Christian Harris, Vice President
Kindred Keynotes and Coaching
Christian Harris is a dynamic speaker, coach and consultant with a wide range of professional experiences that allow him to meet clients where they are at. Starting his professional career as an entrepreneur, Christian opened MS Clean and Sons LLC, a residential and commercial cleaning service servicing the Chicagoland area. In the first few years, the company grew to over 10 staff, 2 managers and servicing over 150 people per month. A few years after opening his first business, he opened a limo service that was to put it lightly, a roller coaster ride and “one of the best learning experiences of my life”. Aside from opening and operating businesses, Christian has volunteered and worked on many political campaigns including his own successful campaign for the Oak Park Public Library Board (Finance Officer, 2017-2021) and an unsuccessful campaign for Oak Park Village Board in 2019. Most recently Christian was West Side Regional Field Organizing Director on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s winning campaign and Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at marketing firm, D.M. Burton.
Christian began coaching friends, family and business school students in 2015. Although he didn’t call it coaching at the time, he was just being helpful. In 2019 he joined the team of OVP Management Consulting Group as a consultant and resilience coach. In this role he coaches clients from a variety of backgrounds through leadership challenges, hiring, interview prep, discrimination in life and the workplace, how to implement DEIJ and more. “Of all the things I’ve gotten paid to do, Coaching is the most fulfilling”. Additionally, in this role and independently he’s consulted organizations on a variety of issues including management, employee engagement and scaling for growth.
Christian has been captivating audiences since he was 9 years old when he was selected to speak at his school's Martin Luther King Jr assembly. Since then he’s been asked to speak at events like the Oak Park Public Library Kwanzaa Celebration, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago’s Black history month program, Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly’s annual dinner and more. “Speaking in front of people gives me so much energy and hope, whether it's 2 people or 2000, articulating feelings, difficult concepts and the realities we face while helping people learn is such an amazing feeling”.
Christian also has a strong dedication to his community and admits that although he loves his family “community work has my heart”. He served on the Executive Board of the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce (2016-2021), The North Avenue District Board (2017-2023) and currently serves on the Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly Board. In addition to Board Service Christian has participated in demonstrations with Black Youth Project 100, The People's Lobby , Oak Park Women Planned Parenthood march and more. In 2020 he co-founded the group Walk the Walk which focuses on Anti-gentrification, housing, community bridging and reparations. From this work Harris’ launched the Oak Park Reparations Task force in 2021. The task force has been the principal group moving the conversation on reparative justice in Oak Park and surrounding communities. In addition to all of this Christian attends almost any community meeting he can to ensure his voice and voices like his are represented in the room.
In 2023 Christian founded Kindred Keynotes and Coaching. KKC helps clients address personal and professional challenges with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ). Through coaching, consulting, and keynote speaking, they create a supportive environment where individuals can learn, refine their talents, and discover their true purpose. With the over all goal of fostering healing and restoration within individuals and communities.
Christian is a proud resident of Chicago’s west side where he lives with his wife Richelle and are eagerly expecting the birth of their first child.
What resonates with you most about H.O.M.E.’s mission?
H.O.M.E.'s focus on low income seniors allows us to put a spotlight on and provide services for a population that is often overlooked and left out of mainstream conversation
