Keena Atkinson of R’oujie Wellness

The path finds us when we look for it.

If you talk to ten different entrepreneurs, you’ll hear ten different variations on this unifying theme: There was something missing from my life, I had a need, and I knew that I couldn’t be the only one.

For Keena Atkinson, founder of R’oujie Wellness, that need was for community. For a space that felt welcoming, thoughtful and safe, especially for Black women and children. “I was tired of having experiences where I was treated like I wasn't supposed to be there,” she says, remembering times when she asked if she was ‘lost’ when trying to attend yoga classes. Now, from hair styling to yoga to wellness retreats, at the heart of everything Keena does is this drive to uncover and address people’s needs, building everyone up together as she builds her community.

“Whoever shows up, those are the people who I’m working with.”

R'oujie Wellness is a wellness service provider. Keena defines her approach to wellness as thoughtfully and intentionally acting to be well in every sense—in mind, body, skin, hair, finances, relationships, business, health, emotions, and more. Through R’oujie, she offers dance and yoga classes for youth and adults, personal and professional coaching and consulting, and speaks on these topics at conferences and retreats. Her approach is trauma-informed, centering social justice and her background in psychology and Ayurvedic medicine.

“Where is the path?” she says with a laugh, recalling the process of discerning where her many interests might take her. “I was sweeping around in the forest with a broom [until] the path found me as I was looking for it.”

Her wide-ranging experience means that Keena looks at problems and opportunities in context and sees everything as part of a bigger picture, a web of interconnectedness. Her current soul project is developing yoga, dance and mindfulness classes for K-5 students.

“I’m just so honored and excited,” she says about the opportunity to help a diverse group of children develop social and emotional skills of communication and self-advocacy. Her goal is to get her curriculum out there and to educate other educators so that any school that wants to bring in a mindfulness program can deliver value to their students, “especially to Black and brown children who are living through this time that we’re in right now.”

Keena is always looking for ways to get more people plugged into her network, whether that’s folks showing up for her yoga classes or reaching out on social media. “Lots of different people come and they all have different things that they share with me that I get to reflect on and figure out how to better serve these people,” she says, adding, “I’m always trying to learn what people are looking for so I can create a program that’s meaningful.”

With so many irons in the fire, deciding where and how to focus her energy is always on her mind, and she credits the UpStart entrepreneurial program for helping her “learn to think differently and in more creative ways about managing my time.” That’s a part of her wellness teaching, too; how to hold time and space for the things which are most important to you.

Keena hopes to connect with you via her website and Instagram, and especially her Facebook community where you can find links to her yoga practices and upcoming events. She also invites you to her first-ever wellness retreat this autumn: Permission to Prosper.