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

Joa , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

As I step out of my ‘striving’ season into my ‘thriving’ season , the story behind my mission has never been so clear. My life was, is, and will always be ON PURPOSE.

I was born 17 pounds 0 ounces. Yes, 17 whole pounds! I was born BIG! I never came to play small! As a child, I would dream these God-sized dreams about wealth, success, family, philanthropy and community, even though my immediate reality often testified against my appointed destiny. I am an immigrant, a Black woman, a first-generation college student and the product of a single-parent home. I was raised in a severely dysfunctional and abusive household before my parents split after 22 years of marriage. My father was a womanizer and wife-beater amongst other things. He was violent and demeaning. He misused his size, strength, and utterances to intimidate and dehumanize me, my mother and my three older siblings. My mother was an absent and detached parent. She was too busy drowning in her own trauma to play lifeguard for us, sadly.

I knew I was special, set apart, and marked for greatness when instead of shrinking in the face of my father’s attacks, I would rise to the occasion and challenge him instead. I was 9. I was not afraid of him and he knew it! My family knew it too, and though it wasn’t spoken until now ,they saw me as a sort of Moses, David, Esther; willing to go up against the Pharaohs, Goliaths, and Hamans of the world. In hindsight, I realized my family unit was my battleground; the preparation for who would I become in the world. A literary, political and social rights activist, a humanitarian, a mental health counselor, and life coach. That is the story behind my mission. I am a generational curse breaker! A generational wealth generator! Every family has one! In my family, it’s me! I have a saying: “generational curses ran into my family, until they ran into me!”

At 31 years old, I stand as not only a first-generation college student, but the first doctoral student in my entire lineage. Class of 2023! I am a Forbes 30 under 30 international best-selling author. I’m an educator, coach, and brand strategist. I help people find, develop, and walk through their destiny in style.

As i reflect back over my life, it is so easy to see God in the details. His spirit was leading me all along, pushing and prodding me, developing and maturing me, pruning and correcting me, putting me through the fire; not to burn me but to refine me, and to purify me; breaking me down just to build me up. And when I could not trace him, I had learned to trust him. He had planted visions of my future self on the inside self early-on as a reminder of who he had called and appointed me to be . Higher kept calling, so I answered. By grace, through faith, I dreamed my way out not just for me but for my family and my posterity. I’m ON PURPOSE. #GodgetstheGlory

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I always get tongue-tied when I get asked this because I am a lot of things and do a lot of things. I struggle to find a ‘title” that accurately describes me, other than a vessel. I become who God needs me to be, when he needs me to be it, and who he needs me to be it to. But professionally I guess I would brand myself as an educator, speaker, author, and coach.

I am a doctoral student at Liberty University pursuing my EdD in Education and Curriculum and Instruction. I am in my final phase of my doctoral journey and will be making my defense by the end of this year to graduate in May of 2023. It has taken me 3 years to accomplish this goal. I teach educators about anti-racism and implicit bias in their environments.

I am finally launching my podcast at the top of the new year January 8, 2023 : Can I get an AwoMen?®️ The official woman’s podcast for all things women, by women. Because it takes one, to know one! I am super excited about this because it’s been a long time coming. While I am a well-sought out speaker, I felt in my spirit that it was time to build my own platform, so I’ve been really busy, quietly creating. Sorry for the wait, but it’s going to be so worth it!

I am a fashion coach, literary coach, women’s coach, and spiritual coach. As a fashion coach I help women dress how they want to be addressed by teaching them Fashion Do’s and Don’ts; as well as help women regain their confidence after life altering events such as marriage, motherhood, and relationship trauma by teaching them the first ever holistic model of F.A.S.H.I.O.N. I am launching my school WhoDressedUAcademy on my birthday this year: November 30, 2022.

As a literary coach, I teach self-published authors how to turn their stories into books and other streams of income. I plan on releasing my school next year.

As a spiritual coach, I teach people who have a longing for God how to use the application of scripture to enrich their lives.
That academy will also be launched next year.

I have a busy year ahead of me already. And I am absolutely thrilled and looking forward into stepping into my greater.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I became known for my historical children’s books on Colin Kaepernick. I had written a series about his life, work, and activism in “The Hero in the Helmet” (2018) and “B is for Brotherhood (2019) and a national curriculum to go with the books in 2020. For me, it was really important to highlight a young Black man with that much influence and everything to lose, risk it all for the sake of justice. That’s exactly what a hero does! I hadn’t seen or heard a children’s story about him, so I became the first to do it! At the time I was thinking “someone really needs to write a book in its simplest form to help America get it.” When I said it, I felt the Spirit ask me “why not you?” “Well cause I wasn’t an author”, or so I thought and blurted out. But for days, I would feel a nudge on my heart that wouldn’t go away to take this project on. I didn’t know the first thing about book writing or publishing. I just knew I had always kept a journal. I was always writing, but never connecting the dots. At the time, I was working as an intern in the Article 31 Mental health program at the Salvation Army and was pretty set in my career path. But the nudging continued, until I gave in. It was always my intentions to write on the side without giving up my career as a therapist, but God had other plans. I released my book in May of 2018 and moved out of my luxury condo in Soho Manhattan the next month to head to Florida, where I had accepted a better position to advance me in my professional career as a counselor. I quickly found out once I moved that God was actually going to have me pivot from being a 9-5 worker to an entrepreneur. I didn’t have any structure or idea how to run my business, but I believed God and did just what he told me each time. Before I knew it, I was a best-selling author on Amazon, and then an international best-seller in the UK, and then my books were traveling to Africa, China, Canada, Haiti, and so many other places. And then I became a Forbes 30 under 30 lister in Education in 2019 just one year after I self-published. The blessings were and continue to be supernatural.

Just last year, I felt God pivoting me again. From an author to a coach. He began speaking to me about teaching others how to monetize their stories, how to show women how to dress for their position, how to apply scripture to our lives, amongst other things. I am now going to teach and share my knowledge with others beginning this November 2022.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

How real and authentic I am. I have never had to sell others a dream or deceive anyone about anything because my life is a living testimony of who I say that I am. My relationship with the creator will not allow me to portray something I’m not for the sake of monetary gain or social approval. I’m on God’s divine time order, and because he has already qualified me, I can be confident about my inheritance. My future is secure!

Contact Info:

• Website: whodressedu.teachable.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/joa.macnalie/
• Facebook: Facebook.com/Joa.macnalie
• Linkedin: Linkedin.com/joa-macnalie-91b8521b6
• Youtube: Coming soon!
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=joa+macnalie&crid=1O839XPNMF9GC&sprefix=joa+ma%2Caps%2C148&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_6 Children’s Books