Minority Business Owner Feature- Kendra Thorpe

A Q&A With Kendra Thorpe, Owner of Kendra Thorpe Consulting

Interviewed by Obinna Morton

Kendra Thorpe is the Owner of Kendra Thorpe Consulting and a member of the Minority Business Owners Mastermind. Her goal is to develop more awareness, accountability and support for women of color. This Q&A shares more of Kendra’s vision with the MBOA community.

1.   What inspired you to start your business?

My background was the fear. I no longer wanted to be afraid to be my spiritual self. I no longer wanted to be afraid to be an inspiration to others. My last thing that made me inspired is that I no longer wanted someone else. I lived in fear for the majority of my life. I was the one that was always the helper of everybody else. So when it came time for me to get help, no one was there. So I assumed I wasn’t supposed to do it—being successful in a business, wanting a business.

I think my turning point came when I started watching success happen for my family, and I wasn’t getting the credit. I was seeing someone else get the credit for all the hard work I was doing.

2.   What inspired you to apply to Minority Business Owners Mastermind?

I applied and I was granted the scholarship. I thought it was going to be very informative. I’m one of the people who is a late bloomer—a mother of four. I’ve been raising wonderful people. I’ve been homeschooling. And I’ve been going to the business world. I want to link up with people to show them what is necessary in the business world.

3.   Hmmm…so you say late bloomer. I can relate for sure. Can you go into that a little more? What is it like? What thoughts race through your mind? Have you experienced any challenges associated with being a late bloomer?

At first it was a little intimidating because you feel like you don’t know, and you’re behind. However, when I found out that you need to create your own space and now that you’re opening up the way for other people to come behind, now you’re ahead. It made it for me versus against me. I’m the one that’s going to pave the way.

4.   What has been the biggest success and challenge when building your business?

My biggest success has been building the confidence and also being able to experience the whole process. I don’t want to skip a step. One of the biggest wins is going through the whole process myself first. I’m lighting up a path for others to follow. I’m digging out these ditches, getting these cobwebs out so they can have this peaceful place to come to and prosper.

Some of my challenges happened during COVID-19. Before it hit, I wanted to teach at libraries, at free platforms where people were. But the flipside is that the pandemic also exposed me to people globally. I’m meeting people that are in the UK, Montreal, Canada. It broadened my perspective a little more of what I’m going after. I wanted to go to the library in my local area, but now I get to be inspired and impacted globally.

5.   In what ways did Minority Business Owners Association (MBOA) help you?

They helped me become aware of systems like CRMs, for example. They helped me put things in a structure so they could become automated. I was not aware of any of this prior to the class. I’m more aware, and now we’re learning to implement automation. It helps me not be overwhelmed in that area. I don’t have to be the one to do everything because they taught me how to set up a system for everything to get done.

6.   What would you tell a friend about MBOA’s mastermind experience?

I would tell a friend to come up with the funds to do it because of the life-changing experience. One of the things I loved about Nancy and her team is that they have a lot of fire to make someone else aware of things that are beyond their scope, like tech. It makes them more confident in knowing. The class taught me all kinds of things I was not aware of. Just taking the class showed me how to be more advanced. Taking the class, what we were learning was the future, but we also knew it was relevant right now.

7.   Your business name Kendra Thorpe Consulting: What do you do with your business idea?

It’s being constructed into something greater than what I intentionally named it. It was going to be consulting agents to inform people in the business world, a divine encounter we get to experience. Others get to commit fully to their full potential of what they’re supposed to do. If you’re about the business, you’ll live a more fulfilled life.

I believe in Christ. I follow the Kingdom lifestyle and living. I want to align people with what they’re supposed to get done, with purpose, confidence, boldness, and love. One of the things that I’m learning is that my audience will be women of color 35+, but I want them to no longer feel like you have to live in the background. Now is the time for us to come forth and light the world up, and completely come into our beauty. That’s my drive. When I was younger they used to call me Boss B, I was a woman who was a leader even in my youth. That’s how I see it.

8.   What has this process been like for you?

For me in the beginning it was lots and lots of fear. Lots of uncertainty. Lots of worry. Lots of trying to become a cookie cutter version of something, and then it became a moment of, “You won’t survive. You won’t last being something you’re not.” Then it became a journey of, “What is it you’re supposed to do?” And then it became a fulfillment. This is all I want to do, and they’re going to pay me for this. If I do get to go out and be a messenger with a message, then the wealth will follow. Then it becomes fun. Faith and business.

9.   Do you work with them personally?

I’m in a hiccup with this, if I do one-on-one or go out there and do webinars like a motivational speaker. It’s to be decided.

10. Where can we find your business online?

My website is under construction. My Instagram handle is @kendrathorp.