We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jarkeshia McGahee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jarkeshia below.

Jarkeshia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

To be honest, I never thought about being a business owner, it did not cross my mind. Originally my business was not even a business it was just a blog to share encouraging thoughts and relatable experiences. Then, one day I was sharing a post on Facebook during the time my husband was recovering from his stroke and my uncle made the comment that you are good at this and could get paid for it. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should pursue this as a business, but was not sure how. The name of my website and business was Rays of SunshineJAM, it originated from people referring to me as a ray of sunshine and my initials combined. As I pondered the thought of stepping out and starting a business, I came upon an ad talking about finding your purpose and being a Christian entrepreneur. At first, I felt some type of way about earning money in the Name of the Lord because of beliefs that I had from being a preacher’s child. I always was like I know pastor’s get paid but I was like me I am not a pastor. So I enrolled in the program and discovered an endless amount of possibilities of how to showcase my many talents as a Christian entrepreneur. I realized after completing one module of the course that my niche was Encouragement. I started off with making t-shirts and sold a few, then I created a course without any sales, and pivoted to creating a journal with a few sales. I felt a little discouraged that things did not appear as I thought they would but knew that my error was in my marketing. To be honest, I did not know if people would be interested in encouragement as I started this business endeavor but realized I needed to find my people. Many family and friends have been very supportive on this journey. Many people love my podcast Encouragement Forward as it provides encouraging stories and testimonies on how someone overcame a tough season. I was like I finally found my thing for my business that God had given me during my time of grief and kept promoting it. My excitement was through the roof but as time grew and I promoted it more, I let the opinions of others cause me to think that it was not much because it was not service-based or product based. I persevered and still promoted the podcast, hosted my first virtual conference, and now I am pivoting to speaking. My business now is ChOP with JAM. ChOP stands for Check On Your People and it is a movement that focuses on providing reminders to check on one another, mental health, and encouragement. This was shown to me by God as it something that I naturally do as an encourager daily. In business, there will be many setbacks and pivots but if you keep going and do not give up and most importantly keep GOD in it you will prosper.

Jarkeshia, 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 provide Christian Encouragement with an emphasis on checking on your people and mental health topics to the Christian women community

​My name is Jarkeshia McGahee and I am an Encouragement Cheerleader, Podcaster, Speaker, and advocate for mental health.

I am passionate about providing encouragement, positivity, and care. I love to see you winning, smiling, and laughing. We all could use some joy in our lives, after all, there is enough negativity in the world. Some call me a ray of sunshine as they say that I bring light into a room.

Mental health is very near and dear to me, as I have been someone that has suffered from depression and anxiety. My mission is to bring more awareness to mental health among the faith and black community, especially with our women.
We must check on our people and make sure we are doing well or not doing well and step in when needed.
God has created me to take my pain and turned it into my purpose and I am doing just that. I am the CEO of Rays of SunshineJAM and the host of the Encouragement Forward Podcast.

I have encouraging t-shirts, encouragement cards, a course, conference replays, journals, and more to come.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A hard lesson that I had to unlearn is that you cannot buy all the things and not everyone is for you. I know you are probably like yeah I know that but here is what I mean. Often when starting a business or making improvements in business we feel that we need to purchase all the courses and programs that are shown to us whether through free bundles or with a promise to give you a result. This lesson has been hard and to be honest can still be hard when you are trying to find our footing in your business. I have purchased as well have a library of many course that I received in a bundle that I have yet to trying dive into. I have worked in many programs and attended webinars that I later realized were either not a good fit or came to realization that I will not have time to really be all in. Buying all the things that you think you need in your business can lead to a lot of debt before you even truly get started. When starting or looking for ways to improve your business, only align yourself with the things that will truly help you and not with every program that promises a said outcome. Seek God for guidance and only go with those that make you feel the way you need to be treated and only purchase the things that are needed.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting in life

A Facebook and blog post I wrote:

What do you do when life throws you a curve ball?
Do you cower and hide?
Do you forget about how God supplies all your needs?
Do you throw a pity party?

Well life threw my husband and I a curve ball on June 10th.

For almost a little over a week my husband had been experiencing ringing in his ears and his equilibrium was a little off. On Sunday, June 7th, my husband was doing a bible study that morning when the person he was studying with told him he did not look well and asked if he was having a stroke. I overheard the conversation and the healthcare worker in me immediately began to remember the acronym we learned about strokes, F.A.S.T., which later I learned was B.E.F.A S.T. After that call we went to the urgent care and they recommended that he go to the ER to rule out a possible stroke, this was scary to even think about. This ER visit sent him home with meds for motion sickness, after a few days the meds were not working. On June 11th, my husband returns to the ER and the doctors perform more extensive tests that resulted in evidence that he had experienced two minor strokes (a mild stroke). My heart dropped, 1. because of the diagnosis and 2. because I could not be there in the ER with him due to COVID guidelines. At that moment, I began to cry but reminded myself that I have to be strong for him. The ER doctor informed me that he would be admitted and that they may allow me to visit, once he was on the stroke floor. I was relieved to hear that I could be there with him on the stroke floor and began to inform everyone of his diagnosis.

During this time, many emotions began to flow in me but my main concern was to make sure my hubby was doing well. We received our next steps and he was released the next day. We now began to face our new normal but also had to remember that everything is All in God’s Hands. The celebration of our anniversary on June 17th was different but we enjoyed having breakfast with the girls, truly enjoying time with family our most precious gifts. Our vows have been put to the test with this season in a good way. We make vows in marriage to love one another in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for richer or poorer, as long as we both shall live, til death do us part. Times like these really put those words to the test. Times like these help you to understand and see the true meaning of love and what it means to make an ultimate sacrifice. Even with all that is going on my husband is still making sure that I am ok.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.raysofsunshinejam.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/chopwithjam
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunshineK12
• Other: Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qp8dV5D4FJfErVbg22h4I?si=4a727ff4edeb4992

Image Credits
Tony Hammond