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

Hi Niketa , thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

A defining moment in my professional career came when I hosted a Juneteenth event called Diaspora Rooted. For years, I worked as a clinical social worker under the mindset that we’re here to help but not necessarily to thrive. I thought I had to accept whatever came my way. But during that event, as I stood in community, bridging the Black diaspora through food, music, and conversation, something clicked. I realized I was in my natural element—listening, asking questions, holding space for people to share their cultural stories. That experience showed me that my work could expand beyond the therapy room. I could use my skills to elevate culture, wellness, and belonging in ways that also sustain me.

Before that, I had already built a social work mentorship mastermind where over 300 social workers signed up to learn creative, nontraditional ways of earning income. Seeing how much people longed for freedom and alignment between who they are and how they live affirmed that my path wasn’t just about service, but about liberation—mine and others.

Another defining shift came when I hired my first team member in Jamaica, my mother’s homeland. It was more than just business—it was bridging diasporic resources back to the Caribbean. That moment made me see the power of creating opportunities, not just for clients, but for communities I deeply care about.

All of these experiences redefined how I see my career. They pushed me to own my voice as a cultural wellness strategist, someone who can speak, train, and create spaces where people of the African and Caribbean diaspora feel seen, connected, and free.

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?

My name is Niketa Pechan, and I am the founder of NurtureRise Global, a consulting practice that helps organizations and communities integrate trauma-informed leadership, wellness advocacy, and culturally rooted healing into their work. With over a decade of experience as a licensed clinical social worker, I specialize in creating spaces where people can reconnect with their narratives, reduce burnout, and build cultures of belonging. What sets NurtureRise apart is the way I bring together neuroscience, storytelling, and Caribbean wisdom to address both organizational well-being and cultural reconnection.

Beyond NurtureRise, I am building Bliss Abroad Experiences, a lifestyle travel and wellness brand designed to reconnect people — especially women of the diaspora — to the richness of Caribbean culture through curated travel and healing-centered storytelling. I am also working on a book that invites women to gather, breathe, and move together, and I host the podcast Dear Daughters of the Diaspora, a platform for sharing the voices and stories of Caribbean and Black women across the globe.

One of my proudest moments was curating Diaspora Rooted, a Juneteenth event that bridged African, Caribbean, and Southern traditions through food, music, and storytelling. That experience showed me the power of creating spaces where culture itself becomes medicine. It also affirmed my role as a cultural wellness strategist — someone you call on not only for trainings and consulting, but also for festivals, panels, and experiences that honor heritage while fostering healing.

What I want people to know is that my work is about being a bridge: between the Caribbean and the diaspora, between wellness and culture, between personal healing and community transformation. Whether through NurtureRise Global, Bliss Abroad Experiences, my book, or my podcast, I am committed to being a trusted voice for Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the wider diaspora — helping people and organizations breathe, belong, and thrive.

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

A lesson I had to unlearn was the belief, rooted in both my childhood and in colonial systems, that I was either too much or not enough. Growing up in a Jamaican household shaped by colonial values, there was often pressure to fit into narrow boxes: be respectable, don’t make mistakes, don’t take up too much space. As a child, I learned to shrink parts of myself and silence my creative voice out of fear of judgment.

That carried into my career. Even as a licensed clinical social worker with years of expertise, I often stayed in the safe, traditional path because deep down I was afraid to fully own the creative side of my calling—storytelling, cultural experiences, building brands that centered the Caribbean and the diaspora. I thought my ideas were “too much,” or that I wasn’t credible enough to be taken seriously outside of therapy.

Unlearning that has been a process of decolonizing my own beliefs. Through events like Diaspora Rooted, launching NurtureRise Global, and curating wellness and travel experiences, I’ve learned that the very parts of me I once tried to mute are my greatest gifts. My creativity, my cultural lens, and my voice are not excess—they are necessary. They are how I bridge Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the diaspora into spaces of healing and connection.

Now I see that my career doesn’t have to be either/or. I can be both a professional in wellness and mental health and a creative, cultural strategist. And the more I unlearn those colonial beliefs, the more fully I step into the work I was meant to do.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back, I would still choose to become a therapist. That part of my journey shaped the way I hold space, listen to people’s stories, and understand the human nervous system in a deep way. But if I’m being honest, I would also have invested much earlier in real estate and cultural tourism in the Caribbean—before kids, before the weight of huge responsibilities. I’ve come to realize that wellness isn’t only about individual healing, but also about building sustainable systems and opportunities for our communities. Owning land, creating cultural tours, and preserving heritage in places like Jamaica isn’t just business—it’s another form of therapy, another way of restoring what colonialism tried to strip away.

So yes, I’d still be a therapist, but I would have trusted my creative and entrepreneurial instincts much earlier. Because now I see that my work isn’t only about helping people one-on-one, it’s about building experiences, spaces, and legacies that allow entire communities in the diaspora to breathe and thrive.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @NiketaChristina
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niketapechanlcsw

Image Credits

Brandon Jackson- branding images of me in teal