[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 2, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING KENESHA LEWIS

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                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 2, 2022

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
tenacious and ambitious young lady, Mrs. Kenesha Lewis. Kenesha has 
shown what can be done through hard work, dedication, and a desire to 
achieve success.
  With over 10 years of restaurant management experience, Kenesha has 
always had a love of serving people with excellence, bringing smiles to 
their faces.
  Known as the ``fruit lady'' in her family for many years because of 
her love for fruit, Kenesha felt led in December 2018 to start creating 
beautiful fruit arrangements. She worked throughout the night, knowing 
she was being purposely driven because she was so filled with joy. 
After showcasing her arrangements on social media and seeing the 
positive and enthusiastic responses, Kenesha, with her husband Jason, 
birthed Kay's Kute Fruit, offering gorgeous fruit arrangements for all 
occasions, as well as their all-natural smoothies.
  ``Being a young woman here in the Delta, it's not a lot of health 
options,'' Kenesha says. ``It's not a lot of places you can go and get 
a healthy wrap and then you can go in the same place and have nice 
service.''
  Kenesha got the idea to start a business after her husband kept 
getting on her case for eating too much sugar. ``I lost two teeth and 
he said, `wait a minute now, you're too young to be losing these 
teeth.' '' she recalls, laughing. ``[he said] `Let's figure this out.' 
So, we created smoothies together and I said, okay, this is good for 
me.''
  It turns out, it was also good for business. Lewis exceeded her 
projected annual sales in her first month after opening. Growing up, 
she says people in her community were good entrepreneurs, but they 
usually worked out of their homes. Her mom is a stylist, and her dad 
ran a house painting business.
  Being a black woman, now with a storefront downtown, she sees herself 
as a role model.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mrs. 
Kenesha Lewis for the outstanding work and accomplishments she has made 
thus far.

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