Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lisa Nolan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lisa , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

When I started my business, it started off as a blog. I wanted to share the aspects of a social worker who is healing and working on their place in life. My social work career has been pretty different from my peers because I decided to go the community route and not clinical. I did not want to have my own practice and did not want to spend more money and time sacrificing my life to work and pay someone else to work for free to earn another title. Writing has always been a passion, but I was insecure that my writing was not professional or “Grammarly Correct.” However, I knew that people read what I wrote. So, in 2020 I decided to invest in myself, purchased my domain, and created my own website. I had never done this before. When I started looking for Instagram names and domains, I knew I would be called the “Healing Social Worker.” Of course, that name was already taken. So then I had to be creative and think of other names. I started researching the marketing and branding of business names. I looked into Walmart, Target, Amazon, and other popular stores. While I was impressed, I was not motivated. What could I be called? I went back to my social media handle, “She_Got_Faith.” In college, I made all of my social media handles She_Got_Faith or some variance of that name. Back in college, I had so much faith, I was a big Jesus freak. I was that annoying Jesus follower. So even to this day, my social media handles are SheGotFaith. Well, life happened, and my faith was challenged. I could not be jolly or all in with my faith anymore. Everything that I once believed in took a turn. I was challenged. Before this, I was living in a Utopia. In 2014, when Mike Brown was murdered by the police in Saint Louis, my world was shattered by all the people I once worshipped with and went to church with. Their true colors shifted my outlook because now I had to check myself because these are the folks I’ve been around. So, I started on a journey of healing and figuring out who I was, what I believed in, and what I was called to do. Fast forward, I went through a breakup; a cousin was found dead, my mom passed, and my brother was almost paralyzed. Faith? Oh, I was being tested. But the whole time, my soul told me to write because this was my format to release because verbal communication is not my best form unless I have someone there to help me formulate what I am trying to say. So, as I am looking for a name for my business, I can’t think of anything clever like “Walmart or Target.” Also, I had no experience in marketing and branding and, at the time, no guidance. So, I just decided to write one day, and it hit me, I am inviting people to experience, join or watch this healing journey; as a professional who realized she was human, there are systems in place to keep us locked in; I am figuring out my faith, my place, who I am and all this. I am healing SheGotFaith. This is an invite. One of the articles I read mentioned something about being catchy, so people remember. So the blog was going to be called “HealingSheGotFaith.” HealingSheGotFaith later turned into my organization. When people ask about the name, I tell them that SheGotFaith is a person who, in essence, is me, but it represents the person who decided to take themselves seriously. “Healing” invites the reader or the follower on the healing journey. And this is how HealingSheGotFaith was chosen as a name!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started off as a Social Work Student. I fell in love with Social Work, but I hate school. I was not a bad student, but I couldn’t believe the system in place for Social Work students. We have to sacrifice our time and life to work for free to get our degree and then be told that we will not be paid a livable wage because of our jobs of helping people are payment enough. Most of us were already living in poverty, and then we just sacrificed a life’s worth of money for an expensive piece of paper that society told us we had to get to only be told we still can not live a livable wage. Do you see the cycle? So this was not going to work for me. I had worked for nonprofits since I was eighteen and in food service, retail, and education to pay the bills. I always knew what I wanted to do but did not know what it was called. Before college, I had never heard of Social Work. Growing up, there were only four or five careers that were taught to us, teacher, police officer, a famous person (athlete or rapper), or everyday careers like fast food and retail. There was not much taught about what we could be outside of what we were. One day, someone asked me, “Lisa, describe your ideal career vision to me.” She asked this as I was in between majors because I started off as an English Education Major, but it was not working out for me. I honestly thought I would just have to go home because I had no clue what to do. I’ve always wanted to own a community center in the middle of a neighborhood and provide every resource possible. The lady listening told me, this sounds like Social Work. So, that was the start of me majoring in social work. In Social Work Programs, you have to complete practicums. While in my undergrad practicum, the program created a new partnership with the Boys & Girls Club and put me there. It had been seven years since they put a student in that position. I was responsible for collecting data and creating and facilitating multiple groups at multiple schools. I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Social Work. I took a year off and worked for a nonprofit. While at the nonprofit, there was the encouragement to get my master of Social Work so I could elevate. A year later, I was enrolled as a Master of Social Work student. During this time, I started my other practicum, where I worked for a school that was part of the national Full-Service Program, which means the school functions as a full-blown school and a community center. This was right up my alley. During my time here, I would research racism in Saint Louis by researching policies, laws, and rules about where basketball courts can be built and then created a basketball program based on my research; I would work with single fathers who were previously incarcerated but now had custody of their kids because they were incarcerated they could not find employment nor volunteer for their kids’ school, I would work with people who were homeless, addicted to drugs or having to revert to sex work to make a living, I was part of a clean needle program and I would partner with local businesses and organizations around the city to host career, employment and utility and rent assistance fairs. This was all the experience I needed and wanted.

