Kendra Robinson joined the cast of ‘Love and Hip Hop Atlanta’ as the love interest-turned-wife of fellow castmate and rapper, Yung Joc. But the truth is, she is so much more than just a reality television star. Robinson truly personifies the title of ‘Boss Woman.’

Robinson is an HBCU graduate, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., a Criminal Defense Attorney, and a Real Estate Lawyer. She operates under two Black-owned firms, Sanders, Robinson & Scott (SRS) and Kendra Robinson & Associates. And despite having a successful career, she proves that she can never be boxed into other people’s expectations. She vows to always “march to the beat of her own drum.”

Read as Robinson shares her secrets to balancing a successful marriage, thriving career, a consistently grueling schedule and more!

Jadriena Solomon: It’s no secret that reality stars are usually looked upon in a very one-dimensional way. What misconceptions have you heard people adopt about you just since you’ve joined the cast of ‘Love and Hip Hop Atlanta’?

KR: One unfortunate thing that I’ve heard people say about myself is, ‘Is she really a lawyer? Or is she acting like a lawyer because she’s on this show?’ And another one I’ve heard is that people just feel as if I’m like an alternative type of lawyer, simply because I’m a cast member on the show. 

I’ve heard people say that I’m ghetto, and this and that, and that just could not be further from the truth. I’m classy, I’m professional, I take care of business – whether I’m on TV or not, when I’m in front of a judge, or in front of my clients for a closing. So those two are the biggest misconceptions. People just can’t believe that I could be a cast member on this show, and still actually be a licensed attorney with a career of almost 10 years.

JS: Outside of being a cast member on ‘Love and Hip Hop Atlanta’, you’re also a newly-wed – recently married to your husband Yung Joc – a criminal defense attorney and real estate lawyer who operates under not one but two firms. How do you balance such a grueling schedule as a new wife and career driven woman?

KR: Being the type of person that I am – the type of personality type that I am – I stay very organized with a schedule. With running two separate law firms, and actually running a very high volume real estate closing firm, it is mandatory that I write everything in my schedule. I know it’s not really ideal for the ordinary person to write something like ‘I want a hug’ in their schedule – and you know, we obviously don’t have to schedule everything all the way down to the titbit like that. But I literally write down my whole day, and my weeks to come so that if we do want to get away and take a trip or anything, I know where I have the time to do so.

One thing I can attest to is back when I was less organized, my world was a lot crazier. I had to film, I had court, I had a closing, I had to make sure Jasiel (Yung Joc) was okay. I had to make sure the kids were okay – it was a lot that I had to do. And I just realized that if I didn’t get some organization to do everything, it was going to be a train wreck. 

Jasiel and I sit down every Sunday, and we have a family meeting where we discuss our schedules for the week. We discuss any important events that we have coming up, and we just try and get it all out on the table so that we can see where we have time for us, or for anything else that we deem equally important for the week.

JS: That drive that you have is not only exemplified in your present day career, but also in how you got your start as a successful business woman. You relocated from a small town in South Carolina, to the Big City of Atlanta, Georgia. You’re an HBCU graduate, and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. What is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned over the course of your journey to success that you hold with you each and every day?

KR: The thing that I hold onto is keeping God first and being kind. Both of those things are equally important. I’ve had so many instances where I just didn’t know what I was doing, or I didn’t know in which direction I was traveling, but because I had been kind to a person or helped someone in the past, when it was my time of being need those same people were willing to help me out – or even if they couldn’t help me out, they were able to align me with the right people to do so. 

And honestly, I can say that is why I am where I am today. You know, besides God perfectly orchestrating it. I’ve literally been paired with people who are very powerful, very resourceful. And that all  just stemmed from me being nice to somebody when they couldn’t do anything for me. And then when I got to a place where I actually needed help, everybody just poured out and helped me. So it’s just so important to be kind because you just never know who you’re going to pass when you’re going back down, going back up or stopping anywhere in between.

JS: That is definitely a word. Your husband recently went viral when he gave a friend much needed  advice pertaining to her divorce while on Instagram live. He advised the woman that rather than celebrating her divorce, she should celebrate the opportunity of having a new beginning. As a newlywed, what would you say is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned about marriage and romantic relationships thus far?

