We recently connected with Shemeca Cooper and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Shemeca , thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
About a year ago I was going through an entrepreneurship program at the Joseph Business School in Forest Park, IL. I really desired to know and understand God’s direction for my businesses. I had created my businesses with one idea in mind; however, I wasn’t convinced that the visions I had for my companies were adequate. While going through the program, my vision and desires shifted. I still wanted to pursue real estate endeavors, but the mission changed. One change, in particular, was the mission of my company, Namesake Properties. Initially, my main focus was to offer quality, affordable housing options to low-income residents, but after completing the program my focus shifted. It wasn’t enough just to offer affordable housing options without addressing a key factor- lack of financial empowerment. I began to envision how powerful a community could be when everyone is prospering. Additionally, I saw generations benefiting from the knowledge gained by their predecessors. With this new vision, I began drafting the curriculum for our Road to Restoration Program. It is a biblically-based, five-year program and curriculum designed to help low-income families elevate from striving to thriving through theoretical and financial empowerment courses. With our Road to Restoration Program, we bring the information to our cohorts, creating a safe space for them to learn, grow, and implement what is taught. The aspect of this program that excites me the most is having the opportunity to watch our participants actionize what they have learned. Seeing them develop a bias towards action, excellence, and financial excellence is my daily motivation. We believe that if you can assist in changing a person’s mindset, you can change the trajectory of their life. There are so many financial education programs and courses available, but not many deal with the mindset and limiting beliefs. This is why Road to Restoration was created!
Shemeca, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I would be honored. My name is Shemeca Cooper and I am the Founder and CEO of Namesake Properties. Namesake Properties is a residential rental company that provides quality housing while financially empowering families. Our housing caters to residents with a variety of income levels. For our low-income and extremely low-income tenants, we have designed a program and curriculum that will assist them in achieving self-sufficiency and ultimately, financial freedom. I believe the offering of our Road to Restoration Program really sets us apart from other housing providers because we go a step further and address the root of the low-income status of our tenants, the lack of financial knowledge, and empowerment. I am super excited about the creation of this program and look forward to its implementation in the near future. I desire for my company and I to be known as the housing provider on a mission to eradicate poverty and affect change for generations to come.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Absolutely! I could give you an entire list but I will stick with the top five LOL
The Holy Bible- honestly, I wouldn’t even be where I am today if it weren’t for God and who HE says I am. The visions and ideas I have for my businesses come from meditating on the word of God.
2022 Business and Leadership Conference DVD (Bill Winston Ministries)- The guest speakers at this conference helped me to enlarge my thinking as it relates to life and business. I learned how to engage my imagination when it comes to planning. You can’t go where you can’t see!
God’s Creative Power: Gift Collection by Charles and Annette Capps- This book is small but so powerful. It is filled with confessions based on the word of God. This helps me to mind my speech, confess the word over every situation, and keep the vision before me.
Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits by Greg Crabtree- This book really broke down how business finances and how to become profitable
Introduction to QuickBooks Desktop by Hector Garcia (YouTube video)- This video helped me tremendously with running and managing my books. I was a complete newbie to QuickBooks and didn’t know how or where to start. This tutorial was a gem!
Have you ever had to pivot?
Before COVID-19 and the trending use of the word “pivot,” I had learned how to pivot in life, career, and family. When I was a freshman in college, I received news that my mother had been diagnosed with cancer. When I heard this, I moved back home to care for her. She was such a strong and courageous woman to me. Caring for her as she had me was the very least I could do. However, several months later she passed away. Once my father came to get my brother, and my sister returned to her family in Minnesota, I remained in my hometown going from one friend’s couch to another for nearly a year trying to process my mother’s death. It was tough. I felt like everyone else was in forward motion while I was standing still. Afterward, I married my husband and moved to Florida. We had only been married two years when he received orders to a Marine unit where he would be deployed to Iraq. During that time, I was in school finishing up my last two years. I wasn’t sure if I should pack up everything and accompany him or if I should stay and finish school. With much prayer and hard conversations, we decided it was best for me to stay to complete my degree. Once he returned, I would be done with my degree and could secure a teaching position when I moved, or so I thought. When I arrived, however, there was a freeze on teaching positions. With that news, I decided to pivot my career goals. Instead of obtaining a position as a teacher, I went into the finance industry and started working at a local bank. I had worked at the bank for about two years when we discovered I was pregnant. I knew I desired to be at home with our children to spend time with them and instill proper values and principles while they were young, so I made another pivot: I became a stay-at-home mom. With our household dropping down to one income (and additional people) cut-backs were necessary. I enjoyed being at home with my children, but I also had a desire to return to the workforce. So, when our children were old enough to attend school, I made the decision to return to work. I was hired as an administrative assistant at a community college. Two months into working, COVID-19 happened. I worked diligently to ensure my department’s successful transition from in-person to online and back to in-person. After working at the community college for a little over a year, it was time for my husband to relocate. This meant that I would once again have to look for employment. Knowing this I decided to make one more career pivot: becoming a business owner. This allowed me the flexibility of moving/expanding my company while helping others and creating jobs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.namesakeproperties.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/namesakepropertiesllc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/namesake-properties