On this episode of the ideaHUb Innovators Podcast, our host, Dr. Lutisha Vickerie, sits down with Kenia Osorio-Wellington of Kear Solutions.

The idea for “Kear Solutions” came from a suggestion from Kenia’s father-in-law. He saw that there was a big opportunity to clean commercial offices. Many people were unhappy with the cleaning services they had, and Kenia knew she could provide a much better level of service. Kenia says, “We want them to come into the office the next day and feel like they walked into a clean healthy environment.” Even though she hated helping her mom clean when she was younger, Kenia knew this was a great opportunity to provide a quality service and provide for her family; so, her and her husband started Kear Solutions.

For Kenia, the most challenging part of being a business owner is making sure she defines and sticks to her priorities and goals. She has to balance a lot of different elements of life (including two kids who are both under the age of two!) and it can be hard to make sure God, friends, family, and work are all aligned. That said, Kenia finds being a business owner to be very rewarding and has loved being able to give back to the community by creating jobs and providing quality services. She loves “doing life” with all of her employees and makes sure that she builds personal relationships with each of her employees.

In five years, Kenia has plans for her business to be thriving and fully competing with other business. She also hopes that her business can make a big impact in the Corridor and can help create many jobs for her community. In the Ascend program, Kenia is enjoying building lots of new connections who can help her achieve her goals. About the program she says, “I felt blessed to be surrounded by great entrepreneurs who decided to say yes no matter what the circumstances are.” She also says that Ascend is providing her with a space to really learn and critically think about how to grow her business.

Kenia says that starting and owning a business is like raising a child, but it is worth it! To aspiring entrepreneurs, she encourages them to take the leap and use their gifts and talents to make a difference in the world. She also urges entrepreneurs to not focus on the money; rather to focus on what they are passionate about because that is how their business will succeed.

Kenia is extremely busy with parenting, working a regular part-time job, and running a business, but she still makes sure to set aside time for herself. She loves reading, praying, and meditating. She also gets massages with her employees once a month to help relax from the hard work they do on a daily basis.