Today we’d like to introduce you to Kinda Velloza-Monkhouse.
Hi Kinda, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised in Guyana, South America. I graduated from high school at age 15 and at age 16, I was recognized as the youngest TV Reporter/Journalist in my country. By age 18, I paved the way for online news when I created and launched Berbicenews.com, the country’s first-ever online News Website and Agency.
I was in the height of my career with both journalism and politics when my petition to live permanently in the USA was approved. I moved to the USA at age 24 in June of 2009 and enrolled at the Bronx Community College in NY in Fall of that year. I majored in Criminal Justice and formed the school’s first-ever Criminal Justice Club where I served as President until my transfer to John Jay College of Criminal Justice. After my first semester at John Jay, I was invited to join the college accelerated degree program where I graduated in Spring of 2014 with both my Bachelors in Criminal Justice and my Masters in Public Administration cum laude.
In the summer of 2014, I was accepted into Charlotte School of Law, located in North Carolina. I was enrolled as a part-time evening student with a graduation date set for Spring 2018 but after persistently taking extra classes during the breaks, including Christmas and the Summer, I managed to graduate one year early and months before the law school lost its ABA accreditation and federal funding.
I moved to Georgia after graduating in Spring of 2017, sat for the Georgia Bar Exam and passed on my first try. Since taking the Attorney oath in December of 2017, life was never the same. I secured an Associate Attorney position at a large Immigration Law Firm January of 2018 and I’ve been rocking with the firm and its thousands of clients since. I’ve also founded Velloza and Associates, LLC my own law firm with practice areas in Immigration, Real Estate Closings, Business and Contracts. After learning about the Real Estate process from a legal stance, I ventured into Real Estate Investing, buying, renovating, selling and renting homes both in the USA and UK. I invest in several other areas and frankly these days, I’ve been referring to myself as an Entrepreneur.
In regard to my private life, I’m happily married to my best friend and I have an amazing 16 year old who is in his school’s honor program. Life is Great
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
By no means where I am today was a smooth road. But my struggles, hurdles and obstacles were personal, like going through a divorce and child custody battle while in law school, my law school losing federal funding and me having to figure out how to survive for almost a year, including paying for bar preparation classes and the bar application without any finance.. 2017 was my most challenging year but like I noted, everything was personal and I overcame it all.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Velloza and Associates, LLC?
Velloza and Associates, LLC is a law firm based in Atlanta, GA but provides immigration services to African and Caribbean Clients in any part of the country or world for that matter.
Essentially what I do is bring and keep families together. For example, If a husband is a US citizen that met his wife while he was vacationing in Jamaica, my job is to navigate the US federal immigration system to get her here to join her husband. Or if a Jamaican visited the US on a tourist visa and fell in love with a US citizen, then it’s my job to keep the Jamaican here in the US, legally and permanently to live with her newfound love. Immigration is tricky and it’s more to it than what is shown in the media.
Honestly, what sets me apart from a lot of other Immigration Attorneys is the fact that I am an immigrant born and raised in a third world country, so I can empathize with and understand every aspect of what my client is going through because I’ve walked this walk before and I understand the immigration process from being a part of it. Not that many Immigration attorneys can say they have personally endured the process, their parents maybe, but them personally.
I’m proud of me being my brand, me representing what I represent and me coming from where I came from, I’m proud of that.
Other than Immigration, I also do Real estate Closings and I draft air-tight contracts. I don’t like ambiguity, so I leave no room in contracts for anything to me misinterpreted. I also do business law along the lines of forming LLCs, registering EINs and overall guidance for new entrepreneurs.
What’s next?
My future plans are extensive, too much to list but I will say this, my end result is retiring in 20 years or less, remigrating to my native country of Guyana and serving as the Minister of the Home Affairs Ministry, it’s a position equivalent to the Secretary of State in the US and ultimately running for President of Guyana. That’s my future in a nutshell.
Remember, I have a degree in Criminal Justice and I purposefully Mastered in Public Administration because my intent was made known even prior to migrating to the USA. My colleagues from my Political Party back home supported my moves and honestly, the plan was to move back after Law School but I needed to put solid plans in place first and I’m still working on those plans, so until then I will be here.
Contact Info:
- Email: kinda@vellozalaw.com
- Website: www.vellozalaw.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/immigrationlawyeru.s.a/
Image Credits:
Photo by Eyes of Aries
