HERMITAGE, Pa. – Working with a variety of entrepreneurs, Jessica Talbert-Kirsch is realizing her dream of entrepreneurship while helping others realize theirs.
Talbert-Kirsch, founder and CEO of Mak of All Trades Co. and co-founder of TenFold Solutions, was recognized Monday in the Minority Business Spotlight by the Shenango Valley Urban League Inc. during the organization’s annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Remembrance Breakfast at the Avalon at Buhl Park.
Talbert-Kirsch said she always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur, inspired in part by her father, the owner of Kirsch Tavern, and her stepmother, who was self-employed as a paralegal.
Talbert-Kirsch started her entrepreneurship in the fashion industry. As a very young entrepreneur, others began asking for her advice on how to start their own businesses, which led to her starting a consulting business, Mak of All Trades.
“I just think that everybody deserves the opportunity to try and to believe that that’s possible for them,” Talbert-Kirsch said, adding that she became so busy helping people that she needed to find a way to duplicate herself.
So she teamed up with Leonna Bell, a friend and marketing expert, to form TenFold Solutions, which freed them both up to widen their reach and execute higher-level strategies for clients. She said they hold events to teach others how to make an impact in their communities; use their hobbies, skills and life experiences to earn money in the digital economy; and create their own small businesses.
In addition to running her business, Talbert-Kirsch was recently elected to Farrell City Council and volunteers with a number of organizations. She said she has always been involved in multiple things, going back to when she was in high school.
“I think that when you’re doing things that fulfill you, it doesn’t empty your cup – it fills you up,” she said. “So I feel like that’s one thing that God has blessed me in that way, that the places where he’s put me and the things he’s allowed me to be involved in fill my cup and don’t empty it.”
Talbert-Kirsch said she finds many people are very supportive of her and her efforts. She said she believes if you give back to others, they reciprocate in a way.
“I feel like the more that we pour out ourselves in service to others, the more that people are willing to support us,” she said.
Cinnamon Cannon-Price, a member of the Shenango Valley Urban League Board of Directors, called Talbert-Kirsch “a jewel of our community.” Cannon-Price used Talbert-Kirsch’s talents to help her start her own business, and she said she would trust her with any work that needs to be done.
During the event, all the speakers reflected on what the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his words have done for their own lives.
Three students from the area, Elyse Gamble, a sixth grade student at Musser Elementary School; Maxxwel Harris, an eighth-grader at Kennedy Catholic School; and Giani Scott, an 11th-grader at Farrell High School, each reflected on what King meant to them and their lives.
Although King has been gone for nearly 60 years, Cannon-Price said events like the one presented by the Urban League “keep his memory alive, instill it in the youth, all his dreams and all the knowledge that he passed on to us too.”
“If you don’t remember the past, we will make the same mistakes,” Cannon-Price said. “So it’s very important that we keep the youth involved, honor our minority leaders and our minority business owners, and just keep our community together like this.”
Talbert-Kirsch presented a poem that spoke of King’s virtues and how living by his example, people can continue to make a difference.
“Decades after MLK’s death, we still know of his existence, his persistence, even though he didn’t live to see the difference,” Talbert-Kirsch said. “So if we take no other thing from Dr. King, know when you take a righteous stand, even if you’re persecuted and shot down, God has a greater plan.”
Rev. Michael Marshall, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Farrell, Pa., was the guest speaker during the event.
Pictured at top: Jessica Talbert-Kirsch, founder and CEO of Mak of All Trades Co.