Buzz Editor

The Bearded Therapist is a brand that I founded in July 2019. To start, I think that it is significant to discuss the meaning behind the name of the brand and how the name came about. As you can see, I sport a pretty cool beard and I’ve had the pleasure of working as a therapist on an ongoing basis from a professional perspective. Therefore, in that sense I wanted the brand to be a blend of who I am from a personal perspective as well as aspects of who I am from a professional perspective. By marrying the two, I was able to develop a brand that I’m truly proud of and that I feel the community could benefit from as a whole. Through the brand, I aim to shed a new light on what mental health is and why it is important for us to truly embrace taking care of ourselves more intentionally from a mental health perspective.

Mental health is a topic that has been viewed or perceived as taboo from some time now especially when you consider from differing cultural standpoints. As I was growing up, mental health is not something that was discussed much and it was not until I was older that I truly understood how much our mental health could impact our overall quality of life. Once I started to take my mental health more seriously, I started to see positive changes within my life as well as how I viewed and handled day-to-day life. Therefore, I decided to develop The Bearded Therapist brand as a way to provide positive exposure to mental health awareness along with changing perspectives on what mental health truly is.

Four years ago, I quit my corporate job of two years to pursue my vision of Occipital Media. Reflecting on when I first started, I realize now, I experience a profound passion for the connection the avenue that marketing offers business owners. To me, crafting the right message has the potential of enhancing the community supporting a brand. When you invest in your community, you are investing in yourself. You are investing in your dream and the dream of others.

I would have never imagined that I would have became a counselor, but I don’t believe anything happens coincidentally. All I knew growing up is that I loved to learn and I wanted to help people. Growing up was difficult for me when I look back on my journey. I didn’t know what I had experienced was so common for people in the black culture. Being belittled by my parents, not being validated, and downright emotional abuse. All I could think about was, I don’t want my children to feel this way when I have a turn to parent. I want them to have a different experience than me. I didn’t know much about parenting myself, but I knew that something had to change. A lightbulb went off for me when I took my first psychology class in college. I thought I was supposed to be a pharmacist but that class got me hooked and I couldn’t let go. I wanted to learn the reasons behind why people do what they do. I wanted to soak it up. I went on to obtain my bachelor’s in psychology and ended up with a master’s in both psychology and counseling. I knew that I really want to help my community and my culture. I want those who experienced what I have gone through to heal and grow. I became hell-bent on learning all that I could about trauma and how generational trauma unfolds. I now specialize in trauma as a mental health therapist helping women break unhealthy generational cycles to rewrite not only their narratives but for their families and communities, because once they understand and know better ways to communicate with one another, parent and show compassion they can help generations to come to do the same.

I became a mother at 19 and that’s really where my journey into life started. As a teen mom, I was often reminded of my life changing decisions, which caused me to focus less on my dreams and more on living my life according to societal standards and expectations that were honestly, unrealistic, and incompatible with a healthy and prosperous life. I allowed the needs, wants, desires, and opinions of others to dictate how I showed up for myself and my children.

After years of pretending to be something and someone I was not, my mask started to fade. The real me was beginning to surface, and it was scary. I was a fraud- happiness and fulfillment did not exist in my life in the capacity I allowed people to believe. Confronting the woman that I had given up on so long ago was an experience I cannot even begin to describe in words. After having my third child at 30 years old, I knew that I had to make some major changes. I finished my Bachelor’s degree program and made a promise to myself that I would find my passion, but it did not happen overnight.

Over the years, I acquired many accomplishments, but none fulfilled me in the way I was desperately seeking. People looking in from outside assumed I was as happy as I pretended to be. And the truth is, I pretended so long and so hard with the hope that eventually I would believe my lie. It never worked!

At 31, pregnant with my fourth and final child, I decided to embark on the entrepreneurship journey. Feeling suffocated at a job that I hated, entrepreneurship seemed to be the gateway to the happiness and freedom I was longing for. I invested thousands on top of thousands of dollars into launching a business that I thought was my purpose. It wasn’t until I sat down and mapped out what MY success, happiness, and fulfillment looked like that I realized my gift. It has taken me three years, moving my entire family from Baltimore to Georgia and faith I didn’t know I had to reach this place, where I am confident, clear, and courageous in acknowledging my passion and stepping into the woman I had given up on many years ago.

There is no such thing as an overnight success. It takes trial and error, determination, humility, and a WILD ambition to define success, happiness, and fulfillment on your terms! My life experiences helped me realize that my purpose is to be an advocate and supporter for women with children to live every day of their lives with the intention of pursuing and attaining true happiness and fulfillment.