We recently connected with Kenisha Nichelle and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kenisha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The Brighter Tomorrow Foundation was established during the COVID-19 pandemic, to support those who were experiencing grief following the loss a loved one. We were losing people at an alarming rate and I felt I had the lived experience to give support at that time.

At 12 years old, I lost my father to a brain aneurysm and in 2007 I lost my mother to breast cancer. At 21 years old, I became an orphan. This was extremely tough for me because my life line had been cut at such a young age. I battled with extreme depression and mental health issues. I did not know how to process my pain so when I was met with resistance from a supervisor, that lead me to attempt suicide. Thankfully I survived, but that’s how intense my grief and pain became. Over the years, I still battled with negative thoughts but one day in 2017, I had an awakening that it was time to take control over my life. I began to do the self work to heal and to start seeing life as a blessing rather than a curse. Although it took nearly 13 years to heal through the pain of grief, I made it to the other side. When the pandemic hit and we were losing people everyday, I realized that God allowed me to go through the pain so early so I would be equip now (during the pandemic) to help others. I became a certified life coach that year and began hosting grief workshops and 1:1 life coaching sessions to support those in grief. This is the story behind the mission!

Kenisha , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My passion is sports. I work in the sports industry as an event and operations executive. While this passion has taken me places like the Miami Dolphins, Miami HEAT, Orange Bowl Committee, Super Bowl Committee professionally, I have always known that my life had purpose, and working in sports was not it. I did not survive the suicide attempt just to produce sporting events. I knew that there was more meaning to my life.

I started the journey to purpose work in establishing an organization that supported caregivers. I felt that caregivers are unsung hero’s and they don’t get the love and support they need while caring for a loved one. This was me as I spent the three years caring for my mom as she battled cancer. I did this work until the pandemic hit because I was no longer able to host in-person events – Caregiver Day Out Brunch.

At the same time as the pandemic, I was no longer able to work in sports either, so it gave me a lot of time to decide what was next. I knew it was time to tell my story so I enrolled in a speaker program and that is when I discovered that the topic I could speak on without the help of Google was grief. This is how I started to do the work I do today.

What I am most proud of is the success stories. When someone emails that a workshop or a session helped them to see life differently and help out them on the path to recovery, I know that’s a life saved. Life is HARD and I don’t want anyone to feel they are alone on the journey. While I have been working with individuals through grief, I am introducing a program, with the same model, to support student-athletes. Unfortunately, this generation is struggling with balancing school, sports and life in general. While I wasn’t an athlete, I was a trainer so I had the same rigorous schedule as they did. Trying to juggle all of this, one month after losing my mother was insane. Through my organization and the work I have done up to this point, I am committed to supporting athletes with their mental and spiritual well-being so they can truly be the ultimate student-athlete.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The best story for this would be moving 1,000 miles from home for an unpaid internship. After my mother passed, I knew I needed to be closer to family so I transferred to the college in my hometown. When I did this, I ended up changing my major as well because I failed so many classes taking care of my mother. This alone was a display of resiliency because I recognized that I still wanted to make my parents proud and finish school but I knew I wasn’t in the mental head space to do the three years to keep with my major. I opted to changed my major and I would graduate in 1.5 years. When I changed my major I had to have an internship. This presented a unique opportunity to leave, if I chose, and do my internship away from home. I was blessed with an opportunity in Miami, FL with the Orange Bowl Committee. Some thought I was crazy for taking the job. It meant I had to move for five months, unpaid. It also meant I had to take a full semester of classes in the summer, to make up being away in the fall, so I would remain on track to graduate. This was pure resiliency to take what I had been through and still, somehow, want to create a good life for myself with a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I had to realize that being myself was the best way to build an audience. Though it was awkward in the beginning to talk to myself in a camera, I knew there was a message in what I was saying. A nugget of wisdom, a word of encouragement, a message from God, it’s my goal to be someone who brings hope in the midst of tough times. My advice is find your voice and get comfortable with the camera. People want to see you and hear you. People want to feel like they know you. Bring them on the journey. Show the good, the bad and the ugly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kenishanichelle.com
• Instagram: @kenishanichelle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbalexander/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kenishanichelle
• Other: TikTok: @kenishanichelle