About Our Scholarship
Each year Wellness Warrior Scholarships are awarded to deserving applicants so they can become Certified Expert Wellness Coaches (CEWC) and be eligible for the National Exam. To learn more, please click here.
$53,580 awarded since 2021
We are thrilled to announce the 2022-2023 Scholarship Recipients
Coach Ebonee
"My goal as a wellness coach is to design and facilitate training and programming to address burnout for people in high-stress, caregiving positions that serve marginalized populations to help our communities have a real, fighting chance at thriving." -Ebonee Ragins, Founder of https://mysecari.com
Coach Hydah
As a school nurse, Hydah realized that health and wellness are key components in providing comprehensive evidence-based care to her students and community at large. Students’ ability to attain academic excellence is tied to their physical, mental, as well as emotional wellbeing. By promoting wellness, Hydah desires to enhance her students’ success, wholly. Upon certification, the acquired skills will be utilized in serving her school community and beyond. Engaging students and families in wellness promotion, through training and coaching, Hydah plans to provide empowerment that will enrich her school community beyond the classroom.
Coach Jasmine
Jasmine is a former Army National Guardsman and has always had a desire to help others. She is a now certified medical assistant and care coordinator. Jasmine is also the CEO of Greater Good Food Pantry and Wellness Program. The mission of Greater Good is to help assist families in the community who experience food insecurity and help to improve their overall quality of life. We do this by donating, connecting families to community resources, and providing education on wellness. Jasmine has always found joy in encouraging others, and this is what motivated her to become a health and wellness coach. Her goals as a health and wellness coach are to inspire others, help them overcome difficult obstacles, and to teach them to maintain a healthy lifestyle. She aims to be a lifelong contributor to family, friends, and her community. Jasmine is thrilled to be a Wellness Warrior scholarship recipient this year and excited to make a positive change.
Coach Teri
Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to help people—both young and old—by making their lives easier or better. I pursued an education that earned me a bachelor’s and master’s degree, which has allowed me to work in the field of education and social services. Nevertheless, my passion for helping people continues to grow. Becoming an expert Health and Wellness Coach would enable me to empower myself as well as others to navigate the challenges and changes of life by encouraging healthy habits and self-care strategies that build one’s strength, sense of worth, and emotional wellness. In addition, I aspire to help and motivate people of color, LGTBQIA+, and other marginalized groups in their endeavor towards health and wellness. I am appreciative of the opportunity to learn from Expert Coach Center in order to fulfill my ongoing ambition of helping people, considerably those in need.
Coach Ashley
As a former family caregiver of three older adults, I was inspired to serve other older adults and caregivers civically and occupationally. My vocational passion and career experience has been in medical and aging social work practice. I assisted clients to discharge safely home from the hospital and access various community resources. I helped older adults access various aging and disability services. During the past two years of behavioral health coaching, I have honed my outreach, resources and support to cultivate an effective coaching program for specific populations. I’m grateful to have been selected as a Wellness Warrior Scholarship Recipient to further develop my skills and improve the client experience. I enjoy empowering clients to become familiar with their intrinsic ability to reduce stressors, improve well-being, increase healthy habits, and achieve realistic goals. As a health coach I look forward to partnering with clients to provide relatable, safe, non-judgmental conversations and identify opportunities to strengthen distress tolerance skills. I’m interested in working with women who are BIPOC, 55+, domestic violence survivors, family caregivers and grievers (bereavement).
Coach Ecila
Ecila Deransburg-Cook is soon to be the first Student Wellness Coach at Millikin University. She is also a licensed massage therapist, certified yoga teacher, and mindfulness practitioner. As a person of color, Ecila has a special appreciation for some of the unique challenges BIPOC students face and wants to help them approach their response mindfully and with intention. She also understands that no matter how you identify, maintaining a balanced life can be incredibly challenging, especially when you’re a college student moving toward independence. This, coupled with the effects of navigating the college experience during a pandemic only makes this more challenging.
