Today we’d like to introduce you to Shalicia Torbert.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
To get to where I am today, I had a tremendous amount of Faith, Prayer and Determination. To tell the story correctly I have to start from where I am now and journey backwards because I am not sure where to begin with “where it all started”. A scripture that I like to think about concerning where it started is Jeremiah 1:5, which states that before I was ever in my mother’s womb, God knew me and he set me apart for such a time as this.
In recent years, I have been on a journey to figure out what my purpose for being on this Earth was and I think I came up with a pretty good reasoning for the purpose God placed me here on this Earth. I know God placed me here to bring his light to people who may not otherwise experience his love genuinely from a human. I notice so many people who are angry and mad at the world because they believe everyone wants something from them but with me they don’t have to feel that way.
I see everyone as God’s creation, and it brings me great joy to see people happy with no strings attached. God placed so much love inside of me that it’s really hard to contain and keep to myself, so I have no choice but to spread joy to others. I am truly blessed abundantly in the position that I am in and I don’t take my position lightly. From working for the federal government for 14 years, to growing up a military brat traveling the world, to being a preachers kid, I have had some amazing experiences in my life that have shaped me and molded me into being the best version of who I am today.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I laugh at the question because absolutely not. The one thing smooth about my life has been that God has been with me every step of the way. From dissapointments, being looked over, heartbreaks and other issues on life’s roller coasters, God has been with me every step of the way.
One of the main struggles in my life that I had to overcome was dealing with the loss of my best friend, Angel L. Conner, in 2020. Angel was killed in a domestic violence dispute by a man she had been dating while serving in the United States Army, at Fort Sill Army Post in Lawton Oklahoma. Losing her was like losing half of me. She was the closest person to me in this life and her passing felt like my world would never find the joy I had with her again.
My world literally stopped when she was killed. I lost almost 30 lbs in the time span of 3 weeks. I was the last person to talk to her alive. I played over and over in my head the events of that day leading up to see if there was anything I could have done differently that could have saved her life. I was haunted, I was scared, I was just in literal shock. My body was in shock, my heart was in shock, I just didn’t know how to function. You hear about things like this on true crime, or oxygen network but never do you think you would end up in the middle of your own episode.
Losing her catapulted me in too a new season of purpose. My whole life I knew something traumatic would take me to a different dimension, but I never thought it would be this. Even the days leading up to her death I had a conversation with her about my feelings and fears that I was getting ready to lose someone close to me. She encouraged me and told me to just stay near to the Lord during those times of despair. And in turn I was able to use almost those exact words to encourage so many of her friends and family when she passed away ensuring them that I know she was in a better place.
Angel and I had been participating in a 40-day prayer challenge leading up to her death, so I had peace in my heart about where she was eternally resting, however the conflict of how she was taken from us was a forever battle and a struggle to come to terms with. Accepting it was so hard because I felt like I had the perfect life up until January 18th, 2020. I still have 2019 in my memory as the best year of my life.
Everything was great until this one life altering event took place. It seemed like it effected so much from my personal relationships to my intimate relationships. I was constantly trying to avoid ending up in a domestically abusive relationship myself and I was always hypersensitive to seeing people with their friends, as I felt like the friendship I had with Angel could never be restored in someone else. I had to figure out how to turn all of this grief and despair into something meaningful, so I started a non-profit called Queendom Business where our main focus was to “Turn Your Pain Into Purpose”.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
In 2020 I started Queendom Business to help people navigate through painful or traumatic life experiences to turn them into something positive. March 2020 was when the COVID-19 Pandemic swept the world. As states and countries began to implement shutdown procedures forcing people to isolate themselves in their homes, the whole world was in a state of depression and grief. Those were two of the things that I was already dealing with in the passing of my best friend. I understood that my community needed an outlet so I started a book club.
The Queendom Business Book Club started while everyone was isolated in their homes! Some nights we would stay on and just talk about life after we got done discussing the book of the evening. It was really a place of community and healing for so many people during those periods of isolation. I received so many positive reviews, but little did people know, it was healing for me too. Bringing people joy gave me something to live for and something to look forward too.
I founded my non-profit for domestic violence outreach but as I continued looking around, I saw there was a need for so much more than that. I didn’t want to leave no demographic untouched, so we changed our focus to include all community outreach and engagement. This has given us the opportunity to volunteer at women’s shelters, elementary schools, Job Corps centers, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, senior homes, etc. Working with people of all different backgrounds and ages really helps me feel like we are making a difference one person at a time.
