Established in 2022, The Uncommon BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) came to be after a few realizations. After attending retreats and conferences, beginning from the time I was a grad student, to opening Blissful Mind Behavioral Health in 2018, a few things became clear.

First, much of my training did not include training about opening, sustaining, and growing a thriving business. Next, most conferences and retreats did not include immersive self-care experiences which are integral to entrepreneurs' mental health! Finally, while going to conferences and retreats, I was very often the only or one of the very few people of color in the crowd. BIPOC entrepreneurs were and still are often underrepresented or not represented at all as presenters at mainstream conferences as presenters and business owners or builders. From these realizations, The Uncommon BIPOC was born.

I am a therapist by trade, and training is a mandatory component of maintaining licensure for mental health professionals, so the fact that many training sessions did not include anything to assist mental health professionals with opening, growing, and maintaining a practice was unfathomable. Most of us building practices and businesses, in general, may never have attended any business school or received any formal training on how to do so. With these facts realized, and from my conversations with other entrepreneurs, especially BIPOC entrepreneurs, I saw the need for a space to assist people who wanted to start and grow businesses.

As a practice owner and therapist, I know how difficult it is to incorporate meaningful self-care when you own a business, run the business, and work in the business! This revealed a much-needed opportunity like The Uncommon BIPOC Retreats. The goal of Uncommon retreats is to support aspiring to seasoned entrepreneurs of color by offering a space to connect with like-minded people, to get ideas, motivation, and tools to assist with starting, maintaining, and growing thriving businesses, and offering much-needed respite for those serving their communities.

The goal of Uncommon BIPOC is to pave the way for current and future BIPOC entrepreneurs to open and grow thriving businesses and provide meaningful services that successfully serve their communities, while taking care of the whole entrepreneur's mind, body, and spirit.