Meet Dawn Kelly

 

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

Dawn, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I inherited my work ethic from my grandfather Joseph F Ackerman, a medaled WWII veteran and my mother Joan Margaret Kelly. Both of them demonstrated, daily, what an extraordinary work ethic looked like and how it was rewarded. Ever since I was 13 years old, I have always exhibited my best at whatever assignment, task or work assignment I was given to fulfill. My work ethic fueled my ascent up the corporate ladder and now as an entrepreneur, my work ethics propels my consistency and my stick-it-to-it-ness.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I presently serve as the Founder and CEO of The Nourish Spot, a healthy food and beverage oasis in Jamaica, Queens and co-owner of The Nourish Spot BK.

I have been leading the vision, strategy, and operations of the business since 2015. With the support of my team and especially my daughter/COO, Jade Duncan, we have created a unique and impactful brand that offers delicious and nutritious smoothies, juices, salads, wraps, and vegan desserts to the SE Queens and BedStuy, Brooklyn communities.
We also partner with area based non profits to provide purposeful internships to high school students and other young people across the community at large.

My passion for health and wellness stems from my upbringing; growing up in a home where my mom made it a daily practice to introduce my siblings and I to a variety of fruits and vegetables. My ability to increase awareness of The Nourish Spot’s brand and amplify my voice and the benefits of our menu is due to my extensive background in media and public relations and strategic communications. I have over 25+ years of experience working with global businesses and organizations for which I have developed and implemented innovative, integrated, and multi-channel communications plans to position thought leadership, and communicate value propositions for various corporate units and initiatives. I am also an alumna of Interise, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, NY PACE and WOCSTAR GFS Academy, four prestigious programs that have helped me grow and scale my business.

The accelerator programs have. been extremely beneficial and have helped me increase opportunities for catering and licensing opportunities with corporations and well known brands as well as solidify partnerships with prime partners. In fact, starting August 26, The Nourish Spot will open its concession at the US OPEN.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities, skills, and areas of knowledge that have been most impactful in my entrepreneurship journey have been 1) networking; 2) public relations and marketing; and 3) interpersonal skills.

Practice makes perfect is the advice that I offer folks that are early in their journey. Also “treat people as you wish to be treated” is another piece of advice and last, promote, promote, promote and then promote your business some more. Never stop telling others about the benefits of your entrepreneurial venture.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

One challenge we are currently facing is securing a partnership with a co-packer that can not only help us make our juices but bottle, label and warehouse and ship mass quantities to large retailers.

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