career exploration & workforce development ... FOR GIRLS!
Kelly graduated from college with a degree in Social Work and worked in that field for about 6 years. She then switched gears and got into medical sales before deciding to start her own business. She owned retail bra boutiques for 10+ years and had made plans to exit that business to help her son get into professional drag racing as he turned 18. She did a virtual sports bra fitting for a top fuel driver out of California and later met up with her in person at Lincoln Electric’s booth at a PRI event in Indianapolis. Their marketing director was at the booth and overheard their conversation and asked if she would be able to make flame-resistant bras. Before she could answer her husband, who had made the trip with her, said YES and the rest is HERstory! Ever since she has been in creating women’s safety apparel and says that it was an exciting transition taking what she already knew and applying it to a different industry!
When asked if she has ever felt out of place in the workforce because she is a woman Kelly says that when she was younger, she felt insecure in situations when she was in a room with mostly men. She feels that it was her own fears and mindset that made her feel this way and not anything that the men around her did. She says that she believed that men were the more dominant presence and that she probably wasn’t good enough to be able to do what they did. Those feelings eventually subsided and now she has no problem commanding a room no matter what the ratio of men-to-women is.
Along her way Kelly has had a great support system. Her mom and dad (Ken & Joann) supported her ideas and encouraged her to try and achieve the plans she set out for herself from starting a lemonade stand when she was six years old to starting Seraphina Safety Apparel. They had faith in her which gave her the wings she needed to be able to try and fly and says that it is because of them that she learned to soar. Her husband, Mark, and sons, Andrew and Daniel, who live in the chaos of her life adventures, have always showered her with nothing but love and support. She has also found her biggest cheerleaders in her siblings (Kerri, Kenny, and Kevin) and friends Christine Vlosich and Lisa Schumacher who keep her grounded in her roots and give her a passageway to being her authentically weird self all the time. When it comes to last-minute cries for help her talented friend Anne Monroe is always there to answer and sews the most wonderful samples for her. When she did her first national exhibit her friend Wanda Griffing jumped on a plane and met her in San Diego to help with her exhibit. She says that she often asks herself what she did to be so fortunate to be surrounded by such an amazing circle of people.
Kelly says that if she could go back and give her 18-year-old self some advice it would be to do what you believe and not what others believe you need to do. Trust your gut and never forget that the only way you lose is if you quit. She would also tell her that anything can be accomplished if you decide you are going to do it and take action toward it. The smallest step forward is still forward movement in the direction of your dreams!
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