Dr. Shawnte Elbert

Before I understood the word armor , I was already wearing it. In undergrad at East Carolina University, I was a peer educator. I loved it. It was the first time I felt clear about what I was called to do — health education, promotion, and prevention work. That role shaped my career trajectory. After graduation, I secured a graduate teaching assistantship. Then another. I worked both, not for prestige, but to survive. To support myself. To help care for my sister and younger brother. I was...

The mask is often misunderstood. For many, it has been discernment, protection, and survival—long before emotional intelligence had a name. Worn With Intention — Part I I was in the middle of a training when someone paused and said they couldn’t find the emotional intelligence section of the curriculum. I opened the materials and walked them through it. The content was there—it just didn’t announce itself the way they expected. There were no bold headers or tidy labels declaring Emotional...

I’ll be honest—I’m a few days into February, and I’m just now pressing publish. Not because the reflections weren’t ready. But because this kind of writing deserves intention, not urgency . This Black History Month, I’m sharing a four-part reflection series titled: “ Worn With Intention: Armor, Agency, and the Art of Discernment”: An emotional intelligence reflection series rooted in lived experience, survival, and choice. This series was born out of my work—training, facilitating, listening,...