By Shayna Mace | Photography by Hillary Schave
As owner of both R’oujie Wellness, a wellness company dedicated to holistic health, personal transformation and community empowerment, and a property management company, Keena Atkinson’s days are packed.
She’s also mom to an 11- and 22-year-old.
“I switch hats so many times each day. I wear a mom hat always, and then there is a Well Black Woman, who is essential to the entire operation. I am [also] a friend, business coach, nutritionist, writer, poet, podcast host, yoga and mindfulness teacher, dance fitness instructor, landlady, property manager, maintenance person, book club host, [and] retreat and conference facilitator,” says Atkinson.
Here, Atkinson shares a late July day in her life with us.
Before 6:30 a.m. I usually wake up before my alarm. I reach for my phone and check the time and see what calls or texts I missed. I lay in bed and run through my schedule in my mind for today and tomorrow. My bestie, Tiffany, usually calls me or I call her and we usually get dressed while we talk on the phone.
I wake up my 11-year-old son and coach him through his morning routine.
It’s important to me that we limit the amount of stress we start our day with so most mornings are light, evenly paced and set the tone for the day.
Once I get out of bed, my days are pretty nonstop and different every day, so I rely heavily on my calendar. My businesses are not run in a traditional sense — I don’t teach from a studio. I go to where the people, programs, schools and organizations are.
I get ready and cook my breakfast to go — two eggs, occasionally toast and whatever fruit I have. I drop my son off at school with affirmations or character reminders.
8:30 a.m. I go to the gym. I’ll either lift weights or do cardio depending on the day of the week. I like to get to the gym early enough to do at least 20 minutes of journaling before I go in. 9:25 a.m. After the gym, I go home and eat more breakfast to fuel me through the first part of my day.
10:15 a.m. On Mondays, I record my podcast at UpNext TV from 10:30-12. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I facilitate programming at a school with youth. On Wednesdays or Fridays, I usually work with clients one on one or do maintenance work at my rental property. Noon After recording my podcast, I facilitate a 45-minute group coaching call for women entrepreneurs.
3:15 p.m. I scan a few emails. I also take a business call about a potential space to host my 12-week holistic nutrition program that starts in September, and then a check-in call with a nutrition client about their progress with lowering their cholesterol. Then I answer a call from the library who sponsored books that I requested for the members of my R’oujie Wellness book club.
3:45 p.m. I cook and eat a quiet lunch while reading a few chapters of an African novel called “Children of Blood and Bone.”
5 p.m. I arrive to the Corey Ruiz memorial to see if my help is needed. Sometimes I can offer words of wisdom or encouragement or guided breathwork or meditation.
I stay for about an hour talking and listening to the people who were present.
My younger son is an athlete, so my parents help get him to and from practice on the days that I need help being in two places at once as a single mom. Today is one of those days! Now, he’s in football.
6:15 p.m. I go to the UW-Madison campus to teach African American Cultural Dance and History for a PEOPLE Program fine arts high school cohort. Today I taught the students eight line dances in just under two hours. The students are so excited to try the dances out tomorrow at a dance party.
9:25 p.m. Tomorrow I’m scheduled to do work on my rental property since a tenant just moved out and left quite a bit of work to repair. I quickly stop by Menards before it closes to grab supplies.
At home, I cook my typical high-fiber, high-protein, low-sugar dinner, which is a roasted sweet potato, a head of pan- cooked bok choy and air fryer salmon.
10:50 p.m. I finally sit down to eat and play this cat Sudoku brain game (Meowdoku) that I play each day as I start to wind down and do my nighttime brain dump list and bedtime routine.
11:15 p.m. I fall asleep within four minutes of laying down in my cool, dark and quiet room.
