Episode notes
Kenisha Pough, founder and CEO of Momentum and Co, a marketing and communications agency, discussed her diverse background and career journey. Born in Bermuda, she moved to Ecuador for missionary work and later to England. Her education includes degrees from Bermuda College, Temple University, and DeVry University. Kenisha emphasized the importance of servant leadership and adapting quickly in business. She integrates AI tools like GPT-3, Copy.ai, and Jasper.ai in her work. Kenisha advises aspiring entrepreneurs to approach business with an open mind and to focus on progress over perfection. She enjoys exploring the arts, particularly music, and can be reached via her website, LinkedIn, email, and Instagram.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 00:07
Hello, hi, how are you? I'm
Kenisha Pough 00:10
good. I'm good. How about yourself?
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 00:12
Good, good. It's great to meet you. Yeah, likewise. Kenisha, right, yes.
Kenisha Pough 00:17
Kenisha. Kenisha,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 00:18
all right. Gotcha glad I asked my name is Kerel. It's nice to meet you. Kerel, nice
Kenisha Pough 00:23
to meet you as well.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 00:26
And you are based in the UK.
Kenisha Pough 00:28
Yes, that's right, in Birmingham, UK, alright.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 00:31
So it is 8pm Yes,
Kenisha Pough 00:34
okay, yeah, yeah, I know what a time difference, right? Yeah.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 00:39
Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm based in Edison, New Jersey, so I'm on the East Coast, just outside of Manhattan.
Kenisha Pough 00:47
Oh, wow. Okay, nice, cool.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 00:53
Sorry. Just give me a minute to get yeah set up here.
Kenisha Pough 00:57
Yep, take your time.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 01:00
Yeah. Alright, let's see. So I'll be doing this one solo today. My co host, Eric, he had a little bit of an emergency so he couldn't make it. I didn't want to reschedule on you last minute. So okay, we're fine. We'll we'll do we'll have a great conversation. We like to run the podcast just as like we're talking here now. Okay, and you know, a lot of it is about you. You know, your upbringing, your background, the work you do today, so on and so forth. The cool thing about this being recorded is we can go back and edit it out later. Okay, so if there's anything that you said that you don't want out there. We can take that out. If you want to redo a part, we can do that as well too. It's, it's pretty easy and simple.
Kenisha Pough 01:49
Okay, nice.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 01:52
Cool, cool. Any questions for me before we jump in?
Kenisha Pough 01:57
Um, I know I probably should have access an email, but as I was reviewing the notes for today, I said, Oh, it really wasn't much there in terms of topic, of what we're discussing, but you've told me now that it's just mainly upbringing, and then what you're doing now, pretty much, yeah,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 02:12
yeah. So, you know, we'll start off with, like, Where were you born and raised? We'll talk about sort of, you know, growing up. Obviously, I want to ask you about your company, momentum and CO, right? I'll have like, some questions just about your professional growth and development. I'll throw in a couple of marketing questions. I saw that you are on a podcast, empowered, yes? So I want to ask you some some AI marketing questions. And,
Kenisha Pough 02:47
okay, yeah, sounds easy, yeah. Cool,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 02:50
cool, cool. Alright, so just so that I have this right and I make sure I introduce you the right way. Kenisha, Pough Kenisha, Pough, Kenisha Pough, okay, yeah, this is why. This is why I asked.
Kenisha Pough 03:06
And it's okay, because growing up, let me tell you that my last name was always like, pretty much screwed up. Pough. Pough, you name it,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 03:16
well as someone again, my name is Kerel, as someone who has had their name mispronounced over the years. I try to get people's names right. So, yeah,
Kenisha Pough 03:26
awesome, because I actually thought your name was Carol, when I saw it. There you go. I said, Okay, Carol, Yeah, correct. And
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 03:34
then would you like to be introduced as founder and CEO of momentum and Co? Sure.
Kenisha Pough 03:40
That's okay. Okay. All
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 03:42
right, cool. All right. Well, if there are no other questions, we can go ahead and jump in and get started and have a great conversation.
