Dawn Kelly’s Nourish Spot Is Feeding Queens — And Her Legacy

Dawn Kelly, founder of The Nourish Spot in Jamaica, Queens, is a living, breathing testament of what it looks like to take a leap of faith and bet on yourself. The divine entrepreneur is celebrating almost a decade in business at her beloved health food eatery which was born in 2016, one year after she was abruptly laid off from the corporate workforce. Notably, the big milestone comes right at the start of Black Women’s History Month.  

“Sometimes, when I sit home alone, I stand in awe, not of myself, but of what God has done with me, because It’s hard for me to sit here and talk to you and tell you that I have a business that’s about to be 10 years old,” Kelly told MadamenNoire on the verge of happy tears via Zoom.  

A tasty and nourishing menu. 

The Queens-bred entrepreneur’s thriving business has become a cornerstone along Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in Southeast Jamaica, Queens, an area often underserved when it comes to nutritious food options. Committed to uplifting the community, the shop offers a variety of wholesome selections, including customizable smoothies, fresh salads, natural juice blends, wraps, and more. 

A standout menu item — one of Kelly’s favorite’s — is the Berry Crazy smoothie filled with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and mixed with a touch of agave, honey and coco water. 

“It’s heaven for me!” Kelly gushed. “I get a little anxious when it starts to get to the bottom, like, ‘Oh no, I want more!’”

RELATED CONTENT: This Is How You Build Wealth — Lessons From Thriving Black-Owned Businesses

Grounded in a mission of wellness, the shop aims to inspire healthier, happier lifestyles by encouraging better eating habits and helping reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, health complications that have been on the rise over the last decade. Kelly said it’s an honor to be nourishing the community that raised her while making an impact. 

“I live in Southeast Jamaica, Queens, we are considered a food desert, and we have been considered a food desert since the 50s and the 60s. So, I feel delighted, I feel proud,” she shared. “I feel grateful that I’m able to deliver the change that my community needed because it’s a community that not just raised me, but it raised my children, it raised my mother.”

A proud mother of two, Kelly runs The Nourish Spot alongside her children, most closely with her daughter, Jade Duncan, who has worked by her side to help grow the brand and shape the shop’s flavorful menu. A trained chef, Jade brings culinary expertise honed at Johnson & Wales to the business. 

As she reflected on the path that led her to her life’s calling in the health food industry, she paused, visibly moved. After losing her corporate role at Fortune 500 firm Prudential Financial at age 52, Kelly entered a deep period of grief. She had devoted nearly 16 years to the company as Vice President of Global Communications, traveling the world while leading internal communications and external media relations for its centers of excellence, a role she truly loved.

“I was devastated,” she said of that period. 

At the same time, Kelly was dealing with her own health challenges and had already begun a serious wellness journey, one she started well before leaving corporate America. After being diagnosed with pre-diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, she became determined to take control of her health and make lasting changes. It was her daughter, Jade, who gave her the push she needed to turn that determination into action.

“I was in my room crying, and my daughter, at that time was 26, she’s 35 now, she came in my room, and she knocked on the door. She said to me, ‘Could you find my mother? Because my mother is a fighter. I don’t know who you are.’”

With no background in entrepreneurship, Dawn Kelly immersed herself in learning, spending her days researching and figuring out how to build The Nourish Spot, not only to heal herself but to serve her community. She invested her own savings to secure the storefront where the business still operates today, well before even obtaining her city permits and business license, she recalled with a laugh.

“I probably did things out of order,” she chuckled.

Investing in herself proved to be essential. Dawn said she gained the structure, knowledge, and confidence to run her business through affordable and free programs like the Queens Economic Development Corporation, Interise, and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, from which she graduated. These programs helped her understand the fundamentals of running a business, from customer outreach and payroll to finding legal support and accountants. Just as importantly, they connected her to a strong network of fellow entrepreneurs she continues to collaborate with today.

Dawn Kelly is all about working with the community.

During the month of March, Kelly partnered with several Black-owned businesses to shine a light on some of the movers and shakers in her community. She worked with She Got The Juice, founded by powerhouse creative Kamille Cooper, to design three unique pins to celebrate their collective sisterhood in business. She also teamed up with Tribe & Oak, a luxury home essentials brand founded in 2021 by Taylor Tankson and Kareem Wallace, to develop a special candle for the store. 

Kelly isn’t only building community, she’s creating pathways, too. Through partnerships with nonprofit organizations, The Nourish Spot doubles as a culinary and hospitality training ground, giving local youth hands-on experience while connecting them with fair-wage employers in the community.

And those opportunities? They stick.

“In my store today, one young man who started with us as an intern in 2018 — he’s my manager,” she beamed proudly.

She’s made history, too.

The Nourish Spot has also spread its wings outside of the shop. In 2020, Kelly made history as the first Black-owned vendor to operate a concession at Forest Hills Stadium, fueling thousands of concertgoers all summer long. And the momentum kept building.

In 2022, the Queens-based wellness bar joined the U.S. Open’s food concession program, becoming one of the first Black women-owned businesses from Southeast Jamaica, Queens, to operate at the tournament, a partnership that’s continued every year since. Not long after, Kelly took a bold shot and pitched her products to Mets owner Steve Cohen, asking for a chance at Citi Field. The gamble paid off, landing The Nourish Spot an eight-week vendor run at the stadium in 2023.

These days, you don’t even have to make it to the shop to get a taste. Travelers passing through JFK Airport can visit The Nourish Spot in Terminal 8, where Kelly and her daughter work with Hudson by Avolta as joint venture partners to serve visitors from around the world through their concession stand. They are also JV partners in Terminals 5 and 7 at JFK, as well as Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport.

Dawn Kelly’s journey is more than a success story, it’s a powerful reflection of resilience, vision, and community, embodying the spirit of Black Women’s History Month. As she looked back on her path, she became emotional, reflecting on how far she’s come and how one closed door pushed her to open another, one that revealed her true calling and purpose, and created a pathway to generational wealth for her family.

Her story is especially meaningful in light of the economic challenges many Black women continue to face today. Over the past year alone, nearly 300,000 Black women have exited the workforce amid DEI rollbacks, federal job cuts, and other systemic pressures.

She shared a few words of wisdom to sisters who might be navigating uncertainty and figuring out their next move after a layoff.

“Think broadly. Take all the limits off. Don’t put yourself in a box. Nobody can keep us down,” she said. 

RELATED CONTENT: The She Did That. x MadameNoire Holiday Bazaar Gift Guide: 7 Black Women-Owned Accessories Brands To Know And Support