Exploring Life & Business with Kayla Hall of Generation Of Substance and Go Hookah Atl

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Hall.

Hi Kayla, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Like a good percentage of successful entrepreneurs, I didn’t have the best childhood. I grew up in a small poverty-stricken city flint Michigan. While growing up, I always knew I would be successful, but at the time, success was measured on such a mediocre level considering the type of life I experienced growing up. When you think of the struggle, I can honestly say I’ve experienced more than most. Homelessness, welfare, catching public transportation everywhere, food giveaways, literally everything. I was raised by my aunt and older sister until 7th grade. Dad was never in the picture, and my mom had her fair share of mental health issues causing her to not be as active as I think she would have. I didn’t complain, and I was always grateful because even though my life wasn’t perfect, I was surrounded by love and I always cherished that.

Moving up to high school, I had experienced much more freedom living with my mom, but with that came a lack of guidance. I had always been very academically driven and always an over-achiever when it came to school. My whole life, I always had an attachment to basketball, and that was kind of my happy place. I had even considered playing in college. Well, shortly after, When was 16 my whole world came crashing down! I was 16 and pregnant. At the time, I was super immature and didn’t understand the severity and how much my life would be changing in the blink of an eye, but boy did it. I had my child a few days before my 17th birthday, and it felt like my life had actually just started. I knew that I didn’t want to fall victim to being a statistical 16 and pregnant high school dropout. My senior year rolled around and it was time to buckle my belt and really start paving away. I doubled up on core classes, eliminating all of my electives and took my kid to school with me on the bus just to graduate EARLY.

I finished high school six months ahead of my class and realized it was time to move and start my future somewhere else. Shortly after graduating in February 2015 me and my older sister decided we would move to Atlanta Georgia, to see what life could offer. Once settled in I immediately got enrolled in college and had me a job at a local fast-food restaurant but I knew I wanted more. A few years passed, and I ended up moving from job to job, trying to gain lots of skills and knowledge. I had finally landed me a great job with benefits, and I was able to purchase my first home here in Georgia at 20 years old! It felt surreal but I still wasn’t satisfied. I knew I wanted to have my own businesses and start to create generation wealth. My goal was to always be able to give back the knowledge and experience I had gained to help out younger adults with similar paths like mine. I just never knew it would all come so quickly. I’d been developing Generation Of Substance since late 2019. I wanted to perfect it before offering any services, so I started writing and finding resources that could add value.

Of course, we know 2020 March the pandemic came. Everything was at a standstill. Work, hanging out with friends, loved ones, vacationing, literally everything. Now one thing that everyone here in Atlanta knows is that people here love to have a good time and they ABSOLUTELY love some hookah. So mid-April, I sat back and just started brainstorming an innovative way to get the “Atlanta experience “ from home. I decided I would start a portable hookah company. In June, I ended up launching my business and it was sensational from Atlanta to Michigan and soon the word got out and I was shipping to almost every state. At that point when they were in such high demand, I started adding more products to my collections and business was GREAT. Now for me, I always would sit back and think of how to make something even better and with covid cases dropping business started to slow down just a little because Atlanta opened back up. I had to find another way to scale my business. I started off doing my first vendor event. It was cool but it wasn’t the niche I was looking for.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it has been a smooth road, but I’m a firm believer of everything happens for a reason. Sometimes I feel like we will get tested and sometimes have to get everything taken away to realize something wasn’t our destined journey. Sometimes God will remove things and people out of your life who have been blocking your vision in order for you to get to where you need to be. When that time comes, you have to be ready to let go and blossom.