Meet Trailblazer Kennedy Benjamin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kennedy Benjamin.

So, before we jump into specific questions about what you do, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
If I could explain everything that has led me to where I am today, we would be here for hours! Currently, I am a journalism student with a concentration in multimedia reporting at Georgia State University who traveled all the way from a small town in Maryland to achieve my dreams in the big city of Atlanta.

For years, I always tried to run away from my gifts. My parents had me in dance classes from the age of 3, so I’ve always loved performing. At the young age of seven, I remember writing movie scripts and setting up my parents’ camcorder to record skits and dance routines. In middle school, I discovered video editing and started editing music videos that I had filmed! I even started a YouTube channel where I had a few hundred followers. I made the mistake of deleting it due to severe embarrassment from all of the random videos I had, but it was the start of realizing my gift. When I was 12, my life changed when I got a letter to do a pageant. I always admired what seemed to be glamorous so I begged my parents to participate. I ended up winning Miss Pre-Teen Washington, D.C. and went on to the Nationals competition in Orlando to win 3rd-Runner Up. With these achievements, I was offered a modeling and an acting contract. Performing and being in front of the camera was something that I adored so I pursued modeling up until the year after I graduated from high school. Although I was able to do some amazing things such as walk-in New York Fashion Week and work with NARS Cosmetics, it slowly destroyed my confidence along the way.

Now, as I’ve started to regain myself, I returned back to what I knew best. I pushed off editing and all things having to do with journalism for years. As I’m finally tapping into my gifts again at a more mature period of my life, I can focus on what I love. Although I dabble in many areas since I don’t like to limit myself to anything, I now have a more tailored list of interests such as video production, writing, social & digital media management, graphic design, marketing, public relations and more importantly, entrepreneurship.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth? I’m not so sure what that is, but I’ve found the beauty in the pressing. I loved modeling so much that I got consumed into it and the opinions of those who ultimately hired me. After hearing no after no, I started looking for the acceptance of others more than I already had throughout my life. I always had anxiety, but having people constantly criticize me shot it through the roof and I ended up slipping into depression. Something as small as my friends joking around with me used to frustrate me to the point where I would just end up crying at the end of my days. Crying became an everyday habit and I never felt like I was good enough. I ended up pulling away from so many friends because of my anxiety.

When I started college after taking a gap year to model, I decided to live like a normal college student. I forgot about my dream of being a model and started to have fun… a lot of fun. My family was 10 hours away from me and I felt so empty. I hated talking about my problems with people because I have a bad history of people making it seem like my problems weren’t real problems, so it all ended up being bottled up inside. I lost my faith in my religion and slowly after started losing myself. I was clueless and still had an undecided major at the end of my freshman year. This is fine for most students, but being that I was attending university out-of-state, my parents were paying out-of-state funds and didn’t have much room for indecisiveness. The pressure was on! I constantly had mental breakdowns and struggled so much with my mental health that I was finally convinced to see a therapist at the end of my sophomore year. I did all of this without communicating anything with my parents because I didn’t want them to worry about me and make me come home. I’m thankful that I had a few people around me that supported me throughout this because I could not do it alone.

I’m living day-by-day now and focusing on my mental health! My confidence is coming back to me, but it has been far from easy. I compared myself to everyone for so long that it was a hard habit to break and using social media to brand myself doesn’t make it any better. For anyone starting their journey, mental health is real and very important! Your thoughts become reality. Pay attention to who you are associating yourself with because you are the sum of the people closest to you and you have the power to acknowledge this and act accordingly. If you ignore mental health as I did for so many years, it could turn into something irreversible. Also, please remember that therapy and spirituality can co-exist.

I could talk about my experience with my mental health for days and I send love to those struggling.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Currently, I’m a freelance journalist and a college student. Anything from writing, to social media marketing, to video production, to graphic design, I’m the girl you’re looking for! There is a lot that I’ve been working on and I have no idea how to present it to the public although I’m working on a website right now that will act as my digital portfolio! I have an internship as a video production intern but outside of that, I help others whenever I am needed.

As for myself, I just launched a YouTube series that I’ve been running from for a year! It’s entitled Finding Atlanta and I highlight different people, restaurants and places around the city. I’m able to get to know different people and I’m working on my video skills! I’m proud of this series because it was a huge leap of faith. Going back to my mental health, I was afraid of what people would think and I finally had to realize that I’m doing this for me, regardless of views or subscribers. There are many things that I have planned for my series and I can’t wait to continue to grow with it.

I believe that my curiosity sets me apart from others. I do not limit myself to anything and I love learning new things. To put it into perspective, I was seriously debating whether or not I wanted to be a sports doctor, a journalist, or to work for the FBI. In one of my previous communications classes, I learned that curiosity is what makes a good journalist so I believe I am on the right track.

We’re interested to hear your thoughts on female leadership – in particular, what do you feel are the biggest barriers or obstacles?
The biggest barrier in female leadership, in general, is that almost every industry is already male-dominated. Although the work stereotypes are slowly starting to diminish, they are still here and it’s something we have to face. Women always rise to the occasion in their field with hard work, but a lot of times we are over-looked just because a male may hold a higher position than us or they may just be biased. This causes missed opportunities and growth for the company because many times, people are constantly overshadowing our ideas. I’m not saying that this is for everybody, but I’ve noticed that many men I’ve worked with have a harder time seeing both sides of a situation unlike a lot of women who can do that naturally.

To overcome this, networking when it comes to becoming a women leader is the most important skill to achieve. My dad recently told me, “You can have ideas and a great vision, but you still need advice on how to get it started. It’s hard to do both and it is why many successful people have a team.” He also always tells me that having a mentor in your field at every decade in age (30s, 40s, 50s, etc) is crucial for being a leader.

When people say “networking is everything,” they really mean it! Especially when it comes to a competitive field like journalism in such an opportunity-filled city as Atlanta. I’m a very outgoing person but for a while, I was never the type of person to ask people for anything because I felt like I may be bothering them or that they might simply say “no.” As I’ve gotten deeper into my career, I’ve learned that people that have been in the industry you’re looking into LOVE to help! Most of them have tips and resources stored that they are waiting to pass on to those who are willing to ask. In fact, I met a woman a month ago who sent me an entire guide to resources that she gives beginners in the field to prepare for the industry out of college!

What got me out of my comfort zone was attending my first convention during the summer prior to my sophomore year in college. It was a national conference for journalists with people that worked at almost every TV network and company you could think of! Although I knew I wasn’t prepared with a lengthy resume or an exemplary video reel, I forced myself to go just to learn how to network. It was terrifying at first and sometimes, I wished I did more to talk to everyone that I could, but it was a start! Stepping out of my comfort zone never felt so good. Since then, I’ve remained in contact with a few people that I met at the convention and they still offer me opportunities to this day. With every internship and job opportunity that I’m presented with now, I make sure that I am forcing myself to ask the deep questions that may have previously frightened me. Asking for help or resources is never a bad thing, and I had to learn that.

Contact Info:

• Website: kenneliza.com (coming soon)
• Email: kennedy@kenneliza.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kennelizaaa/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kennedy.benjamin.7
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennedy-benjamin-8ab42680/

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