Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Michelle Jackson.
Hi Lauren Michelle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Well, the way my career has changed and evolved over time is a very interesting story. I actually went to school at Hampton University for broadcast journalism and when I graduated in 2008, the big recession hit so I wasn’t able to find a job anywhere and from that standpoint, I was very discouraged and even went through a bout of depression. It just seemed like everything that I had worked hard for just was not coming together for me the way I thought it would. I had internships at the best of organizations like ABC news, the Chicago Tribune, etc. and I wasn’t able to land anything which left me a complete loss.
After a few months of not finding anything in my field – and inevitably led me to working at the mall -, it caused me to sit back and think about another path that I could take career-wise because I needed something to be excited about when I woke up in the morning. I had always been interested in psychology and knew I wanted to do counseling down the line in my career at some point. It was six months after graduating from undergrad that I made the decision to attend graduate school at Argosy University to get my Master’s degree in Community Counseling. In all honesty, counseling and journalism really paired well together because you still had to have a critical mindset in order to be of the best service to either a story or client for the outcome to become successful in its own right. Upon graduating with my Master’s degree, I began to find love in working with women and ended up working at one of Chicago’s top social service agency working as a domestic violence counselor. My role included community outreach, psycho-educational training on domestic violence within various organizations, in addition to conducting individuals, families and group sessions helping clients go from victimhood to survivorship.
This ultimately led me to start my first brand geared around women’s empowerment called Hey Mz. Lady. Within this brand, we focused on the pillars of personal development, mental health, healthy relationships and spiritual development as well. I really wanted to provide a space where women felt vulnerable to share their stories and find sisterhood to help propel them into living a purpose-driven life by their own rules. Within this brand, we produced conferences and workshops to really speak to the everyday woman.
It was around October of 2016, where I stepped out on faith to leave my job in search of giving myself a new beginning. Within the five years of working within the field, I found myself stressed out, having high anxiety and depression because I knew I wasn’t happy nor was I in the right environment that would help me to grow both personally or professionally. I took the next 6 months to truly pour back into myself and allowing myself to rest and figure out the next steps in my life. Within that time off from working, I was able to obtain my clinical licensure as a mental health therapist, complete my life coaching certification, got experience working in the hospital and private practice setting & eventually made the decision in October of 2018 to start my own mental health private practice entitled Cultivate Your Essence.
Cultivate Your Essence is a private practice catered to women of color while prioritizing Black Women’s mental health. My staff consists of nothing, but stellar black women therapists that are here to serve women’s mental health needs. But not only is my clinical team filled with amazing black women, but my leadership and support staff are all black women as well which is very empowering for me to be a part of. It definitely helps to dispel the myth that women – especially black women – do not work well together. As a matter of fact, we all THRIVE & ELEVATE when we work together!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s interesting when I was working my 9-5 things were pretty smooth and predictable within my life. While, I did end up hating my job and the stress that came with it, I grew to appreciate the routine of knowing what to expect day in and day out. However, when I became a full-time entrepreneur things were every but smooth in the beginning.
Within my first year of entrepreneurship, it felt like I was losing everything. Every quarter of that year, either a friend or family member passed away. When I left my job, I had about $30,000 saved away for me to live off of. But when I decided to take on my life coaching certification courses that ate away at my savings within the first six months which led me to finding a job to work part-time in the hospital and in various private practices as well. In addition, I lost my car in a bad accident and due to unforeseen circumstances I eventually had to move back home with my mother just to help me save up and get things back in order. Not to mention, I also had to file for bankruptcy that year as well during that time.
So, when embarking on this journey, there were many life lessons I had to learn along the way that made me stronger as a person. While it wasn’t easy going through these lessons while it was happening, I learned so much about myself in the process that I am incredibly thankful for.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At Cultivate Your Essence, our role is to remind our clients that they don’t have to grow, heal and overcome alone. Our mental health private practice focuses on helping women foster a healthy relationship with themselves that improves their overall mental health and wellness through counseling, coaching, and consulting work.
Working with Cultivate Your Essence, clients can seize the opportunity to partner with one of our skillfully trained therapists who are here to help clients identify roadblocks in their life, explore contributing factors that led them to where they are, help them gain insight on how this plays a critical role in their overall wellbeing and help them establish a plan to redefine what their life can look and feel like on their own terms from a healthy perspective.
Our Pillars within Cultivate Your Essence Consists of:
Awareness – Coming into true awareness for yourself will help you have more clarity on what propels you to be your best self and move you toward the life you deserve and desire. Let’s see what that looks like for you.
Healing – For some time, you’ve felt robbed of your healing in order to obtain peace in your life. Together, with full on support, we can dive into the depths to revive what you thought was once lost.
Empowerment – We’re ready to equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to grant yourself the allowance and freedom you deserve.
Our services consist of:
Individual Therapy
Couple’s and Family Therapy
Group Therapy
Life Coaching
Corporate Wellness
Consulting Services
What makes us stand out is that we are a Black Woman-led and ran ready to service your mental health and wellness needs.
We are currently open for telehealth services in Illinois and will be open for services in Georgia in April 2023!
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I am absolutely nothing without having the loving support of God, friends, family and incredible clinical staff!
With the help of my amazing community of fellow entrepreneurs, I was able to put together my dream team of C-Suite Leadership! Acting as COO and admin team lead, I have Precious Benson owner of the Nucleux Group that provides virtual assistance to mental health private practices. In the CFO position, I have Darlene & Ron Williams of Optimal Strategy Consulting. Our Chief Marketing Officer is none other than my business bestie Alicia Carroll with her company Optimized Reality. Our social media managers, Nia Simone Epps of Pretty Prosperity Marketing Agency & Porchea Spencer of Couture Branding. Last and certainly not least, we have our amazing HR Director Keisha Sanders from MRG Consulting Group.
Also special thanks to Alice Foy owner of The Digital Jane for putting together our team SOP’s for current and future staff members of Cultivate Your Essence as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cultivateyouressence.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cultivateyouressence/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CultivateYourEssence
Image Credits
Personal Picture in all pink suit credit to Justerica Angelic. All other Pictures credit to Amber Marie Green.
