Hey, I'm Kayla, your posh politico!

But a lot of people know me as “KP,” “Primetime,” or even “KKFlames” through my various journeys in life. But where I stand today, I am just in my Kayla era.

There are so many things that contributed to who I am today as the posh politico, but I’ll start as far back as I can remember. Ever since I was a young girl, I always valued the importance of giving back and contributing to communities for the greater good of society. I owe so much to my parents, who often discussed current issues at the dinner table and wanted to ensure every member of the family shared their thoughts on possible solutions. From those dinner table conversations, it lit a spark that I can do more than just talk about solutions at the table but act on them outside in the community.

When I was 17 years old, I was selected by a task force of the Cleveland Heights City Council to join the Inaugural Cleveland Heights Youth Advisory Commission. This Commission was an extension of the City Council to hear the ideas and solutions of high school residents regarding our suburb right outside Cleveland, Ohio. Believe it or not, I was sooo nervous in this photo (see below) and had no idea what was to come. On the other end of nervousness, I was super inspired to work alongside brilliant minds.

This is kinda random because I keep staring at the picture below, but thinking about it, I am almost certain that I spoke on the lowest volume possible during our first meeting because I was so nervous. LOL. If you know me and how much I love to YAP, that is a rare sighting. LOL #yappersquad

Anywayyyyy. Back on subject.

Little did I know, the work that was done during my tenure on the Commission would spearhead my interest in politics and lead me to my passion, which is finding creative ways to bring people together and ensure disadvantaged community members had the opportunity to thrive no matter their socio-economic status.

One of the main issues that the Youth Commission discovered was the wide household income gap in our neighborhoods, ranging from 30k/yr to well over 350k/yr. We wanted to find a way to unite the youth residents together through various experiences to build our own community within our suburb. Also, since Cleveland Heights has a fairly large population, many of us didn’t attend the same school. We didn’t really know each other but were eager to learn more once we did.

This group above was able to serve a term of two years and create the unique experiences we envisioned for middle and high school students through field days, panels, and open forums. As I found my stride as a board member and then Chair, I began trusting my intuition more to think bigger, and bolder for the years to come. Two years later, at the age of 19, I did just that. I founded my first community service organization, Valor Incorporated.

But this is where I end this article for today. Until we meet again next week, when I share how Valor grew to have 5 chapters across the state of Ohio, created PURE MAGIC in our hometowns, and received recognition from U.S. State and Federal representatives. Even though that sounds sweet, there were many obstacles we faced to try and get it right. Unforunately, we ended Valor after a five year run but sometimes, I think to myself, " well what if we brought it back but this time bigger and bolder?".

XOXO,

The Posh Politico