Choose to Awaken with the WUE Nation!

On March 29, 2020, Spirit of A Woman, LLC, launched the Wake Up Everybody (WUE) Virtual series in partnership with community healers, thought leaders, coaches, medical and mental health professionals, educators and artists from across the nation. WUE was created to provide community members, from across the country and abroad, with an opportunity to keep their mental, emotional,  physical and spiritual well beings balanced and whole as they navigated the impact of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 global health crisis. 

WUE was  originally designed as a 30 day offering that would provide “temporary” covering and support for participants until the quarantine period ended, however, the producers and community members quickly realized that the WUE journey would last much longer than they originally anticipated. 

The series was created by Shawnee Benton Gibson, CEO, of Spirit of A Woman (SOW) Leadership Development Institute, who was inspired by the lyrics of the song  “Wake Up Everybody” by Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. The song, which was popular in the 70s, speaks of issues that we are still glaringly relevant today; (racism, war, poverty, sickness, political strife, corruption, etc). The WUE Virtual series was designed to “WAKE UP” the masses by providing empowering messaging, holistic healing tools, guidance for daily living and strategies for addressing the injustices, pain and imbalance that exists in the world. 

All of the “Wake Up Everybody” sessions take place 5 days a week (every Sunday, Tuesday, & Thursday from 7:00am - 8:30am EST and every Monday and Wednesday from 7:00am -7:30am EST.) over Zoom and Facebook Live. Every session is facilitated by powerful and prolific presenters from various backgrounds and areas of discipline. Each facilitator guides participants through an interactive experience that fosters education, conversation, new insights, empowerment  and expansion. 

The WUE Family invites you to join our phenomenal community so that you can share, heal and grow as part of the collective. You are free to join as a community participant, as a session facilitator and/or a member of the admin team to support the magic that happens behind the scenes. We hope to hear from you. 

Show WUE Some LOVE!

The Wake Up Everybody community space was created for us, by us — rooted in love, cultural wisdom, collective liberation, and healing. Our volunteer team and facilitators work diligently, leading from the kindness of their hearts. They share their gifts, talents, lived experiences, expertise, and — most importantly — their time for the healing and upliftment of our community.

We invite our community to pour back into this exchange of energy through love offerings and donations that help sustain and further enhance the Wake Up Everybody experience for all. We recognize that time is currency, and our volunteers and facilitators generously offer their time, energy, and wisdom to bring each session to life in service of collective healing.

Love offerings are not payments for a service. They are sacred contributions toward sustaining the ecosystem we call Wake Up Everybody (WUE) — an ongoing exchange rooted in reciprocity, care, and community.

We believe that money is energy — as our host, Shawnee Benton Gibson, reminds us:
M.O.E.Y. — My Own Energy Yields.

What we give circulates.
What we invest grows.

When we give from a place of gratitude and reciprocity, we are not simply transferring dollars. We are honoring labor. We are valuing time. We are choosing to sustain what sustains us.

Your offering helps us:

• Honor the time, preparation, and emotional labor of our facilitators

• Maintain the platforms that allow us to gather live

• Cover the costs of text messaging systems, email communications, and community updates

• Invest in new tools and advancements that help us grow

• Ensure this space remains accessible and community-centered

When you give, you are not just supporting a session. You are strengthening a movement. You are helping us maintain integrity, independence, and sustainability without relying solely on external funding or institutions.

Wake Up exists because we choose to sustain it together.

This is reciprocity.
This is community economics.
This is love in action. 💛

Upcoming Facilitators   

Sunday, July 5th

"The Spiritual Roots of Our Resistance "

 Facilitated By: Veronica Kirton Johnson

Veronica Kirton-Johnson believes that the one thing our Ancestors wanted, was to be remembered! What better way than through art and story telling in any form?  A mother, grandmother, wife is a happily retired educator of over 30 years, her passions are creating art as a quilter and image maker/doll maker. Her quilts have hung in Ethiopia International Arts Shows, Texas and libraries in and around New York City. She has taught and created images for the historic Maafa reenactment produced yearly at Mt Pisgah Baptist Church. She has discovered that her passions are embedded in her DNA after researching her ancestral history. She can proudly say that making and giving baby quilts has been a ministry for many years and is often reminded of a gift that has been saved and is a cherished memory for future generations. The construction of her quilts and ancestral images are therapeutic as well as intended to help keep the memories of our ancestors alive. Many as they begin to reconstruct and construct the image feel as though the particular ancestor is crying out for the story to be told. Yes, there are  a cloud of witnesses at times screaming out for the story to be told.

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 Monday, July 6th

"Sustainability In The Village Of Abundance"

 Facilitated By: Prof. Marilyn DJ

Marilyn Douglas-Jones is a retired college professor and a licensed financial professional. She’s an international business consultant, chamber of commerce executive, a financial coach specializing in college and retirement planning, and a philanthropist in the global African Diaspora communities.

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Tuesday, July 7th

"Creeating The Future"

 Facilitated By: Tamika Jackson

Tamika Jackson is a Detroit-based organizer, storyteller, and maternal health advocate with Mothering Justice, where she leads campaigns advancing Black maternal health, reproductive justice, and care-centered policy in Michigan. Rooted in the belief that organizing should heal rather than extract, Tamika builds strategies that restore power to communities most impacted by systemic inequities. Her work bridges policy advocacy, community healing, and spirit-led leadership, inspiring others to reimagine liberation through care, imagination, and collective accountability.

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Wednesday, July 8th

"The Wealth Shift: Positioning Your Family for the Future"

 Facilitated By: David Germain

David Germain's mother passed away from breast cancer on March 5, 2011 and his father, a Vietnam War veteran, passed away on October 30, 2022. He personally knows the pain, financial stress, and heartache it causes families when the breadwinner of the family gets either sick in the hospital or passes away. Because of this first hand knowledge, David didn’t want families to go through what he went through. If it wasn’t for Life Insurance, his family would have lost all of their properties to Foreclosure and the hard earned sacrifices his family worked so hard to build to leave generational wealth, would have vanished.

David was a former High School teacher and PSAL Championship basketball coach for 15 years in Brooklyn, NYC before getting his Real Estate Brokers License in 2013 until present. He now has a 6 year old son and recently relocated to Connecticut where he operates a faith-based, mission driven company, Family First Life (Proven Winners Realty, Inc.), whose focus goes well beyond just selling life insurance. David has sold many homes during his real estate career and realized that many families sold their homes because they didn’t have the proper life insurance plan in place or they were underinsured to prevent their homes from being sold, which caused many families to grow apart or fight over the home. His company now works to break generational financial curses and keep families together and avoid disputes over assets that have been left behind. The team also provides “LIFE” insurance that clients can use while they are ALIVE in the event they get sick, called “LIVING BENEFITS”, which David wishes someone would of told his mother about when getting life insurance.

“You know, a man’s life is the most precious thing in the world, isn’t it? So, isn’t it odd that a man will insure EVERYTHING but his own life?”

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Thursday, July 9th

"Gmo and the Microbiome: What’s Actually Happening Inside?"

 Facilitated By: Tracy Person

Join Tracy Person as she pulls back the curtain on the complex relationship between modern agricultural biotechnology and your gut microbiome. As our food system becomes more challenged and complex, terms like "GMO" and "bioengineered" have shifted from novelties to everyday supermarket realities. In this workshop, you’ll discover exactly how these modern agricultural shifts impact the trillions of microbes living inside you—and how to make informed choices for your health.