Salvatore DeMaio
Though Kijafa Vick is understood to some because the spouse of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick, she has carved her personal path. Entrepreneurship, philanthropy, tv manufacturing and being trendy for intrigue: she’s been in a position to do all of it.
Though Kijafa makes issues look straightforward, we won’t deny the complexities of making a self-sustaining id when married to a number one man.
The businesswoman has been married to the previous NFL participant for over a decade. Mike and Kijafa met in 2002 whereas she was learning at Hampton College. The couple met at a nightclub and spent years constructing a stable basis earlier than getting engaged in 2009. The NFL participant proposed on his twenty ninth birthday they usually married in Miami in 2012.
She spent years being his proper hand and supporting him via ups and downs. The position might have some obstacles.
“I felt like I used to be nonetheless locked in,” Kijafa tells ESSENCE. So she managed to get out of those limits. The Philadelphia native, who appeared on Netflix WAGS to wealthnow occupies the producer’s seat. One in every of his most up-to-date tasks is The Coach Vick Expertisea documentary collection that aired in February, and paperwork Michael’s journey to revive the HBCU soccer program at Norfolk State. She additionally produced Evolution of the black quarterback in 2024 and Ballerina Wives in 2017.
“It wasn’t till I realized to face by myself, to make use of my voice and inform my story the way in which I needed to inform it and never let the media paint my narrative, that I used to be in a position to dwell the narrative I needed folks to see,” she says. “Then I may inform tales which might be actual and that I do know relate to different girls. That approach, I do not let that field shut in on me.”
And she or he does not let a full home cease her from telling these tales. Kijafa is mother to Jada, 20, London, 17, Michael Vick Junior, 7, and bonus son Mitez, 23.
“I really feel like that’s the largest duty we now have, ensuring everyone seems to be OK,” she explains. “I do not know if it is similar to an unstated rule, or if everybody [goes] via this, however I really feel like I am All. I’m the physician, I’m the trainer, I’m the therapist, I’m the boss. I’m every little thing to everybody.
Though balancing your loved ones’s well-being with your personal may be dizzying, Kijafa places their wants first.
“I feel you must all the time take time for your self, as a result of if you happen to’re not effectively, you’ll be able to’t make certain that your complete household is effectively,” she says. This prioritization quantities to taking two hours every day to follow. One hour is dedicated to power coaching and the opposite to strolling.
“Somebody actually needs to be dying for me to interrupt this routine as a result of I stick with it,” she says. “I simply really feel like if I do not take time for myself, if I do not care for myself, if I do not be certain I really feel higher, then the entire home goes to stroll throughout me.”
For Kijafa, the important thing to sustaining her vanity, together with whereas behind the help system of Michael and his household, has been centering her interior voice.
“I really feel like you are able to do each,” she says. “I really feel prefer it’s doable to have a relationship and nonetheless be self-absorbed. There’s a whole lot of strain from the surface world, however I really feel like if you happen to focus and simply take heed to your voice, you are able to do something you need and must do.”
Past what folks suppose they find out about her life, Kijafa needs folks to grasp that she is a strong lady, an incredible mother, and an advocate for self-care.
“That is the place I’m in life,” Kijafa says. “You must care for your self, it’s important to find time for your self. Be who you wish to be. [and] pour on others. I simply need folks to see Kijafa as a really robust lady who may do something. »