We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shontae Jackson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shontae below.
Shontae, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Its the height of the pandemic, all I see is pain, death, tragedy after tragedy. All I felt was the grief of others, on top of experiencing my own form of trauma, and grief. I was just overcoming being homeless for almost 6 months, I was mourning the loss of my 16 year marriage and I was truly in a dark place. Then I experienced my own personal death and loss, in the form of gun violence. I lost someone that I had come to love and care for in the form of a step child and now he was gone. There were so many circumstances surrounding his death and being able to have access to information, and even the funeral due to everything that was going on between me and his father and the family. This sent me into a darker place, not being able to properly mourn someone you love and care about. I was working as a CNA so I was heavily involved in life care and other health related concerns during the time of the pandemic, I remember going to work and telling my co-workers I am going to start a non-profit. As I started manifesting and really trying to find what problem I was trying to solve, everyday on my way to work I would say these words, “help me find and master my purpose”; “I am designed to help others through my pain’; “I will help others through my pain.” After about 2 weeks everything started flowing to the name, the mission, I had an early logo but it was changed to our current logo. It just flowed so easily after that. I did not have the funds initially to start the business, but I was writing everything down and I was determined. I started telling my family and friends, I am going to start a non-profit. Next thing I know, the government started giving out checks. Wait. What?! I got this. I took my funds and invested it into starting my non-profit organization. Subliminal Dreamz Inc, is a mental health non-profit geared towards helping others understand and address childhood traumas that later affect adulthood. We aim to solve the societal stigmas related to youth and adult mental health, and get attainable resources in the hands of those who need it the most, minority communities. Our goal is simple, to change a life is to save a life. Subliminal Dreamz was created in honor of my step son and to help me and others learn how to properly grieve, how to communicate to those around them about their mental health. The unique aspect to our non-profit is we work with youth and help them gain this knowledge and have access to tools that will help them navigate their own mental health well being, while they are still learning about themselves, which we all know is a crucial time in the development. Our programs and events bring together businesses and resources to communities that they need but could never find. We seek and partner with leading therapists, counselors, mentors, community leaders/activists to ensure we get our message out there. Mental health is real, and it’s affecting our youth and tearing our communities apart.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Subliminal Dreamz Inc was founded in 2020, by Shontae Jackson a native of Jacksonville Florida, originally from St. Petersburg Florida, and the oldest out of 11, I have always had a passion for nurturing and listening to others. Moving to Jacksonville in 1996 with my mom definitely changed my life! Coming from a single mother household my mom was a huge factor in my understanding of professional development.
Local youth mental health non-profit located on the Northside of Jacksonville looking to address the unmet needs in our communities. With the focus of improving the quality of mental health programs in our schools and communities. Our program provides ongoing activities that address these issues and get our young people communicating with seasoned professionals and mentors. Additionally, with your help we can expose our kids to different humanities and forms of self-care, in an inclusive environment that doesn’t dismiss their talents or interests.
In 2021 Subliminal Dreamz Inc was started, since then we have fed over 3,500 families, given away almost $5,000 in money and prizes, given away 4,500 dream bagz, hosted numerous events that gave back to the community. Provided clothes and other life saving resources to our community. Won countless awards for our community efforts, including Positively Jax, where we were featured on the news for our work related to mental health in young men and youth.
My educational background and training consists of AS in Business Office Administration, AS in early childhood management and center operations. I am working towards my BS in psychology and pre-counseling. I have performed in these role for over 12 years. Nursing, I have performed in this role off and on for 6 years. I have devoted countless hours educating, volunteering, learning, and mentoring, to both children and adults. When you are sincere you put forth the time effortlessly, to create that lasting impression within the community. In my spare time I enjoy reading and learning all things related to youth mental health, writing, and spending time with my family.
Subliminal Dreamz Inc was founded in 2020 after the sudden and tragic death of my step son. An avid artist, a comedian and father, gunned down by someone he knew. I was forever changed, and set out on this path to clean up the streets he lost his life to. Music, art, and sports are all children’s outlet, without proper support and facilitation of these talents, they can go unnoticed and that’s how dreamz die. Bar^Men^Spa youth outreach facility will be geared towards helping young men reach adulthood through self care; mental health; exposure to arts, music, culinary, sports and financial education. Donate to the building fund today!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Right before I started my brands on social media I had deactivated my old platforms and had been offline for 2 years! I had no contact with no platforms for 2 years, not even looking at or through someone else. I needed to do this because social media had a huge impact on my mental health and I was abusing it, so I knew that I had to be prepared to get back on, and I had to be more intentional with how I used them. I reestablished my platforms in 2021 with the sole intention of branding and marketing our brand, yet still being personal because people want to know the person behind the cause and why. At first it was discouraging because you want people to “see” you and believe what you are saying, you have no followers, and what I mean by followers is you have people on your platforms but they are not there to engage. Then I had the challenge of talking about an uncomfortable topic of mental health so I was talking to empty room for a while, like a year a so. Then once I started doing the community work consistently and posting consistently (a lot) I started gaining followers, organic followers people who see me in the community, those who identify with the content I post. Once that started happening it translated to all my other platforms LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Social media for me was really important because I run a non-profit and it is a form and art of story telling, and I wanted my journey to be vivid, relatable and inspiring. So far my platforms are definitely my biggest business card, from my website, to being able to now go on our Facebook page and donate directly to our non-profit. That took persistent. My advice to building a healthy social media presence, be consistent. Find a routine that works and feel natural to you, it will feel like a competition but there is no need to compete be genuine. Interact as much as possible your audience wants to know you. Don’t overwhelm yourself with lack of support or engagement in the beginning, to really get to a good space you have to build up to that moment, not all viral moments are good. You don’t have to master all of social media I always say pick 2 platforms that you feel will represent the brand one including a professional page and really focus your content there, where you can share it to other platforms if you desire. Lastly, take breaks, branding can become consuming.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
They say when you begin your entrepreneurial journey that you have to have your affairs in place, like finances, family etc. Personally, financial wise I am not a person who started a business with an 600 credit score, I did not let my finances hold me back from my financial obligations of running and maintaining a business. It’s stated that having your personal relationships in order is important for your support system. When I first started Subliminal Dreamz I was in what I thought was a long term commitment, I shared my thoughts and dreams and how I intended to pursue those dreams. I understand that everyone shows up and supports differently, words of affirmations, monetarily or whatever. Some where down the line my partner chose to not see value in what I wanted to do so his support showed up in the form of sabotage, verbally unsupportive, financially unavailable (it is not their responsibility). Not to say they never supported, it just never felt genuine which made me feel uncomfortable in my own brand! I had to make a conscious decision to separate the two. It is true that not having the support of your significant other or family can change a brand, and I felt myself wanting to give up. Not giving my full effort. Doubting myself, challenging everything, frustrated because I wanted their support above all else (or so I thought), then getting mad because my passion is only growing. When you care about something and someone at the same time making a choice to stay true to yourself is the key. Pleasure and business do not go hand in hand, but doing business for pleasure was all I wanted to do with Subliminal Dreamz and something inside of me was telling me not to place more emphasis on the relationship but to put that energy into Subliminal Dreamz, and that is exactly what I have done. I entered into a business relationship with my brand and never looked back.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.subliminaldreamz.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/subliminaldreamz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SubliminalDreamzInc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/subliminaldreamz/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/subliminal4life
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY0SvhtL41BTS64SgkOhq5w/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/subliminal-dreamz-jacksonville-2
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/subliminaldreamzinc
Image Credits
All images were taken and or provided to the organization due to participation.