Meet Shanice J. Douglas-Samuels | Founder + CEO, Witted Roots

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shanice J. Douglas-Samuels and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shanice J., can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Witted Roots is a mental health + emotional wellness platform for millennial women of color, rooted in themes of self-reflection, and vulnerability. We bring together on-demand and live resources that are accessible, relatable, and culturally inclusive for millennial women of color.

When I started Witted Roots six years ago, more than anything, I recognized that we needed to make it easier for millennial women of color, like me, to access the tools and resources that could help us have a better relationship with our mental health. I also understood that in addition to being able to access these tools and resources, there needed to be a sort of cultural sensitivity to the shame, stigma, and other barriers that we face with family, friends, and our wider community.

While the global health + wellness industry is worth a whopping $4.5 trillion and rapidly growing, millennial women of color feel left out. Of the mainstream platforms available within the industry, women of color are largely underrepresented, whether as members or as experts. This is why Witted Roots intentionally highlights women of color who are experts in mental health and emotional wellness. This is also why we intentionally center millennial women of color as our target market because virtually all millennial women of color globally have one thing in common: they know what it’s like to face stigma and cultural insensitivity, and misunderstandings when it comes to taking care of their mental health.

There was a need for a platform that is created by us and is exclusively for us.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I spent much of my formative years, into young adulthood, in the pursuit of academic excellence. No matter what was going on in my life or the world around me, I sought refuge in the pages of books. It wasn’t until after completing my Master’s degree, however, that I was hit with the realization that no matter how hard I worked to be successful in the ways that I was conditioned was my surefire path to success, that’s not really how it worked.

To make a very long and complicated story short, while dealing with the realities of building a life in your twenties, and what that even meant, I could not find a space where I fit. I could wallpaper a house with the job rejections I received, and that’s when my applications even received a response. My background was in psychology, health, and behavior, and when this period forced me to really think about what it is that I want to contribute to the world, Witted Roots took root. From spurts of small ideas that I’ve had since I was a teenager, to college, to my mid-twenties, it naturally evolved to my ultimate mission, which is to help millennial women of color, globally, have a better relationship with their mental health.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
In spite of all the bumps in the road that I’ve encountered over my life, I always hold gratitude for every single person who has extended me kindness and support at different points along my journey. From childhood friends and their families who’ve graciously taken me in as one of their own, to members of my own extended family who provided support during some difficult times, my baby sisters who are some of my main motivations in all my pursuits, and my partner-in-life, D. L. Samuels, who has been instrumental over the past decade in offering the love, encouragement, and lets-figure-things-out-together support that has allowed me to keep going and keep building the company of my dreams.

Website: https://www.WittedRoots.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WittedRoots

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/WittedRoots

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/WittedRoots

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WittedRoots

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WittedRoots

Other: https://www.ifundwomen.com/projects/witted-roots

Image Credits
D. L. Samuels