Jennifer Gomez (P9 XIII): Storyteller Turned Entrepreneur

Jennifer Gomez (P9 XIII) is no stranger to overcoming challenges. A Brooklyn native raised in a single parent household, she was eager to exceed goals she and her mother had set together. Jennifer first learned the tenets of Prep’s motto—Excellence, Integrity, Commitment, and Courage—from witnessing her mother’s efforts to take care of their family. Jennifer saw PREP 9, the boarding school preparation program of Prep for Prep, as a way to honor her mother’s sacrifices and pay forward those efforts to her community. 

She still remembers the thrill of entering her first Prep for Prep classroom. Jennifer recalled, “It was amazing and intimidating to see so many children who look like me, with dreams and goals and ambitions of their own.” With Spanish as her native language, she had to tackle extra tutoring in English to keep up. Looking back, she credits Prep’s rigorous structure and dedicated teachers with helping her build the confidence she needed to overcome and find new challenges. 

Jennifer arrived at Middlesex School afterwards, and experienced every imaginable shock living away from home and entering a place with vast resources and people from a variety of backgrounds. She continued to adapt and eventually earned leadership positions in school while exploring professional interests during her summers back home. “I’ve had internships since the tenth grade because of Prep,” she shared, “and they showed me a roadmap to success.” Opportunities from boarding school and Prep allowed her to see the connections between pipelines of talent, networks, and resources in achieving her goals. 

An internship that set her on the road to entrepreneurship was one she secured herself -- with a little help from Prep. Jennifer was a master of ceremonies at her Prep Lilac Ball graduation. Afterward, an impressed L’Oreal EVP approached her and said, “Call me!” This was the era before LinkedIn, and Jennifer only had her name. She later called all the numbers she could find for L’Oreal offices until she was finally connected to this woman. At the time, L’Oreal only offered internships to graduate students, but Jennifer’s determination led her to become their first undergraduate intern--opening the door to other college students in future summers. 

Throughout her career she learned the importance of marketing and storytelling, and all the values she learned at Prep played a role. Jennifer brought her strong work ethic, creativity, and approachable personality to successful roles at major national sports, media, and beauty companies. Yet she felt she wasn’t making an impact in a way that was meaningful to her. “Success for me is when my values align with my work.” She started consulting as a way to find a new direction, and shortly after crossed paths with a group of like-minded folks with an idea to create a business that supports communities of color. They had the technical and financial skills, but she had the marketing know-how. In 2018, they launched oneKIN’s curated marketplace. 

There's starting a business and being successful, but what about the secret sauce in between? The key is commitment and follow through. “You’re going to fall more than you ‘re going to fly,” said Jennifer, “but these aren't mistakes. These are lessons.” With oneKIN, Jennifer’s team built an ecosystem for POC-led businesses to thrive and find multicultural consumers. As a  mission-driven tech company, oneKIN is centered on driving socioeconomic change in underserved communities. More than an online shopping platform, oneKIN is a network--a community--of over 200 POC-owned businesses, each with a story worth telling and a product worth sharing. Jennifer’s team provides financial, operational, and marketing support and technical resources in a supportive community of entrepreneurs affectionately known as KINfolk. Along with sharing their stories, oneKIN is finding new ways to support businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. Many relied on pop-up markets to generate revenue, and those are, for now, a thing of the past. In response, oneKIN began to carry some products wholesale to help their KINfolk fulfill their distribution needs. oneKIN will soon launch their live-stream e-commerce experience, twiine™, and are raising capital to continue to scale their services. Jennifer now feels her values and work finally align.

Jennifer also found ways to give back to the Prep Community. She hired Prep student interns, going the extra mile to accommodate remote placements this summer. “At first I was worried about creating connections through a computer screen,” she laughed, “but we had an incredible experience with our interns. They were tremendous assets to the team, especially during those insane few months.” She encouraged them to take a deep dive into whatever aspect of the business they were curious about, and put them in direct conversation with the small business owners that oneKIN represents. “The most empowering internships are the ones where you feel like you have a voice,” she shared, “so I want them to feel confident presenting ideas, asking questions, and tackling challenges.” Jennifer is excited to be a resource to young innovators and other members of the Prep Community. She was recently a guest speaker at the Institute for Entrepreneurship (IFE), a program she wishes had been around when she was a Prep kid. “Through IFE, Prep is showing alternate career paths. I’m proud of what I see to be Prep’s current trajectory.”