lest frown's daughter. But my goal,
my job is your mother is to develop you, and
so you have your own identity. And so for that
I am very grateful. She taught me very early on,
(35:39):
have good credit. In my mind, I'm paying well, my
dad got money. It ain't your money. You keep good credit,
keep your own money. My mom played no games, and so,
as I made mention, I grew up. Everything was unorthodox.
So she was a single mother. Certainly, my father was there,
he provided all that good stuff, but she raised me
(36:00):
to be an independent woman that still has value for
my husband and my children. And so on and so forth.
But again, the best part she could have done for
me is to teach me who I am individually without
walking in and saying less proud as my dad. Yep,
that's my husband. That brownie points.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I'm like, if I don't put his picture about something
who she is, but you showed him, gett no brownie
points to say, you say nothing about.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Me, right right right, right right right, Yeah, So that
is my husband. We have been together for twenty one years,
so we've had tons of ups and tons of downs.
And again, as you're trying to make it through life
and make it through navigating what it's like to date
your twenties and then now you're forty and life is,
you know, hitting you at different levels. You can figure
(36:48):
it out. It's possible to figure it out and become
new people together.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I'm so proud of you, Serena Crown Travis, and tell
everybody how they can stay connected with you.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Please listen. I am on Facebook so the pool pit chick,
as has been mentioned here, that's probably the best way
to stay in touch with me. You can also go
to my website Serena Browntravis dot com and let me
just say to you Kim Jacobs, you have an amazing testimony.
Everything about you has always been on the up and up.
We have never had a challenge. You've always been incredibly
(37:20):
honest and the most important thing I love about you
is that you're always pouring into other people. So let
me applaud you and to show my my I mean
the biggest appreciation I just have for who you are,
who you have been to our family, and who you've
been to my father. Even behind the scenes when it
didn't even pay you were still and have been always solid,
(37:42):
and for that I want to thank you. Can you
also tell people to sew into the Kim Jacobs Oh, listen, listen, listen.
Then if you sow, let me just say that that
you're sowing on good soil. You know, you know, judging
try by the fruit of bears. Sister Kim has just
always been great. She's just always been gracious. And so
make sure you see the link below PayPal me, slash
(38:05):
Kim Jacobs ink or whichever Vimeo whatever. Just make sure
it is going into good soil. I know for sure
without even talking to you, you've done some great work
around heart around I'm sorry, around the Heart Association, Healthy
heart and again you've just done so much amazing work period,
(38:26):
but I just love the way you have. Again here
I am saying you've sown into me, so you sow
into other people. And again, without question, if there is
anything you can do as you're listening and hopefully enjoying
this show and all the others, is sewing into Kim Jacobs.
The seed will fall on good, good soil.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
And the reason we're talking all quick like this everybody
is because she has a big college tour with her daughter,
and we are excited about her children preparing.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
For their future.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
And as a parent, we have to balance our lives
and make sure we're there to make them be able
to have a great outcome and some of the decisions
that they're making, even though they're young adults now, we
want to make sure that we're alongside them on the journey.
So you all stay connected with Serena Brown. Serena Brown,
but Serena Travis Brown, because we got to keep it
(39:21):
right Brown Travis. Yep, wait, wait, it's not Serena. It's Serena.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
It's okay, it's Serena Browntravis dot com.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
So Serena Serena Brown because her website is beautiful, y'all.
Serena Brown Travis dot com. We want to y'all have
the right way to stay connected with her. She has
an adult book as well. Positive vibes only, positive vibes only,
(39:51):
and positive words, not vibes positive.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
I like that you may you may listen that we
may be changing the title child. That's all right with
me again, right well, you're gonna have to have a
consulting session after after this.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
I mean, I have so many ideas for you, Serena.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, and you
are you are destined for greatness.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
Like a city sitting.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
On a hill, people are really want to know more
about Christ just because you're the pulpit chick and they
can look and say, what God does she serve? That's
the God I want to serve. Serena Browntravis dot com. Everybody,
Serena Browntravis dot com, thank you all so much for
tuning into today's episode.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
I'm the Kim Jacob Show. Go help your.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Daughter be great, and everybody, we will see you again
Monday through Friday at eleven o'clock am Eastern Standard Time
right here on The Kim Jacob Show. I love each
and every one. If you love you last, love you
first man. Thank you for tuning in to today. Thank
you for tuning in to today's episode of The Kim
Jacob Show, and for being in.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
The Virtual studio audience.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Your presence truly does make a difference, and I look
forward to you bringing your friends and family to join
you in the Virtual Studio audience Monday through Friday at
eleven o'clock am Eastern Standard Time. I look forward to
seeing you and make it a great day.
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