In this line of work, I noticed how so many people have stories that are never heard. You hear a name once and then they are buried in ‘forgotten history” forever. I was determined not to let my best friend just be another forgotten victim. I decided to write a book in her memory about the ‘Keys to Healthy Friendships’ titled “Lessons From An Angel”. I wrote this book so when her son gets older, he can read about how is mom was the best friend any one could ever be blessed with. Just recently on MLK Day 2026, Angel’s mother told me that she whispered in her daughter’s ear that she would never let the world forget her. And I am so glad that we have something in writing that will live with her name on it forever.
I also participated in another book project curated by Tyneisha Reed titled “I Am Queen”. This book was an anthology with 21 other women about the struggles of life we have gone through to become Queens. And this is the project that made me a 3x Amazon best selling author. Through this project I was able to meet other women who have survived domestic violence, child abuse, sexual battery and assault amongst other things and through it all we found it in ourselves to turn our pain into purpose! It was a beautiful experience that was extended to me from the work that Queendom Business Non-Profit has accomplished.
The thing that will always set me apart from others is MY STORY. Nobody has lived the same life as me. Nobody can tell my story better than me. Nobody can imitate this story and nobody can sell my story. Because its my story. This is something that I tell people when I am doing outreach. You are the only one who can tell your story. Only you know your pain, only you know your triggers, only you know your disappointments. And what makes that story so unique is because you can feel all of those emotions. Only you can tell it with the raw emotion that the story caused and that’s what brings your pain purpose. You went through everything you went through and lived so that you can tell someone how you survived. Your testimony should be shared. So many people can be freed by the word of your testimony, so share it because as far as we are concerned you are still living. You have air in your lungs and clothes on your back. That’s the start of a survival story right there!
I am proud that I am a survivor, of things seen and unseen. I have survived things that I have spoken about and things that I may never speak about, but I am still standing and walking in my purpose. I am proud that I can bring smiles to people who may not have had much reason to smile. I am proud that I was able to turn my own pain into something meaningful and purposeful for my community and those around me. I am also proud that the people I encounter feel the love of God through me even if they never step foot into a religious institute. I am proud that my life is showing what God can do and how he can turn something so detrimental and life altering into something good.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was a very confident kid. I couldn’t be peer pressured or swayed by what other kids were doing. I always did exactly what I wanted to do. I was a military kid, so I was very resilient and very outgoing. Moving to new schools I had no problem fitting in and starting over. I loved moving; it was always a new start for me. I always felt like I would rebrand myself rather it would be going by my first name or middle name or changing the pronunciation of my name altogether, it was always something with me! From childhood to my teenage years, I was always a leader. I was running the playground until I got older then I was captain of the cheerleading squad, on the board for the Academy of Business and Finance, Future Business Leaders of America, Key Club, I was a debutante, the list goes on. I had a very well rounded childhood.
I was a very smart kid, I was reading at 3 years old, and I started school early. My parents were told by the school psychologist that if they put me in school, I would possibly have problems making and keeping friends. I never had a problem making them, it was the keeping them aspect! I was never much of a follower, and still in my adult age I am not hip to things that are trending or topics that my peers are discussing as ‘interesting’. So, this problem followed me most of my life because I was outspoken, sometimes to a fault. It bothered me that people couldn’t think for themselves which always ended me up outside the friend group! It was still very much so an issue I had with my adult friendships, but I have learned since, that everyone is not programmed the way I am. A little grace and understanding can go a long way when dealing with different personalities.
Took me 30 years to figure that out but it’s one trait that I love that about me. I don’t need validation from anyone to be unapologetically me. I have had the same personality from childhood to now. Extremely independent, comfortable in my own skin but always super loving and jovial. I would do anything for my friends, I am always the dependable person that they can call, and I love that they know that about me. I have many friends from different walks of life and having such versatility and diversity in my friend groups has made me such a well rounded individual growing up.
Pricing:
- Hard Copy “Lessons From An Angel” -35
- Soft Copy “Lessons From An Angel” -30
- I AM QUEEN – 25
- Friendship Conversations Card Deck – 30
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.QueendomBusiness.Org
- Instagram: @LessonsFromAnAngel
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@QueendomBusiness
