Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamilah Pitts.
Hi Jamilah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where I currently reside. I recently moved back to Columbus in 2020 after being away for school, travel and work for over a decade. I was raised by a single mother and attended Columbus Public Schools. I learned from a very early age that education would provide an “out” for me, a pathway to freedom, so I took school very seriously, and because I had wonderful teachers who truly saw and cared for me, I loved it. I decided early on in third grade that I wanted to attend an HBCU and that I wanted to become a teacher and an author.
I had the opportunity, privilege really, to attend Spelman College, which was life-changing for me. It was a deeply nourishing and impactful experience to be educated in a place that is dedicated to Black women, and I owe that experience to much of my success, nourishment and development. I attended graduate school in Boston where I earned a master’s degree, and then I began my teaching career.
Because of my background, upbringing, and many of the things that pained me as a child, I knew that I wanted to be an educator and serve in communities that served predominantly Black students and students of color. I lived and witnessed the impacts of poverty and racism and over the span and life of my career have lost many classmates and people who I grew up with.
As a first – generation college student, Spelman truly opened up the world for me. My passion for travel and exploring other cultures through education and dance was birthed in me then. As a college student, I was able to travel to China, Jordan and South Africa.
Later, my career in education as a teacher took me from Boston to the Dominican Republic, India, and New York City. I served as a teacher, a dean, a coach, and for a time as an assistant principal. While working as a school leader, I decided to resign from the position because it became incredibly harmful and toxic for me. I had begun a journey rooted in self-care and healing, and many aspects of the job, particularly unsupportive leaders and colleagues, made that incredibly difficult for me. The school system can be a challenging place and I truly reached a breaking point. In 2020, I made the difficult decision to resign from that job and began my journey as a full-time entrepreneur and business owner. I had resigned from my job in 2020 while on a much needed wellness retreat and Bali and when I returned to New York City to begin the job hunt, unbeknownst to me (and many others), the world came to a massive pause due to the pandemic. I was forced to bet on myself and step out on faith to pursue my entrepreneurial and writing journey, which has led me to where I am today.
I launched my first business, Jamilah Pitts Consulting, an educational consulting firm that centers justice, liberation, and healing for students of color. And in 2022, I launched She, Imprints, a wellness organization that serves at the intersection of wellness and justice for women and girls of the global majority. We provide wellness coaching, educational programming, and partnerships, and we lead wellness retreats for women of color.
In 2023, my first book – a critical guide for educators on how to center liberation – will be published.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While, ultimately, I feel as though my journey overall has been an incredibly blessed one; it has not come without significant obstacles and struggles. I cannot say that anything about my life or path up until this point has been smooth. There have been a range of obstacles and challenges within my path. This has included the loss of family members, addiction and violence within my family, growing up in poverty, navigating college and graduate school as a first-generation college student, and being, at times, the only Black woman in a space. As a Black woman, I have experienced the combination of racism and sexism, in addition to classism.
Internally, like many other Black women entrepreneurs, I have had to wrestle with and work through self-doubt, self-limiting beliefs, imposter syndrome, and at times, my own mental health battles.
I have learned – and do my best – to harness my experiences and to use them to propel me. Everything that I do – in terms of my work, my passions, what I write, and how I lead and serve are connected, deeply, to my lived experiences.
I often share that I am constantly living and activating courage. Many things scare me, but I choose to make many decisions, and take many steps while afraid. And it has served me well.
The combination of deep self love, rest, therapy, healing and developing a loving, intentional community has been crucial to my growth, success and well – being. While MANY aspects of my life have been far from easy, I continue to choose to create beautiful, joyful, transformative life for myself.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about She Imprints?
She Imprints is my love letter to women and girls of the global majority, especially Black women and girls. We are such an overlooked demographic, and yet we give and have given so much to our families, communities, society, and the world. She Imprints is a wellness organization that serves at the intersection of wellness and justice for women and girls of the global majority. We are different from other wellness organizations because we focus on wellness holistically, and because we focus on women and girls of the global majority, we also consider the ways that systemic oppression – such as racism, classism, and patriarchy – harm women and girls uniquely. Our approach and our solutions to wellness, therefore, are rooted in justice. Our goal is to create spaces, programming, and opportunities so that women and girls are able to tap into their power and are able to live on and in their purpose. We offer wellness coaching, partnerships with organizations that serve women and girls of color, educational programming, and we host wellness retreats for women of color.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I appreciate the pace and the heart of Columbus. As someone who has lived in many cities and traveled all over the world, I appreciate that Columbus feels like a home. This is a great place to slow down, feel connected and rooted, and it can be a great place to raise a family or to give birth to new ideas, such as a business or new project. I do not like that Columbus is becoming incredibly gentrified, which deepens social stratification and makes it hard for people who are already struggling financially. I also do not like the way that the city is deeply resourceful, yet there are so many people who are struggling and are in poverty. I know this firsthand from where I was raised. There are many resources in this city, yet there are incredible barriers to resources such as quality education, mental health support, support for substance abuse and violence for those communities who need it most. Many of the issues are systemic, but as a city, these are areas where I’d like to see us love on people and our children more deeply.
I am humbled and excited to be back home and I am excited to continue to serve.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sheimprints.org
- Instagram: she_imprints
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamilah-pitts-941217ab/
- Other: https://www.jamilahpitts.com/
Image Credits
Chloe Jackman Aguaecoco
