Every entrepreneurial journey is different. Some follow a straight path, others wind through detours most wouldn’t choose. The story of Kelsey Battle fits firmly in the latter category, unconventional, at times harrowing, and yet deeply inspiring. Battle’s story is a testament to resilience, to overcoming the limitations both life and society had placed on him since the very beginning of his life, and to using that hard-earned strength to change the lives of others.
At 19 years old, Battle had graduated from high school without being able to read, write, or spell beyond a first-grade level. His childhood was defined by instability, his home life steeped in substance abuse, with a mother struggling with addiction, and a household environment where survival came before everything else. “I didn’t want to go back to Fayetteville,”
Battle recalls the day a recruiter told him his military test scores were too low to qualify for any job. “Everybody in my house was involved in substance use, either selling or using. That’s not the life I wanted for myself. I wanted something different.”
That moment became a turning point. Instead of sending him back, the recruiter told Battle, “I’m going to help save your life.” Three days later, Battle was on a plane to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, beginning his basic training in the army. The road wasn’t smooth there either. Arriving in Germany, he admitted to his unit that he couldn’t fill out his paperwork because he couldn’t read. His first sergeant, defying protocol, made him his driver despite Battle’s low rank.
More importantly, he gave something to Battle that changed the trajectory of his life. He taught Battle how to read. The sergeant, who was an immigrant, understood hardship viscerally. Those lived experiences led him to assist Battle with his tribulations. The sergeant’s empathy, combined with mentorship, became a pivotal moment for Battle.
“I learned to read because somebody took the time to help me,” Battle says. “That saved me. It gave me a chance to save myself.” It was a lesson he carried forward. He realized in order to succeed, he needed the one thing he lacked his entire life: someone to believe in him. But that wasn’t all. Whether it was the sergeant’s mentorship or the recruiter’s assistance, Battle knew that growth ultimately came from taking ownership of his own transformation.
After leaving the Army, Battle worked three jobs to fund his first venture, ICAN Clothes, launched in 1999. The brand, short for I Can Achieve Now, was born from a powerful moment watching news coverage of a tragedy that took place at a school. Hearing the words of an American civil rights activist, “I can do all things“, Battle realized that young people needed that kind of message embedded into their daily lives.
The clothing line, sporting the very message that drove Battle to overcome his own difficulties, became a movement and a way to put positivity and self-belief into the world.
But Battle’s mission didn’t stop with apparel. With his wife (of 32 years and have 5 kids), who had her own history as an at-risk youth growing up with parents struggling with addiction, he opened residential treatment facilities, mental health facilities, and a foster care agency, creating the kind of stable, supportive homes they wished they’d had as children.
“Growing up, no one had my back, no one to help me. I was always in survival mode.” Battle shares. “My wife and I both shared this experience. And now it’s become our mission to ensure that other young people don’t. That instead of surviving, they can choose to live.”
The couple also entered the construction business, building new homes to support their community, with transitional housing for the homeless and those struggling with addiction. Today, Battle owns multiple companies, including his clothing brand, a construction firm, and a mentorship firm, all tied together by a commitment to uplift those who face the same disadvantages he once did.
His work as a keynote speaker brings that mission directly to schools and youth groups. In auditoriums filled with hundreds of students, Battle shares his story, how he went from a teenager with reading disabilities to a college graduate with a degree in psychology, from an at-risk youth in survival mode to a man who now creates opportunities for others.
“Your start is not your finish,” he tells them. “Nobody’s going to take care of you like you. If I care about you, I’m not going to let you harm yourself. And if you care about yourself, you have to make decisions for your future self.”
For Battle, the journey has come full circle. The man who once needed someone to help save his life now works every day to be that same catalyst for others, not by rescuing them outright, but by giving them the tools, opportunities, and belief to save themselves. His companies exemplify the very platforms for change he seeks to make. And today, as his motivational voice and message echo in auditoriums and clothing apparel, it’s proof that anyone can break free from the weight of their circumstances.
“I would like my tragedy to be a reason for someone else’s triumph, and to see that happening now, it only tells me that my struggles meant something bigger.”
