Focus Fridays
​SINCE 2015, WE'VE HELPED HUNDREDS OF FACULTY BRING MORE SUCCESS, CONNECTION, JOY, AND REPLENISHMENT TO THEIR WORK-LIFE.
The ways academe can hinder and hurt faculty, particularly those from marginalized groups, prompted the creation of WellAcademic.
The whole-person frameworks that guide our services center intersectionality, power, and privilege.
We focus on professional wellness - the intersection of work and well-being - because achieving and maintaining peak performance isn't possible without sustained health and connection.
And we're clear how hard it is to prioritize work and well-being when you're:
Buried under an overwhelming workload.
Juggling competing demands of work, family, community, and self. ​​
In a toxic department.
Doing work that challenges systems of oppression;
A woman of color at a PWI.
The Only in some other historically marginalized way(s).
To us, professional wellness isn't a destination you arrive at after some individual striving.
It's more an ongoing journey where factors like intentional focus, valued action, authentic connection, emotional resilience, and heavy doses of self-compassion make sustained forward movement possible, even in the face of strong institutional and systemic headwinds.
Like what we're about?
Become a WellAcademic member. It's free! Members receive Wellness Wednesdays, our informative weekly newsletter just for academics. Plus: member-only discounts, first look at new products, and our eternal gratitude ❤.
Hi! I'm Roxanne Donovan.
WellAcademic owner. Psychologist. Full professor. Yoga teacher wanna-be. Mama to two kids born while I was untenured (yes, it was an intense time).
I've been practicing in the areas of health and wellness for 20+ years. Whether I'm coaching, presenting, training, or building this business, my goal is the same: empower others toward purpose-driven lives of meaning, fulfillment, and vitality.
​As a Black feminist (cis)woman of multiracial descent (Black/Asian/White), I'm also deeply committed to developing programs and scholarship that help women of color find pathways to joy and achievement using strategies that combat the systemic, interpersonal, and individual stressors that hurt health and impede growth. This commitment is what inspired me to start WellAcademic.
I invite you to reach out if what we offer sounds like a good fit for you or those you serve.
SCHEDULE 15-MINUTE DISCOVERY CALL
The Coaching Team
Nichole Guillory, PhD
I have over 10 years of experience mentoring students and faculty through navigating the job market to successful promotion to full professor. Whether I'm sharing how to write a compelling job application or how to develop an integrated research, teaching, and service agenda or how to prepare a persuasive tenure and promotion dossier, I mentor with a purpose: to pay forward the support I have received from colleagues over the years. As a Black feminist scholar and a mom who juggles life and work responsibilities often, I offer support that prioritizes positionality and self-care.
I've been teaching since 1993, first as a high school English and African American history teacher and now as a Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Kennesaw State University. My scholarship focuses on Black women's theorizing in curriculum studies and Black mothering.
Tahirah Abdullah, PhD
I am Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston and co-founder of BARE (Black Advocacy, Resistance, and Empowerment) Mental Health & Wellness, a training and consultation business aimed at supporting Black mental health through community-based work and institutional change. I am a Black Muslim (cis)woman from Jacksonville, FL, who values community, authenticity, and liberation.
As a researcher, my work has focused on resisting racism and enhancing well-being, and I see my work as a teacher, mentor, and coach as an extension of this. I situate my research and teaching in historical, sociopolitical, and cultural contexts. Similarly, my approach to mentoring and coaching involves contextualizing experiences in the realities of power, privilege, and oppression, while emphasizing self-compassion and holistic wellness in working toward accomplishing goals. ​​
Jessica Graham-LoPresti, PhD
I am Assistant Professor of Psychology in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Suffolk University. I graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Psychology and American Studies and received my PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
​I have focused my career on promoting the resilience, health, and well-being of people and communities of color and have published extensively on the multi-level impact of racism on mental health as well as barriers to quality and effective mental healthcare for underserved and underrepresented communities. In addition to my WellAcademic coaching, I own a clinical private practice where I help clients cope with a range of psychological struggles including anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship challenges, as well as stress associated with marginalization and oppression.
Leslie Wang, PhD
I am Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. After spending two decades in the unforgiving world of academia, I decided to become a certified professional life coach. I received my training through Leadership That Works, a program centered on social justice and anti-racism. My mission is to use the healing tools of coaching to transform the culture of higher education into a kinder, more caring space—one in which women of color can show up unapologetically as their full selves. I help women academics draw confidence from their own histories, overcome imposter syndrome, and make decisions grounded in their core values so that they can live with joy and purpose.
As a feminist scholar and the daughter of immigrants, I've devoted my career to studying social inequality through an international, intersectional lens. My research, much of which is community-engaged, seeks to enhance the emotional health and well-being of Asian American children and families. Whether as a scholar/educator, a coach, or a parent, I aspire to lead from a place of compassion, courage, creativity, and connectedness with others.
Schedule a 15-min discovery call with Dr. Roxanne Donovan for more info about our services or complete our contact form to send us a question. We look forward to supporting you!
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