We recently had the chance to connect with Allegra Joanna Mbwetshangol and have shared our conversation below.
Allegra Joanna, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
The moments when I’m most myself are the ones no one ever sees.
I lose track of time whenever I’m creating. Whether I’m writing for Born to Shine, filming a small moment of my day, or dreaming up ways to make an impact, creativity has always been the space where I feel the most like myself. It’s where ideas flow, and I remember why I started this journey in the first place.
I also lose track of time when I’m in conversation with God, sometimes through worship, sometimes while I’m walking, sometimes in complete silence in my living room. Those are the moments when I feel most grounded, most aligned, and most myself. It’s where I’m reminded of who I am and what I’m called to do. They remind me that my purpose is bigger than my fear and that I don’t have to carry everything on my own.
And honestly, I lose track of time whenever I allow myself to dream. Dreaming takes me back to the little girl I was who believed she could help people and change systems. That childlike faith still lives in me, and returning to it helps me find myself again.
Creativity, faith, and purpose are where I find myself every single time. It’s where I remember why I started.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Since the last time Voyage introduced me a couple of years ago, so much in my life has evolved — but the heart of my mission has remained exactly the same. My name is Allegra Joanna, and I’m a Congolese-born creator, healthcare leader in training, and founder of Born to Shine, a faith-centered platform and emerging nonprofit rooted in hope, responsibility, and a deep desire to transform lives.
I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology & Biotechnology and recently completed my Master’s in Health Administration. And while healthcare wasn’t the original face of Born to Shine, it has always been part of the bigger landscape I’ve dreamed of changing. Born to Shine actually started as a simple blog, a digital home where I shared encouragement, faith reflections, and reminders that no matter where you come from, you are called to shine.
But as I grew, the vision grew with me.
I was born and raised in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, a place that shaped my heart and my purpose. From a young age, I carried a sense of responsibility to my community: to find ways to uplift children, support the vulnerable, and create spaces of dignity and care. Over the years, every dollar Born to Shine raised has gone back to Kinshasa: providing essentials for orphanages, hospitals, and homes for the elderly. What started as a faith blog has now become a movement.
Today, I’m building Born to Shine into an organization that not only inspires people spiritually but also invests in strengthening healthcare infrastructures in the Congo. My dream is to blend my two callings: philanthropy and health leadership, and create long-term, structural change. And I truly believe that with vision, consistency, and faith, no dream is too ambitious.
Alongside this work, I’m also a content creator documenting my journey as an international student navigating life in America; the realities, the growth, the challenges, and the joy. My platforms blend everything I love: healthcare, lifestyle, wellness, beauty, medicine, and the simple art of becoming a better version of yourself every day. I share my story so that others, especially young women from around the world, can see what’s possible.
At my core, I’m just a girl who loves God, loves her people, and believes that light is meant to be shared and not hidden. I’ve tried to dim mine before, to shrink myself, to stop myself from entering spaces that were built for me. But I don’t want the generations coming after me to do the same.
So now I choose to shine; boldly, loudly, and unapologetically. I choose to step fully into what God has called me to do, without wasting another minute doubting whether I’m worthy of the assignment. And I’m just getting started.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was a little girl: a little careless, a little naïve, and absolutely certain that desire alone could change the world. I wanted everything, dreamed of everything, and believed wholeheartedly that anything I set my mind to was possible. No one could convince me otherwise. Even in my childhood innocence, I sensed that I was called to something bigger, something greater, a purpose that could change lives, and one day, maybe even a nation.
How would I do it? I had no idea.
But I knew.
I was curious, imaginative, filled with ideas long before I knew how to invite God into them. I was quiet, especially around people I didn’t know, but with those I loved, I was loud, alive, and fully myself. Most of the time, though, I preferred observing the world: watching people, studying emotions, reading the room before speaking into it.
Every afternoon on my ride home from Lycée Prince de Liège, I would notice children, sometimes my age, sometimes younger, begging for money at car windows. Those scenes stayed with me. They pierced something in me. Even at that age, I knew I was privileged, but it didn’t make me feel superior. It made me feel grateful… and angry. And sad. And responsible.
“How do I help them?”
“How do I give them opportunities, safety, education, and access to healthcare?”
“How do I make sure they don’t spend their childhoods surviving when they should be dreaming?”
Those questions shaped me long before I had the words to articulate them. I wanted to help. I wanted to create change, not the temporary kind, but lasting change that could reach my generation and the ones coming after.
I also wanted to uplift. As someone who struggled deeply with self-esteem, I made it my mission that no young girl, especially young Black girls, would ever feel as low or as invisible as I once did. I would use my stories, my lessons, my heartaches, and my failures to speak life into others so they would never feel hopeless or helpless.
My name is Allegra, which means joy. And I believe names carry truth, but I also know that life has a way of trying to pull you away from who you are. I have walked through seasons designed to destroy my joy. And the day I surrendered fully to God, I promised myself that no situation, no fear, and no voice, internal or external, would change the nature He placed in me.
So before expectations, before titles, before the world’s opinions of who I should become, I was simply Allegra: a girl who loved deeply, laughed easily, dreamed boldly, and trusted God wholeheartedly. A girl who believed her life mattered. A girl who believed she could make things better for children, for families, for her country. A girl who understood, even then, that her light was meant to mean something.
But life happens, and over the years, through college, post-grad confusion, and my master’s program, the world tried its best to reshape me. To tame the dreams. Quiet the voice. Dim the light. I was told to be realistic, to shrink, to stay out of rooms I belonged in, simply because I was too afraid to enter them.
