AUSTIN, Texas — Auctioneering is a niche industry and TiWanna Kenney, also known as TK, has been changing its face.
"If you want a cowboy, that's not me," said Kenney. "I'm not showing up in a cowboy hat. I'm not wearing a big belt buckle."
Over the last eight years, Kenney has been breaking stereotypes while living a life few know anything about.
"It's crazy," said Kenney. "So I might wake up one day in Texas, the next day wake up in Seattle, the day after that, wake up in Portland, wake up in New York City, in Illinois, in Georgia, South Carolina, any place."
Kenney is based out of Austin but stays booked and busy. She shifted careers from the Army to banking, to becoming one of the first Black women in the country to earn the designation of Benefit Auctioneer Specialist from the National Auctioneer Association, which means she specializes in fundraising auctions.
It's a career Kenney said found her.
"My classmate said you need to come do our auction," said Kenney. "I'm on the board of such organization. You should come out. I said no for quite some time because I had no clue what I was doing, but two years later, I finally did. I volunteered, I did one, and I was hooked."
Kenney said she was hooked on the rush of getting a crowd going and feeling good while raising thousands of dollars for nonprofits.
"It feels so good to be able to help people that I'll never meet," said Kenney. "To know that I get to be a conduit to helping change the lives of people that I'll never know."
According to the National Auctioneers Association, as of 2024, less than 1% of their auctioneer members are Black, with only 14% being women.
"When I first became an auctioneer, I didn't think about the ugly side of history," said Kenney. "I remember the first time someone told me they were a sixth-generation auctioneer, and I was like, oh my gosh, that means your granddad, and so this is where I'm going with it. But then as my finger started ticking, I wondered what they were selling."
Before the Civil War, auctioneers sold off enslaved African Americans, the same way they auctioned off cattle and other goods.
"There's a history in it that can be painful, that while we may not experience it, it was a form of oppression for us," said Kennedy.
To be the mentor and leader she struggled to find at the start of her career, Kennedy teaches auctioneering at McLennan Community College in Waco. She also founded her own company, Astounding Auctions, a conduit to get more women and people of color into the industry.
"So what I love about this opportunity is that I can now bring more people into the fold, share the abundance of opportunity, the good spirit, and also that there are some incredible people who are auctioneers and at the same time," Kenney said. "Take back something that was used to hold us down."
She said she plans to continue to use her voice to lift others who want to break into this fast-moving industry.
What's next for TK?
Kenney plans to start her own nonprofit in memory of her son, Matthew Orange, who passed away in April 2023 after a battle with diabetes while in college. Her goal is to build resources for students in college with diabetes.
"Unfortunately, when you get the diagnosis of diabetes, and there's no one to follow up with in college because you're young, you're independent," said Kenney. "Unfortunately, things can happen. I want to be sure that there's a place where young people can turn when they're in college and young and independent and still get the support that they need, and they're able to continue to thrive in going to live a successful and wonderful life."
