We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamira Kendricks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamira, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

My focus as a mortgage loan officer is to educate and empower African Americans in the process of home ownership. In America, African Americans own homes at a rate of 42% versus 73% of White Americans. The African American community is underserved in this area due to lack of access and knowledge. In general, African Americans tend to have less understanding of how credit, debt, income work together in the financial lending industry. Historically, lenders have rejected mortgage approval for African Americans, while approving White Americans with the same financial and credit circumstances. There is also a stigma in the African American community attached to underlying issues/responsibilities that cause many to shy away from home ownership in fear. Real estate ownership is a leading method used by many to build inheritance and wealth for their families. As an African American and first generation homeowner, my goal is to make sure that those is my community are informed and empowered to participate in homeownership. If efforts to further this goal, I present free home ownership seminars that provide information on the requirements for mortgage loan approval and a step by step break down of the process from mortgage application to closing day. The seminars are completely and do not require any commitment to choose me as your mortgage loan provider.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

So, about me! I am first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ. I LOVE the Lord and always pray that His light in me shines for the world to see in all that I do! Secondly, I have the pleasure of being a wife for what will 14 years this year. I am a mother to 4 children (2 girls and 2 boys)… My daughters are 16 and 13 and my sons are 6 and 3. I am always busy! I have worked as a public educator for 10 years and I currently teach 4th grade students. In addition to education, I am also a licensed mortgage loan officer, where my focus is assisting and preparing the underserved African American mid to low income community find resources and gain better understanding of the home buying process. As a mortgage loan officer, I work with my clients from the process of credit repair, understanding of debt reduction and other qualifications to gain a mortgage loan approval that fits their individual needs. At the present, I work to find local and federal grants that provide down payment assistance for some of my lower income clients. Conducting research to be abreast of the latest provisions available to allow my clients access to an affordable mortgage is all the reward I need. Essentially, helping to make dreams come true from resources that were always available but not accessible to my clients is what I consider success.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

As a mortgage loan officer, there is a requirement to renew your license yearly. This year has been exceptionally challenging for me in reference to balancing time. Therefore, when it was time for me to renew my license, I was kind of hesitant. I was not sure if I would have the time that it takes to continue to stay current on resources, rates, marketing and networking that is required to gain success as a mortgage loan officer. As usual when faced with a big decision, I turned to God in prayer. The very next day, a client contacted me with a paragraph long appreciation text. She stated that she was grateful for the time and consideration that I had given to her and how she looked forward with trust and optimism that this would become her year of homeownership. In that moment, I knew that it was a message from God to confirm that I should continue on with the work and efforts to empower more people within my community to homeownership. I submitted the approval for license renewal and gained the renewal on the very last day possible.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience- the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. I was actually asked by a former principal, during my career as an educator whether I thought it would be a benefit to provide teachers with a training or how to be resilient. My response was to ask if he was serious. I learned just how resilient I was as a person when I showed up day after day of the unimaginable circumstances that can be presented by both the students and the administrators in the education field. Daily, even hourly adjustments are made by educators on a regular basis, and yet we continue to serve the students in providing them with education and last memorable moments. However, my first encounter with resilience was as a 25 year old single mother. At the time I had a two year old daughter, whom I had become pregnant with during my senior year of college. Feeling overwhelmed and honestly slightly embarrassed, I withdrew with only 7 classes (21 credit hours) required to complete my bachelor’s degree. So, by the time my daughter was 2, I was notified that my credits were about to expire. At the time, I worked full time in a call center, and it was not possible for me to quit in order to take the classes required to complete my degree. My only option was to change my work hours from 1 pm -10 pm and take morning classes daily. By the grace of God, my job approved my shift change and I was able to schedule the morning classes. My schedule for an entire school year consisted of me commuting an hour to school Monday- Friday from 8:00 AM until 11:30 AM. Then commuting an hour back to my job to work from 1:00pm -10:00pm. It was extremely tiring. There were many times that I wanted to give up. There were times that I felt that I was a horrible mother, because she was with my mother for the majority of every day. Yet, I know that making this short term sacrifice, but benefit her stability later in life. So, I was able to endure and graduated with my bachelor’s degree. When I earned that degree, while working full time and being a mother, I learned alot about myself. I knew then that I would be able to do anything that I truly set my mind to do. I gained self confidence and established a part of my identity.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jjordanak
• Facebook: Jamira McGhee Kendricks
• Youtube: Jamira Kendricks