Meet Kentesha Ward & John Mayes | Owners of Good Vibes Hookah Lounge

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kentesha Ward & John Mayes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kentesha Ward &, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
The rich take risks. I want to be comfortable with my bank account in the future and that’s why I believe in taking risks. If you have a problem taking action or doing the uncomfortable as a business owner, you should just quit because it’s not for you. Business equates to taking chances and that includes taking a gamble with yourself, that also includes risks. The biggest risk I took in life was when I got fired in 2017 and I told myself I would never work another job again. To this day, I haven’t clocked in to a corporate setting in 4 years.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We are Kentesha Ward & John Mayes, owners of Good Vibes Hookah Lounge located at 2702 Mcgowen St, Houston, TX 77004. We came up with the idea of bringing the community together with great vibes and hookah. It a bit complex to start up and we had no idea if we would get a customer through the doors, but we stepped out on faith anyway. We opened our doors right in the middle of Covid, March 2020. When we opened, we had to shut down for weeks until the city of Houston reopened. We had no idea if we could continue with just our savings and no customers. Along the way we’ve learned patience. Patience is a virtue when owning a business. We’ve never been in a situation where we had to deal with a host of customers and different attitudes/expectations at once, so we will definitely say we have learned patience since gracefully opening our doors.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would most definitely bring them to Good Vibes Hookah Lounge and Cru Lounge for the vibes for sure for the night vibes. For breakfast, we hitting up First Watch or Another Broken Egg. For lunch or dinner food, we would go to Niko Niko’s on Montrose they have the most amazing greek food and it’s always hot out the kitchen! We definitely visiting the Museum of Fine arts and Houston Museum of African American Culture for that good creative fix, also stopping by the Buffalo Soldiers museum. For scenery, we headed to Discovery Green Park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to give a shout-out to our community of Third Ward. They have been our biggest supporters since we opened our doors. Without the customers, nothing is possible and we are grateful for each and every customer.

Instagram: @goodvibes.hookahlounge

Facebook: Good Vibes Hookah Lounge