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Q&A With Kelly Fair

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Kelly Fair
Founder, Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program
Location: Chicago, IL United States
Joined: Apr 4th, 2023
About   (request update)
Kelly Fair is the Founder and Executive Director of Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program, an Illinois Gold Star rated mentoring program that enhances the life skills, career readiness, and leadership ability of girls and young women. She is the author of They’re All the Same Girl and Every Girl Is a CEO. Kelly is an award-winning social entrepreneur and sought-after speaker who advocates for girls, women, mentoring, and workforce pipelining.
Current Whereabouts:
Since launching Polished Pebbles in 2009 in Chicago, Kelly’s signature communications and job readiness programming has expanded from elementary age girls to include high schools, college programs, families, prominent women leaders, and to sites across the Chicagoland area and in Northwest Indiana, Dallas, Texas, and North Carolina. Polished Pebbles has worked with over 10,000 African American and Latinx girls and young women and provided over 600 mentors in hundreds of schools and has raised over $7 million for partnering schools and communities.
Life & Professional Aspirations:
Though widely known as “The Mentor,” Kelly’s true gift is unleashing a girl’s innate greatness so she can live her best life now and in the future. Mentoring plays a big role in Kelly’s “Girl to Great” model, as does instruction, practical hands-on activities, and partnerships. Kelly is a sought-after speaker for mentoring, communication skills, girls’ development and job readiness, professional leadership development, and social entrepreneurship. She’s a dynamic storyteller, communications expert, and relatable voice with the keen ability to penetrate the hearts of women with her honesty and expertise. Through her authentic conversational speaking style, she connects across socioeconomic statuses, intergenerationally, and cross-culturally—making her a phenomenal speaker or training facilitator in a conference setting.
Website:
https://kellykaefair.com/
Education   (request update)
Howard University class of 2001
Undergrad Major: Speech Pathology
University of Iowa class of 2003
Grad Major: Speech Pathology
Video
Experience
I currently work with Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program as Founder
I have 19 years of experience working in the Teaching / K-12 Education industry.
Founder & Executive Director | Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program
From June 2009 to Current • 17 year(s)
 Kelly Fair is the Founder and Executive Director of Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program, an Illinois Gold Star rated mentoring program that enhances the life skills, career readiness, and leadership ability of girls and young women. She is the author of "They’re All the Same Girl" and "Every Girl Is a CEO." Kelly is an award-winning social entrepreneur and sought-after speaker who advocates for girls, women, mentoring, and workforce pipelining.
Founder | Polished Pebbles
From June 2009 to Current • 17 year(s)
National Literacy Marketing Manager | McGraw-Hill
From November 2004 to January 2008 • 4 year(s)
 As the National Literacy Marketing Manager for McGraw-Hill, I created multimedia marketing collateral, including brochures, videos, and exhibit layouts. I trained sales force about the products’ key features and marketing programs, and created new ways to provide sales training in concise and easy-to-implement formats. In my role at McGraw-Hill, I also participated in the implementation of U.S. Department of Education longitudinal study that examined the development of early literacy skills in Chicago Public Schools, and provided professional development in utilizing literacy curricula to teaching staff (over 100 preschool and kindergarten teachers) as well as school administrators.
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Guestbook Comments
A very warm welcome to you. It is lovely to have you among us. May you have a blessed, constructive and prosperous day. Stay strong. If you are interested, you can visit my profile and click on the link to my website and view a free webinar that will show you how to start an online business.
Tagged by Ralph White on 04/06/2023  
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