From medicine to ministry: Natisha Kearse helping and honoring others with S.H.E. Ministries Foundation, Awards Gala

WJBF – For 12 years, Natisha Kearse , founder of S.H.E. Ministries Foundation and the S.H.E. Awards Gala , pursued a career in the medical field; however, her passion for photography and ministry pushed her into another direction.

Kearse sits down with WJBF to talk about how her transition professionally allowed her to help and honor others.

Thank you for joining us on Celebrating Black Excellence. Now, you were in the medical field.

For 12 years.

So let’s talk about your transition from the medical field to photography and ministry. Talk about that transition. What made you transition from the medical field to photography?

Oh, man. Well, one, there’s nothing like being an entrepreneur. Being able to work for yourself is just an amazing thing. So after being in the medical field for so long, and then, I had an accident which made me kind of like have to slow down a little bit, I decided it was time to do something different. My husband, being a musician, was playing at this church, and I noticed that the pastor, the one Sunday when we went, was doing everything. He was going from the sound board to preaching to singing to doing photography. So I asked him, “Can I help?” And he was like, “Yeah. Have you ever used a camera?” I said, “Well, nothing besides my phone.” So he showed me how to do it. I took a couple pictures, and I fell in love with it, especially when I got the validation from him that the pictures were good, and I was like, “Okay, this is something that I could really get into.” So I actually stayed in the medical field for a little bit longer while transitioning into photography. Then, last year on my birthday, I had my grand opening of my studio.

Now, let’s talk about exactly how you were feeling in the moment because a lot of times when we make those big changes that can be very scary but can be very rewarding as well. So talk about your feeling as far as when you actually did make that transition.

To be honest, it was a rollercoaster. It was a rollercoaster. There were moments where I doubted that I would be able to do it. There were moments where I cried. I was happy. I saw the progress because the building that my studio was in actually my father’s church, and he passed away. So my mom…. she did ministry for as long as she could, and then, she decided that she needed a break. So I asked her, “Can I open my studio in the church?” She was like, “Yeah, that’s absolutely fine.” So, I went down there, and it’s like all of these feelings started rushing at me at once because I went back to that moment where I saw my father tearing down walls and painting and putting down carpet to get the sanctuary ready to open up. So all these feelings were rushing at me at one time, and I went through a whole rollercoaster of different emotions. I cried. I wanted to quit. There was at one point when nobody came to help me, and I felt like I was by myself, but in those moments, I just pulled straight from my faith, and I knew that will get me through.

Speaking of faith, you have your ministry, S.H.E. Ministries Foundation. What inspired the name?

So, S.H.E. ministry came from just the women that I’m around. I have cousins who are just strong individuals. They come from all walks of life. They’ve been through all different types of things. So when I thought about S.H.E. and what we represent as women, I was like, You know what? We’re strong. And then, I thought about the H in she, and I was like, You know what? As women, we can be humble. We can be humble by our situations and by things that we go through in life. And then, the E it came from, no matter what we’re faced with, we’re always elegant in everything that we do. So that’s how I came up with strong, humble, and elegant, which is S.H.E.

Now, you also have an awards gala. How did that come about?

Oh, it started at our kitchen table talking to my daughter. She was telling me about how with her going to the Aiken County Career and Technology Center that she’s so fortunate compared to some of the kids there. It’s right off of Aiken Augusta Highway and is basically a place where the kids who are in high school, they can learn trades and careers and everything and graduate with their certifications. So, she was in the program there, and we were sitting at the table, and she said, “Mom, I’m fortunate. I am just so fortunate today because a lot of these girls in this program, they don’t have the backing that I have as like a parent who’s willing to support me and buy the supplies that I need.” They were lacking certain things, and I’m like, “Well, that just isn’t going to work. What can we do?” So, we started brainstorming on some things, and it started off with me just doing different types of fundraisers and stuff, and I was like, “What else can I do?” So when we developed S.H.E, we said, You know what? We’re going to honor strong, humble, and elegant women in the CSRA who are doing the things that you guys are already trying to do. So that first year, we honored Donna Moore Wesby as our trailblazer. The next year we honored Selina Soul as a trailblazer. We honor other women in the CSRA who are doing ministry, who are educators, and who own businesses, and from the funds that we gathered from the gala, we were able to buy supplies to give to the career center.

Can you please tell us what we can expect from this year’s S.H.E. Awards Gala?

So this year, we are super excited because it was brought to my attention that – not that we tried to discredit men or anything because they’re doing an amazing job too – there are men that are doing great things in the area as well. They asked me, “Is there anything we can do for them?” So, this year, we’re honoring men as well. So we are honoring men who are doing fantastic things in the area and men who own businesses. Our trailblazer this year is Axel Adams, who is the founder of the Axel Adams Foundation, and then, our trailblazer for the women is Miss Ursula O. Robinson, who is from Tyler Perry’s Divorce In The Black.

Now, if people want to get tickets, and if they want to know more information about the gala, how can they get that information, like the location, time, etc.?

So the gala is still held at the same place, 217 Gregg Avenue in Aiken, S.C. at Hayden Baptist Church where William Robinson, Jr. is the pastor. So, it’ll still be there this year, and it’s at 7 p.m. If people want to buy tickets, you can buy them at eventbrite.com . Just make sure that you change it to Aiken, South Carolina because a lot of people say, “I can’t see it.” You have to change the location to Aiken, South Carolina.

If people want to know more information about you or they want to know more about your ministry, how can they follow you?

So you guys can follow me on Facebook: Natisha Kearse . We do have a foundation page as well, it’s S.H.E. Awards 2024 . Also, on Instagram, it is @she_ministries . So you can follow that page as well. if you would like to get more information, donate, get involved, be a sponsor, or any of those things.

Final question for you, we talked about transitioning earlier. Are there any words of encouragement that you can give someone that may be going through a transition?

Absolutely. I would say never give up. Never give up, even when it seems hard, when it seems difficult, and it seems like all the odds are stacked against you. Never give up because it can happen for you and it will happen for you. I am a testimony to what God can do, and so, if you just hang on and have faith, it’ll work out for you.

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