Dawn Kelly: Getting Fired Was Miserable But Could Be The Best Thing Happening

Dawn Kelly is CEO of The Nourish Spot Inc.

Dawn Kelly at her NYC-based business

Founder and CEO of The Nourish Spot, Inc., a healthy food and beverage haven located in Jamaica Queens. The Spot offers its Nourishers the ability to customize organic fruit and veggies into salads, smoothies, cold-pressed juice blends, sandwich wraps, soup, and protein waffles, fruit cups, and bowls too.

It’s no secret that many residents of urban communities, often people of color, find themselves living in food deserts and beset with preventable ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and diet and nutrition play a great role.

The Nourish Spot offers fresh natural fruit and vegetable juice, smoothies, salads, sandwich wraps, and soup full of important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. The Nourish Spot also offers life-affirming wheatgrass, ginger and turmeric shots, protein waffles, and soup. The menu offerings can be boosted with non-dairy milk, fruit nectars, alkaline and coconut waters, nuts, seeds, butter, and protein powders.

In 2015, I walked into my job with my luggage expecting to take a quick trip to DC in place of a colleague. I ended up in an office between my new boss and a Human Resources consultant to learn that my job had been eliminated. I could apply for other jobs in the company or leave in 60 days. I chose the latter. I was recruited to my role back way back in 1999. I never applied. At that moment, all of the options presented felt like a failure to me.

I was completely caught off guard. I felt robbed. I cried for months. To add insult to injury, my nearly two-decade-long relationship died too. I truly was an emotional wreck. I blocked everyone on social media and just traveled. Being in New York wasn’t healing me fast enough. I couldn’t fathom why I was eliminated, so I traveled, far and wide, with my daughter, cousins, and girlfriends.

It was divine. I was praying, hard, with tears streaming from my eyes because I didn’t know what to do or how to do it. The TV was on and CNN was broadcasting that Styles P had opened a juice bar in Yonkers. I was inspired to do it too—but in Queens. I had been juicing for a while trying to lose the stubborn pounds I gained while climbing the corporate ladder. I quickly realized that I had jewels of information saved in my phone about juicing and being in the juice business. It was surreal.

Life is full, fun, and interesting. I’m making it and I am full of gratitude and amazement at how life has turned out since the fateful day in 2015. I’m stable financially and my bills are being paid. Business is growing by leaps and bounds through word of mouth and promotion on social media and me getting up, dressing up, and showing up at MWBE fairs, meetings all around the City, and connecting with folks.

I believe the job elimination liberated me from the box others and I had caged myself in. God knew there was more for me. After grieving for my awesome role for seven months, I realized I was free, for maybe the first time in my entire life.

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