Meet Verenda Cobbs | Woman of God, Social Worker, Community Leader, Mentor, Educator, Resiliency Life Coach, Apostle, Author, Business Owner

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

Hi Verenda, what do you think makes you most happy? Why?
What makes me happy….that question immediately makes me smile. What makes me happy is being around my family! Anyone who knows me knows that I love my family. This includes a host of individuals, but at the core includes my mom, sisters (DeNessa & Kadizha, my nephew DeKerion, my neices, Nia, Brae, and Reign, as well as my brother in law.) I have come to know very well that family is the most important aspect of life. Because of this feeling that I have when I am with my immediate family, I have been so blessed and thankful to bring that concept of family everywhere I go. This includes my extended family, kingdom family/church family, my work family, as well as my friends who have become like family. Family is something that has always been important to me. I have personally experienced a great deal of grief and loss, so I truly believe in family in it’s highest sense.

I also believe in healthy relationships that are compounded with love and grace. As I have walked through my journey, I have been very intentional to cultivate spaces to ensure that family is at the core of my joy. I am most thankful for my relationship with God, which has allowed me to truly understand the value of love and family and what that includes as well as how it connects to me walking in my purpose. Family for me is everything.

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.
I have had a great journey of development: I started my journey as a Freshman at VCU, which opened up my eyes to the community needs. Very quickly, I began mentoring, tutoring and working with youth as a volunteer in Richmond Public Schools. This experience inspired me to want to work in the school system, and so I changed my major from undeclared to Social Work. As I began to pursue my passion of helping youth, I also learned that there were some intense needs within the lives of students across the city of Richmond, and as a result, I found myself researching and learning how I could be an answer to the problem to serve the needs. I became active at my church, within my community, and even completed internships, where I could use my gifts to help young people. It was not easy because as I worked with youth, I quickly realized that there were some things that I needed to work on from my own childhood experience. I wanted to be who I needed and I wanted to make an impact. During my journey, I met three people who helped me to grow and develop tremendously: Jane Firer, James Chambliss, and Keisha Pope. As I worked with youth,these three adults became a safe space for me to develop personally and professionally as I prepared for my career in Human Services. They were able to teach me how to develop my soft skills, understand my areas of growth, and how to receive constructive feedback. I learned from these three adults about the Power of Resilience, which helped me to learn how to bounce back from every setback in order to continue to pursue my dreams. Additionally, I began to attend church and build my relationship with God and my faith, which gave me the ability to learn even more about navigating adversity and challenges.

I completed an internship at CIS of Richmond and later pursued a path to School Social Work. I also became more active at my church and began to be trained to be a Youth Pastor. These two roles changed my life and helped me to live my dream.
After working in the community for many years, I decided to go through a journey of personal development and it was here that I learned more about leadership and making an impact.

Today, I work within a role where I can connect people to people, help to create innovative programs, as well as help students develop and grow. My plan and dream has not changed : I am being who I needed just now in a different space.

I am so thankful to God for giving me the strength and the faith to continue to go forward. I have a passion for seeing people develop resilience and faith. To overcome their hardest life challenges to be successful just like I have done as well.

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.
If my best friend was visiting the area, I would take them to VCU, Rams House, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Shockoe Bottom, Short Pump, and if we had enough time definitely downtown Richmond for some of the best soul food in Virginia. Southern Kitchen, Croakers Spot, just to name a few. We would also visit the Canal Walk, Stony Point, and Scotts Addition.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to first thank God for this opportunity. I also want to shout out my kingdom bestie for connecting me to be apart of this article, EIT ShaNail Lee. Thank you sis for mentioning other people’s names in rooms! The best is yet to come. I want to thank God for my mother, Michele Cobbs, without her I would not be the woman that I am today. She is my greatest hero, my twin, and my inspiration everyday for living out my dreams. I also want to shout out my sisters-Nessa and Kadizha who are two women who mean the world to me! I love them both so much and I am so thankful for both of them.

I want to shout out my Spiritual Parents-Apostle EJ and Prophet Kia Simpkins for accepting me in the ICOR family (Impact City of Refuge) and giving me a safe place to rebuild, reset, and refresh spiritually, so that I could walk in my purpose. I have leaders who love, pour, push, and walk with me and it’s been a life changing experience. They walked into my life during a season, where I had lost faith and hope in the church and God has used them to help me in so many ways. I am thankful to God for that!

I want to shout out out my family near and far, my BFF and my friends for always believing in me, and my circle of friends for their support and love. I have a huge circle of friends that I am so thankful for…they keep me going each and every day: Queens Fellowship, my Sista Circle, the SQUAD, and my accountability crew. I am thankful for my kingdom ministry family as well as my personal mentees.

I also want to thank my Kingdom Family which includes so many people across the world! These are leaders, spiritual sons, and daughters who I get to serve and do life with every single day.

I am thankful for my colleagues at Communities In Schools of Richmond, Leadership Metro Richmond, Richmond Public Schools, and Virginia Commonwealth University for all of their support, love, and collaboration.

I also want to thank my Kingdom Family which includes so many people across the world! These are leaders, sons, and daughters who I get to serve every single day. I also want to dedicate this article to some special people who have already passed away, who each have impacted my life in so many powerful ways: Pastor Robert Brunson, Jr., Halona Gorham (my best friend), Laura Hodge, John Meeks, Shirley Butler, Lucille & John Minor, Christopher, Craig, and Phyllis Minor, Bruce Cobbs (my dad), and Edith Florine Cobbs (Big Ma), Godmother Evangelist Paulette Doughty.

Website: linktr.ee/aariseandshine

Instagram: aarisequeenv

Linkedin: Verenda Cobbs

Facebook: Verenda Cobbs

Youtube: Aarise Kingdom

Other: www.aarisekingdom.org Amazon: Author Verenda K. Cobbs

Image Credits
Photo Credits: Angela Jordan, Photographer Photo Credits: Carra Roots Photo Credits: Leadership Metro Richmond