Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenyetta Cheatum.
Hi Kenyetta, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a single mother of two daughters Tatyianna Wells and Arianna Jones of Northport, Alabama. I graduated from Tuscaloosa County High School class of 1998. I started my journey back in 2014. I came up with a mentoring program called Big Sistas w/ Purpose to fight against bullying and low self-esteem in little girls and plus-size females. The program was inspired by my oldest daughter, whom was being bullying in elementary school for being bigger than her classmate. My daughter use to come home and cry all the time, stating that she wasn’t pretty enough, and her classmate would call her fat. My daughter would always tell me mommy, “I want to beautiful just like you”. I had to come up with something that not only motivated her, but other young women like her as well. Hence, Big Sistas w/ Purpose was created. In this program, I would put together fashion shows during the summer so that I can have females of all ages come together to dress up and strut their stuff down a runway. This helped build so much confidence in the youth and young women that participated within the shows. I wanted every young lady that I inspire through this program to know that no matter your size, race, background or culture you are wonderfully and beautifully created.
I started in the pageant world as Ms. Tuscaloosa Plus America 2015 where I used my organization to promote my platform of Anti-bullying awareness and self-confidence. I am the former Mrs. Tuscaloosa Plus America 2017, former Mrs. Women Business Leaders and Entrepreneur 2018, former Ultimate Queen of Women Business Leaders and Entrepreneur 2019, former Lifetime Queen of Women Business Leaders and Entrepreneur 2021, and former charity pageant award winner of Alzheimer’s. I am the current reigning Ms. Crimson Woman American Beauties Plus 2023.
In 2016, I was awarded Woman of the Year award by DeAngela Pippen of D’ownHer LLC
In 2017, Award the Footprint in the City Award by Mrs. Barbara Cross and Mr. Bruce Steele
In 2018, Published and co-wrote “If These Walls Could Talk by Victoria Necole and ten other amazing authors
In 2018, Graduated University of Phoenix with Associate of Science
2019 Mayor Walt Maddox written Proclamation for “Stop the Violence” Youth rally.
2020 Graduated with Bachelor Business Management
2021 co-wrote ” Look at Me Now by Rose A Walker and 18 other amazing authors.
2021 Published my own booked “You Are More than Enough, A Queens Cry”.
I am a mentor, inspiring model, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and currently working on Master of Public Administration Degree. I am recently inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road for me; however, I have always been inspired to go above and beyond my goals and dreams. I actually started my vision in 2011 when I lost my biggest fan, supporter and best friend, my mom. I had to place my vision and dreams on hold for a little while. Not having her in my life was one of the biggest challenges for me. A few years later I had to get back to my dreams and goals. I needed to be there for my daughters and other youth to keep them motivated and encouraged along the way.
Some of the struggles that I had along the way was finding the right support system to show me which way to go to make my vision come to light. Being that I was new to the business world I didn’t have a clue of where to begin, I had to research information to make my program what it is.
There were struggles with finances along the way. We created fundraisers in order to put together shows and events for the youth. There were struggles just getting the business out there and people knowing who you are. There were personal struggles on my own part with my health. With bullying being a serious situation, there were struggles in who to contact or connect with to make sure that the mentoring program was available for support for youth within the local community. I believe that the youth that I mentor kept me motivated because they needed the support system from me, and I needed them to make my vision come to life. It took a lot of prayers, dedication, sacrifices, tears, sometimes sleepless night, and faith to get where I am.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My organization was created for young women who deal with bullying and low self-esteem or confidence. My organization was inspired by my own daughter who was bullied in school for being bigger than another classmate. Since then, I have incorporated girls, women, boys, and men because we all have faced some type of confidence issue or bullying regardless of who we are. Big Sistas w Purpose is a organization that reaches out to schools and communities to mentor to youth whenever asked. We are in the process of revamping the program at this time. We have not been active since Covid, but we are looking to relaunch in October which is Bullying Awareness Month. We are known for participating in community events and giving back whenever possible, participating in local parades, having fashion shows to help build self-confidence in our community, as well as the stop the violence youth rallies within the community.
To me what set us apart is that we are fighting for bullying awareness that is not talked about unless someone loses a child. What set us apart are the different creativity that we have in letting the youth express themselves freely all while learning who they are. What sets us apart is knowing that the youth that comes into the program have friends that are going through the same thing as them but not looked at differently. I am very proud of my brand and the amazing support that we have had throughout the years that we didn’t have when we first got started. It has allowed me to participate in many pageants to share my story all over the world in different platforms such as news articles, magazines, social media, shows and more.
What I want the readers to know is that we are looking forward to relaunching our program again and this time coming stronger than ever. I have a vision and plan written out for a youth center that will offer many benefits and opportunities for our youth of the community. Stay tuned for more details.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
The advice that I have as far as finding a mentor is to always make sure that you connect with like-minded people. Make sure you have people that will motivate and support you as well as you do this in return for them. My mentor has always been a minister that I go too for prayer and guidance. There are so many obstacles that may occur throughout the process of you trying to accomplish you goals and dreams. As for me, I knew I needed to connect with more youth, so I had to go within the school system. I became a adopted school partner where I had more chances to reach more youth. When it comes down to networking start going to support other local organizations and doing community service events to help promote your business. If you cannot physically be there and you are able to send a financial donation or whatever they need to make their event a success, then do that because just a small token will go a long way. Social media is a big tool also to use to help build your business and brand. Promote yourself even if it is just one like or share a day, share and tag family and friends daily. Do things within the community to help get more exposure. Always write down small term goals and big terms goals and allow yourself time so that you can be prepared to be successful. Try to at least focus on the short-term goals in a week and one big term within a month. Take small steps and eventually you will be where you want to be in life.
I would like to close with saying thank you so much for this amazing opportunity to share my story and I hope that it encourages, motivates and inspire others to follow their dreams and goals as well. I am truly grateful and honored for such amazing opportunity.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bigsistaswpurpose?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kenyetta.cheatum.9?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenyetta-cheatum-292881a5
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/Bigsistaswpurpose?mibextid=ZbWKw
Image Credits
Photos by Latonya Spence of Memorial moments, D Jerome Smedley Photograhy, WDDLK Photos by Tatyianna Wells, Roger Stephenson photography
