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

Alright, Kay Jay thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I really didn’t come up with this idea. God gave me this. I just simply answered the call.

The name Da Kingdom Era was formed in 2022. However, this ministry has been going on since 2014 while I was still incarcerated. I was incarcerated for a total of 15 months and during that time a change happened within me. A total transformation. As I sat in the county jail I saw women who were experiencing homelessness come in week after week committing silly crimes just to have a warm place to sleep, food to eat, and a hot shower. During this time I wrote and composed music as well and getting really familiar with my Bible. I didn’t know what God was doing in that moment but I see it all so very clear now. After my release in 2015 I shared some of the experiences that I had and saw during my incarceration at a simple round table talk with my sister and some very close family friends. Rebels For Humanity (R4H) was born.

Rebels For Humanity started as a organization to serve the homeless. We go out and feed the homeless in our community home cooked hot meals once a month, during the months of September through March (the colder months of the year in Austin, TX.). We provide them with one specialty item each month which includes but is not limited to blankets, hats, gloves, water bottles, socks, bus passes, hygiene items, and anything else that we can think of that will be of help and be of support to them. Since 2015 we have had ongoing projects in Haiti that we’ve provided school supplies, backpacks, and clothes to three schools and an orphanage there. We have hosted two back to school drives providing basic supplies for 300 students in Austin, Texas, and also one in Yazoo City, Mississippi for an additional 300 students. We have plans to host our third annual back to school drive in August.

Inside Out Prison Ministry (IOPM) is just what it sounds like. This ministry was born from my compassion to others while incarcerated and of my transformation that happened while incarcerated. God gave me the name Inside Out because a change in me was truly made from the inside out and now the whole world gets to see this change. God had a calling on my life and I didn’t even know it. While incarcerated I was teaching my peers around me the Word of God. Hosting Bible studies and even started a church there. I was in maximum security so there was no leaving out of your housing area under any circumstances. We couldn’t leave for church so we brought the church to us. That is when I learned that we are the church. The church that others think of is only a building. Upon my release I stayed in contact with the sisters I had left behind. I wrote them just about everyday and I started to send Bible studies to them and from there the rest was HIStory. My information quickly spread throughout the units. IOPM now severs 170 brothers and sisters through the prisons in Texas, Mississippi, and Michigan.

Kingdom Music MFFK (Music Fit For the King) came to life also during my incarceration. After three years of putting everything in motion there was a group and a completed album. In 2018 I released the first album on the label. Streets Disciples From the Streets to the Temple. Streets Disciples included myself, a five year old at the time and a ten year old. We were all new believers in Jesus the Christ and we wanted to share it with the world. This album can be found on all streaming platforms. In 2020 the group split up and we all took a different direction in life’s journey. 2021 I released another album and brought a friend/sister who I met during my incarceration a long with me. This was the second release on the label. Kay Jay SD1 and Miss V The Coming of Two Different Worlds which is also streaming on all platforms. We are currently in the progress of working on a new album that will be released later this year.

After trying to figure out a name that could be the umbrella for each of these ministries, God spoke to me and gave me the name Da Kingdom Era. Which is what you get when you put all three of these together. We serve God and others in our walks always displaying Jesus’ Agape Love. Never forgetting those in prison nor those who are hungry and homeless on the street. The music is bonus which glorifies and gives high praises to our Father in Heaven.

Severing God is worthwhile. I may never see a reward on this side of life which I don’t really want anyway because my true reward is in heaven. Everything here is temporary but what God has promised is everlasting. I knew this would work because God spoke directly to me and told me to follow Him. In my obedience I did as He commanded and wouldn’t change a second for anything in this world.

Problem solving…I wouldn’t say that we are problem solving but we are giving hope and encouragement to two low class groups in society. To know that you are loved and cared for is important. It gives you motivation to try to do better. A standard is set. When you have someone cheering you on you tend to perform a little better in whatever it is that you are doing. The approach is definitely unique. My story is unique and God made me unique so anything that I do will never be like anyone else in this world. What gets me most excited about ministry is knowing that this is something special God choose me to do. He anointed me and appointed me on this mission. He gives me the lyrics to rap to His lost sheep. He provides so that I can go out boldly in my daily walk teaching others about Jesus and allowing them to see Him in me and the change that has been made. It’s such a beautiful thing.

