Jennifer Kem grew up in the plantation town of Wailea, HI. As the young descendent of Filipino immigrants, she was a studious introvert. Her grandmother, a great influence, had her reading the business section of the newspaper, giving her a very important lesson early on: “You can think beyond what’s around you.”  

Jen generously shares her story, taking us from childhood, through her MBA at UC Berkeley to her work at the Ogilvy Company where she ran coffee and ached to do grander copy writing. She watched as ad execs created “Ad Duels” pitting Coke against Pepsi and found their use of architypes intriguing.  

Diving deeper into the concepts of how people consume, Jen found that marketing really IS a science! She’s a lover of Values-Driven Leadership and notes that so much of a leader’s journey is based on Vision, Violation, and Voids.   

Jen’s journey continued as she became a product manager at Oracle and went on to run Verizon’s B2B for the west coast. Known as “the fixer” even in her early 20s, Jen wanted to learn how to succeed more greatly.

 She asked an important question of one of the senior leaders: What do I have to do to have your job in 10 years?

 It wasn’t a wish, it was a foundational question for creating a plan. But when she took on some hard work and was passed over for a promotion, she began to wonder how to make it on her own.

• What will someone pay me for?

o   Does the market want it?

o   Will people really pay for it?

 Seeing how big Victoria’s Secret became, she began an import and retail business in Hawaii, a biz that grew to $10M. She notes that she was betting on herself as the outlier.

But 2008 was cruel to so many in retail and her business was no exception.

 She lost almost everything and fell into a depression. 

She recalls sitting on the front porch, just watching cars pass by and her then-10-year-old daughter saying, “Mommy, you’re Jen Kem and it’s time to wake up.”

 She notes, “I was the hardest project I had to take on.”

 Returning to corporate to get back on her feet, she reentered as a consultant and created KemCom, now a multi-million-dollar company. She began to study how she had become a success and created a model for others, launching The MasterBrand Institute. 

 Here, she guides entrepreneurs back to Values-Driven Leadership and notes that most fail when it comes to managing systems (people, processes, and technology).

 She notes that leaders must take on three roles, then let go of two.

-       Visionizer – founder

-       Strategizer – overseeing Sales and Marketing

-       Mobilizer – the one to oversee operations, processes, and systems

 Jen has a gift for the audience if you’d like to explore your architype and leadership style. It’s specifically for the One Sharp Sword audience. Go to www.confidently.me/sharp for an assessment valued at $250.