She has blue hair. And in high school it was pink and carefully styled into a mohawk, making strangers and teachers wonder out loud if she was a drug addict or up to no good (she wasn’t).
She is a mother of three and running an online business without a business degree.
She’s an ex-welfare recipient.
A child abuse survivor.
Featured in Forbes and in over sixty podcast episodes.
People follow for both her moxie and know-how, and rave about her teachings. And we believe, without a doubt, that she is the entrepreneur that you need to know about in 2017.
But not because she went from being dismally broke to a seven-figure salary in just one year (although it is a compelling story). Or because this branding and social media strategist has a proven track record with helping entrepreneurs and startups shatter their marketing goals during year one (and who doesn’t want to do that?)
In the times where reiki, affirmations and visualizing your dreams have become a part of the mainstream entrepreneur lexicon, Kimra Luna is a story of success in the most organic form; where she simply believed in herself. And she imagined, every day, during every waking hour her imminent and abundant success. And with these two subtle practices, in a digital space where everyone claims to be an expert, she literally changed everything by being the real real deal.
How She Started
Before her business of teaching students around the globe, Kimra was a housewife and mother to her two boys in Virginia. And according to her, it was boring as hell. So to pass the time and exercise some brain power, she decided to start a vegan food blog.
“When I first started, I had to do everything on limited time, because I had my two little ones. I also was homeschooling [the children] and my husband was working a full time job, between eight to ten hours a day.
I built my business in the evenings and weekends. The kids would go to sleep, and then nine to midnight was kind of my time to educate myself to grow my business.”
As she tells it, it was a constant streaming of keeping knowledge and inspiration buzzing in her ears. She spent countless hours listening to podcast and audio books, like Think Rich Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill or law of attraction tapes by Abraham Hicks.
“When I started learning about the law of attraction and started studying… wow. Like… I can create my life! And I started going down that path.
But I always knew that my life would be incredible. I never doubted that. I was raised in poverty. But I always knew that it wasn’t the way my life was going to be.”
Motivated by Tragedy
It was a childhood she would wish on no one, she insists. Sexual abuse. Verbal and mental abuse. A string of father figures moving in and out of her life, whose drunken, abusive demeanors painted a stark picture early on of how cruel the world can be.
But like a phoenix who knew she was destined to rise from the ashes, she always knew she would be different. And special.
“I feel like a rough childhood actually can make you a much more determined entrepreneur to reach your goals. My childhood was just, literally horrific. There’s really not another word to describe it. And I feel like my passion is stronger because of all the things that have happened to me. Because of all the life experience that I have had.
There were some people in the beginning that were criticizing me like, ‘Oh who is she to teach business? She didn’t go to business school. And I’m like I didn’t need to go to business school. I got the experience of hard knocks. That was my business school. And so I feel like there’s this difference with people who have had rough lives… and experiences compared to people who had their life all cushy their whole life.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and they both can succeed in the same ways. But I just feel the passion is different. I find that the people who have had similar experiences as me, their business… the exact same thing happened. Their businesses skyrocketed very very quickly.”
Read more about Kimra Luna inside HER Magazine. Access April’s issue for free, by downloading our magazine in iTunes or Google Play.