Kay Jay, 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?

I’m Keneisha Kay Jay Johnson the Founder and CEO of Inside Out Prison Ministry, Rebels For Humanity and Kingdom Music MFFK. When I put it all together I like to call it Da Kingdom Era.
I was born in central Texas. Military family. I gained the name KJ from my middle school basketball coach. I later changed the spelling because a simple K and J was boring. I got involved with gangs and drugs at very young age but somehow I managed to maintain straight As in school and was also a star athlete. Life took me by storm when I landed in a mental hospital in 2005; I struggled hard with depression and suicidal thoughts for about six years. In 2012, I lost my heart, my aunt. I was devastated to say the least. I tried everything I could think of to cope with the pain, when nothing could fill that void, I started to attend church. About after a year of attending church and being involved in the various ministries that were offered, I gave my life to Jesus Christ and was baptized. In 2014, life took yet another turn and I ended up in the county jail, then transferred to prison. After fifteen months of time served, my life had been transformed. I had a spiritual encounter and met with God face to face. God gave me a new vision and insight into life. He told me to follow Him and I answered the call to the ministry and now I am fully walking in what I was born to do.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In life there are many shifts, twist and turns. I’ve had to pivot around many things to get where I am today. After my incarceration my thinking changed. Not only did my thinking change but my heart changed as well. I valued life and saw things in a different view. People and things I once never cared about became my focus. I was no longer selfish. I literally give everything that I have to others around me. Even people I don’t even know.

Once you are titled as a felony it is hard to get a job, or a place to stay. The system is designed to make you fail. You have to create your own lane. When I got home from prison I worked wherever I could with whoever. During this transition period I learned how to lay flooring, plumbing, restoration, cooking, and serving. I even learned how to tend to livestock. There was nothing I wouldn’t do. I humbled myself to do somethings that I really didn’t care to do.

I worked hard because I was no longer really working for the people of this world. I was now being about my Father’s business. I was truly working for God. Often times people would ask me why I work so much. I had to because their were homeless brothers and sisters as well as incarcerated brothers and sisters that needed me. They had no family. I am the only family that a lot of them have so I have to be sure to look out for them all remaining in the calling that God called me to do.

Over the last eight years I’ve had pivot around serval companies that I’ve worked with. I’ve pivoted around relationships with so called lovers and friends. I’ve had to even pivot around the church that I was a member at for ten years. I outgrew people, things, and the ways of this world when I grew my relationship with Jesus. Many pivots have happened and I know more pivots will come. It is a heavy cost when you chose Jesus. You loose family, friends, relationships, and jobs. You loose the life you once knew to gain the best life you’ll ever have.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe what helped me to build my reputation within the ministry realm is me being honest, and authentic. There is only one Kay Jay SD1. Coming from a prison background, in prison your word is all you have, you should always be honest even if it hurts the other persons feelings. A lie landed me in prison but the glory in that is how God used that bad situation and turned my life to good. I’ve always been a standout person. Now that I know who I am inside and out I walk in that authority that has been given to me. People are attracted to my real and original style. I never try to be someone I am not. No matter who else may be around or in the room you’ll get the same me every time. People love to hear my story and how God changed my life. In addition to all the service I do within my community and beyond people want to hear more. The music gets me into other places that my story alone won’t allow me to get into. Being honest and authentic has gotten me into places and on levels I could have never even dreamed of. I’m just grateful that God has kept me humble and He keeps building my reputation within the ministry realm.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dakingdomera.org
• Instagram: @kingdom_music_mffk @rebels.4.humanity
• Facebook: Keneisha Kay Jay Johnson
• Youtube: @DaKingdomEra

Image Credits
Ricky Ray