Fast forward to the nonprofit I was working for (outside my practicum and during my Master of Social Work career), I thought I would be there for ten-plus years. I enjoyed what I was doing, but it was mostly a program for college access, and it did not address the other community disparities. I could not fathom how we could convince our young people to go to college when one, I was struggling myself, two, most were living in poverty, and three meant basic needs were not met. I loved what I did, but it was no longer fulfilling, and I did not see myself growing there or even being paid higher. They weren’t even paying me a livable wage with the Master of Social Work. So, after I graduated, I put in my resignation later and let them know that would be my last summer with them.

After that, I went on my healing journey for a year. While on my healing journey, I dealt with my mom’s passing and my brother’s help. My sister and I searched up and down for resources, but we were quickly denied because of our age. Because of our age, most programs told us we did not qualify unless it was private therapists. My sister and I used our EAP (employee access program) through our jobs to get everyone in therapy, which eventually ran out, and our family needed more than therapy. Most grief groups were only through religious organizations. There were two trauma-informed organizations where we resided at the time, and they both had waiting lists for up to 6-months. The lack of mental health resources hit us hard. We had to figure it out on our own. I went on my healing journey, which is how HealingSheGotFaith came about.
My goal was to provide a safe place for adults who are grieving. I want to provide a place that is not religious but strictly based on the grief experience. Most adults are taught to get over it and move on, but there is also a lack of grief education. My goal was to educate people on grief and to provide a place for them to grieve. Currently, HealingSheGotFaith hosts two Grief Groups:
1.) Grief Group with a Twist-This is a grief group that meets weekly. However, the twist is that I am helping people write manuscripts for their books. People are turning their grief into their stories.
2.) Thoughts by T&T Grief Support Group: This group is dedicated to my parents (T&T stands for Tata &Tommy, my parents’ names). This group also meets weekly, but I facilitate it and ask questions that challenge and allow participants to reflect and address their group.
I also currently offer The Healing Writers program for people who have grieved and got to the other side of their grief and want to focus on writing.
On October 23rd, from 1-4, I will be opening the Healing Community Office, which will be a place dedicated to grieving people who need to release, co-work, study, and have group meetings and strategy sessions.

All of my programs are geared toward people addressing their grief and healing from it so they can move forward.
My goal for HealingSheGotFaith has always been to teach people to “love you the way you love the world.”

