From Ashes to Sapphire: How a Dark Night of the Soul Forged an Unbreakable Entrepreneur

She Fled in Darkness. She Rized in Light.

I built my first empire at thirteen years old, from the confines of my middle school bedroom. The business was simple: I provided writing services for my older sister’s high school friends. While my peers were navigating adolescence, I was navigating the art of persuasion, research, and powerful prose. My reading and writing levels were always years ahead, and what began as a side hustle, Essential Solutions Studios, was the first whisper of a truth I would spend a lifetime learning: my words had power.

The first person to name that power was a teacher. She had me read an assignment aloud, and afterwards, this Filipino woman looked at me and saw something I hadn’t yet seen in myself. She told me my words evoked an inexplicable emotion, a captivation that was both visceral and real. That single moment of validation planted a seed. It empowered me to seek a degree in writing, even though my heart was pulled in another direction—toward travel. I didn’t know it then, but these two loves weren’t competing; they were simply waiting for the right moment to converge.

Life, as it often does, had other plans before the grand convergence. I became a mother young, and the desire to be “more than a single mother” became a fire in my belly. After a foray into travel school, I dove into a double major in Communications and Media Arts in college, weaving together my loves for writing, photography, and design.

Then, the first major fracture. Life took a horrible turn. Heartbreak and betrayal from my husband forced a relocation to Florida with my two young daughters. Grief became my unwelcome companion, but I refused to let it be my master. I launched Kharyzmatic Studios, LLC, a photography & design agency. My camera became my shield, and my creativity became my escape. Through portraits, model portfolios, and celebrity shoots, I was living my best, grieving life. The glow-up was real, but it was built on a foundation of survival.

My survival instinct would soon be tested again. Hurricanes, both meteorological and personal, forced me back to New York City and into a situation that curdled from friendship into a prison. I found myself enduring a plethora of abuse—mental, emotional, financial, physical, spiritual. Every attempt to leave was met with a wall of control. It culminated in a drunken moment where my “no” was ignored, a line was crossed, and I was left with a permanent consequence: my infant son.

Now, I was a mother of three—14-year-old and 13-year-old girls, and a 6-month-old boy—fleeing in the cover of darkness to a domestic violence shelter.

This was my Dark Night of the Soul. Not once, but in various, relentless seasons.

Yet, within that darkness, the embers of my entrepreneurial spirit refused to die. We relocated to Delaware, and I fought back with the only tools I had ever trusted: my skills. As a freelance photojournalist, I covered everything from luxury spas to breaking news exposés on corrupt police officers. I worked tirelessly, saving enough to pay six months of rent upfront. I was building, again.

But betrayal, a familiar ghost, reappeared. A so-called friend fed our location to our abuser. He showed up, and we were forced to flee once more, back into the shelter system.

Here is where the narrative shifts. Here is where the clay pot, as I came to see myself, began to harden in the Potter’s hands. I had a revelation: “If I’ve done it before, I can do it again because I know how to strategize.”

I left the shelter, landed a job, and faced one of several, critical betrayal from a boss–a woman, who instead of mentoring, chose to see me as a threat. But this time, something was different. I had started making better decisions about who I allowed in my orbit. My support system was stronger because my discernment was sharper. This period exposed me to a performative religion that almost turned me from faith, but God used it to draw me into a true, intimate relationship with Him. I traded legalism for liberation. Fakeness for Freedom.

It was from this place of spiritual realignment that my most authentic brands were born. Goddess Getaways evolved into Queens of Virtue. And Golden Goddess PR into BLKLUXEpr. My PR work found its true north. The girl who loved travel and the woman who wielded powerful words finally merged, giving birth to the brands that define my purpose today.

Now, residing in Maryland, I have launched SheRize Media and I Am Nubia. Under these banners, a universe of projects flourishes: Qocktails & Conversations, Strategies in Stilettos, AffluenceHer Abroad, AfroLuxe Guides. They are not just businesses; they are manifestations of my journey, my healing, and my voice.

When I look back, I no longer see a series of tragedies. I see a divine curriculum. Being raised in America taught me the mechanics of business, but my Dark Nights taught me the metaphysics of transformation. Every job that ended poorly was a signpost pointing me back to my true path: entrepreneurship. I build, brand, and create my own lane.

My creations—my children, my companies, my platforms—are the guiding lights that have led me to become who I was always meant to be… Sapphire Kharyzma. A gemstone formed under immense pressure, refined by fire, and defined by its unbreakable strength and brilliant light.

And to be honest, I can’t see it any other way.