How #DeafBossQueen Kellina is Helping Her Community Thrive with Kellina Powell
This week, Kellina Powell join me for a conversation about her community, the deaf community. Kellina lost her hearing when she was four years old and since has made it her mission to educate and empower others within the deaf community. She tells us her story and why it led her to this work, how the hearing community can provide support and encouragement, and why we need to stop overthinking it when we come across someone who is hard of hearing.
Who is Kellina Powell?
Kellina is a young entrepreneur who loves to help people with their personal growth and educate others about the deaf community. Little do people know, Kellina herself is actually a hard-of-hearing person. She became deaf at the age of four. She recently graduated with a psychology degree and is now starting her own online coaching business while finishing working on her book. She coaches people in the deaf community and parents with children who are deaf to help them navigate what it's like to be a part of that community.
Why Choose this Path?
Kellina’s decision to do the work she does all started when she was working at Canada’s Wonderland, a theme park in Canada. She had her hair up in a ponytail, wearing her hearing aids, when a young boy walked up to her and poked her, and she noticed he was wearing hearing aids too. She asked “oh are you lost. And he was like, no I just wanted to say that I’m deaf too. And his mom came over and was so emotional because she said, I’ve never met someone who was so comfortable showing off her hearing aids, and you’re wearing a ponytail. A lot of girls wear their hair down and cover their hearing aids.”
She even said that her son had never gone and talked to another deaf person before. It was that moment that she knew she wanted to make a change. The boy’s mom said “you’re gonna make a change by that little thing you did for my son,” and Kellina decided she wanted to help others. She wanted to help parents especially because “my mom, pretty young mom, she had no support, no idea what to do. And so I think because of my mom’s experience and meeting that little boy, that’s why it all started.”
Kellina wasn’t born deaf though. She was only four when she got an ear infection. Her family doctor prescribed ear drops, and she went to daycare, “and they did not follow the instructions and that day I went home, and I became deaf that one day. And my mom literally called me so many times, I was four, I didn’t know what to say or do. My mom tapped me on the shoulder, I literally jumped, and my mom said ‘are you not hearing me?’ and I said no, I can’t hear.” So her mom called Kellina’s grandmother, a nurse, and she rushed over to see what was wrong, then they went to her family doctor and they said it was too late, she was deaf. It was “really tough in the beginning, but over time, you realize that enough is enough, you want to make a change. So that was my mindset when I was growing up.”
When it was first happening though, she really didn’t know what was going on. Her mom and grandmother sat down with her and told her they would get through it. She went to see an audiologist soon after and they were “really raw with me. They sit down with me, they explain what was happening to me. And then I cried, obviously, because it was a whole new voice that I was hearing, versus my normal hearing. I felt like, I was hearing too many voices all at one time. I was not comfortable. And originally, I was confused, I really was confused for a second. And I was the first deaf person in the family so that was a really huge change for everyone.”
Providing Support and Encouragement
So when someone does recently lose their hearing, or a parent has a deaf child, how does Kellina provide that support and education? She says the best way to support someone is “understanding the story behind it before working with them, because that's very important. The second thing I always recommend is what strategies are you using at home, what are things you are doing outside of home, like for example, school? Are they in extracurricular activities or what is going on in the environment? And that’s really important because being a deaf person, you have to make sure that the environment that they are in is very supportive, because, without it, we're not going to get through it.” And then she also asks them questions like what they’re looking for and the type of support they need. Some of them just need more information. And a lot of times the parents that Kellina has mentored have later brought their deaf child to her so that she could provide them to support and guidance to be able to “express themselves and not be afraid.”
When it comes to getting the kids, and even the parents, to start feeling comfortable expressing themselves in this new way, Kellina starts with telling them to “look at what you’re grateful for. Yes, our hearing is super big because it’s communication. And I always encourage them to talk about the past. How can we “improve from the past how we can move on from the past. A lot of times, especially myself, sometimes we get stuck on our past, especially being bullied. And that's a big thing in the deaf community, bullying is something that we have to break. And so I sat down with them and I say, what can we do to prevent that from happening to you again, moving forward? What can we do to improve the communication?” It’s really about encouraging them to come out of their shell, it can be really difficult for someone in the deaf community to and then interact with the hearing community. Kellina also loves to make them “scream whatever is on their mind. And I make them shout whatever they have to talk about.”
Breaking the Ice
Kellina says that one of the biggest misconceptions about the deaf community is that every deaf person does sign language. “Not every deaf person does sign language. Myself, for example, I only did sign language when I went to a deaf school when I was young. But because my family was so focused on trying to help me build my self-esteem and stuff like that, they really didn't get the chance to do sign language with me when I was growing up.” Another common thing she’s noticed is that hearing people tend to overthink too much, sometimes it’s okay to ask one simple question, “how can we help you? I appreciate that effort. I really do. But it’s okay.”
If you’re reading this and thinking about that neighbor or relative or friend that’s hard of hearing and you’re wondering how you can break the ice, Kellina says “don’t overthink too much, that’s number one. Find out how they communicate. If you can, learn sign language, learn the basics. I’m learning the basic sign language too. Talk really slow, the deaf community reads lips, so you don’t want to cover your lips too much. The third thing is always to encourage the deaf person to come out to the hearing community, even if it’s a sporting event, socializing.” The biggest thing is to really try to encourage them.
The one message Kellina wants everyone to take away is that you never know who is “listening to your voice. Your voice matters. There are people who are deaf who don’t have a voice, a lot of them are mute and only do sign language. So I always encourage people to be grateful for their voice.”
To listen to the full conversation click the links beneath the main photo to listen on your favorite platform!
Affirmation
I celebrate and have reverence for all life and keep my energy open to receive abundance in many forms.
Links From the Show
Follow Kellina on Instagram @deafqueenboss.
Check out Kellina’s Twitter @cutiekellina.
Sign up for our daily emails here.
Follow us on Instagram here.
*This is an affiliate link. Purchasing through affiliate links helps fund The Good Space at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting us!
