Courtesy of Kenya Mobley
Kenya Mobley, right, with one of her graduates.
It’s too simplistic to say that Kenya Mobley’s life as an entrepreneur was a manifestation of Plato’s wisdom that crisis is the mother of invention, even though she was indeed in a predicament.
At the time she moved to Texas, from her home in Mississippi, she had $2,000, two children, and a repo man looking for the car she was driving.
She can laugh about all that now.
However, despite that and certainly with the need to find a revenue stream, her real motivation for starting now three businesses was far nobler: love.
Mobley took part in a session as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, “Truck Driving and Entrepreneurship? Absolutely!” on Wednesday. She sat for a virtual Q&A with Scott Parsinen, an Arlington civic leader, UT Arlington alum, and serial entrepreneur.
She is the owner of On Track Truck Driving School, a big-rig, 18-wheeler tractor trailer — like “Smokey and the Bandit” — driving school.
As a minority woman, she is admittedly “a unicorn” in the industry.
Mobley, though, is a force. A short conversation with her confirmed that, and not even being a rare face in an industry could stop her. It doesn’t take long to understand why: an abiding faith in God and His plans, and faith in herself.
It’s all tied together.
“I write a letter to God every year and tell him what I want,” Mobley told Fort Worth Inc. “Not what I want, but how it will benefit others.”
To that end, she started A Time to Love Learning Center in Arlington in 2011. The name was inspired by her mission for the school: “It would be a place where every child felt love.” These weren’t ordinary children she would serve. Rather, they were what society considered the outcasts, those of underserved neighborhoods, indigent families, and CPS families.
“When a child is unstable they cannot function,” Mobley said. “They cannot love. You have to meet them at their level, which is first to acknowledge that you see them, that you will love them, and you’ll protect them. And then they’ll perform.”
She knew this because of her experience as a child, “because I was them.” Mobley was “handed off” by her mother to her grandparents at a young age, but she was a lucky one. Her grandparents provided all those essentials of nourishment, including all those lessons from the Sermon on the Mount.
Always wait on the Lord, Mobley remembers her grandmother directing her.
“I’ve faced tons of obstacles, and God has always proven to me His faithfulness,” she said. “I have a tattoo: 'I am not what happens to me. I am what I choose to become.' He guides me along the way. I’ve become who I’ve said I would become.”
No matter where she is or what business she is running, Mobley said she will always be an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Mobley ran her business as she should. She paid her employees, she paid her taxes, and she set money aside for a rainy day. With some money saved and a little inheritance from her grandparents, a friend suggested that she buy a truck, an 18-wheeler. Get into trucking.
She had never driven a truck — to this day, she has never driven a truck. She knew nothing about the business.
But before long she had three trucks and hired out drivers for her new business, which she operated for five years. She acknowledged in her interview with Parsinen that one lesson she learned through all of it was to connect with the Chamber of Commerce sooner, as well as a mentor who knew what they were doing.
After all, she doesn’t have the endurance for making mistakes at 43 that she had at 25, Mobley joked.
Her life today — her pivot — as the owner of a truck drivers education center was the result of a concern.
“I went to bed one night with the thought of if the drivers quit, what’s next? I always keep ‘what’s next?’ on the forefront of my mind before I go to sleep,” Mobley said. “I went to sleep, and I had a dream: I saw trucks, I saw a school and students. The next day I saw my friend and said, ‘What’s this about, do you think?’”
That’s a CDL licensing school. A truck driving school.
“She was being sarcastic, not knowing I’m always up for a challenge. I’m the daredevil friend. I’m that friend. I activated my faith and activated the steps and here we are three years later.”
So says Mobley — God gives you the vision; He will also provide the provision. Do not be afraid to try.
On Track Truck Driving School employs five instructors with more than 115 years’ experience. Mobley has an office in Arlington, where students are instructed in theory. That is, how to obtain a commercial delivery license, rules of the road, etc. She has another office in south Fort Worth, where the trucks are located. There, students get behind-the-wheel experience.
In October, about 70 students went through her school. That represented an approximate return to pre-pandemic levels, she said.
Somewhere along the way, someone said something about the truth of life never being contained in its summarizing labels.
Even a “unicorn” in the trucking business.
Mobley’s entrepreneurship has made life better for children born into dysfunction, truck drivers looking for work, and a supply chain desperately in need of drivers to move products.
“I get a kick out of seeing people succeed,” Mobley said. “That’s why I do this.”