SuccessByKersaint | Vision & Purpose LifeStyle Magazine January/February 2022

SUCCESSBYKERSAINT

Rodney Kersaint, CEO

By Michelle B. Hauser and Dr. Sharon H. Porter

Photos by James Adell Photography

Q&A with Rodney Kersaint

RK: My greatest motivation and inspiration will be some people I lost that were close to my heart that supported me since day one. Rashad Williams, James Chery, and my loving grandmother Nahdele Pierre Phillipe. They all saw the vision and supported me. I used to be down to my last dollar and they would call and place orders from me.

V&P: What or who do you consider your greatest motivation and inspiration as an entrepreneur?

V&P: Please share what Success stands for and why you chose this as the basis for your businesses?

RK: Success is an acronym, which stands for Stand Up Create Change Every Single Second. I chose SUCCESS as a basis for my business because growing up in my community I saw a lot of negative influences. I saw some family members, friends, and myself heading in the wrong direction and I wanted to inspire change with a powerful word and a cool clothing line attached to influence our people. So that every time they wear the brand they are motivated to aim towards success every day and not let anything distract or deter them from achieving their own version of Success.

MOST IMPORTANT LESSON...

V&P: What is the most important lesson you have learned over your career?

RK: The most important lesson I’ve learned over my career is to have faith and believe in you even in the darkest of moments. As an entrepreneur, you will experience some tough losses but you have to get up every day and act like yesterday's losses don’t exist. Also, build sincere relationships because those will be the catalyst to move you from point A to B.

V&P: Who has been an important mentor to you?

RK: An Important mentor to me is Halsey Minor. I met him while being homeless in Los Angeles. He took me under his wings and mentored me for years. He also was one of the first people to believe in my brand and invested in me.

I will forever be thankful because he did that out of love and didn’t have to. We are from two different worlds but he saw something special in me I didn’t see in myself, especially at the moment I met him.

V&P: What's next for Rodney Kersaint?

RK: I will continue pushing the brand and building it into a billion dollar company one day. I want to inspire and motivate children that look like me or may have had a troubled youth. I will speak at more schools and also get the brand in major stores. My goal is to have athletes and celebrities wear the brand.

My perfect vision would also be to create a resource center for children so they can have access to learning about different businesses at an early age. I feel kids just need love, attention, and to learn how to make money the legal way. They can avoid a lot of the pitfalls found in our neighborhoods.