We’re looking forward to introducing you to Shay Johnson. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Shay, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Alarms, deadlines, calendars, expectations, and all the things that make each person, at some point, feel totally overwhelmed, is what I believe most of us are secretly struggling with… but, we never say it. Those 3 words, “I. Am. Overwhelmed” cause us so much more anxiety and stress than we readily admit, even to ourselves. It’s the sharing with others where we are that brings about the overwhelm. Too busy worried about if we’re being judged, how it will make us look (weak), how it will make others feel, and ultimately how it makes US feel. However, as Teddy Roosevelt says, we must “Do what we can, with what we have, where we are”.
My story, this journey has been filled with multiple feelings and overlooked realities of overwhelm and subtle victories. It is my hope that something you read in the following article will uplift, encourage, or lighten your load in some small way. Enjoy!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello Voyage Dallas! I’m honored for the space and time to share with you!
I am Sharlotte “Shay” Johnson, a resilient light, divine knower, brain cancer survivor, excellence experience curator, seasoned educator and coach, and multi-business entrepreneur. As the founder and CEO of Opulent Public Relations & Event Management, LLC (Opulent PREM®), since 2011, I have had the awesome experience to serve as a publicist, coach, project manager, realtor, and event curator in the Dallas-Ft. Worth greater community, specifically in the lifestyle and entertainment spaces. I help to transform pain into purpose.
So, since that last time we collaborated, I have been hard at work between losses, developing my two soon to be released signature tribes and programs. They are, “S.M.I.L.E. ~ She Makes It Look Easy” and “The Breakdown, The Breakthrough & The Build Up”™. Each of these will guide women in their 40s and 50s to rebuild after personal and professional breakdowns, while providing support, mentorship and loving guidance to those women a bit younger. As a compelling voice of resilience and reinvention, I bring boldness, strategy, intention and empathy to every space that I enter, and with each beautiful soul that I connect with
Not one to do one thing at a time (December Sag, lol) and thanks to my undiagnosed ADHD, I have the pleasure of both reimagining my businesses, talents and goals, I also have the pleasure of serving at Dallas College as a Career and Transfer Specialist coaching students to their next. I delight in the fact that I make impact with the Greater DFW area by utilizing my skills and sharing my passion of better with students and community.
I am currently working with a couple of brands and influencers in the launching of their brands. I’m writing, pivoting and completing projects that were left on hold while I dealt with the hardest losses and diagnosis.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
So, there were a lot of people who saw me clearly before I saw myself, but specifically 2 women who are no longer with me on this side of the realm. My mother, my childhood and adulthood best friend, my business partner and confidant and my bonus little sister. Each of these women knew who I was long before I acknowledged and embraced it. They knew that I was who I think I am before that was a catchphrase.
So often we tend to overlook or take for granted moments that defined us, or moments when people acknowledged that they “see” you. That’s a different type of seeing. Let me explain a bit.
As a child, young adult and now a woman over 50, my Mommy (Nettie Coleman Johnson) always saw the greatness, elegance, bourgeoise, and class in me before I knew what it was, meant or what the expectations would be in becoming these things. I knew there was a reason behind my expensive taste! She loved me unconditionally, and I will never have a love like that again. Her prayers, laugh and expectations for carrying our family name is what I miss most, but she saw me clearly, and I doubt that I will ever be “seen” like that again.
In the same way as my mom, my BFF (Chandra Brown Goodwin) saw the innocence, joy, laughter, humor, love and light in me. She saw it and never took advantage of it, nor took it for granted in 30+ years of friendship. That type of sister love and support and light is inequivalent with any other type of love. From the halls of Skyline High School, to raising brilliant children, marriage, divorce, trauma and loss… we went through it together until she left us and made her home in the spirit realm.
Each of these women shaped my early life and influenced me in ways that are indescribable. The literally saw me clearly.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
“I am a woman who knows what it means to survive—and then choose to thrive.”
It’s interesting that you should ask this question, as I do not profess to have healed from the defining wounds of my life. I am actively in the process of feeling and healing from these wounds daily. It’s a never-ending process. My journey has not been without pain. I’ve been a single mom juggling providing for my child and trying to give of myself to anyone who may have needed it. I’ve succeeded and failed at businesses and relationships… and, on top of that, I’m a recovering People Pleaser. I’m a brain cancer survivor. I’ve experienced the unimaginable—finding my mother deceased and grieving the loss of my best friends. But my faith and resilience have been louder than the silence of grief and trauma.
