Monique R. Kennedy

Monique R. Kennedy is the Founder of MOKEN Design & Consulting and the creator of Thrive House, a community for entrepreneurs in the creative industries.. Through Thrive House, she hosts The Thriving Artist

Monique lives by a simple principle, live a life that inspires others. She is driven by the passion for the work that she does and her desire to make an indelible mark on the world.dinner an intimate networking event that allows entrepreneurs to mingle with industry experts and other like-minded individuals. She also, hosts a podcast where she has interviewed guests such as Sandra Glasgow, Award-Winning Director Storm Saulter, Digital Media mogul Nathan Chan, 7 time New York Times Best-Selling Author Lisa Nichols. In June 2016, Monique became the leader of the Kingston chapter of TuesdaysTogether, a monthly meet-up that happens in over 300 cities globally with entrepreneurs who believe in community over competition.

Her most recent appointment is as a member of the Kingston Hub in the Global Shapers Community where we serves on the Team & Capacity Building and Communications Committees. Monique is also the Project Lead for the Hub’s year-long project, Project Lyfi which was a winner in the Global Shapers Shaping My City’s Future Challenge.

She was formally trained as a Graphic Designer at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). She has worked with companies such Barnes & Noble, Twentieth Century Fox, Digicel Jamaica, American Greetings and Red Stripe. In February 2016, she was selected by the Ministry of Science Energy and Technology to be a Design Consultant at the KingstOOn Animation Festival.

Her journey to entrepreneurship started with her fascination with blogging. Her first blog M*RKologie, was awarded the Best Fashion & Beauty blog in the 2011 Jamaica Blog Awards and birthed the Generation G Empowerment Camp for Girls. She also received Best Lifestyle blog for her blog Orange Street in the 2014 Caribbean Blog Awards.

In 2017, made her speaking debut at the Women Economic Conference in New Delhi India, where she spoke on how to use design to innovate in education. This topic is closely tied to what she believes is her life’s mission to make Jamaica a first world country by redesigning the education system using design thinking principles.