JUSTICE FOR BLACK GIRLS PRESENTS OUR HEALING & LIBERATION INITIATIVE
“What good is freedom if you can’t feel it?”
JBG proudly launches our Healing and Liberation Initiative. Our ancestors push us to construct a type of freedom that honors our fullness. They push us to ask the question "what good is freedom if you can't feel it?"
Our Healing & Liberation Initiative works to support Black girls in feeling freedom. This initiative is centered on the belief that Black girls deserve spaces where they are actively poured into, and actively restored. Here Black girls are provided the tools to make sense of their individualized healing journeys in addition to sustaining their own wellness with the support of trained Black women wellness experts.
This initiative offers free spirituality coaching, wellness coaching, meditation resources, and virtual yoga to Black girls ages 13-24. Every month a different service is offered and any Black girl is welcome to attend. You can find overviews of each service in greater depth in addition to our Healing & Liberation Sacred Sunday Calendar below!
MEET THE TEAM
Rev. Estee Nina Dillard
Spiritualist, Scholar, Ancestral Storyteller
A native of Macon, Ga., Estee Nena Dillard’s work is discovering the ways that theological formation, spiritual care and ritual transform wellness, especially for African Diasporan people. As a black feminist/womanist practitioner, her foci are the interconnectedness of spirituality/sexuality and embodiment, expanding the discourse on [Black][Queer] erotic power through a womanist methdology, and spiritual formation particularly through ritual. Estee attended Spelman College and earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Comparative Women’s Studies with a minor in Public Health. She was licensed and ordained in the gospel ministry at Rize Community Church where she continues to serve as the Minister of Ritual and Spiritual Formation. Estee also earned a Master of Divinity with Graduate Certificates in Black Church Studies and Faith/Public Health Collaborative from Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Through work in the West African Orisa Tradition and the Nation of Ndugu and Nzingha, she studies and curates African ancestral traditions and spiritual practices of the diaspora. In 2020, Estee became a certified Reiki Practitioner and was also affirmed as Iyalosa. Above all, Estee seeks to answer Rev. Dr. Prathia Hall’s ancestral, clarion call, “I stood in the authenticity of my being: Black, preacher, [priest], [ritualist], Baptist, [Southern] [queer] woman. For the same God who made me a preacher made me a woman(ist), and I am convinced that God was not confused on either account.”
Devon Johnson, MPH, CHES
Wellness Coach
Devon Johnson is a nationally certified health education specialist and a certification health and wellness coach. She holds a master’s degree in public health from Emory University specializing in Behavioral Science and Maternal and Child Health. Prior to Emory, Devon attended Spelman College where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Women’s Studies with a minor in Public Health.
Devon’s journey as a health and wellness coach began after training 25+ years as a dancer. During that time, she discovered how creating movement in the body could improve physical, mental, and emotional health. This developed her passion for using an integrative approach to health and wellness and motivating others to set and achieve their goals. Her brand name, Defining My Joy, was created to remind others wellness is not about obtaining something out of reach, rather looking inward to uncover what makes us our best selves. Devon believes defining the “Why” behind achieving goals is essential to developing the purpose, focus, and motivation needed to achieve goals. She uses additional techniques including positive psychology and motivational interviewing to guide her clients through behavior changes that lead to their optimal health.
de’yanna seoul
Transformational Spiritual Healer, Certified Yoga Instructor
De’yanna Seoul is a Transformational Spiritual Healer and Speaker bridging the worlds of metaphysics and personal development. Her practice is deeply rooted in providing effective and powerful tools through holistic healing, meditation, and mind/body integration, yoga, & beyond. She has a devoted practice in holding healing space for women and youth through her program, Liberated Woman! Which she dedicates to helping clients heal emotional/ mental stress to cultivate truly liberated lives. For the past 4 years, she has worked with women of all backgrounds in the field of personal development, helping them cultivate lives full of trust, confidence, intimacy, connection, mindfulness and compassion with themselves and all their relations.
De’yanna is also a 200 RYT certified Yoga instructor and graduate of American Musical Dramatic Academy (AMDA) where she studied Dance Theater in New York/Los Angeles with her degree in the Arts. She has a passion for diversity, inclusion, and equity for youth in education, arts, entertainment, life experiences and having the tools to thrive. Her influence for this work stems from her cultural background and ancestral roots.
She offers spiritual counseling, group programs, and 1-on-1 mentorship, which you can learn about at @muvadivinity