Grief and trauma change you… at a cellular and metabolic level. The change is just a much physical as it is emotional and mental. No, you’re not crazy, you are different after loss and tragedy, and don’t let anyone tell you different. And it takes time to redefine and “rebirth” yourself. For me, a lot of that time was isolated because I had lost all tether… I didn’t feel grounded any longer. I even asked ChatGPT why I was so lazy, procrastinating, no interest in the things that had once brought me an astronomical amount of joy. And do you know what Chat said??? “Shay, you’re not lazy or unmotivated… you’re GRIEVING”! Wow… what a revelation! You mean that I could actually give myself grace and not feel guilty about not doing? You see, as the world continues to rotate, those who have lost great loves are (can be) simply grieving.
So, today, I stand as a woman over 50—Black, brilliant, and bold—getting back to building multiple streams of income while living in full alignment with my purpose. I lead as a CEO, publicist, coach, Realtor, notary, and event strategist. Through Opulent PREM® and other business ventures, I help others turn vision into visibility and presence into power.
My work has always been rooted in service, but now more than ever, it’s also rooted in resilience, pivot and the comeback. Whether I’m consulting, coaching, building brands, coordinating events, or mentoring the next generation of women leaders, I show up with strategy, authenticity, and heart. I show up!
I don’t just talk about resilience—I live it. And I’m here to help others rebuild, rebrand, and rise—especially those starting over at 40, 50, and beyond.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
For years, while creating space and brands for clients, or building businesses for myself and others, I believed that if you have to pivot in your business that you’re not a very good steward of your business. If your systems and processes had to be adjusted, then you weren’t doing something right. I believed that a rough patch warranted throwing the whole thing out and starting from scratch. And, because of this collective belief, I found myself holding on way too long to the idea that what clients and customers wanted from me was more important than the work or project or product that I wanted to produce, or that I desired for my businesses to be known for… you know…the legacy of The SAJ Group~ A Family of Opulent Companies (Opulent PREM, Opulent Mobile Notary, Opulent Premiere Homes, etc).
By holding on tightly to this belief prohibited me from seeing how important it was to balance the two. They are not separate from each other. The lesson in holding to that belief eventually showed up for me, and that lesson is that life and business inevitably will require us to pivot, adjust or call and audible. Things change, people change, circumstances do, too. We have to be vulnerable and honest with ourselves to recognize when it’s time and then dig deep to course-correct… pivot.
Now that I realize the error in that thinking and a significant amount of loss and change has come over the last 4 years, I am all about the pivot, the relaunch, the rebrand or whatever we choose to call it. I now realize that creativity, knowledge, fierceness, and bravery are still very much a part of my core values.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
First, I now understand more deeply than most people, is that time is our most valuable currency. It’s the one variable, commodity, and currency that we trade every second, and cannot get back, return or exchange. Time. Oh, how we waste it on frivolous things like being angry, bitter, unintentional, reckless, dishonest, jealous… on and on. I truly believe that whatever amount of time I am granted to be here and whole, I will work to make sure that my legacy reflects how we valued time. We valued the time of our family, our clients, our friends and loved ones.
Second, is that I understand deeply that no one is coming to save us! If I we to be ‘saved’, I we are the ones who must connect to Spirit (Higher Self) in all of its’ forms and save us. Understanding deeply that they kingdom of God that we seek so fiercely is, in fact, within us. This changed a pattern in my thinking that was allowing me to search outside of myself for what I already had. That changed how I began approach legacy. It changed how I looked at legacy, and leaving legacy, for my child, grandchild, and anyone connected to me personally or professionally. It also helped me to have a deeper understanding of my mom’s (Nettie Coleman Johnson) legacy when she transitioned last Summer. So, now I have the awesome responsibility not only for the legacy I will leave, for managing the legacy my Mom left to us to continue, and the honor to be responsible with the legacy that my dad is still living.
I also really leaned into reading. In particular, reading “The Four Agreements” by Miguel Ruiz. It’s about the agreements we make with the universe. It led me to understand that it takes time and bravery to deeply understand, and then to deconstruct from harmful habits, values, and belief systems. It takes time and bravery to own your own sh*t and know that you ARE your Savior. Once this concept and the agreements are understood, it is freeing.
Last, I now understand that healing doesn’t happen with grief of losing a parent the way that it does with grief from other important, but different pain. I have accepted that I join so many others in the lost parents’ club, and that we adjust to the reality that we may always be sad in some forms. Healing didn’t hit me all at once—and it’s far from finished. I fight for it daily—with intention, with the gift of knowing, with grit, and with the fierce decision that trauma will not have the final word in my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.opulentprem.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharlotte-shay-johnson-m-ed-a2a1b72a/
Image Credits
Denzel Brown, GetKnarly
Kentrell “Trill” Stepney, Trill Photography
