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

Kym , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

I had a successful corporate career and decided to explore the arena of entrepreneurship. It was a hard transition and honestly I didn’t anticipate the amount of ground work that an entrepreneur has to endure. As I introduced myself to meeting with investors and venture capitalist, I ran across three venture capitalist who were black women. It is rare for black women to be in the space of VC’s. I was immediately drawn to these women and I was trying to figure out how to get in contact with them to help me with my series investment process. I began to follow them on Twitter. Now keep in mind this is in Sept of 2007 and I must have @ them for three months straight every day trying to get their attention. They never even liked a single post. I eventually gave up and moved on. Fast forward 3 years right in the middle of the pandemic, I received a call to moderate an all black women’s panel on Black Women Venture Capitalist. I was invited to interview each panelist before the event to get to know each woman. I was floored to find out that the three women I harassed for months 3 years prior were all on this panel!!! And guess what…..I had their personal numbers and was able to talk to them in detail about their professions. They all were interested in my business and have since became my mentors! I looked back at those tweets which began in Sept 2017 and EXACTLY 3 years later, Sept 2020, I was moderating a panel with the same women I wanted so desperately to meet. This taught me that life always comes full circle. Those things you work so hard for and you feel isn’t getting you anywhere will always reap a harvest later…We just have to be patient enough to know that the seeds we are planting in our business will one day bloom!

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

Kym Feltus found her calling when she was a high school senior. She was short one elective, and theonly class available was accounting. That serendipitous event rerouted Kym from her prior career in physiotherapy-and she never looked back.

Kym Feltus has been a senior accounting manager at 3, Fortune 100 companies in her career. Shehas managed and oversaw. billion-dollar budget with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It isclear that her focus, ambition, and pragmatic nature have propelled her steady career.
Feltus moved from being a junior staff accountant to more advanced roles including operationsmanager at FedEx. She has received countless awards and recognition from senior leadership,including vice presidents and even chief executive officers. She received the Above Beyond Award at FedEx, which recognized her leadership and implementation of new and improved processes.Deemed a forward thinker and innovator, Kym Feltus was featured in multiple FedEx newsletters that were distributed around the world.

In 2015, Kym formed Strong Systems Solutions, an accounting app originally created for religiousorganizations and now has expanded to non-profits, athletes and companies. Ms. Feltus is also theauthor of three books: “Corporate America & The African American Woman,” “Girl Today, CEOTomorrow,” and “Strong’s Resume Writing & Interviewing Tips.” She is currently working on her fourth book, “From LA To NYC: A Woman’s Guide to Entrepreneurship.”

Feltus formed The Strong Foundation, an organization that Celebrates Women’s Empowerment. In2016, she began Conversations with Kym with actress Vivica A. Fox. The women’s empowerment charity event is a mobile marketing initiative bringing awareness to the plight of women in the personal, professional and social construct.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I worked for a particular fortune 100 company as an accounting supervisor at the age of 30. I had a team of 7 and this job was THE highlight of my corporate career. My boss who hired me was fired within a few months of being hired. The new boss was rumored to being the reason my boss was fired. After he was fired she took his position in our group. I was DEVISTATED! She had the reputation of Cruella Dville! She was tough… She was smart,….She knew the ins and outs of the company and I didn’t know how much she would impact my career. She pushed me in a way that still impacts me today. Even though she was disliked, I tried my best to not like her but deep down I knew I needed her in that point of my career. There was this time where I came up with a process that cut down production time by 80%. It was a huge thing and when it was presented to the CFO it was communicated that my boss came up with the process/idea. We had a town hall meeting and the executive awarded my boss one of the highest honors for coming up with the process that I actually created. I remember her standing up there as we stared at each other knowing who actually deserved the recognition. I was so deeply hurt and betrayed in that moment and she knew it. See we had finally developed a great working relation and this incident has made me feel that everything I heard about her was actually true. I could see the guilt on her face as she accepted the award and at that everything I heard about her was actually true. I could see the guilt on her face as she accepted the award and at that moment I knew I wanted to leave the company…To my surprise a month later I started getting nominated for numerous awards and come to found out my boss had been the one submitting me for these awards. Not only did she did that but she acknowledged to the entire company that I was the one who came up with the idea that she was credited for. Out of all the bosses I have worked for, no one has ever recognized my efforts as much as she. has and the thing I learned in that situation is that no one is perfect but everyone has the opportunity to make right of any situation.

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

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Contact Info:

• Website: www.conversationswithkym.com
• Instagram: kym_feltus
• Facebook: Kym Feltus
• Linkedin: Kym Strong
• Twitter: Kym Strong
• Youtube: Conversations With Kym

Image Credits
Nathan Pearcy