Kimberly Mitchell
mental health advocate, veteran, speaker, and transformational leader
Rochester, NY
My Role
Kimberly Mitchell is a mental health advocate, veteran, speaker, and transformational leader who is dedicated to empowering individuals and small businesses. Growing up in a household where independence was a necessity, she excelled academically, earning numerous awards, including the Citizenship Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her resilience was tested when she lost her father at 16, but she channeled her determination into service, enlisting in the Air Force. As the only woman in her Vehicle Maintenance training class, she set a new standard by earning the highest test scores and later served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, achieving the rank of E-4 Sergeant.
Transitioning into civilian life, Kimberly pursued a career in training and leadership development, working across multiple industries, from technology rollouts to government initiatives. She played a pivotal role in the 2010 Census Project, leading the development of training materials for the first-ever digital data collection. Her work with the Rochester Schools Modernization Program led to the creation of an innovative small business training initiative, impacting local entrepreneurs and serving as a model for other municipalities. Simultaneously, she explored entrepreneurship, running event planning and photo booth businesses before pivoting to a thriving six-figure training business.
Despite professional success, Kimberly faced personal challenges that led to a transformative self-discovery journey. Seeking answers through the VA health system, she was diagnosed with mild depression, which became the catalyst for developing the Journey to Joy Personal Transformation System. This breakthrough allowed her to reclaim her happiness, reinforcing her belief that joy is a powerful force for change. Now, she dedicates her time to helping others break free from limiting beliefs and external dependencies, ensuring they recognize their own potential.
A founding member of the Greater Rochester Black Business Alliance and an active board member of ROCEDC, Kimberly is deeply committed to community development. She believes that self-sufficiency and joy are the keys to transformation, a message she amplifies through her training programs, mentorship, and advocacy. Living in a community once defined by industrial success and now marked by economic struggle, she is determined to inspire others to reclaim their power and create the life they desire. Her personal mission remains simple yet profound: to make a positive impact on people she may never meet.
What I love most about my role
I get to witness the moment when a woman stops playing small and steps fully into who she's meant to be -
and that shift changes everything, both in her career and in her business results.
For nearly three decades, I've worked with professionals and entrepreneurs, and one thing I've learned is that the business you're trying to build requires you to become someone you're not yet. That gap between who you are today and who you need to be? That's where transformation happens, and that's where I do my best work.
I love helping women see that their mindset, their relationship,s and their authentic voice aren't separate from their business strategy - they ARE the strategy. When you align who you are with what you're building,
everything accelerates. The confidence comes. The clarity comes. The clients come. And you stop exhausting yourself trying to be someone you're not.
How I define success
Success is having the courage to build a life and business that's authentically yours - and then having the
discipline to become the person who can sustain it.
I've built multiple businesses simultaneously, served on nonprofit boards, and navigated major career
transitions. Through all of that, I realized that success isn't about checking boxes or hitting arbitrary revenue
goals. It's about alignment. When what you do reflects who you actually are - your strengths, your values, your vision - that's when success becomes sustainable.
For the women I work with, success looks like this: You wake up knowing exactly who you are and what you're
building. You make decisions from clarity, not fear. You've built the relationships that matter. And you've
developed the mindset that allows you to handle whatever comes next. That's real success - and it creates the kind of business growth that actually lasts.
The best piece of business advice I ever received was
Stop trying to build the business first. Become the kind of person who would have that business. In other
words, don’t worry so much about having a six-figure business. Instead, focus on becoming the kind of person who would have a six-figure business.
This advice transformed everything for me, and it's what I now teach others. Most women approach business
growth backwards - they focus on strategies, tactics, and systems while staying exactly who they've always
been. But if you want a six-figure business, you need to develop the mindset of someone who runs a six-figure business. If you want to lead a team, you need to become someone people want to follow.
Here's what this looks like practically: If you're building a consulting practice but you struggle with boundaries, fix the boundary issue first. If you want to scale but you're terrified of visibility, work on the visibility issue first. If you're launching something new but you don't believe you deserve success, address the worthiness issue first.
The business you want is on the other side of who you need to become. Invest in that transformation and the
business growth follows naturally.
What would I tell my younger self
Two things: Build your mindset like you build your skillset and invest in relationships like you invest in revenue.
I spent years perfecting my craft and building my expertise, which was important. But I wish I'd understood
earlier that mindset work was foundational as opposed to optional. Every ceiling I hit in my career was actually a ceiling in my thinking. Every breakthrough came when I shifted who I was being, not just what I was doing.
And relationships? They're currency. The most valuable asset in your career isn't your resume or your LinkedIn profile. It's the people who know your work, believe in your potential and open doors for you that you didn't even know existed. Don't wait until you "need" something to build those relationships. Build them now, generously and authentically.
Start investing in both - your mindset and your relationships - from day one, and you'll build a career and
business that's not just successful, but sustainable and deeply satisfying.
What 2B Bolder mean to me
Being bold means building multiple things at once and refusing to apologize for your ambition.
Right now, I'm expanding my training business into AI agent business. I'm also developing a personal
transformation system for women that's nearly ready for market, serving on a couple of nonprofit boards during a critical strategic period, and yes - I even have a bra invention in the works!
People often ask me, "How do you do all of that?" The answer is I became the kind of person who could. I built the mindset, the systems and the confidence to pursue what matters to me without waiting for permission or perfect timing.
Being bold doesn't mean being fearless - it means deciding that your vision matters more than your fear. It
means trusting yourself enough to try things that might not work. And it means showing other women that they don't have to choose between their different passions and ambitions. You can build a portfolio career. You can explore multiple ventures. You can be both strategic and creative, both professional and adventurous.
The boldest thing you can do is become fully yourself and then build a business and life around that truth.
Years of Experience
10+
I recommend you focus on developing these 3 skills to succeed in a role like mine
Being a community builder and changemaker
Helping women in business transform their mindset and strategy
Helping others break free from limiting beliefs and external dependencies to reclaim their happiness