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I have not had the best “managers” throughout my job experiences. At my last job, where I worked for someone else, I learned that not everyone who is a manager knows how to manage people. People typically become bosses to make themselves feel better. However, there are strategies to keep your team engaged and productive. I had to learn to step into my power and set the standard for my organization. Delegation is key in an organization. But because this is MY organization, I set the tone, standards, and expectations. With this in mind, I say get to know your team member’s goals. Learn this, so you have people working in their desire. Give your team members the proper training, communications, resources, and guidance to help them. Support them. They are not your person to keep forever. Know this. You want people to follow their dreams and do what keeps them healthy. I learned from a mentor in college if an event or something goes wrong, the Leader takes the fall, but if something goes right, the team gets their flowers. A business will not be perfect, but with the support, guidance, and resources in place, we can follow this model because we have the plans in place for the organization.
One-on-One and team meetings are crucial but don’t have so many meetings that it becomes overwhelming and takes away from the team’s creative side. Communication is key, but there has to be a balance.
If you decide to manage people as leaders, please know how to manage and delegate. Don’t have a team of people and not delegate and then become frustrated with them when things are not right.
I can not stress this enough, make everyone, from volunteers to staff, sign NDA (Nondisclosures) and Contracts or MOUS (Memorandums of Understanding). You still have to protect your name and brand, Do not allow people to see everything you’ve worked so hard for without accountability. This is your vision and project. Explain to them why and what they are signing. This might be the boring part, but it is so necessary.
Give your team their flowers. Think about paying everyone a livable wage, or if you can not at the time, think about other incentives (even if they are volunteers). How can you celebrate the people helping you grow and manage your business?
Managing is all about communication, relationship, and rapport. Society has taught us that you’re the boss, and people have to follow your lead, but that’s not how we keep sustainable teams.
You technically are the boss and set the tone and standards, but allow your team to do their job, work how it best fits them, give them deadlines, and train and communicate with them. People are burnt out from being overworked. We should change the system on how and why our team members have been burnt out and provide a space for them to be creative and work in their passion.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I started healing, I had to unlearn almost everything I was taught. Things such as being quiet and listening so you won’t be in trouble, going to school and getting a degree, and you will be paid what you’re supposed to, hustle and don’t sleep, keep working until you get it, you have to be the strong one, everything is a time crunch and multitask, it’s the only way to get more things done at one time. While in therapy recently, I told my therapist something like, “Well, I have to get this done, and I have to do this for this to happen.” My therapist challenged my thoughts and said, “Lisa, when you force yourself to do something, you’re putting pressure on yourself to the point where you can not get it done because you’ve already burnt yourself out. The reality is there are no timelines or time crunches for an organization you’re in charge of.” This changed the game for me. For so long, I’ve always thought I had to do so much at once to the point where I am doing stuff I don’t even want to do. I can not be the best at everything. I can not do everything and be good at it. While people do it, that is not me. I have never been that person. I have worked very hard to see and know myself. I can not be quiet because too many systems in place force people in our society to keep hush; that ain’t me. I did not get the promise of going to school and being successful. While my degrees helped me and gave me credit, the school was not easy, and for the amount of money I paid for my education career, no business will ever pay me the worth that I am, and they have proved that time and time again, which is what made me work for myself, the whole sleep when I die mentality has killed so many people that I love because most of them worked their entire life only to still die with nothing; I am going to sleep when I need it. Working and working until I get it is not an option unless my creative juices flow. But if I have writer’s block or can not focus, my body tells me I need to take a break and guess what I am going to do, taking a break. I come from a family of strong women and people, and their whole life, they were told they had to be strong; I no longer want to be strong because society has taught us when you cry, take breaks, or do anything that shows you’re human, you are weak. I don’t want to be strong. Multitasking is a lie. I want to focus on one thing at a time and give it my full attention. It also limits the mistakes that happen when we multitask. Not multitasking is not a bad thing, and it has allowed me to set boundaries.

Before the age of 30, I lost both of my parents. I know for a fact that my parents could never imagine a life of taking breaks, enjoying life, resting, and saying no. With me, I am breaking the generation curse, and I am resting and setting boundaries.

Contact Info:

• Website: HealingSheGotFaith.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingshegotfaith/?utm_medium=copy_link
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/HealingSheGotFaith/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-inez-nolan-97305714a/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HealSheGotfaith
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeWA7RgPS5l3RZsTqv0MbjQ
• Other: Bookshop.org/shop/healingshegotfaith

Image Credits
Malcolm Houston Ka’Cheena Lucus A Miles Photography