Kenisha Pough 03:53
Yeah, that sounds good. So the podcast is just available on your website, like Minority Report podcast.com,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 04:01
yeah, so it's, it's on, it's on the.com but we also distribute it on Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud as well. And then what we'll do is we'll, we'll take some of the clips, some of the video clips from this discussion, and we'll cut that up, and we use that for promotion, on Instagram, on LinkedIn and on our YouTube channel as well, too. Okay,
Kenisha Pough 04:29
nice, yeah, okay, good, good, good. All
Speaker 1 04:32
right, so let me go ahead and I you. We
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 04:51
want to welcome everyone to another episode of Minority Report podcast with Eric and Kerel today. This is Kerel. I'm flying solo, as Eric's not here. We miss him, but we have outstanding guests with us today. Kenisha Pough, founder and CEO at momentum and Co. Welcome to the podcast.
Kenisha Pough 05:13
Thanks, Kerel, I'm happy to be here. Yeah,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 05:16
happy to happy to have you on and looking forward to an awesome conversation. Um, why don't we start off by jumping in and you telling me the audience a little bit about where were you born and raised?
Kenisha Pough 05:29
Okay, great. Thanks for asking. Well, I was born and raised in a small little island off the coast of South and North Carolina. It's called Bermuda,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 05:39
yeah. So know it, know it well. I can't say that I know it well, but what I will say is my family and I, we did a trip there for the first time a couple months ago, and really, really enjoyed it. The kids loved it as well, too. Oh, that's
Kenisha Pough 05:55
amazing. That's awesome.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 05:58
Awesome. So you're born and raised in Bermuda, you now live in England. Tell us about, tell us about that. That that move for you. Yeah.
Kenisha Pough 06:08
So originally, yes, I'm from Bermuda, and then I actually went to live abroad in South America. After I had left from Bermuda in 2015 I went to go live abroad in Ecuador, South America. So I was engaged in pretty much missionary work while I was there for four years. And then once I left in 2019 I moved to England.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 06:31
Did you so I'm assuming you learned and picked up Spanish while you were in Ecuador.
Kenisha Pough 06:36
Yes, thankfully, by the help of the people. Yes, it was a journey.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 06:43
I bet I always tell people that I think the smartest people on the planet are those who can speak multiple languages. Because unless you do that, you have no idea. You have no idea how difficult that is to speak multiple languages. Yeah.
Kenisha Pough 06:59
I mean my the amounts of effort that you know that goes into it, walking with dictionaries and trying to communicate when you're grasping for words to try to just explain something simple, using sign language to express. But yeah, with the help and loads of practice and immersion in the culture, it really helped gotcha.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 07:19
Gotcha. So how does so tell us a little bit about your company today. Momentum,
Kenisha Pough 07:26
yeah, so I have my current company. It's called Momentum and CO, and we are marketing and communications agency, so we provide like marketing strategy consultant work for healthcare, tech and financial companies.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 07:44
And how does one go from doing missionary work to providing financial support for companies along marketing and and so on and so forth? Yes,
Kenisha Pough 07:55
yeah, I know, right, yeah. Well, actually, it was quite a quite an easy segue, because having, like had to market myself while I was there, I was teaching English online to support myself. So then, when I moved here to England, I had started marketing myself again because the pandemic had begun, and that's kind of how it took off. I was providing copywriting support to just small businesses who needed help. So many were starting businesses, and they were looking for for help to get their business off the ground and become digital. Everything was turning online, so it kind of was a fairly easy transition into marketing.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 08:32
And as I was doing my research, I saw that you have your education from DeVry University, and how has that influenced your career path, plus the work that you do today?
Kenisha Pough 08:46
Yeah, most definitely. So I started initially at Bermuda College, did two years there, and then I went off to Temple University in Philadelphia. I did another two and a half years there, and following that, I returned home to Bermuda, and I did the Online Education virtual with DeVry University. So that's where I was working towards my master's degree in accountancy and financial management.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 09:14
And then for you, in terms of, again, your career path, your journey from south from Bermuda to South America. Well, there, I think there was a stop in in Philadelphia or in the US, right, yeah, between that, right, yeah. Can you? Is there a place where you say, Okay, this particular event was a pivotal moment in my career journey that, again, helped me get to where I am today.
