Kolean Sanders has worked hard and has become very successful in business as a double minority, an African American female. She has been the first in many business categories and, as a government contractor, she has been awarded many times by the Small Business Administration, not only for nine years of success, but also for mentoring other small businesses in SBA programs.
Kolean retired from the insurance industry after fifteen productive years, then she started the first black female-owned security company in Southeastern US. Her documented success has been recognized by the Mississippi Black Chamber of Commerce as well as the National Black Chamber. She has multiple business holdings domestically and in other countries.
But Kolean Sanders was an unlikely candidate for the attributes she now receives. As a youth, the oldest sister of nine other siblings, she was quite poor. Her mother passed when Kolean was very young leaving Kolean to raise and care for the younger children, a promise she made to her mother as she was dying.
Absent the protection of her mother, the doorknob turned many times as predators intruded and took advantage of Kolean’s vulnerability. Although relatives, neighbors, church members knew, no one intervened or came to her rescue. She felt hopeless, lost and alone.
God gave her a visitation one night after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Her life was changed. She endured, learned to survive, and now thrives, due to God’s favor and grace as well as the wisdom of her mother who poured strong moral character into Kolean.
Kolean Sanders is a Christian evangelist, speaker, and songwriter. She is the founder of Geneva Foundation, Incorporated, named after her mother, the Late Geneva Williams. Kolean’s book, “The Legacy of Geneva – The Gift of a Mother’s Wisdom,” is comprised of the nuggets of wisdom shared with Kolean by Mrs. Williams. Its popularity is sweeping North America and is in other countries
Through the Geneva Foundation, Kolean Sanders has led many women and girls out of their painful dark past experiences into the light through classes she administers, hands-on, focusing on the nine main types of abuse. The testimonies pour in of females who once suffered from their fearful memories and shame, who now talk are healed and able to about it.
Kolean understood she had a choice in how she lived her life after hardship. She decided to follow her mother’s advice and to “take the road less traveled by.” In order for her to succeed she would make a commitment to the take high road. So, instead of making excuses, she made it happen. Through all the turmoil of her past, she glows gracefully, harboring no bitterness.
