Kisha Stewart-Harris is a stay at home wife and mommy blogger of five. This homeschooling mom is based in Ohio, and is passionate about sharing her perspective on marriage and the family. Read on to learn how she stays Flyy while also being an awesome mom, wife, writer and motivational speaker!
Q: Heyyyyy Kisha! Tell the FlyyFam more about yourself! Who are you? What are some of the moments that shaped you into the beautiful woman you are today? A: Hey, Well it's crazy to try to describe yourself in a few words, but, I'll try. The best thing about me is that I'm a mama-- I have five kiddos and they are what makes me see the world in wonderful light. Especially when I watch them laughing and playing, when they don't know I'm watching-- its the best thing ever.
Another great thing about me is that I'm a wife, have been for 15 years, and I truly love my man; He is the absolute best person I know. Now, as for what makes me unique, well, I write and have a website where I give Marriage, Relationship and Parenting Advice. It's called BrilliantlyKish.com, check it out!
Q: OKURRR BLACK LOVE!!! I see you girl! So as a stay at home mom of FIVE, what is your life like on a day to day basis?
A: OMG-- nuts!!! No, but seriously, it involves a little wrangling, a lot of refereeing, sometimes hiding, and some good old fashioned cooking and cleaning. Oh and did I mention I write............
Q: I can only imagine! What other projects you are working on?
A: When I'm not writing content for my website, I am laying the groundwork for my book and I'm anticipating that will be out in the next year. I'm also gearing up to speak at the Mane Event in Youngstown, Ohio, a Natural Hair Conference all about helping women make the connection between loving themselves and their hair.
Q: That's beautiful, be sure to let us know when your book drops! Looking back over your life, what prep work would you say went into getting you to where you are today? A: Oh my-- prep work, huh? Let's see. I've kissed a lot of toads, I met my prince (after great deliberation), I married him, had a mini-van full of babies, learned how to love him and raise them through much trial and error, and all of those things are what I am giving to the world!
Q: Haha! I'm happy that you found your Prince! Now what would you say has been the best moment in your career thus far? My most proud moment would definitely when I pushed "publish" on my my website and released my work to the world. It takes a lot of courage and even more confidence to be able to put YOU out there. Having gotten to that place was my arrival; it's all upward from there!
Q: I would DEF have to agree with you on that. Sharing your thoughts, words and passions with the world is an amazing and brave accomplishment. Kudos to you for taking that first
step! What is one thing about you now that would make your younger self happy? Something that I hadn't remembered until after i had my fifth child was that I used to say I wanted five or six children when I was a girl. I was stressed and overwhelmed and feeling very low after her birth, and my brother reminded me of my words. Until that time I hadn't remembered that, but his words sparked my memory.
My younger self would smile at knowing that I got exactly what I said I wanted to have as an adult and that most of the things in my life have turned out in much the same way!
Q: So you were literally born for this! Congratulations! So here at FlyyGirlAdventures.com we believe in encouraging women to life a life of their dreams. Since you are actually doing that, what advice would you give someone who aspires to follow in your footsteps?
A: You know what I did? I just decided to give the world me-- who I really am, no punches no chasers-- so it wasn't hard, and I did it when I was ready an unafraid of what people would think! Being authentic in this era is underrated because people believe they need a gimmick to make an impact, or to be noticed, but it's just too easy to spot a fake! I say, give what you have and be who you are, market that, and you'll be golden! Of course, after that-- you need to WORK, WORK, and then WORK!!!!
Fly, Girl! Q: Another stated objective of this segment is to encourage travel. As this is a travel blog and I love traveling- my goal with with #FlyyGirlFriday is to show that everyone can travel. Whether it be in the states or abroad, black women are out here DOING IT! What are some
of the destinations you have been to? A: One of my most memorable vacations was my honeymoon to Niagara Falls, Canada. The hotel we stayed in had three walls, the fourth was just a window of glass-- it was majestic. And the view of the falls was absolutely stunning! That was the first time I'd ever been out of the Country, but I've made a promise to myself to make traveling abroad a priority for my family. I am so serious about it that I've already informed my children that passports WILL be what they get for Christmas. Another thing on my bucket list is to travel to and explore the Western part of the United States. I've lived in and visited many states, but all were on the east coast; I'm ready to leap to the other side!
Q: YES to passports for Christmas. You are literally giving your children the world, what a wonderful gift! What has been your favorite trip so far and why?
A: My favorite trip, besides my honeymoon in Niagara, was our most recent family trip to Atlanta, Georgia. I know it may not seem like an extravagant place and somewhere EVERYBODY goes, but, it was the first time my husband and I were able to travel with all five of our children being more grown up (our oldest is almost 15 and our youngest is almost five). Seeing their reactions to exploring a new city and being able to move more fluidly with them just made the entire trip surprisingly enjoyable and now I'm looking forward to traveling with them more!
