Murray Chamber Business Spotlight: Jenn Kikel-Lynn of K Real Estate, Giving Back in the Neighborhood
What’s made Jenn Kikel-Lynn into the ultimate go-getter?
Part of it came from being raised by ambitious parents. Her father was a door-to-door salesman before he passed away when Jenn was 11. Her mother, then a single mom, worked in real estate and other jobs as she raised Jenn and her brother in Murray.
“I was raised by entrepreneurs,” Jenn said, “It was always there.”
In 2008, ”I was a stay-at-home mom and I always wanted to be a mom,” Jenn said.
But she was antsy as her girls left for school each day and wanted to find a way to put her love for learning and people into additional pursuits, so she began working in real estate part-time before picking it up full-time in 2010. But one role wouldn’t suffice. While raising her two daughters, Lauren and Jenna, she also worked as the executive director for two non-profits while her girls were at school.
“Mornings were for the non-profit, then I would do real estate in the evenings,” she said.
After a few years, Jenn decided to forge her own path in business as a self-described “late-bloomer” entering the entrepreneurial world in her 40s. Again, one role wouldn’t suffice—she founded the FMK Foundation non-profit in 2014 and K Real Estate, “The Give Back Brokerage” in 2015.
Since starting her brokerage, Jenn has set aside portions of her commissions to support non-profit endeavors, often for causes near and dear to her clients.
“It has been philanthropy-based from the beginning,” Jenn said of her first business and non-profit organizations. The list of donation recipients is impressive, but Jenn laughed off the idea of holding novelty checks. Her ‘why’ is far simpler: “I love real estate and I love non-profits,” she said. “I love relationships and helping people get from point A to B.”
From her entrepreneurial start to today, Jenn has joined a number of boards, created other ventures, and continued helping non-profits financially, in addition to volunteering, writing grants, or donating her office space for organizations to come together. The money may keep the wheels moving, but relationships drive her forward.
How does she do it all? She laughed it off—not that it’s easy—“but all of these things fit together like a puzzle. It’s not a bunch of different roles, it’s all one thing.”
She helped put together last summer’s Downtown Murray Block Party—the first ever—where 24 Murray businesses set up booths, music, and food for around 1000 visitors. In the fall, she helped organize a restaurant and pub crawl through downtown Murray, where attendees grabbed a map and strolled around the reinvigorated downtown and the seven participating restaurants and pubs for eats and drinks. Both were hosted by, you guessed it, a Jenn-founded non-profit—Murray City Downtown District, which she started in 2024.
Jenn has been a member of the Murray Chamber since 2020, and looks to help fellow business owners connect with the Chamber’s networking opportunities, ribbon-cuttings, and the conversations that help the business community and city thrive.
All of it comes from home; Murray City. The fourth-generation Murray resident worked at Italian Village while attending Murray High and was voted “Most Shy” in the Class of ’91. One of her proudest recent moments is local, too. Last year, she sold all seven Murray listings, each with multiple offers.
When people want a local real estate brokerage, Jenn wants them to think of K Real Estate, “The Give Back Brokerage”. After all, she smiled, “I’m local.”
