Today we’d like to introduce you to Deja Burwell.
Hi Deja, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story is really about becoming.
I’ve always had a deep curiosity about people, their stories, and what shapes us into who we are. That curiosity led me to study Sociology and African American Studies at the College of Charleston, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude as a first-generation college graduate. Sociology gave me language for something I had always felt naturally: that our experiences, environments, relationships, and the world around us all play a role in who we become.
But after college, I realized that understanding the world academically and actually navigating it as a young adult are two very different things.
I’ve experienced different sides of professional life—from education and leadership to sales, customer service, and corporate work. Each experience taught me how to communicate with different people, adapt, problem-solve, and understand that there is always a story behind what someone is going through. But professionally and personally, I’ve also experienced the uncertainty that comes with trying to figure out what you actually want your life to look like.
That’s where my passion for storytelling and content creation really became personal.
I started creating YouTube content as a space to talk openly about taking care of yourself mentally, spiritually, and physically while figuring life out in real time. I wanted to create the kind of space I would want to have—a place that feels safe, honest, uplifting, and relatable. I’ve always believed that having a voice matters, especially when you can use that voice to make someone feel seen.
Now, at 27, I’m taking that idea even further with my podcast, *4 thee healthy h*es*.
The podcast is about the real transition into adulthood—the part nobody really prepares you for. It’s about wanting to become the healthiest version of yourself mentally, spiritually, and physically while also realizing that the world isn’t always as beautiful or liberating as you imagined it would be as a kid.
And for me, faith is a huge part of that conversation. I believe I can become everything God created me to be, but I also recognize that I’m human. I’m 27. I want to live. I want to experience things, have fun, make mistakes, love, grow, and figure myself out without pretending I have everything together.
So *4 thee healthy h*es* isn’t about presenting a perfect version of wellness or having all the answers. It’s about the journey between who you were, who you are, and who you’re becoming.
I want listeners to grow with me—to laugh with me, question things with me, have uncomfortable conversations with me, and maybe see parts of themselves in my story. I want it to be real, raw, funny, spiritual, vulnerable, and sometimes messy.
At the end of the day, I’m still becoming. And I’m inviting other people who are becoming, too, to take the journey with me.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road—and honestly, I think that’s a big part of why I care so much about storytelling.
One of my biggest struggles has been navigating the transition from who I thought I would be as a kid, who I became in college, and who I’m realizing I actually want to be as a woman. After graduating college, I entered the “real world” thinking I had a pretty good idea of what life was supposed to look like. Then I learned that adulthood can be uncertain, uncomfortable, and sometimes completely different from what you imagined.
I’ve had career changes, disappointments, moments where I questioned myself, and seasons where I felt like I was trying to figure everything out at once. I’ve had to learn how to separate who I am from my job title, other people’s expectations, and the idea that success has to look a certain way.
I’ve also struggled with the tension between wanting to live my life and wanting to live intentionally. I’m a young woman who wants to have fun, experience life, love, travel, create, and enjoy my twenties—but I also want to grow closer to God, take care of myself, and become the healthiest version of me mentally, spiritually, and physically. Sometimes those things feel like they’re competing with each other, and I’m learning that they don’t have to.
I’m still learning how to give myself grace, trust God, trust myself, and understand that becoming who you’re meant to be isn’t always a straight line.
That’s really why I created my platform and my podcast, *4 thee healthy h*es*. I don’t want to pretend that I have life figured out. I want to document the process of figuring it out. The beautiful parts, the uncomfortable parts, the funny parts, and the moments when you have to start over.
I think the struggle is actually what makes the journey worth sharing—because I know I’m not the only one trying to figure out who I was, who I am, and who I want to become.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work sits at the intersection of storytelling, communication, wellness, and understanding people.
Professionally, I’ve built experience across education, sales, customer service, leadership, and corporate environments. Those experiences have taught me how to communicate with all kinds of people, listen for what someone is really saying, solve problems, build trust, and make people feel heard. My Sociology background has always influenced the way I approach people and stories because I’m genuinely interested in why people think, feel, behave, and experience the world the way they do.
Creatively, storytelling is where I feel most like myself. I create, film, and edit content for my YouTube platform centered around mental, spiritual, and physical wellness. Now, I’m expanding that into my podcast, *4 thee healthy h*es*, where I’m creating a space for honest conversations about becoming an adult, navigating womanhood, faith, self-care, identity, and figuring out who you want to be while you’re still becoming her.
I’m most proud of creating something that feels authentically mine. I didn’t wait until I had everything figured out to start sharing—I decided that the process itself was worth documenting. I think there’s power in allowing people to see the real person behind the polished version.
What sets me apart is that I’m both deeply curious about people and unafraid to be vulnerable myself. I can have a thoughtful conversation about culture and society, then turn around and laugh at myself and talk about the very real, sometimes chaotic experience of being a young woman trying to get her life together.
I don’t want to simply create content that people consume and forget. I want to create stories and conversations that make people feel something, think differently, feel less alone, or walk away with something they can actually use in their own lives.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think the next 5–10 years of media and content creation are going to be centered around authenticity, community, and the ability to make people actually feel something.
We’re already seeing the shift away from traditional gatekeepers. You don’t necessarily need a major network, studio, or publication to build an audience anymore. A person with a phone, a unique perspective, and something meaningful to say can create an entire platform around their voice. I think that will only become more powerful.
At the same time, AI and new technology are going to completely change how content is created, distributed, and consumed. I think creators will have more tools to produce high-quality work, but that will also make genuine human connection even more valuable. When everyone has access to the same technology, your perspective, personality, lived experience, and ability to tell a story become what truly differentiates you.
I also think audiences are going to continue demanding more representation and more honest conversations. People want to see themselves reflected—not just in polished, perfect narratives, but in the complicated, funny, uncomfortable, and very human parts of life.
That’s especially exciting to me because I believe there is so much room for storytelling that sits between entertainment and real life. That’s the space I want to occupy with my own work: creating conversations that are entertaining enough to keep you listening, but meaningful enough to stay with you after the episode ends.
Ultimately, I don’t think the future of media is going to be about simply having the biggest platform. I think it will be about having a voice people trust enough to come back to.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: juanitalottie
- Youtube: juanitalottie
