We recently connected with Donielle Elizabeth and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Donielle, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission is focused on empowering black women to prioritize their healing above their hustle. 

Overall, my mission was inspired by my own personal journey, and other black women I crossed paths with professionally and personally. 

For ages, hustle and hard work has been the staple of black women’s existence, but I want to remind black women that their true value and success lies within their healing and wellness.

As whole, my message is universal, but my lens is tailored to speak to the complexities of black women, and our lived experiences that are often overlooked.

Donielle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a multi-hyphenate best described as a mother, storyteller, speaker, wellness advocate, social entrepreneur, and black girl in tech.

I began my journey into adulthood as a 19-year-old young mom on welfare. However, through hustle, hard work, and grit, I built a thriving career in technology spanning multiple Fortune 500 companies, including— KPMG, Deloitte, and most recently Google.

On paper, I checked off all the boxes of success, but I failed at prioritizing myself in real life. That lack of prioritization showed up in my life as challenges with my health, like chronic illness, fatigue, and anxiety. But worst of all, over time, I began to suffer from debilitating panic attacks that severely impacted my daily life. That’s when I decided to focus on my healing instead of my hustle.

Now, I’m on a mission to share that message with other black women.

Throughout my trajectory in my family and climbing the corporate ladder, I’ve come across so many black women who hustle and prioritize everyone but themselves, but often underneath the hustle and self-sacrifice is unresolved pain and trauma that’s been overlooked.

To drive my message home, I wrote my first book, Healing is my Hustle: Poetry for Black Girls a Collection on Trauma and Healing, to empower black women to prioritize their healing above their hustle and amplify the importance of making space for our healing by confronting our trauma.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

What I had to unlearn most was shame.

Although I garnered a lot of success in my career over the years, I still carried a lot of insecurities around being on welfare and being a young mother.

When I was in my twenties, early in my career in Big 4 consulting, I experienced a lot of microaggressions at work and in my personal life, where people around me would make me feel ashamed of my background or having a son so young. But, even though I wasn’t celebrated at that time, my son ended up being one of my greatest blessings and motivation to succeed. As I raised him, he really raised me to be the best version of myself.

It took time for me to actually heal and embrace my story. But today, I’m proud of who I am, and to share my story because it continues to inspire so many people. The irony is the very thing that used to make me feel ashamed is the very thing God continues to use to inspire others.

I recently spoke at a global technology conference, where I shared my story, and after the event, I had a line of people thanking me for sharing my story. It was a full-circle moment and confirmation for me to be confident and never water down my testimony.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It’s been rewarding to know that I’m finally aligning more distinctly with my purpose by writing my first book and sharing my message. It’s been a long road to first develop the courage to believe in my work and, secondly, to get my work out into the world.

When you have a vision for yourself that doesn’t align with the norm of your family or your environment, it requires a lot of personal growth to pursue a vision you have no frame of reference or model for. But once you do it, and you see the impact, there is no greater reward.

What’s also been rewarding is the feedback that I’ve received from readers. I wrote my book to uplift black women and to validate the secret pain and traumatic experiences they carry. So, it’s been rewarding for women to share how much my work made them feel seen and how, finally, they can begin the process to release the trauma. That makes me feel like everything I went through had a purpose.

Contact Info:

• Website: DonielleElizabeth.com
• Instagram: Donielle_Elizabeth
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donielle-elizabeth-mba-pmp-16441565/
• Other: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/healing-is-my-hustle-donielle-elizabeth/1144293093

Image Credits
Chevelle Taylor