Kenisha Pough 09:46
That's a good one. I would say, having that international exposure a couple of events, I would say, I know I had the initial exposure of coming to England in my last year of high school as a as a class, we did like a drama trip. So we came to England and we got to perform. So that exposed me to what was available here. And then also we got to visit New York, and at like the United Nations, I was able to see, like so many of these students were so advanced, they were speaking like three and four languages when I was, like 16 or 17, and here we are just learning our second language when they're already surpassed that. So that opened my mind a lot with that international exposure with the languages in the culture. And then also, I would say, when I went off to university as well a professor, like a so what is it? Counselor had come to me, she said, Oh, you know, have you considered doing, like, an immersive program abroad? We have study abroad. And I hadn't really thought about that, but I listened to what she had to say, and we worked it out to where I was able to study abroad. And that experience, I would say, really opened my eyes as well, because here I had exposure to people who were from different parts of like Europe as well as America, because we had the international students and just having that immersive experience living abroad and seeing what's possible. I mean, that just opened up my mind as well to say, Oh, wow, you know what, what's out there and what's available?
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 11:17
Yeah, and I would have to imagine, too, that experience of different cultures, meeting people who are from different backgrounds, speak different languages, approach the world very differently than maybe you do, I would have to imagine that also helps You today, again as a CEO, whether it's leading a team of people or interacting and helping your customers solve problems.
Kenisha Pough 11:49
Exactly, yeah, absolutely it does. Yeah. It does have an impact. What
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 11:53
would you say, speaking of the impact, what would you say are some of the keys to leadership, like, what makes a successful leader?
Kenisha Pough 12:02
Wow, that's a great question. Successful leader, I would say someone who is visionary, but also I do like the concept of servant leadership, where they're not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get the work done as well. It's not head honcho, but okay, I'm the leader, and I'm going to show the example of what needs to be done. So I do appreciate that. I think that makes a very good leader. Of course, there's other qualities as well as humility and and listening and compassion and empathy for the next person, as well as, you know, the the concrete skills. But I would say servant leadership is a great way to describe good leadership.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 12:42
What have you learned about yourself as a founder and CEO?
Kenisha Pough 12:49
That's a good one myself. Wow. During the process, I've learned that I have to move really quickly when it comes to taking an idea, from an idea to actually executing on it. I realized that, whoa, I'm actually moving slowly when someone else was doing something within had things taken off within a matter of, like, a couple of weeks or a couple of months, and I'm here taking months to get something done. I'm like, it helps you to realize, like, oh, okay, I'm moving too slow, so I need to speed up. And also getting rid of the perfectionism. I like to have things together, you know, I want it to look a certain way, but as a founder, that might not always be possible. So you have to just be okay with something scrappy and and in process, and just being okay with it and not worrying about anybody else's opinion.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 13:39
Yeah, I totally agree with you on that one, that that's something that I am constantly aware of as a leader and as an executive at my organization, is things don't have to be perfect. We have to get things to a good enough place where we can move forward. Because, you know, if you spend time trying to make something perfect, then you may never progress, right? Yeah,
Kenisha Pough 14:03
absolutely, yeah, you're right, and that, and that lack of progression is what stalls, and it creates so many other different problems. So it's best just to put it out there. Let the market dictate. You know, the market, the market
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 14:15
will tell you whether they like it or not.
Kenisha Pough 14:17
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 14:22
Want to talk about AI as specifically AI marketing, because it is a hot topic right now. AI tools and systems are only continuing to get better and will become more and more of not only everyone's life from a business perspective, but probably from a personal perspective as well, too. And I know that you were on a podcast empowered by AI, and on that podcast, you talked about using AI for business growth. Can you share insights on integrating AI into marketing strategies? Oh,
Kenisha Pough 15:00
yeah, definitely, yeah. AI is very helpful. Quite a few of the softwares that I do use actually incorporate AI so it makes it easier to reach the customer. Some softwares I know on that podcast, I didn't mention some of them that I use. I've used gamma in the past. I've used like copy, AI, Jasper, AI and a few others, just to get some things done more efficiently. And it's just really been a game changer, being able to incorporate artificial intelligence. And I'm still exploring, because I don't know everything, and things are constantly moving. So it's like, okay, how can I streamline this workflow, or how can I incorporate this particular tool so that I can get like, 10x the results within this, you know, a less amount of time. But I'm excited about AI. I'm not against it, I but I also feel that the human still needs to be involved in the process.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 15:55
Yes, yeah, yeah. I agree with you. I mean, there's a saying that I really love. Because, you know, a lot of people think that AI is going to replace them, but I love the saying, and sorry but I don't remember who I got this from, but it's that AI won't replace you. The person who knows how to use AI is what's going to replace you.