Ecila looks forward to combining her knowledge as a wellness coach with the other skills she’s obtained to offer students a dynamic approach to figuring out the best solutions to developing sustainable wellness habits. This, she feels, will enhance their college experience and beyond. She also plans to offer group coaching to children in underserved communities through her On the Mat yoga and mindfulness program. Ecila holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Hampton University in Virginia and a Master of Science degree from Illinois State University. She lives with her family in Central Illinois.
Coach Adrian
Coach Murray has always had a passion for helping others. It's what has led him to teach Success (character and leadership) and Economics and Personal Finance courses at the high school level. It is what has also led him to pursue becoming a health and wellness coach, specifically targeting youth and young adults in the African American and underserved communities. Becoming a certified expert wellness coach would allow me to give back to my community in much needed ways that both edifies me and strengthens those in my community. As a mental health and wellness professional, my goal is to be the person I wish I had, to be that coach/counselor that can relate to people of color in ways where they feel heard and valued. My goal is to help erase the stigma that comes along with mental health wellness, especially in communities where mental health wellness has historically been ignored. I aim to be the change I wish to see in the world.
2021-2022 Scholarship Recipients
Coach Erika
My husband Dr. Askia Dunnon and I operate a non-profit, One Health Literacy Organization, which focuses on health literacy education for individuals who identify themselves as ethnic minorities. Along with the education which will be provided to individuals and groups, valuable health coaching will also be available to help ethnic minority communities to overcome barriers related to their health goals. We envision education and coaching as two services which will complement each other to meet the comprehensive needs of our future clients.
Coach Malcolm
My name is Malcolm Bickley, and I would like to become a health and wellness coach because I value the unique integration of diet, nutrition, exercise, and physiology. I have a passion for helping others become the best version of themselves. I want to encourage them to continually invest in their own greatest asset - their health. I would like to be formally trained to motivate and inspire individuals to achieve their life’s goals. I am grateful for this opportunity, and I am excited for the journey ahead!
Coach D
Deniece (Coach D) is committed to holding space for people to feel heard, valued, and challenged, strives to support people holistically, and understands the connection between physical, emotional, social and cognitive well-being. With a focus on rethinking health and fitness with a decolonizing lens, Deniece hopes to hone her coaching skills to assist in supporting anti-racism within the wellness world. An advocate and supporter for the inclusion and nurturing of BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ folk in their health and wellness journey and beyond, Deniece is grateful to be a Wellness Warrior recipient and member of the Expert Coach Center family.
Coach Michael
My name is Michael Williams. My goal is to become a Certified Health and Wellness Coach to work with our nation's men and women veterans of our armed services. My Expert Coach Center (ECC) journey will allow me the critical knowledge and skills needed to provide the conversations, confidence, planning, and resources necessary to help those veterans finding it difficult transitioning from military to civilian life. As a veteran myself, I truly believe that the traditions and values of our country could not be what they are without the sacrifice of our HEROES, our nation's veterans. For this, I want to reach as many veterans as possible and provide the very best service I can offer. Michael enrolled in our Fall '21 cohort and will be graduating soon!
Coach Dr. Rose
Dr. Rose has a passion for working with women of color in developing and sustaining nutritive lifestyles, for themselves and their families. She seeks to be a healing presence in their lives and her work encourages them to value self-care and to be happy, healthy, and whole; mind, body, and soul. She received her initial training in health and wellness at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. She will use her work at Expert Coach Center to retool herself and hone her skills to be more relevant in our post-pandemic society. Dr. Rose will also use the opportunities provided to her as a Wellness Warrior scholarship recipient to develop the expertise needed to become a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach. She is a wife, mother, Elder in her church, professor, entrepreneur, and spiritual author (penned as Dr. Anna Paige DeSouza.) Dr. Rose holds a BS degree from Drexel University, a MA degree from New York University, and a Doctorate of Education from Fordham University.
