In 2013, Kelisha Mills went through one of the most trying financial, emotional and mental experiences of her life. Since then she has vowed she would never again find herself in a situation where she was not in control of her finances.
Having been forced to close down the business she had painstakingly built with her husband Colin, give up her home and, to some extent, her independence, her despair made her determined to look within herself to find a way out of that dark place, and she was pleasantly surprised at what she found.
"If you thought the living through the pandemic was difficult, try moving in with your in mother-in-law with four children in tow. With a downturn in the economy and our main client being government, it posed a lot of challenges financially...I was depressed and kept asking myself, 'how could I find myself in this situation at 35?' That year on my birthday I couldn’t even buy myself an ice cream. I asked God what to do, and realised I had to figure out how to get myself out of this situation. By the end of the day I had an entire plan written out, including all the things I am good at, I identified what got me to this point and what could possibly get me out. I started working on the goal and here I am today."
Mills and her husband live in Tobago and have restarted their procurement business supplying office furniture and stationery, and health and safety items such as hand sanitiser, masks and batteries to government agencies. They also do office design and outfitting, and provide IT software, computers, tablets and bags.
[caption id="attachment_975642" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kelisha Mills with three of her four children, from left, Gabriella, David and Joshua. Mills created the Ultimate Mompreneur Planner for mothers who are entrepreneurs. Photo by Kyle Archibald -[/caption]
"I've been doing procurement since the age of 19 because I like it. In 2020 I got my degree in management with a major in entrepreneurship from UWI, St Augustine," Mills told WMN.
But, she said, other unexpected treasures trailed behind her out of that hole, among them her appreciation for the need for community and having people to talk to and share experiences. She said she used social media, starting with a Facebook page, to connect with other mothers who were in similar position, put her own story out there and started to build on that community. She is now on Instagram and has a website kelishamills.com through with she keeps the community connected.
"Our community is called Kingdom Women International, because it's not limited to women in TT. We now have about 800 women sharing about life and business challenges. We discuss things like increasing confidence in yourself, how to start you business, how to not go through things in silence on your own. I've invited experts in different fields to share with these women through tele and online summits."
For her, though, one of the things of which she is most proud is a planner she created, the Ultimate Mompreneur Planner, released in 2020 f
