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Kena is from Frisco Texas, and currently attends The University of Texas at Austin where she is a second year pre-med student who is majoring in public health honors. Kena is the founder of her company KenaliaCards which she created during the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. Kena shared with us that she was influenced to create KenaliaCards, which are cards that she hand makes and hand pants to sell to individuals now for all events. What inspired Kena was seeing her sister who is a physician work through COVID-19 where she saw families lose loved ones. These tragedies inspired Kena to want to create something meaningful for these individuals. By taking her love of painting and creating, Kena came up with the idea of greeting cards where individuals can now buy custom handmade and painted cards for weddings, birthdays, loved ones passing, or a card that is an art piece.
When it comes to KenaliaCards, Kena has sold over 400+ cards nationwide. All of these cards Kena has hand painted herself. While we asked Kena what were the biggest things when it came to her business she shared it was all about finding balance once she came to UT. Kena tells us that she still runs her etsy shop and spends her time responding to customers, and creating pieces for customers. Kena shared while finding balance this was done through times of trial and error, by finding out what worked for her business and her personal life. Kena has had great success with her business on Etsy as her cards were added to Etsy’s best sellers list. When asking Kena what it is like to be a female entrepreneur and business owner she described to us she never thought of herself like that but more so someone who just wanted to share her art with others. With this being said we believe that this is what has made KenaliaCards, and Kena so successful is having the right idea, with passion, and ultimately creating a company out of love for others.
During our interview with Kena, she was very passionate about her answers so it was difficult to narrow it down to just three questions. While we interviewed Kena, we talked in depth about how her passions and how her business came to be. Some of the Q&A here gives some insight into who she is as a person/student/business owner and how she manages it all.
How do you manage your business with school?
At the beginning, juggling school and painting was fun for her because orders were simple and in smaller amounts.
Now that her work has been spread, primarily with word of mouth, Kena finds that some of her requests are too difficult or take too long.
Kena’s days were long. She spends all day painting in the morning and working on school work in the afternoon and by evening she spent doing logistical work with finding addresses and all the proper packaging.
After drowning in both responsibilities for a while, Kena felt that it would be best to focus her efforts and time on school and slow down on her orders for her business.
How does your business look now, compared to when you first started?
From the creation of her business, Kena was overjoyed and surprised with just 2-3 orders.
Now that Kena’s business has prospered, she feels that a lot of orders are being placed on Etsy and has since snowballed to around 400+ hand painted note cards.
As the only employee (for now) she really enjoys the liberty of allocating whatever time she needs to her business while maintaining school.
What is one piece of advice you would give someone who wants to start a business?
Some advice that Kena provided us with was very inspirational. Kena talked in depth about how her fear was being rejected for her style of paintings and feared that her community would not support her.
Later Kena broke down her fear and conquered it by offering her services around the community and in return received overwhelming support.
Another point that Kena brought up that she feels strongly about was being able to be brave and not get discouraged with her sales. Kena mentioned that one of her main inspirations was seeing the demand on her top selling card.
The entrepreneur Kena B. Desai embodies is one with ambition and creativity. Knowing that she is a part of one of the most elite schools in the nation, Kena still ventures out and finds ways to do more. Kena finds pride in her cards and how they will be a valuable piece of memorabilia in other people's lives. Some of Kena’s favorite equipment when it comes to watercolor painting are “Sakura KOI water brushes” and products from Winsor & Newton.
Kena’s strengths and values come from her tight-knit family and the love she has for them. The majority of Kena’s inspiration is from her sister who is a physician. Kena mentioned how scary it was for her and her family during COVID and how her sister inspired her to do more for loved ones. Kena's desire to help people shows how much she loves to share and showcases her big heart. During our interview we saw that time and time again Kena phrased her answers to show her passion and interest for constructive criticism and feedback. Kena’s goals and strengths come from growth. She mentioned that one of the harder parts of owning a business is the anxiety of dealing with customers and being able to provide customer service. Kena found that once she found her confidence and was able to address customers on their orders and on any errors, selling and communicating became easier.
When speaking to Kena, we found her to be a leader who leads by example, as Kena runs her business by herself right now, we believe she is an entrepreneurial leader. Kena possess the skills of not only being a leader but an entrepreneur. Kena puts others before herself and this can be shown in her art, she feels achieved when doing things for others such as making her custom cards. Kena takes the time to be diligent and balanced when it comes not only to herself but her business as well. When Kena is faced with shipping challenges or challenges surrounding her business she takes the time to respond and really work with her customers even if it is not something that she did or messed up on. By taking accountability for actions good or bad, being her fault or not Kena has shown what it is like to be a true leader and entrepreneur by facing these issues head on. Kena has shown us what it takes to not only be a female entrepreneur but a female leader who has not only just created but runs a successful business.
About The Authors:
Lauren Saucedo '24
Management
Kevin Garcia '23
Management
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