KR: The biggest thing that I’ve learned about marriage and relationships is the dire need for communication. Jasiel is older than me – I won’t say significantly, but I mean, he’s older than me by almost a decade – so you know, it’s different. And sometimes I might think that he knows what I’m thinking, I could get mad or irritated when the fact is that he’s not a mind reader, and neither am I. 

And so I’ve just learned the importance of saying if I’m upset – this is what I’m upset about. If I’m irritated or uneasy – this is what I’m uneasy about. We tell the toddlers and the young kids to use their words – don’t cry – use their words. So in using our words to express ourselves as clearly as we can, it will really save a million arguments. 

Doing this in my marriage has allowed it to grow stronger and stand on easier footing. We don’t have to argue, and fall out and then make back up. We realized that all we had to do was communicate – our pastor gave us that advice. And a lot of our close friends and family gave us that advice. You just have to make sure that  you can communicate. It just makes everything so much easier, and really makes us a team, as opposed to being opponents. 

JS: You’re really excited for fans to get to know you on a more personal level and get an understanding of your multidimensional character with the next season of ‘Love & Hip Hop Atlanta’. You’ve boldly stated, ‘I’m a lawyer, but I like trap music,’ and you’ll walk into a courtroom sporting your icy chains without a second thought. Why is it so important for you – as a woman and as a Black woman – to never be boxed in and to serve as an example of professional duality on TV?

KR: It’s so important for those things to be highlighted. And for me, not to be boxed in, as a woman or as a black woman, because just based on my experience, we have this perception of what a lawyer should look like, how a woman should dress, and how a woman should speak when she’s in a room with a man, or amongst people. And I hate stereotypes because I know some of the most successful lawyers, judges and professionals and they look like me. They might not necessarily do the stereotypical things that we expect of lawyers, like go to the library and read books all day and listen to classical music. I believe that it’s totally okay to be exactly who you are, so long as you’re upholding the ethics to whatever it is that you do. Whether you’re a lawyer, doctor, or whatever, we don’t have to be boxed in. 

If I like to wear jewelry to court, I should be able to wear my jewelry and still be able to advocate for my client and get a good result. It’s so much more about the quality of the service that we provide, as opposed to the package that it comes in now. And for so long, this country has boxed in women, black folk – black women especially – and we’ve always had to cower down or not be assertive out of fear of being deemed as argumentative or too difficult. 

It’s 2022 and Atlanta’s a great place because you don’t have to tip toe whether you’re a woman, whether you’re black – no matter who you are and where you come from. It’s a melting pot of all different types of people. And it’s just important for people, women, and young girls to see me and see that. To know that you can strive for excellence, and actually be great and break barriers, but also be true to yourself. You can have your hair in an Afro, you can put a weave on it, add some blonde highlights if you want to –  as long as you do what it is you set out to do in a very nice, professional manner. 

Representation is so important so that nobody is confined to the stereotypes that are presented or forced down our throats – so to speak – in America.

JS: Outside of killing the courtroom, closing on Atlanta’s most beautiful properties, and gearing up for your next season of ‘Love & Hip Hop Atlanta,’ what else can fans expect to see from you this year? And how can they keep up with  and reach out to you?

KR: It’s going to be a crazy next season. I anticipate everybody’s emotions to be jerked here and there. I do believe that people will, you know, laugh this season – I feel like they are definitely going to cry. They might be crying along with me or laughing along with me. It’s like bipolarness all over the place and I’m so excited about that. 

I’m a little nervous about it all, but I just feel like people will be able to see my representation on the show and just come around full circle. I feel like we are able to travel literally in a circle, from season open to season close. And it all makes sense in the end. It’s just something that everybody has to watch. Like, I can’t even begin explaining it  – it does no justice for it. You just have to be ready for Monday night to come and catch it. 

If you want to reach out to me, you can find me on Instagram @attorneykendra_robinson. If they’re interested in using me for real estate services or as their closing attorney, they can come visit my website at www.srstitle.com or www.KRobinsonLaw.com. I’d love to work with everyone.

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