And for a while… I listened.
I hid parts of myself. I downplayed my calling. I stopped posting on Born to Shine. I doubted my gifts. I felt small, unworthy, hypocritical. How could I encourage others to trust God when I couldn’t trust Him myself? I was depressed, exhausted, living behind a smile and hoping no one would notice.
But before all of that, before the noise and expectations, I was a girl who felt powerful in her purpose without needing permission. A girl who believed in more: more hope, more healing, more impact. A girl who felt called.
And returning to her, to that pure version of myself, has been the greatest journey of my life.
She is the reason Born to Shine exists.
She is the reason I pursue healthcare with passion.
She is the reason I speak boldly about faith, purpose, and the girl God destined me to be.
She is the reason I shine now, not just for myself, but for every young woman coming after me who needs to see what’s possible before the world tells her what’s acceptable.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There was absolutely a time I almost gave up, not just on my dreams, but on myself. It wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was quiet, subtle, like a slow dimming of a light I once carried so proudly. On the outside, I looked fine: achieving, smiling, staying busy, but internally, I was exhausted, discouraged, and deeply disconnected from the girl I used to be.
During my college years, and again in graduate school, I went through a season where the world felt too heavy. The pressure to be perfect, to succeed, to have everything figured out, slowly began to suffocate the joy that once came so naturally to me. I stopped believing in my own voice. I stopped dreaming as boldly. I even stopped posting on Born to Shine, the very platform I had created to uplift others, because I felt like a hypocrite. How could I tell people to trust God when, in my heart, I was struggling to trust Him myself?
I felt small.
I felt unseen.
I felt like the dreams God gave me were too big for a girl who suddenly felt so… empty.
There were days I would get out of bed on autopilot, days where the smile I wore felt like a mask, days where I wondered if anything I did truly mattered. I was depressed, overwhelmed, and tired in the kind of way that sleep couldn’t fix. And those were the moments, the quiet, lonely ones, where giving up felt easier than pushing forward.
But here’s the truth that saved me: God never gave up on me, even when I gave up on myself.
It was in the middle of those low seasons that He reminded me who I was before the world tried to reshape me. I remembered the little girl in Kinshasa who believed she could change lives. I remembered the meaning of my name, Allegra, joy, and how life had tried so hard to take that from me. I remembered the fire I once carried, the compassion that moved me, the calling that chose me long before I chose it.
And slowly, I began to return to her.
Slowly, I let God rebuild me.
Slowly, I allowed myself to trust God again.
Slowly, I let the light inside me shine again.
These seasons taught me something I will never forget: purpose doesn’t disappear just because you’re struggling. Calling doesn’t evaporate because you feel unworthy. And even on the days you feel empty, God still loves you.
I almost gave up, but I didn’t.
And because I didn’t, Born to Shine exists today.
Because I didn’t, I am building a path in healthcare that once felt impossible.
Because I didn’t, young women who look like me get to see what resilience looks like.
Because I didn’t, I now shine on purpose, loudly and boldly, for every girl who has ever felt like giving up, too.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes, the public version of me is absolutely the real me. Transparency and honesty have always been the foundation of everything I do, which is exactly why I started creating content in the first place. I never wanted to build a platform that felt curated to the point of becoming a character. I wanted people to meet the real Allegra, the girl who loves God, the girl who is ambitious and hopeful, the girl who struggles and questions and learns, the girl who shines, and the girl who sometimes forgets how to.
On Born to Shine and on my personal pages, my community knows I keep it real. I share the good, the bad, and the ugly. I may not walk people through every dark moment in real time, but I will always share the lessons those seasons taught me. I talk about the pressure to show up even when I’m struggling, and the courage it takes to step back when I need to protect my mental and spiritual health. I talk about my faith, my vulnerability, and the truth that I am not perfect; I am simply committed to becoming better.
Influence is tricky because there’s always a temptation to present curated perfection, to show only the polished version of your life. But I refuse to hide behind that. Even when my feed looks aesthetically pleasing, the heart behind my content is intentional transparency. I want people to see that you can be called and still human, inspiring and still growing, strong and still healing.
What you see online is who I am: a woman who loves God, who’s still figuring life out, who falls, gets back up, learns, evolves, and keeps showing up and determined to shine in a way that gives others permission to shine too.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
If I knew I had ten years left, the very first thing I would stop doing is doubting myself. I would stop shrinking, second-guessing, overthinking, and negotiating with the calling God has already placed on my life. I would stop treating my purpose like something I need to “ease into” instead of something I am meant to walk in boldly.
I would finally, fully, trust God with what He has entrusted me with.
Trust the vision He gave me for Born to Shine.
Trust the desire He placed in my heart to rebuild healthcare systems in Congo.
Trust the voice He keeps asking me to use.
Trust the influence He gave me, not for vanity, but for impact.
Trust that He never calls without equipping.
If I had ten years left, I would stop letting fear disguise itself as wisdom. I would stop dimming my light to make others comfortable. I would stop waiting for the “perfect moment” to do what I know I was created to do.
I would live with urgency, not the kind rooted in panic, but the kind rooted in purpose.
I would show up fully.
I would speak loudly.
I would trust deeply.
I would build boldly.
Most of all, I would honor God by stepping into the very mission He designed me for.
And the truth is… I don’t actually have to wait until I’m told I have ten years left.
I can start now.
I want to start now.
I am starting now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://borntoshine.blog
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allegrajoannam/#
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allegrajoanna
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@allegrajoanna?sub_confirmation=1
