Shawnti Refuge shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Shawnti , 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 do you think is misunderstood about your business?
Whew—everything but the name. People hear “guided journals” and think I sell pretty notebooks with cute prompts. Nah. What I do is deeper than that. My business is about emotional excavation. I help people unpack trauma, untangle the lies they’ve been told about themselves, and rewrite their narrative in their own damn handwriting.
The biggest misunderstanding? Folks think journaling is passive. Like it’s something soft you do in your quiet time with a candle and some tea. Listen—my clients are crying, breaking cycles, setting boundaries, and reclaiming parts of themselves they didn’t know they buried. There’s nothing passive about that. This is soul work. This is healing work. And it’s guided because I’ve walked that road myself—I don’t hand you a pen and walk away. I’m in the trenches with you.
My business isn’t about selling paper. It’s about helping people get unstuck, unmuted, and unapologetic. And that’s the part people miss—until they pick up a journal and it changes their life.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Shawnti Refuge—a Master Certified Mental Health Coach, author, keynote speaker, and the founder of Shawnti Refuge Journals. But more than anything, I’m a woman who turned her pain into a platform.
After surviving a mental breakdown in 2018, I made the decision to heal without medication—and instead, I picked up a pen. Journaling became my lifeline. It helped me dig through trauma, release shame, and start showing up as the version of myself I had buried under years of people-pleasing and pain. Now, I help other people do the same.
My brand is built around guided journaling for mental wellness—but it’s not the sugarcoated “Dear Diary” stuff. I create tools, workshops, courses, and coaching spaces that help people get unstuck, set boundaries, reconnect with themselves, and take their power back. My journals are raw, real, and rooted in transformation. Every prompt is a mirror—and every product I create is designed to help folks stop performing and start healing.
Right now, I’m working on everything from a support group for estranged mothers, to self-paced healing courses, to my signature program Fallin’ for My Damn Self. I also just launched The Quiet As Kept Podcast, where we finally talk about the stuff we were raised to keep quiet—mental health, family trauma, emotional abuse, and breaking generational cycles.
What makes me and my brand unique? I don’t talk at people—I talk with them. I bring honesty, lived experience, and a little bit of sarcasm into a space where people are used to surface-level advice. Healing ain’t cute. But it’s possible. And I’m living proof.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I believed that my worth was tied to what I could do for other people. That being the “strong one,” the “helpful one,” or the “responsible one” was the only way to be loved. I thought I had to earn care, prove value, and constantly perform to be seen.
I carried that belief for years—into relationships, into motherhood, into business. I was exhausted trying to be everything for everybody. And when I finally broke down, I realized: that little girl inside me deserved love just for existing.
Now, I know better. I know I am worthy simply because I am. I don’t have to shrink myself to make others comfortable. I don’t have to prove I’m enough—I am enough. That belief changed everything. And now, I help other people unlearn the lies they were told too.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
In 2018, I hit rock bottom. I had a full-blown mental breakdown—and I mean ugly cry, can’t get out the bed, don’t recognize myself type of breakdown. I was exhausted from pretending, from holding it all together, from being the “strong one” while silently falling apart.
That was the moment I stopped hiding. I was too broken to fake it any longer. But instead of staying there, I picked up a pen and started writing. Not for Instagram. Not for anyone else. Just to save my own life.
That’s when everything shifted. I realized my pain had a purpose. The very things I thought would destroy me became the blueprint for my healing—and now they’re the foundation of my business. I turned my breakdown into a breakthrough, and my journals became a lifeline—not just for me, but for the people I now coach and support every day.
So, when did I stop hiding? The day I realized silence was killing me faster than the truth ever could. And ever since, I’ve been helping others do the same—one journal prompt at a time.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Oh, 1000%. What you see is what you get—with a little more edge in person.
I spent too many years performing, people-pleasing, and hiding behind “I’m fine.” So now? I don’t have the energy to be anybody but me. The version of me you see on social media, on stage, in my journals—that’s the same version who cries in her car, who journals through her triggers, who cracks jokes in the middle of deep healing sessions.
I’m not perfect. I’m not polished. But I’m real. And in a world that rewards pretending, I consider that my superpower.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
They’ll think I was just a journal girl.
They’ll see the books, the prompts, the workshops, and think I sold paper and pen to help people feel “inspired.” But what I really did—what my legacy actually is—is giving people permission to tell the truth. To break silence. To feel their feelings. To sit with their pain without shame. To heal.
My work is about liberation. It’s about helping people—especially Black women—stop performing strength and finally choose peace. So if someone looks back at my life and just sees “a woman who made cute journals,” they’ve missed the point.
I didn’t build a brand. I built a movement. One that says your story matters, your feelings are valid, and you can be soft and strong. My legacy is about voice, truth, and transformation. Period.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ShawntiRefuge.com
- Instagram: @shawntirefugejournals
- Linkedin: Shawnti Refuge
- Facebook: Shawnti Refuge Journals
- Youtube: @shawntirefugejournals
Image Credits
B2ful Photography, Patrina Anthony, Owner
