QUEEN J: ‘I LOVE EMPOWERING WOMEN’
In BOP faces we talk to local legends: the people of Punta Cana that make this place so special. In this edition: Queen J who encourages women to live their best life by holding retreats for them in Punta Cana. She worked with people like Rihanna, and Blac Chyna. BOP was curious to find out how she came to Punta Cana and why she chose Macao as her home.
“She is so dramatic!” Queen J (30) laughs as her 1-year old daughter Amor Luz makes funny faces while pressing her lips against the other side of a glass door. “She is just like me,” Queen J continues. “My husband is the opposite. He is so calm. It is a good balance.”
Born as Julia, Queen J was inspired by strong women from a young age. Especially her mother and grandmother influenced her. While growing up in Minneapolis Minnesota in the United States, she found out that she had a gift for motivational speaking. “I was 10 when people noticed me and the way I spoke. I was lucky to have the right people around me that encouraged me to grow.”
Motivational speaking
This lead up to Queen J speaking at conferences by the age of 12. “I was 12 or 13 when I was invited to speak at a National Service Learning Conference. I did a spoken word about how the test scores of black children are underperforming in comparison to white children. They loved it. They invited me on their board, and I got to speak there every year.”
The years that followed Queen J traveled to Europe and other parts of the world to speak at conferences and different leadership events while working with kids to empower them. “While I was working in New York as an educator, I knew had to make a decision. I had to quit my job to start working on my own terms, so, I wrote a yearlong curriculum on how to empower and motivate kids. I was going to change the world by starting with kids. It worked! People started hiring me to teach this curriculum. I was 24 years old at that time. Although I always thought about empowering youth first, because they are the future, I wanted to start with empowering women too.”
Getting to know Punta Cana
By holding events for women in places like Atlanta and New York, Queen J started motivating women to live their best life. By posting motivational videos on her Instagram she gained thousands of followers. Amongst them celebrities who invited her to work with them. “I started doing my own events. Those events became successful. To have a break I usually used to travel to Jamaica, but 3 years ago I decided to give a girl who was working for me a holiday as a present. We decided to go to the Dominican Republic. I loved it. On that trip I also met my husband. It was love at first sight. We are both very spiritual persons and felt a connection right away. I started travelling up and down. Until I got to the point of living here. It was like why not.”
Awakening women
“It is all about awakening women to the infinite power they have so they become goddesses,” Queen J continues. “We are queens. It is about loving yourself and following your dreams. I know that I haven’t done a tip what I can do because I am not boxing myself in. I am infinite. You know it takes years to get comfortable in your own skin. Sometimes women forget their own dreams or put them aside when they have children, or through marriage. I have never let that stop me from doing what I love to do. One year I had a tour through different cities in the United States. It was the Queen You manifest party. I was traveling with my daughter who was just a few months old. One night she did not sleep at all, but I still had to rock the event. Of course, I was tired, but I had to tap into my reserve and let the great energy of the women that attended lead me. It is about saying yes to the Universe and God and showing up.”
Empowerment in Punta Cana
“The women who come to my retreats in Punta Cana get to work on themselves in a beautiful environment. They do yoga classes, excursions, meditation, but also sessions about empowerment. I did a water ceremony with them, something I thought some might find strange, but at the end of the trip you see that they start glowing differently. They are energized. I also gave a workshop for women here in Macao. I thought that people might not tap into it, but it was the opposite. They came with their husbands and children! It was amazing!”
“I love living in my Macao. When I came here, I lived in Bavaro Los Corales, but I longed for more nature and a more authentic Dominican life without many tourists. Here it is simple, and it is beautiful. I love waking up and hearing what earth is. You hear the animals around and being greeted by everyone. It is a small community where we take care of each other. Everyone sits outside. They are so happy. Okay, they know everything about you, but I like the fact that my daughter will grow up in a community that will watch over her too. The only thing that bugs me is that there is no supermarket. Only the Colmado and I don’t eat meat. Well, it does give me an excuse to come out here to Bavaro to do shopping.
Future
One day I would love to have my own piece of land with animals on it in the Dominican Republic!
Follow Queen J on Instagram mywombdripsgold