When she applied for the UW Odyssey Project in 2009, Keena Atkinson was a teen mom fleeing domestic violence and sleeping on the floor of a barbershop. “I really didn’t care about myself. I didn’t see myself as being worthy or capable,” she remembers. But 17 years later, Atkinson proudly describes herself as a UW-Madison graduate, a spoken word artist, a successful entrepreneur, a property owner and landlord, an award-winning community activist, and the mother of two sons, one in college and the other college bound.
Atkinson found in Odyssey’s focus on the humanities—literature, history, philosophy, art, music, theatre, and writing—a pathway into herself. “It’s a chance to discover who you are, all those intangible things that you can feel inside. I found liberation in the power of words and language. Education sets you free.”
In a poem called “Rich Poor Woman,” Atkinson narrates her escape from domestic abuse to self-empowerment, opening with hard-hitting lines:
“Rich is better than poor until the cost to be rich is paid in intoxicated blows to my teenage body, kicks and fists delivered by the father of my child soaked in alcohol and rage.” Though destitute, homeless, and eating at soup kitchens, she felt rich when she discovered the freedom to start over, “growing in confidence, creativity, and boldness . . . knowing no limits, breaking cycles and chains.”
Atkinson recounts the devastating effects of racism on her as a young girl in a poem called “Journey to the Journey”:
I was a little black girl who sobbed after school every day
Because my skin wasn’t fair enough for my peers to find me fit to play
I began to hate myself, my hair, my skin,
My little black girl light started to dim.
But Atkinson kept carrying her light, watching it go from dim to bright during her journey:
Even though it was dim, I carried my light
A tiny bit shined on my path and I walked it despite
Being physically abused
Mentally misused
A teen mother confused
A foster kid refused
Because the barber letting her stay in his shop overnight was a graduate of the UW Odyssey Project, he encouraged her to apply for the jumpstart program, even though no one in her family had gone to college and she had no financial resources. The program provided her with childcare, food, and transportation so she could attend class, as well as free tuition and books. “The program invested in me, so I had to invest in myself,” she notes in a UW film, tears trickling down her face.
At that time, she couldn’t envision the future ahead of her: “Little did I know, Odyssey would feed my brain. I didn’t know then that five years later I’d have a small business, a new baby, and a bachelor’s degree. . .. learning to love my beautiful black self.”
In a giant billboard created by UW-Madison, Atkinson is pictured in cap and gown with the caption “A Woman on an Odyssey.” She also has been featured on local news stations, Badger Talks, and Wisconsin Public Radio, as well as decorated with a prestigious YWCA Woman of Distinction Award.
Atkinson describes herself as “a single mother to two sons, activist, speaker, multi-family housing owner, master stylist, writer, actress, and sharer of knowledge, thought and wisdom,” plus the founder and CEO of R’oujie Wellness Company. She describes R’oujie as “a multifaceted wellness company dedicated to holistic health, personal transformation, and community empowerment.” She openly shares on her website (roujiewellness.com) that her work combines professional training with lived experience as “a teen mom who gave birth at 15 while in foster care, a survivor of domestic abuse, and someone who has journeyed from homelessness to homeownership” on her way to “resilience, healing, and transformation.”
In a typical week, Atkinson teaches yoga and WERQ classes at fitness clubs and schools, hosts a book group, creates podcasts on health topics, performs poetry, invents hairstyles, teaches empowering movement classes for children at Odyssey Junior, manages her multifamily properties, leads financial literacy workshops for single moms, offers yoga and nutrition classes reaching a global audience on YouTube, and nurtures two sons—one now in college and the other in fifth grade. “I am a woman in motion, always on the go, picking up new hats to stack on top of my wild and curly ‘fro.’ And as I grow, I better my best.”
Keena Atkinson’s story inspires all those who hear her speak. Whether reciting poetry to Senator Tammy Baldwin, UW Chancellors Becky Blank and Jennifer Mnookin, Madison mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, large audiences at churches and service clubs, community arts events, or classes of new Odyssey students, Atkinson moves her listeners to tears and motivates them to find inner strength.
In a spoken word piece called “The Leap,” she concludes, “I’ve become the woman that I used to wish I could be. I’ve found my authentic, unapologetic, courageous voice. I make a difference in the world.” In her final two lines, she turns to her audience and asks, “And if you are wondering if you should take your leap, I’m wondering why you haven’t already leapt.”
