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

Bernetta, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

More that 23,000 kids age out of U.S. Foster Care each year. Without that support that comes from an adoptive family or permanency connection, these kids face instant homelessness. Our goal is to provide teens aging out of foster care brand new suitcases filled with everyday essentials as they transition into adulthood.

Every donation towards our Packing with Purpose Suitcase Donation drive will make sure these teens are not forced to carry their personal items in a trash bag. No Trash Bags here! One act of kindness can change someone lives forever.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Bernetta is a Chicago native, a married mother of three who lives in Tampa, FL. She currently hosts a podcast, Dream Girl, Dream!, works for PwC, a 2x published author, publishes a lifestyle blog, BernettaStyle.com since 2010. She’s a proud Alumni of Alabama State University with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. During her maternity leave for her youngest child, she came up with the idea of creating an organization whose sole purpose is to change people’s lives, one dream and positive action at a time.

After watching Oprah & Ellen consistently give to others, their actions ignited Bernetta’s philanthropic passion and deep desire to change people’s lives. In 2020 she with a team of friends, did their first Packing with Purpose Suitcase donation drive for teens aging out of foster care. Initially, it was supposed to be a once a year event, but the impact was so huge and the need was so great, they changed their entire mission and now provide suitcases all year long. She aspires to restore hope in teens in foster care who have given up on their dreams because of their past or current circumstances.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I first started The Knighten Project, it was to initially make dreams come true for everyday people and while doing a community event once a year. That community event in 2020 was Packing with Purpose. Earlier that year, I learned that when teens aged out of foster care, that a high percentage become homeless and are also just given trash bags to put their personal items in. That broke my heart. Although I couldn’t provide housing, I could at least give them some to put their valuable in that didn’t represent trash. We created the campaign Packing with Purpose and had a goal of collecting 25 suitcases to give out by Christmas. Well, we collected close to 100 suitcases and enough money and items to fill them all with everyday essentials they need as they transition into adulthood.

After that first campaign, I kept getting a pulling sensation that I need to do this permanently, not just once a year. After praying, then discussing it with my husband and team, everyone was in agreement that we should Pivot and change the mission of The Knighten Project. In 2021 we pivoted and started to provided fully packed suitcases all year long. It’s been so rewarding knowing we are making a direct impact on the lives of these young adults. Young adults who are also our future. I still have a desire to make dreams come true, but now my goal is to do that for these young teens.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Although we provide brand new suitcases to teens aging out of foster care, my actual clientele are the foster agencies. Without connecting with the foster agencies and letting them know the service we provide, we wouldn’t be able to connect with the foster teens. What’s been effective so far is taking the time to call the agencies in our city and county to let them know who we are and what we do. Then following up with them monthly to remind them that we are still here to provide a service. Right now, we are still in the infancy stage and people can forget about us. So, although we may have provided a teen with a suitcase, we still call them to remind them we have more to give. We want to get to place where the phone is ringing constantly with suitcase request. For right now, what’s working is cold calling and emailing them to share our story and service.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TheKnightenProject.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/knightenproject
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKnightenProject
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernettaknighten/

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