Meet Angelle Fouther | Principal of Kindred Communications LLC

We had the good fortune of connecting with Angelle Fouther and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Angelle, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’d spent my career as a communications professional working primarily in nonprofit organizations. This helped me hone my skills in a variety of ways. It also helped me live out my passion for helping communities tell their stories and gain access to amenities equitably. However, while I chose to work with organizations that declared a commitment to equity, I found that their strategies didn’t always align with what I would do. Being the head of Kindred Communications and working as a consultant to organizations offers me leverage and an ability to influence in ways I couldn’t in a hierarchical framework.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Kindred Communications is born out of my lifelong experience of walking two worlds. Both my parents were highly educated. My mom had two masters degrees, one of them in linguistics from the University of Paris, Sorbonne. My father had a doctorate in education. Both worked in “inner city” schools in the Chicago Public School system. In part, they were confined to what a segregated city and system would allow. But they were never confined to the stereotypes and internalization of systemic racism. I learned that you can be in a system but not of it. You can use everything you have to support and improve the quality of lives of others by reaching your highest potential while reaching back and around to others, paving a pathway for them to do the same.

Our journey in Colorado began in 2003 when my husband accepted a call to be pastor of the United Church of Montbello, a small church in the very diverse Far Northeast Denver Community. Over the years, I witnessed divestment in this community while simultaneously working in richly endowed organizations, situated in affluent communities, that had the ability to provide investment and support. I also saw the challenges these organizations had in understanding how best to support communities in truly equitable ways. Each were striving hard to do so, but had barriers and blinders in reaching this goal at times. Witnessing the juxtaposition and having a foot in both worlds–helping to organize the community I lived in while nudging the organizational development of my employers to support, gave me better training than I ever attained in an academic setting.

At the center of the task of community building is communications. The framing of narratives is critical in communities establishing their base of power to gain all that is rightly theirs; all that other communities have access to. This is my driving force.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Denver is a great place to visit. Depending on the friend’s interests, I would want to show them a combination of the beautiful landscapes of the area, including Red Rocks, Mt. Evans, or maybe even Winter Park and Hot Sulphur Springs (I love the hot springs). I would want to visit some of Denver’s wonderful restaurants, including high-end Guard and Grace and STK to more casual, Stanley Marketplace and Hashtag. I might also take them to some of the museums here in Denver, including DAM and DMNS, and we’d check out a few malls – Park Meadows and Cherry Creek while hitting some yard sales (a spring or summer visit). Indeed if it was summer, we’d spend time at the community pools in the area and take in an outdoor concert or two. We could wing the rest of the trip from there.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Thanks so much for including me in this series. I definitely want to shout out Shoutout for creating this platform. In addition, there are a lot of people who have helped me gain the strength and confidence to become a full-time entrepreneur. I start with my husband, Rev. Dr. James Fouther, Jr, who has been my life partner for more than 32 years and who has encouraged me to “fly.” I appreciate every organization that has employed me and given me hands-on experience in learning communications and organizational dynamics. I appreciate the women who reached out early in my entrepreneurial endeavor to give me a chance. These include Janine Vanderburg, Carolyn Love, Taryn Fort, Michele Young, Adrienne Mansanares, Tiana Patterson, Jacqueline Kelly, Maria Johnson, Lorraine Hoover, and Dr. Plashan McCune. I am grateful to my youngest daughter, Daryn Fouther, for taking the risk of working with me and being a full partner in this venture. I also want to thank my oldest daughter, Danielle, who has encouraged us to take ownership of our image and brand and not play safe or small. Lastly, as bizarre as it sounds, I want to express gratitude for the global pandemic, the silver lining of which was my ability to think outside of the box and consider a cross-continental business partnership with my daughter (who lives in Africa) and trusting a new way of doing business.

Website: www.kindredcommunications.net

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelle-fouther-6b628a9/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angelle.fouther

Image Credits
Flor Blake Photography for the branded images.