AFTER YEARS OF being an entrepreneur of many types, Melisa Kennedy is finally combining it all into one big bowl of BMK. We're all intrigued, but what does it mean exactly?
In short, BMK stands for By Melisa Kennedy. And it started out as a publishing company for her then travel and wedding magazine, FOUR, as well as books.
For about six years, BMK has gained the audience's trust by recommending products in FOUR Magazine. Then she started to embrace her true passion of paranormal, macabre, and the mystical by creating branded events and ideas like Cryptic Culture™ and UFOCon® (yeah, she owns those trademark names too).
But recently Kennedy plans to pursue her bigger ambitions for the company. So, she is expanding into more in-person offerings like Cryptic Culture™, Georgia Ghost Tours™, Plains Cottage™ Haunted AirBnB, The Haunting Shoppe™ flagship store, and The Witch's Brew Tea House as well as e-commerce in 2022-2023.
She is pairing up with her authors, brands, artists, and small businesses that she feels meet her vision to start. The idea to go into these expansion projects make sense to Kennedy. BMK already has a loyal and captive audience that all are looking for that perfect BMK-approved otherworldly lifestyle which she has dubbed Cryptic Culture™ products, experiences, and more. The great news is, these new projects all compliment the BMK books and media already established.
While BMK is a publishing / media company, it's way more than just that and Kennedy is out to prove it. Expanding its digital platform into various products, partnerships and e-commerce.
Here are three times Kennedy has proven her entrepreneurial prowess...
SHE’S INTO PARANORMAL | She has countless personal experiences from being a paranormal investigator born and raised in WV near Flatwoods Monster and Grafton Monster sightings, victim of an otherworldly possession twice, multiple UFO sightings including the 1997 Phoenix Lights, a psychic medium, tarot reader and more.
SHE ADVOCATED FOR PRODUCTS BEFORE THEY'RE HIP | When Melisa's daughter was born in 2001, she started an organic baby care and cosmetics company called Lady Emily. Way ahead of its time, Kennedy had to actually teach people what "organic" meant because very few even heard of the word 21 years ago!!
All of the products her company sold were made of non-toxic ingredients. She even had her own factory and independent sales reps in all 50 states. She sat next to the CEOs of Avon and Mary Kay at the yearly DSA Conventions. She laughs now because these companies did not have a clue how big organic skin care and cosmetics were about to become even though she warned them that the old chemically-derived ones were about to become dinosaurs.
How do clean products relate to Kennedy's otherworldly lifestyle you ask? Because chemicals kill your third eye (aka "psychic" abilities) whereas natural and organic essential oils, herbs, and ingredients connect us to the other realms.
SHE EXPERIMENTS WITH WITCHCRAFT | Let's make this clear right now. Witch means a "wise woman" not some evil persona Hollywood has conjured up to make money from. Think Hallmark Channel's "Good Witch". "A wise woman was seen as a threat to the church centuries ago, therefore, they had to demonize the term and the practice," says Kennedy.
"Witchcraft has gotten an unnecessary bad rep from church leaders, political figures, and Hollywood because they don't bother to take the time to learn what it truly is. Once they do, they will see much of the rituals, ceremonies, and beliefs are the same. Sure there are practicing witches with bad intentions just like there are politicians, priests and ministers who prey on children for sex. People really need to see that there are good lessons to be learned from the Cryptic Culture community I am creating here."
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