Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Krystina Daniels. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Krystina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Having worked in higher education, I knew there was a deficit when it came to financial aid education especially for black people and people of color. I wanted to help collaborate with individuals who wanted to further their educations but we not sure of how to do it and I wanted to be able to help. I had a colleague that was also working in higher education and saw the same shortfalls and when were talking about ways to help and that is where Visionary Education Services came from. We knew we had the knowledge to lead students and their families in the right direction.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started out as an enrollment representative for a university geared to non-traditional adult students. I was working with adults that wanted to get or complete their educations but did not know how to do it and where to start. My passion came from taking people through the process. I was often their first line of support in many cases and I wanted to do all I could to assist them in their endeavors. Visionary Education Services (VES) serves all students, and has a large population of non-traditional students that we aim to educate on resources uncommon to them in non-traditional spaces.

I am most proud of the way we have been able to work with Non-Profit Organization Non-Tradish, Inc. to help inform students in North America through workshops and individual consultations. We have been able to work one on one with students and host workshops with access to resources that we have researched and created over the years to help students. Many of these non-traditional students do not have access to materials that traditional students do because they are not on campus or have them available to them during off campus hours when they are primarily learning.

It is important to know that we support and will continue to work with Non-Tradish, Inc., where I am now a Board Member, to continue finding tools to aid all students in their success.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I grew up sheltered in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Although I knew I was blessed, I did not understand the magnitude of my blessings until I went to college and saw that there were people that did not have access to the schooling that I did in primary school. Making friends in college I quickly was told stories of books being outdated or missing, lack of preparation for college, and no assistance with the financial aid process or understanding of how it worked. I quickly unlearned that everyone had access to the meetings that I had with my guidance counselor to prepare me for what was to come as I graduated from high school. Once I met other students willing to share their story with me I did as much as I could with the information I had, but I slowly was drowning myself and dropped out to work full-time.

It was not until I decided that I wanted to make a life for myself as an educator that I decided to go back to school. I was fortunate enough to work for the school that I was attending to finish my undergraduate degree and that was where I learned all of the ins and outs that most students are not privy to. I then made it my goal to teach everyone that I came in contact with that wanted the information and help them be successful. I knew I was doing my job when I walked down the aisle and graduated with several students that I helped enroll. I knew I had a gift and decided to build on that.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met my business partner, Quianna Daniels-Smart through my sister. When we met, I was in my graduate program and she was one of the best hair stylists in the Philadelphia area. We started talking about school and we would always discuss her how I was doing in classes and one day she told me she was going back to school. We talked about different resources that could help, but at that time there was additional obstacles that she faced on her campus. As she made me feel more and more beautiful while doing my hair, we would talk about different things that were happening on her campus to disadvantage students just like her. She then told me that she started a club on campus to help her and the other non-traditional students on campus that also happened to be single mothers. The club was a major success and when she graduated she left the group in the hands of the people she was able to impact through that program. She completed her master’s degree in social work and as she was completing that we decided VES would be a great way to take each of our individual skills and put them together to be a benefit to others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://visionaryeducationservices.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=j7x09x5x0rw9&utm_content=hlu5hin