Nicole Kenney, who is 31 years old, has made significant progress and continues to follow her passion of uniting Black women. She had graduated from Smith University, earned a master’s degree in public policy from Johns Hopkins, worked as an assistant buyer for a Ross Stores division in New York, and interned for nonprofits in Washington, D.C., including the national NAACP.
She was, however, mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted. She argued with her doctor when he said it was stress. “I didn’t know your mental health could impact your physical health.” When her aunt came to a visit, she said something that stuck: “The last place you need to be when you’re in a low place is by yourself.”
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Kenney returned to her hometown of Philadelphia, lived with her aunt, attended a class on filmmaking for social change, and produced a movie about three Black women—her mother, her aunt, and a mentor—discussing how to have a more balanced life. Since then, she has been developing a brand-new form of success that is based on the strategy she employed to refocus.
Kenney then established “Hey Auntie!”, a community and digital wellness platform that unites Black women from all ages and phases of life, as she had stated, the community is to, “learn the rules, gain the tools, and build the network to thrive at home, work, and everywhere in between.” Kenney discussed the elder women in her life, safe places, and the strength of community with Fortune.
Kenney explains how the community works by stating, ”Black women sign up to be part of our community at heyauntie.io, and join in one of our community-building features, like our Lela’s Corners. Each month we connect groups of six women—half over 50 and a half under—for two to three virtual sessions, each focused on a different topic.”
While adding, “This past month, the topics were: your word of the year, your song of the year, and your growth area for the year. I’ve been moderating them and doing an icebreaker to help women get to know each other, but eventually, the groups will be self-sustaining. Our community is national, even global, but we’re experimenting with various in-person connection models in our home base of Philadelphia.”
When questioned about how she knew that the idea of “Hey Auntie!” would be a success, she noted, “The film resonated, resulting in requests to show it at meetings of church groups, companies, colleges and universities, and at the Congressional Caucus on Black Women & Girls Mental Health Briefing in Washington D.C. Even before our official launch, Hey Auntie! won the $50,000 grand prize in the Well City Challenge, a Philadelphia competition around solutions for millennial health. I’m proudest when members of our Hey Auntie! family say they feel safe, connected, and supported in navigating their lives. And they are having fun! These are the ingredients necessary to thrive. These indicators represent the ethos of the auntie.”
In response to what drives her to be the entrepreneur and community builder that she is today, Kenny highlighted her family as an influence towards her current stance, “I come from a family of faith that deeply believes in living and working to advance the well-being of others. My dad is a lawyer and also a deacon at my childhood church. I’ve watched him serve and care for the community in so many ways, both personally and professionally, all of my life.
“For the longest time, I didn’t think I was an entrepreneur. When I tried to sell candy at school and was shut down, it made me think I didn’t have it!
“But then I think of my mom and the magazine she started for urban teenage girls of faith, and it reminds me that it was there all along. She transitioned out of her career in sales and did something wildly outside of her comfort zone. I learned from watching her. She assembled a group of us, teenage Black girls together, and empowered us to create annual conferences and content that mattered to us. She created an infrastructure for us to share our stories and build community while also developing life skills like leadership and public speaking.”
She explained, “My mom has a very close relationship with her sister, my auntie, who has a 40-plus-year career as a public health nurse. And I have three incredibly brilliant and gifted younger sisters. So I’ve always been in this empowering community of girls supporting girls, women supporting women, and being of service to the community.”
Kenny also shared an event where she was inspired by an auntie who contributed to the woman she is today, “My auntie is the one who told my mom about a high school, Hallahan High School for Girls, she thought I should go to, and that changed my life. So that was the first time, in an academic environment, I was in a diverse community of girls like me. That changed the trajectory of my life. I ended up going to Smith, where I learned so much from being around women who are change agents, who want to be global leaders.”
Kenny shared a key piece of advice that she swore to live by, “One of my pastors and a woman entrepreneur I know both said the same thing, and it stuck with me: “If your dream only includes you, it’s not big enough.” The fact that I need a community to do this work tells me I’m on the right track. I was caught up in the do-it-yourself, competitive culture where there’s not enough for everyone. It wasn’t until I had my health issue and had to come back home that I rediscovered the power of community.”
Kenny speaks on the importance of having intergenerational conversations with women from the Black community with an extension to community health and well-being, “community Many Black women suffer in silence. But when you begin to talk, you begin to recognize that it’s not just you. There’s a lot of shame and isolation that can come with the feeling that you’re the only one.
“I’ve talked to mental health professionals, and they’re the first to tell me that therapy cannot be the only tool in the toolbox. There have to be safe spaces for conversations to happen and for communities to be built and sustained. And with Black women in particular, finding safe communities to ask for help or just share the ups, downs, and even in-betweens, of life can be extremely difficult. Am I going to be believed or gaslighted?”
When asked “Does anything surprise you?” she responded, “I’ve been most encouraged by the diversity of people who have supported the vision. I have been enthusiastically supported by Black women who are diverse in age, and I also have been supported by many non-Black women—white folks, men—who understand we need safe and culturally competent solutions to support Black women in being healthy and achieving their full potential today and for generations to come.”
In closing the interview Kenny was questioned about “Hey Auntie!” future she remarked, “ I want to raise $1.5 million to help us go to market. The vision is to be able to connect tens of thousands of women all over the world.”
