What happened next

After 8 years in the corporate world, in many formative roles, there was a reorganization and I lost my job. I had three choices: stay at the same company and apply for a different role, apply elsewhere in corporate, or take a real risk and build something of my own with no guaranteed income.

Without hesitation, I knew I was going to start my own company, and that is exactly what I did.

The first company I had failed. I tried really hard, but it just did not work. After a year of trying, I was honest with myself and had to go back to the drawing board. Going back to the salaried world was not an option for me, and not making money was also not an option, so something had to change.

Over the months of November and December 2025, I had some serious talks with myself and my incredible partner, and I asked myself, what is it that I LOVE, and how can I make that my next business?

And my journey started.

My number one passion is dance. I started with ballet when I was 3 years old, at The Ailey School, and was completely and utterly in love with it.

Later, in Florida, I continued in the performing arts and did theater, played the flute in band and the saxophone in jazz band, started singing, something I still absolutely love, and of course, dance never left my side.

My second passion is la gastronomie. I wanted to become a chef and did culinary studies in the south of France. Through my studies, I ended up loving more than just the kitchen, and worked in restaurants and hotels for 8 years, earning a degree specializing in Rooms Division Management and International Hospitality Management.

My third passion is sports. I played tennis as a competitive athlete, training and competing at a high level. I started at 10 years old, and within 3 years was ranked Top 200 in the USTA Florida Section. The goal was to become a professional tennis player. Due to injuries and moving to Europe, that did not happen. My love for the game never ended.

When I looked at my past, I realized how much I had achieved, and how much I missed those worlds. The worlds of performing arts, hospitality, and sports.

And then I thought, how did my creative, neurodiverse self thrive in the corporate world (a world I did not miss and still have never missed)?

I realized it was because I never lost myself. I did not fit into the corporate box, and I found my own way around it.

Something else was true too. In every department I worked in, there were people who did not fully understand the systems, the processes, or the plan. I was always the one who translated it for them, I always made the complicated simple. That was a skill I had.

By the last few roles I held, my job description barely existed. Senior leaders did not always know exactly what I did. They just knew that if they gave me a goal, it would get done. So that became the job: hand Shakira the goal, and she builds whatever is needed to get there.

And just like that, the idea for my second company was born.

If I could stay my beautiful, creative, neurodiverse self, and build the structure to make any goal real, then anyone creative, neurodiverse, or simply wired their own way could do the same.

So now I passionately guide my fellow creatives. I them to stay true to themselves and their ways of being, while building the exact structure their goals actually need to be successful AND achieve their beautiful and crazy dreams.

In January 2026, I launched my second company, Tune In by Shakira Johnson.

If your story sounds anything like mine, creative, capable, and quietly building something without the structure it deserves, this is where we start. Let's Tune In. Shakira Johnson