Let’s talk about us

  • Heal Before You Hustle is focused on finding solutions to the Black mental health crisis in urban communities. We intend to provide individuals with the knowledge, tools, and skillset needed for a transformational healing process targeting the mind, body, and soul through pattern recognition and emotional regulation.

  • Accountability creates a sense of responsibility that is needed to meet one’s end goal

    Awareness of self to recognize one’s emotions which is the first step to emotional regulation and healing

    Community is coming together in unity. Strength is in numbers—and one can’t do it alone

    Balance in life is essential for overall health and increases productivity

    Openness contributes to personal growth through the willingness to seek new opportunities, concepts, experiences, and people

  • We want to innovate traditional mental health solutions with holistic approaches and build healthier, stronger Black communities.

Meet our founder

Shawnice Noye (MSW, Supervisee of Social Work, CPLC), formally known as Shawnice Hernandez, is a Norfolk native, wife, and mother with a passion for mental health and healing. As a product of teen pregnancy, Shawnice faced many challenges while struggling to navigate through life without becoming just another statistic. 

A three-time graduate, Shawnice received her master’s in Clinical Social Work from Norfolk State University’s Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Services from Old Dominion University and an Associate degree in Social Science from Tidewater Community College. As a mental health professional with over six years of experience in community mental health, Shawnice has a special interest in childhood and generational trauma. 

Her career began in 2016 when she helped her mother found Life's Journey, a mental health agency. While mastering many roles within the company, Shawnice gained a great amount of knowledge. She paid close attention to the structural functioning of the mental health field and the negative long-lasting effects it has on the community. 

Due to the triggering effects of COVID-19 and work burnout, Shawnice gave up on the mental health field and directed her time and energy to focus on her own mental health, healing, and family. Through her healing work, Heal Before You Hustle was born. Shawnice regained motivation to help individuals from Black and marginalized communities gain mental stability and make transformational life changes. 

Along with her progressive leadership qualities, her skillset includes strategic planning, project management, and program implementation with a focus on mental health. During her break from the field, she obtained a certification in professional life coaching as she found a need to offer an alternative service to individuals who are not open to traditional therapy. 

Shawnice is committed to bridging the gap. It is her life’s work to raise awareness of the challenges that the Black community and other marginalized groups face in addressing their mental health needs and seeking treatment. Shawnice is currently working to obtain her license to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.