Kenisha Pough 16:18
Exactly. That's it so
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 16:20
true, because there, there still will be that, that human element in it as well, too.
Kenisha Pough 16:25
Yes, I want
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 16:26
to go back to your business for a second. What does like? What does a good day look like for you at work?
Kenisha Pough 16:34
Okay, so from, from my business perspective, yes,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 16:38
yeah, yeah, oh yeah, you're helping your customers. Like, what? What does a good day look like? What does a good outcome look like for you?
Kenisha Pough 16:44
Oh, a good outcome. Well, it can come in different forms. It could be solving a problem for the customer. It could be just putting together a strategy and feeling like, Okay, we finally got something together or plan. It could be as simple as being able to get through like so many different emails and having them sent off, or putting together some sort of PR plan so that I can get myself into new media. So it's it's different different ways, but I would say definitely a day where I feel like there's a bit of balance as well is ideal. But, yeah, I would say that's like an ideal day from a work perspective. For me, awesome,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 17:26
awesome. What you know, it's interesting. I love asking this question to folks, because I always want to see, sort of like, where their their mind goes. What do you think is super dope and super interesting.
Kenisha Pough 17:42
Okay, super dope, super interesting, okay, and that could be anything,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 17:47
anything, marketing, business, you know, sports, world, anything, yeah,
Kenisha Pough 17:53
yeah, I would say at the moment I'm really exploring the arts again.
Kerel Cooper 18:00
Yeah. And
Kenisha Pough 18:02
just looking at how people play instruments and how they can really get into those instruments, and just listening for the various notes, yeah, I think that's super interesting. Like, I have some artists that I really like and they use, like live bands, and just being able to listen to see. Okay, well, what instrument is that that they're using there? Okay, what note is that they're hitting? I I find that to be, like, super interesting. I'm loving that at the moment. Yeah.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 18:28
I mean, there's a lot of intricacies in that, right? And, yeah, and you're right, just sitting there, whether it's someone playing a guitar or a saxophone or or a piano, right? You know the movement of their their fingers, right? If they're it is, it is super interesting to see how someone can really manipulate a device to get that device to make the sound that they want it to make.
Kenisha Pough 18:59
Yeah, yes, yeah, it's amazing to really look at. You know,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 19:03
yeah, absolutely, absolutely. What advice would you have to anyone out there that's looking to start their own business?
Kenisha Pough 19:13
Well, I would say, go into it with an open mind. And I would also say, just go for it. You never know what might happen. Don't expect too much, so that you don't set yourself up for failure or disappointment. But also go in where you feel like, okay, this, this Pough Probably could happen. You know, I could be successful, so that you can stay positive when the challenges do come. But I would say, definitely go for it. Because, you know, who wants to die a life with regrets, so you might as well just take a chance on yourself. You know things are changing. They're moving so quickly, and you never know where a simple hobby might take off or sparked by an idea how that can develop into something else. So I say, go for it, definitely, right, right?
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 19:59
I love that advice. You know, I also think that people who are founders, CEOs, successful people really have they're very focused and have a routine that they like to stick to. So tell us, what is your daily routine look like that helps you stay focused and be successful. Okay,
Kenisha Pough 20:20
well, well, my honest daily routine is that I wake up, I have a nice, tall glass of water, I make myself some coffee or some breakfast, I sit and I watch a little bit of the news. I enjoy that. It's become a little bit of my routine here. It's Good Morning Britain, and then I would come back to my laptop and I'll just check my email, see what's happening there, and then start with my to do list, like, what do I want to accomplish for the day? So that's pretty much like my the start to my day. Gotcha
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 20:49
Okay, yeah, all right, what's something you wish you were better at?
