MEET KEN
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Hello DeSoto! Thank you for your interest in learning more about me and visiting my campaign website.
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My name is Ken Waters. I have been a long time resident of DeSoto for over twenty years. I grew up in North Dallas in a loving family. My parents kept me and my siblings in church all of the time which looking back kept us out of trouble. My mother and father were married for forty three years.
After High School I went to the University of North Texas majoring in Business Administration. While in college I joined the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and also was fortunate enough to meet the love of my life Tonya.
After college we both moved back to Dallas and I eventually got into the telecommunication industry. Over the years I have also been in the sales industry, digital marketing industry and eventually entrepreneurship. I married my college sweetheart in the year 2000.
After the “honeymoon” phase our first priority was to purchase a house. Most all of my friends at the time were looking for houses in Dallas, Garland, Mesquite, Richardson, Allen, McKinney, Arlington, etc., however, I wanted to buy a house in DeSoto. I wanted to live in DeSoto because of two reasons: First, we could get more house for our money at the time and second, at the time it was a good place to move to for successful and also up-and-coming African Americans who were doing things and going places. It was portrayed as a place of more equal opportunities for all of the city’s citizens which was important. And since Winners tend to hang out with other Winners that was the place I wanted to be.
When we first moved here to DeSoto as a young couple, we quickly realized that there was not much to do for young adults or young couples. We found ourselves having to travel to Dallas most every weekend to do things. After a couple of years of our settling in and adjusting period we decided to get involved within the community. To this day, over twenty years later I am still involved and giving back to my community. I have developed a reputation within the community of comradeship, trust and respect through my actions within the community.
The initial vision and concept of DeSoto being a place achievers were moving to is what attracted me to DeSoto, and all of my community involvement activities over the years have been to assist in achieving this vision for the city of DeSoto. I will never forget what attracted me to DeSoto and the initial challenges we faced as new residents looking for things to do. I will work toward achieving the goal of having DeSoto become the “Jewel of the South Side” of Dallas County so all of our residents can benefit in various ways including economically.
