Lakitsia Gaines is a Miami, Florida native and a 4th generation graduate of Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida. She is married to Shawn Gaines, and they have two children; Kendall Gaines (21) and Kaitlyn Gaines (18). Kendall is completing the 5-year MBA program at FAMU, and Kaitlyn is a freshman at FAMU pursing her goal to become a Child Developmental Psychiatrist.
After 10 years of leadership promotions and relocations with State Farm, Lakitsia wanted more than success as an employee of a fortune 50 company. She wanted to be a stakeholder in a company where she controlled and achieved financial freedom, while giving back to the South Florida community and teaching them to build sustainable, financial wealth. In 2006, she became an agency owner of the #1 auto, life, homeowners, and boat insurer in the country – State Farm. She has a team of 15 multilingual (Russian, French, Creole, Spanish, and English) employees who are licensed to provide insurance and financial services. They are also dedicated to the vision of protecting individual’s financial wealth, while providing an array of professional financial services. As one of nearly 200 agents out of 19,000 across the country, she has two State Farm agencies, located in Miami, Florida and Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Lakitsia and her teams have achieved many awards including the internationally coveted Million Dollar Roundtable. This represents the top ½ of 1% of insurance and financial professionals in the world. Other awards include Chairman’s Circle (10-year qualifier), SVP club, Mutual Funds Platinum Award, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) National Multiline Sales Award and NAIFA National Sales Achievement Award.
She has been recognized as “Business Firm of the Year,” “Most Influential and Prominent Black Women in Business and Leadership” and the coveted “In the Company of Women Awards” as an Outstanding Woman of Business and Economics. Lakitsia has spoken for the International Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit, featured on the Steve Harvey Morning Show and twice on the Power Stage at the Essence Festival in Louisiana.
Some of her community and professional affiliations includes Member of Miami Biscayne-Bay (FL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, Top Ladies of Distinction, Incorporated, Miami Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Rotary International, and leads the Finance Workshop Committee, as a member of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Miami Gardens, Florida. She serves as a board member for many nonprofit organizations, including but not limited to Northstar Estates. She hosted FAMU Strike Tour ’21 and has raised money for many political campaigns.
Her personal motto is, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” As a college scholarship recipient, she personally donates more than $50,000 a year in sponsorships and scholarships for deserving high school students, attending FAMU and other colleges and universities. She is an active volunteer sharing more than 200 hours of complimentary seminars for financial literacy to the public.
