We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelli Spencer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelli below.

Hi Kelli, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

As parents of three children, my husband and I have always been determined to provide the best experiences for them. Our three children have truly been a blessing to us. Before being blessed with our children, we experienced what many couples and families suffer with in silence — we went through three very traumatic miscarriages. Through those experiences, we grew closer together and talked daily about what our lives would be like when we were blessed with our children. We talked about the experiences that we wanted our children to have. Once our children arrived, we hit the ground running. We took them everywhere with us. Once we realized that they were soaking in all of these experiences, we became more intentional with the places that we took them and what we were exposing them to. As a public school educator while they were younger, I always took advantage of those awesome school breaks and we took our kids places that were vacations and fun but were also meaningful.

My husband grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. During Spring Break, we would travel to St. Augustine, Florida a very historic town near Jacksonville so that we could visit with his family and have a beach vacation. While in St. Augustine, we were able to learn so much about the “Oldest City in America” but more importantly, we were able to learn more about our culture – the African American culture and imprint on the origins of the United States of America. I remember being on the trolley with my four year old son, two year old daughter and infant daughter riding through the city square and the tour guide describing that the city square was used to sell goods like fruits and vegetables to the people in the town. I saw what this market looked like and immediately knew that there was so much more history here than just fruits and vegetables. Understanding that St. Augustine was one of the largest ports during the early stages of the United States, I could see the remnants of slavery all around me. That view didn’t take away from the beauty of the town, it made that view rich and complex. I was intent to make sure that my children and my family could recognize and appreciate that as well. We would continue to travel to St. Augustine for several years for our Spring Break trip (we are creatures of habit).

As the children grew, their interests and curiosity grew and we began to research and learn as a family. We talked about the Black pirates that sailed the seas and landed in St. Augustine. We explored and researched about the Africans that were brought as prisoners of “war” to the Florida coast and forced to be enslaved. But… we also enjoyed to beauty of the beach, the historic Spanish architecture and the food because all of those things were influenced by people that looked like us. One of the last trolley tours that we did as a family in St. Augustine, my son was about 8 years old, we were passing through that same city market and the tour guide once again spoke of the goods that were sold in that market. Surprisingly, my young Black son raised his hand and asked the tour guide what kinds of goods were sold in this open market, The tour guide said, “Things like fruits and vegetables. Just like all of the things that you get from the grocery store today.” My son proceeded to question the tour guide and ask about the PEOPLE that were sold in this market. The tour guide didn’t have a substantive answer for him and the tour continued with the given script. As a I sat on that trolley, with an eight year old, six year old, and four year old, I was shocked and proud that he had the boldness and aptitude to even broach the subject and question. After we returned to our vacation home from the tour, I told my husband all about it and that’s where our story of Inkwell Properties began.

Although we had always been intentional about our vacationing and ensuring that out children were able to see themselves in any place that we visited, we decided that we needed to broaden our scope and our dreaming and planning began. We have always expanded our family vacations to extended family. Every time we added someone new to our group, they were always intrigued with what we had learned and they enjoyed the history and perspective that we shared with them. We looked at this a huge gap in the travel industry. We could not find travel agencies, companies, vacation rentals that focused on intentional and educational African American travel and experiences so we decided to create and focus on that. We want all of our experiences to be cultural in nature with an educational and historic perspective.

Our first property is our current home in The Historic Wets End of Atlanta. The home is decorated in African American art and reflects the culture and the history of the neighborhood. We host events through out the year at the home and rent it out for events. Our first vacation rental is a beach front cottage located on Daufuskie Island, a historic Gullah Geechee Island off the coast of Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Kelli, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a public school educator for 20 years, 13 of those years being a school administrator, education is at the forefront of everything that I do. During my years as an educator, I was able to use my creative skills and abilities but in a very limited capacity. When I became an administrator after teaching for seven years, my autonomy as a professional and individual actually decreased. I was bound to uphold the rules and sanctions of a bureaucratic system that did not always have the best interest of children at it’s core. I began to feel as if I was compromising my own values and morals and my husband encouraged me to step out on my own. It was very difficult for me to see what that path would look like. I had invested so much in myself as an educator. I had gone to school to earn a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education from Georgia State University and a PhD in Educational Leadership from Mercer University. I couldn’t imagine not using those degrees in the “field”. However, he encouraged me to use my creative mind and see myself using all of those skills in a different space to reach so many more people on my terms without all of the roadblocks that I was facing in the school building and system. I had purpose and I needed to fulfill that purpose for myself and my children. I wanted to be able to leave a legacy for my children and generations beyond. I want everyone that experiences Inkwell Properties to feel the passion that we have for learning, adventure, exposure, and diversity. Inkwell Properties has allowed to me use every skill that I learned as an educator to create and curate experiences for groups and families that are genuine to them and memorable for years to come.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When we decided to expand Inkwell Properties from our personal home to purchase a vacation home, we hit several roadblocks. We had chosen a destination that we had traveled to often as a family. We traveled to this particular island off the coast of Georgia. When we met with the real estate agent, we did not get the feeling that this was the place to anchor Inkwell Properties although this was a destination that our family definitely enjoyed and created memories. We had to abandon that particular destination — maybe we will revisit it one day as we continue grow. We were led to Daufuskie Island and as soon as I stepped foot on that island, I knew that it was our anchor. It is a bridgeless island off the coast of Hilton Head, South Carolina. It holds so much untouched Gullah heritage that you can feel the people of the past. One of our guests said, “You can hear the trees talking and their stories are not all filled with pain. There is joy, perseverance and strength here.” During our process of purchasing, we had two contracts fall through with no fault of our own. We felt the push back of the sense that we weren’t supposed to be there. However, we knew that we were brought there for a reason. Even when we wanted to give up, our children encouraged us and pushed us to fight through. After months of trying, we ended up purchasing a property that was PERFECT for us and Inkwell Properties. It embodies our motto, “Live Well. Learn Well. Inkwell.”

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Along this journey as an entrepreneur, I have had to unlearn so many things that became normal to me as a public school educator. I realized that I was limiting myself in my own vision because I was placing myself in the same box that I had left. I could be as creative as I wanted to without rules or boundaries. There is a process of deprogramming when it comes to moving from such a strict and limiting working environment to an environment that allows ultimate freedom and growth. Going through that process and those moments were difficult for me (and sometimes still are) because I was looking for someone or something to tell me no or to stop and I realized that the someone or something was myself. I had to overcome self — which is still a work in progress. I have to remind myself daily that Inkwell Properties is a dream that has come to fruition and the dreams have to continue for the purpose of growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.inkwellvacationproperties.com/
• Instagram: @inkwellproperties
• Facebook: Inkwell Properties
• Other: https://www.vacationdaufuskiesc.com/rentals/seaside

Image Credits
Glen Spencer – Daufuskie Vibes
Ty Pleas! – headshot