“Shine, Sunshine, Shine!”
By Anabel Marquez
Photos by Rachel Carrillo
It was a sunny May afternoon in Beverly Hills and Karen Clay-Fenderson arrived inside a swanky sunglass shop to meet a group of fellow lifestyle influencers and promote luxury lenses for a Mother’s Day Campaign.
“You can’t get these types of opportunities anywhere else!,” she said. “We are blessed to be in California. There’s no other place like this.”
Before leaving, she shared some words of wisdom with other influencers and offered some ideas on ways to increase partnerships and paid collaborations.
Her top recommendation?
“Include your children and have them be a part of the stories you share with the world!,” she suggested.
The energetic, multi-hyphenate influencer moved to Los Angeles from New Mexico years ago in search of opportunities in the media industry.
An ambitious mother of three, Karen has found success in L.A. because she engages in life with genuine enthusiasm and that makes people and companies want to work with her.
Plus, she loves to stay busy and help others succeed as well.
“Shine Sunshine, Shine!” she exclaims.
For one, she’s an educator with three master’s degrees in various education-related fields.
She uses her background in education to teach but also to serve as a consultant helping fellow teachers effectively implement their curriculum in the classroom.
Next, she is a marketing expert who has helped business owners and C-Suite firms with strategic digital marketing and has partnered with global corporations to help align and market their brands with high quality media content.
Then, she’s a lifestyle blogger and executive producer of two TV shows.
Her platform “Raising Greatness” stands for a goal she set forth with her husband Wes, to raise God’s Divine Greatness, she explains.
“Wes encourages me to dream bigger and he is always right by my side. I could not be the woman, mom and business woman that I am without having him there…He is my biggest cheerleader,” she says.
Finally and perhaps most rewarding to Karen is her role as mom, where she leads, prays, manages, supports, represents, and encourages her three children— Brookelynn, Brayden and Bailey Rae— with their entrepreneurial, creative and academic ventures.
“Our children are our best teachers, and we are striving toward our greatness too. As a teacher, I have always believed that I am blessed to teach children to thrive and be at their greatness. It’s a movement for us,” she says.
Karen says she is using all the greatness that God has given her & expects her three children to do the same.
“What I have learned and I’m still learning is to listen and observe my children. They will show and tell you what they love,” explains Karen. “Wes and I view our parenting as back-up singers, here to help our kids sing their songs of life in all aspects: from acting on major tv shows, commercials, to sports and now our family food brand, Bailey Rae.”
The Birth of a Family Brand
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, as families were quarantined inside their homes, Karen took notice that the youngest of her children, Bailey Rae, was onto something. Since the young age of four, the little girl had taken an interest in mixing ingredients from the pantry to create seasoning blends.
In 2020, in the midst of the Pandemic, Bailey Rae had perfected her recipes.
“I started paying attention!” shares Karen.
It’s not that Karen hadn’t observed Bailey Rae’s talent for creating in the kitchen, or that she didn’t think her daughter’s blends were a delicious way of enhancing food flavors, it was simply that she hadn’t taken the time to explore the feasibility of bringing Bailey Rae’s blends to market.
“Allow your kids to do big things, even if they are little!”
With her experience in marketing, branding and media, Karen took her daughter’s product to new heights.
“Now, we’re on Amazon and [the product] has sold out several times!,” Karen says.
Bailey Rae who’s now a teenager has seen her seasoning blends, available in Cajun, Mesquite BBQ and Taco Seasoning flavors, soar to success. Celebrities have given Bailey Rae’s seasoning blends a major nod of approval and the family is now planning to expand the line and bring additional products.
What’s even more impressive is watching Bailey Rae’s siblings get involved with their younger sister’s business enterprise. Big sister Brookelynn, a Howard University student, is the company’s Chief Operating Officer while their brother Brayden is the Chief Financial Officer maintaining all the financial aspects of the family food brand.
“My advice is to listen and allow your kids to do big things even if they are little,” explains Karen. “Make room for them to explore at every stage of life. Our kids are growing up fast, but they have time to become and explore their gifts…that’s Raising Greatness.”