We were lucky to catch up with Shanera Williamson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Shanera , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

When my youngest daughter graduated from high school, I had time in my schedule to reflect on the process of launching three kids to their post-high school lives. Parenting was one of the most challenging endeavors I’ve ever attempted. In the end, I noticed a hurdle our family navigated throughout the years. Raising black children who attended predominately white schools and lived in a predominately white neighborhood was hard on my girls’ self esteem. Without realizing it at first, there were specific things we did to create an environment in our home where a positive racial identity would be formed. Raising black kids to know who they are, like who they are and show up authentically in the world took intention. As parents, we did extra work to make sure our kids had a good sense of self. We also had to combat the negative public narratives about black people that bombarded our girls during their formative years. I decided I wanted to create a podcast and finally a larger community that would provide support and input for parents who are raising brown kids in white spaces. That is how the brand Brown Mama Bear started. I serve as a guide to parents who are the kind of mother I was 15 years ago.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Brown Mama Bear is a place for parents to get the support, inspiration, and input they need to raise kids who are comfortable in their skin and can passionately leave their mark on society. Many parents who have chosen to raise their kids in suburbia have the problem of making sure those same kids also have a positive racial identity and self image. I believe all children deserve to grow up in a world where they are seen, celebrated and given the tools to succeed. Raising kids is difficult for anyone. Parenting black and brown children requires intentionality to combat the negative effects racism can have on their sense of self. I know, because I’ve been there. Raising three black girls in a predominately white neighborhood attending predominately white schools is the hardest job I’ve ever done. Now, I’m committed to making it easier for other brown mamas and papas! No one should have to do it alone.

I provide content on a weekly podcast called Brown Mama Bear. I talk about everything parents need to consider from health and wellness for themselves to creative ways to “fill in the gaps” on their kids’ education. Additionally, I provide events for black and brown mamas who live in the Nashville area.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I was raised by parents who grew up in the segregated South. After being denied a quality education in childhood, once they had children, they raised me and my sister in a suburb of Baltimore. My parents always said a good education is necessary for success. They also told us they wanted “better” for us. In this generation, I continued with the idea of trying to set my kids up to do “better” than me. I had to unlearn what “better” means in terms of looking for the right schools for my kids. Most predominately white schools in the suburbs have a lot of advantages. They have good test scores, high parental involvement and small class sizes. And many are not a healthy place for the developing hearts and minds of black and brown kids. I’m unlearning what is a healthy environment to raise kids of color.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I just decided to get on Instagram in order to let my audience hear clips from my podcast hoping that they would be inspired to go download an entire episode and listen. I don’t have a huge following by most standards, but my almost 3K followers are very engaged. I think the best thing I did was stop trying to be “perfect” on camera and just do things that would be consistent with who I am. For instance, my most popular post is a dance video with one of my daughters. I didn’t overthink it. I just did what we would normally do in our home. We pulled back the rug, and had a ball. It’s kind of funny that I spent a lot of time thinking through what to say on my “mom moment” posts. The minute I stopped thinking and just had fun, people responded.

I would tell anyone who is just getting started on social media to be authentic, don’t overthink things and allow people to get to know you. People want to follow, buy things from and be connected to people they know and trust. I also believe that you don’t have to share everything on social media, but you have to be honest about what you choose to share.

Contact Info:

• Website: brownmamabear.com
• Instagram: @brownmamabearpodcast

Image Credits
@elledanielle