Kenisha Pough 20:55
Oh, goodness from a business perspective, yeah, sure. I wish I was better at, hmm,
Kenisha Pough 21:12
I would say writing faster. Okay, well, you
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 21:14
can use AI for that now.
Kenisha Pough 21:16
Yeah, you can, technically, you can. But I so I'm still kind of that person who I do appreciate, like the creative, you know, your mind, and then put it into AI afterwards,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 21:29
I hear you. I hear Yeah. All right, so this is a two part question we like to ask every guest to what's a question you would want us to ask our next guest, and then the last guest that we had on asked us to ask you, what are you going to do this year to make the world better? Ah,
Kenisha Pough 21:52
okay, so which one should I answer first, or which one? Why don't
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 21:58
you answer the what are you going to do this year to make the world better? Okay,
Kenisha Pough 22:02
what am I going to do this year to make the world better? Well, there's just so much going on the world these days. I would say, I mean, one thing that that's that's really out there at the moment is there's just so much bias. So I would say just try to accept people for who they are. You know, don't worry about their background, what color, creed or whatnot, where they might come from, their ethnicity or whatnot. Just accept them for who they are, and we can learn from each other. So from that perspective, I think that's what I can offer to the world to the world to make a little bit better, yeah, because that will provide a bit more peace. Oh, yeah. Definitely, definitely, yeah,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 22:49
yep. And then the second part of the question is, give us a question. What? What should we ask the our next guest
Kenisha Pough 22:58
should actually next guess? Okay, you could possibly ask them, What
Kenisha Pough 23:07
is something that they would love to do that they haven't necessarily had the time to do? Oh, okay,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 23:13
I like that one. I like
23:15
that, yeah, because there's
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 23:16
only, there's only so many hours in the day, and I feel like none of us ever get to everything that we want to do. So, yeah, that's a great question, yeah, question, All right, last fun question I have for you, what is in your music rotation these days? Oh,
Kenisha Pough 23:33
okay, okay, my music rotation, I really do enjoy so Sophie, Sofi, okay, yeah, I also like my like South African beats. That's definitely in my rotation. I have jazz in my rotation. Yes, love the sacrifice, saxophones, the pianos, the violins, as well as classical is in there a bit too. And RMB, yes, of course.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 23:59
Yes, yes, yes, yes, nice. Yeah. Love it. Love it. Love it. Alright. Well. Kenisha, this has been a really, really great conversation. I want to thank you for joining us on the podcast today. For those listening right now, if they want to reach out to you to get to know you a little bit better, learn more about your business, continue this conversation. What's the best way for them to connect with you.
Kenisha Pough 24:22
Awesome. They can connect with me through my website, momentum and CO, and then also available on LinkedIn. I have email Kenisha at momentum and CO, and that's where you can find me. I'm also available on Instagram too. Yeah,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 24:40
awesome. Well, again, thank you for joining us on the podcast today. For those of you listening, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Minority Report podcast. Please look out for more episodes. Wherever you listen to all of your audio and video. Just search Minority Report podcasts and look for the logo. Talk to you guys soon. Thank you. Applause. All right, see pretty easy conversation, yeah,
Kenisha Pough 25:06
that that was Yeah, surprising, yeah, yeah, very late back,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 25:10
yeah. Like we So Eric and I started the podcast in 2018 and we really just wanted to create a platform for people to tell their stories, people that are in business, media and advertising, and so that's what we kind of lean into, the storytelling aspect of it, with a little bit of business mixed into it. I think this is our 190/8 episode. So we're approaching 200 episodes, and it's been, it's been a fun journey getting to know people and and really doing this as sort of like a passion project of ours.
Kenisha Pough 25:47
Oh, awesome. Yeah, no, it's great. Yeah, it's good to have your own platform, and then you get to meet so many different people. That's awesome too.
Kerel Cooper 25:55
Absolutely,
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 25:55
yes, definitely, definitely. Well, this episode will probably come out in the next two to three weeks, but I'll definitely keep you posted on that but in the meantime, if you have any questions for us or anything just just reach out to me.
Kenisha Pough 26:08
Yeah, no yeah definitely. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I appreciate it.
Kerel Cooper (Zoom) 26:12
All right. Have a good day.
Kenisha Pough 26:14
Yes, you as well. Thanks, bye bye.