We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shernita Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shernita, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The story began in 2015, when the 24 year-old me was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Immediately following the birth of my daughter, I had began experiencing some stomach pains. I also started to experience other symptoms such as nausea/vomiting, extreme fatigue and unexplained weight loss. I literally saw my body go from 205Ibs to 150Ibs in a matter of weeks! I was terrified, confused, and in more pain than I had every experienced before. I sought medical attention to get to the bottom of these unexplainable changes, I was led to the belief that I now would have to live with these symptoms.
As you can imagine, being a new mom and having to adjust to new responsibilities while trying to grasp the magnitude of changes going on in my body became overwhelming. I had just started back working a full time job, and would have to leave early to sit in the ER for hours just to get sent home with a prescription for pain killers. Initially, I had never heard of Crohns disease when I was diagnosed and neither did anyone else around me. I often compared myself to other people who were living with Crohns and quickly realized that everyone’s body is different and so are the severity of our symptoms. Let me just say the emotional rollercoaster almost cost me my life multiple times. Years of frustration and anger, false hope, inadequate care, lack of information and gruesome side effects from recommended treatments led me to begin educating myself on all things Crohn’s, chronic illness, and healing.
Throughout the process of researching I became obsessed with the knowledge I was gaining and the testimonies that I would come across. I had gotten so desperate for something to work-something to rid the constant pain. I knew that there had to be a purpose as to why God had pulled me through time and time again. I was so driven to seek answers and truly my hope grew daily. However, as my faith grew I still didn’t have the support that I desired and needed. I looked for support in my healthcare team, but they kept pushing pills and tests at me with no real confirmation that things would get better. I felt like I wasn’t being heard or seen. I looked for support from family and friends and though they knew nothing about Crohn’s, they made themselves available in the best ways for me. I looked for support in the community and all I kept coming across was the same information that fed my past thoughts of hopelessness. Even online, the energy of the chronic illness community was “disabling” and depressing. That’s when God gave me the vision, the purpose that helped me to push through my toughest days. I knew that in order for me to be healed, I had to include hope, knowledge and grace into the treatment plan.
I had the vision for Incredible Moms Alliance in 2019. At that time I had a lot changing in my life. I had just graduated from school, and starting my new career in healthcare. I started the process of getting my business legalized and creating a plan of impact. I was still unsure if the timing was right, yet every time I pulled back, I would meet another woman who needed the same support that I was seeking. I received confirmation in different forms but the one that did it for me was when I went to a conference with my church family and was reminded that we are the experts of the experiences that we survive. So, I made up my mind that even though I still have to fight through my own daily battles, the victory is not in vain. The pressing is not in vain. My prayers are not in vain. So I launched Incredible Moms Alliance, Inc. to bring together a community of women who are experiencing chronic pain and are tired of suffering in silence. I wanted to build a community that embraces the journey of fighting with faith. Incredible Moms Alliance is an organization that produces the best versions of who we are no matter where we are.
Shernita, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Shernita Brown, founder of Incredible Moms Alliance, Inc. I am actively training to become a certified peer support specialist and self-care management coach for individuals suffering with chronic illnesses and mental disorders. My ultimate goal is to teach patients and their families effective ways to cope with illness and build healthy communication skills for the sake of maintaining strong support systems to assist in the success of their healing. I learned a long time ago that family support is essential in the healing process, because the love and encouragement nurtures an empowering strength within.
I host a monthly support group to provide a safe space for women to share their stories, network with other women who they can relate to and gain helpful tips to manage self-care and work-life balance. In the group we talk about things such as stress-management, time-management, and ways to be an empowered patient. Each session includes learning objectives, hands-on activities, tangible resources to meet individual health goals. We have Mommy and Me Playdates, and I also host a virtual class called The 8 Stages of Healing. I like to celebrate the fact that we are warriors who make decisions everyday that save our lives.. No matter what life throws our way, we get to choose to punch back time and time again. So I have a lot of other things that I am planning to birth within the next 2 years. One of them being a life changing 6-week coaching program!
I also have just released my first book called, The Breakthrough Journal, My Healing Journey Through Prayer. When I began writing, it was just me and God and the desperation of wanting to be closer to him and be seen by him. I wasn’t looking to share it with the world. Then one day I couldn’t shake the emotions and I found myself picking the journal up for encouragement and to remind myself of how far I had come and I was literally in tears. I knew then that the prayers I had wrote were powerful. I published my book in hopes that it will serve as a tool for someone who is in need of strength. To show how the power of prayer can change the story. Also to share my story of resilience.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
An important lesson that I had to unlearn was the habit of speaking negatively about my situation. For example, I had it bad saying “my Crohn’s” whenever I would discuss the topic with someone. People would say come out of agreement with that and I would get annoyed because I felt like they misunderstood the context in which I was saying it. Though I didn’t understand the power of my thoughts and words in that moment. It wasn’t until I started to change my words and really pray with expectation was I able to accept that I was even worthy of being healed.
See, when you have been dealing with sickness for years you tend to loose your identity. The person you once were and the things that you once loved to do become so distant to the point you no longer remember them. I went from trying to hide the pain to becoming numb to it, and unknowingly making a covenant with it. There is power in words, we know this. Yet in those moments that require us to rewire our minds and allow our hearts to reopen, we often choose the easy way out. We choose self-pity, anxiety, and even prolonged suffering. What I learned and what really changed the game for me was speaking as if healing was already taking place!
Have you ever had to pivot?
I have had to pivot quite a few times throughout this journey. From going through a 2-year flare that caused me to move back in with my parents to the uncertainties that came with the pandemic. Life keeps life-ing you know, but I definitely could not give up. Seeing my daughter watch me go through each season of my life I can tell you it made me even stronger. On the days when I didn’t feel pretty or wasn’t able to love on myself, God showered me with the people who could love on me. The pivot was from depression to joy. Even after I started my business in 2019, I still was fighting my toughest battles. I couldn’t show up like I wanted to, because I felt like I wasn’t able to handle my own life at the time. Oh, but now I am proud to be on the other side. I am an overcomer. I am empowered to do what I do because I know what it feels like to give in to hopelessness. I was sitting at the edge of the cliff and though I didn’t realize it then, my support system was the parachute that caught me every time I fell. So, I Thank God for my story, for the vision and for the lives that will be impacted by it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Incrediblemomsempower.com
- Instagram: @IncredibleMomsAlliance
- Facebook: Incredible Moms Alliance
Image Credits
@Madebyglyde on Instagram