Q: Family vacations are the best! You really get to learn a lot about each other- sometimes things you don't want to know! What is one of the coolest things you have seen in your travels?
A: Something I'll never forget doing was going into the caves in Hocking Hills, Ohio. It was fascinating to see such a magical part of nature and just explore. Plus, I did it with friends, so that's always a plus!
Q: What would be your dream destination and why?
My dream destination would have to be somewhere tropical as my first choice, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Mexico, or South America. My second choice would be somewhere serene, like the Coast of California, the Mountains of Colorado, or Somewhere off the Coast of Western Africa.
Q: What are your upcoming travel plans?
We're planning two local trips actually: the first is a city hop from Pennsylvania to New York with all the children and the second is a city hop from Detroit to Canada also with the kids. From there, who knows!
The Plug.
The final goal of this segment is to raise support and awareness about black businesses, black creators and black issues. Can you tell the FlyyFam more about BrilliantlyKish.com?
A: So, as you'll see when you visit my website BrilliantlyKish, I refer to myself as the Relationship and Marriage Mama! Why do I call myself that? Well, a few reasons: I feel like I've been "mama'en" all my life. That has just been apart of who I am--the person in the group who takes on that mothering role; I'm a nurturer to the core, especially to children and younger women. Now, as far as marriage and relationships go, well, that's my thing. I'm a sociologist by nature and by degree (I have a B.A. in combined Social Sciences). I absolutely love to study how people move and the things that move them. I think up, under and around relationship and marriage scenarios to try and uncover good, better, and then what I feel are the best ways of going about things, then I share them with my readers on the website.
Q: An EDUCATED mama, I love that! What made you want to make Marriage and Family your niche?
A: Well, that's easy-- I just got tired of seeing so many folks getting it wrong! Now, before you give me the side eye, let me just let you know I'm not there looking down on everyone and saying, "hey, look how I did it and then do it like me." No. There are definitely multiple paths to fulfillment and each person must find the best one for them to take. What I like to do, however, is draw attention to patterns, behaviors and mindsets, so that people can maybe get a better picture in cases where what to do and how to proceed might not be so clear. Then it's up to them: If they decide they want to, they can use the information to move a different way! After all, some things you just can't afford to mess up: family, marriage, parenthood, friendships, courtships, those are some major ones!
Q: That makes sense. Who would be more qualified to talk about marriage and family than someone who is actively engaged in building those relationships daily! Who is inspiring you right now?
A: This is going to sound shocking, you know, because I'm such a wholesome chick, but, I'm inspired by Nicki Minaj and I'll tell you why. She is one of the most successful female rappers of our time, ESTABLISHED, and still people are always trying to discredit her and knock her off her square--it's crazy to me, but I also get the lesson. Keep it tight, put out consistently good work, and keep those lips sealed (which Nicki unfortunately doesn't do enough). I wish she'd take more lessons from Queen Bey in that department, but, I respect that she's being herself. I also consider myself somewhat rebellious, so I admire people who go against the grain! Now, in other areas, more of my genre, I'm inspired by Bernice McFadden who is a Best Selling author of several novels, Including "Nowhere is a Place." The late Delores Phillips who wrote, "The Darkest Child" (OMG, that book is brilliant!). Musically, Im really digging Ella Mai, Tammy Rivera and Daniel Ceasar right now. A carrot in my lane that I'm currently chasing is Demetria Lucas-- Author, Journalist, and media personality who I think is very dope!
Q: So you are deep into this literary lifestyle! What inspired you to take the first step in terms of branding yourself and starting your website, BrilliantlyKish.com?
A: What actually kicked off the website was the start of my book, which has a "girl, let's talk about this thing here" kind of vibe. I tend to take on other people's problems when I really care about them, and I just got fed up with seeing and hearing about women I knew, both closely and casually. suffering in relationships and from past trauma. I started doing some research and writing stuff down that I thought was relevant and could help, then I realized I was on to something that could really make a huge impact.
Q: Girrrrrrl, I might need to call you REAL soon! That is so kind of you to think of ways to bring other women up! How can the FlyyFam support your vision? Q: The first thing you should do to keep up with me is go to my website Brilliantlykish.com and follow me. I'm constantly putting up useful content on everything from how to raise our children better, to how to love on your man! Trust me, the info is great!
Then, go to all my social media sites and keep up with me there:
Follow me on Facebook where I post a new video every week,
on Instagram because I also post videos there
You can also email me-- I love receiving and responding to mail!
Finally if you are in the Ohio area September 29th, be sure to stop by the natural hair conference that I will be speaking at, you can get tickets here!
Thank you SO MUCH for your time and insight Kisha! You are extremely inspirational and we look forward to hearing about your many accomplishments in the future. Keep lovin' your man and raising those beautiful babies!
