We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kirsten Pannell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kirsten below.
Hi Kirsten, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
Being an Entrepreneur and working a 9 to 5 all while being a single mother to a young Black boy is a difficult task. Working a 9 to 5 in a position that you no longer have a passion in is even more trying. When starting Melanated Moments, I had been in the health care industry for 10 years. I was a Care Coordinator for a homecare agency and I thrived in my position because my focus has always been to help those in need in whatever capacity.
During Covid, I made a conscious decision to put 10 steps forward in my business and focus on where I really wanted to take it. I knew that coming out of the Pandemic, whenever that would be, that my people would be in a much more far worse mental despair than before, thus adding to the traumas that they were already dealing with. I began to fully equip myself with the tools and knowledge I needed to prepare myself to enter back into the world and do the work when the time permitted.
Covid was a time where some people fully blossomed and others withered. I took this idle time to really reflect on what is was to live a holistic life, a life where everything aligned. I knew that eventually, I would have to slowly enter back into the world as things were opening up and people were slowly but surely returning back to work. With this process I took my time and trusted in divine timing. With all the self healing I had been doing I knew that what was for me would present itself soon.
Although I had my own business, I still needed a main source of income and at this point in life, it was imperative that my job/career had to align with what my passion was. Ironically, my passion and business is what landed me my first job in the mental health industry. One day I was given a call in regards to services I offered at Melanated Moments from a mental health program that solely supported the mental health of African Americans through non-traditional and traditional healing modalities in South LA.
I went to a meeting for a partnership between Melanated Moments and this organization and while being here, I found that I loved the work that they were doing within the community and that the work truly aligned with who I am, my goals, and what I was already promoting. I applied for a position and put it in the Universe’s realm. Needless to say, divine timing is everything and when you are walking in your truth the possibilities are endless.
Being the Wellness Coordinator for UMMA Community Clinic’s Black Visions of Wellness program has been a wonderful experience and continuously pushes me to new heights.
Kirsten, 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?
Kirsten is a Los Angeles native with a deep sense of connection to her African roots. Her Business, Melanted Moments, is the new wave of teachings for black love, radical self care, mindfulness, and trauma informed care through a holistic approach.
Kirsten has always had a strong love for her community and her culture. Her love for her people started with a keen need to assist the elderly in her community. She watched and assisted her Mother in being the primary caregiver for her bedwridden Grandmother for several years which strengthened her knowledge and understanding of the dependency in the elderly population. Kirsten went to school for Nursing which she completed and immediately started working with geriatrics in the low economic areas of Los Angeles, giving them the love, care, and the support they so desperately needed.
Although Kirsten has worked in the healthcare industry for over 10 years, she has always had an urgency to help her community in any way possible. With her self spiritual healing she was able to receive her calling and life’s purpose.
In 2016 Kirsten hit rock bottom; she was fed up with feeling like she was always in the same place never ascending. This started her Spiritual Journey in the dealings of African Spirituality. With her findings, awakening, and rebirth, her eyes were opened to a new way of life. With the knowledge she had been basking in, she began to heal herself from childhood and generational traumas that People Of Color have been facing for 100’s of years. Coming from a long line of
depression, addiction, and gang violence, Kirsten decided to take her new practices of Spirituality and bring them to the forefront to assist in the healing of her community. Through holistic practices like Ancestor reverence, sacred ceremonies, meditation, and shadow work she has been able to manifest her life of choice and wishes to give the same opportunity to all that are broken and lost.
Kirsten has positioned herself as a leading advocate,Holistic Life Coach, Mental Health First Aider, and Wellness Coordinator for alternative healing methods through natural bath products geared towards self love and self care, spiritual and metaphysical tools, and healing services and workshops within the community. She is always reaching to see her brothers and sisters thrive as they were destined to do. She sees the greatness in you and wants you to see it and feel it for yourself, For once you heal you will always be equipped to pick yourself up again.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
The Sankofa is an African symbol that means “go back and fetch it”. The Sankofa embodies the idea of looking back at our past to learn from it and our ancestors and move forward. It encourages us to remember our ancestors and their struggles and triumphs, and to use that knowledge to build a better future. Sankofa reminds us that our history is a part of who we are, and that we cannot move forward without acknowledging and understanding it.
My very essence and purpose embodies the Sankofa. When asked if I could go back, would I choose the same profession, my answer would be yes EVERY time. Helping heal my people by helping them to learn from our past and give them the tools to move forward in a future that has our best interest at heart will always be my focus.
The freedom, mental state, and well-being of the Black community is not a profession for me, it is a calling.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
There are a plethora of trainings that teach you the basics and medical necessities of dealing with mental health challenges. Although these trainings teach us the technical ways of dealing with these challenges, they do not teach us the humane way of focusing on the entire being which is extremely important when dealing with someone’s mental state.
In BIPOC communities in the United States, especially in Black communities, factors like racism, oppression, and trauma can severely affect a person’s mental well-being and contribute to huge disparities in mental illness rates. Mental illness is a pervasive issue in the African American community, with many negative social and economic impacts.
Historically, African Americans have been misdiagnosed at higher rates than white patients, and black communities have been exploited by the U.S. government and medical community in the name of medical advancement.
In addition to this, I truly believe that being culturally competent and having lived experience are the most helpful tools for succeeding in this field. To be able to relate to those you serve as a huge impact on the outcome of their treatment and experience. How we walk with the broken, speaks louder than how we sit with the greats!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melanatedmoments.com
- Instagram: @melanatedmoments
- Facebook: @melanatedmoments