Alumni Voices|
March 9
By Michael Downes
Push Goddess
An alum’s journey to becoming the embodiment of a goddess
Rob Hall
“You’re beautiful. You’re going to be important. You’re going to make an impact. You’re going to be a queen!”
During this nightly bedtime routine in the Finley family, Robert Finley would look in the mirror with his young daughter, Sharina Jones, SBA ’03, and shower her with affirmations. The routine hadn’t changed much since Jones had an incident that left her in a wheelchair; her parents made sure of it.
She loved when her father did this, but queen wasn’t a high enough standard for Jones, not even when she was a kid. She would stare back into the mirror, look herself in the eye and say, “I want to be a Push Goddess.”
“People could choose to not like queens,” explains Jones. “But a Goddess? Everyone loves a Goddess.”
Push Goddess /pUsh gädəs/
noun
The feeling of overcoming anything and understanding the power you have in yourself to overcome life’s obstacles and still be happy. To project love and to be open enough to receive it back.
THE DEGREE
Right out of high school, Jones earned her associate degree at Mott Community College before enrolling in the School of Business Administration at Oakland University. Her motivation wasn’t to become her best self or focus on becoming a Goddess; the focus had shifted.
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“A lot of people grew up in an environment that taught them to focus on getting a good job when going to college,” says Jones. “I had the same idea, but somewhere along the way the entrepreneurship-seed was planted.”
While at OU, Jones joined Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a program led by Mark Simon, Ph.D. Through talking with Dr. Simon and other students in the program, Jones’ confidence skyrocketed. She started to dream about running her own business but felt she first had to earn her degree and get some experience in the field.
“While working for other organizations, it kind of hit me,” says Jones. “I have the tools; I could be doing more. I didn't want to just do financial forecasting. I knew there was so much more out there for me. So, when the opportunity came up with the nonprofit, I took it.”
THE NONPROFIT
Jones was named Ms. Wheelchair Michigan in 2011. For that whole year she would spend time in hospitals, working with those that were newly injured and adapting to their new life as wheelchair users. That’s when an unfavorable trend caught her eye.
| Robert Finley Jones’ father enjoyed running basketball camps. After her accident, he would get wheelchairs so all of the neighborhood kids could play wheelchair basketball so that Jones would be on a level playing field. Robert Finley passed when Jones was 14. “He was an amazing person,” she says. |
“Hospitals were pushing people who had severe disabilities into nursing homes,” says Jones. “That was something I wanted to prevent. I wanted to let them know that, no, you can live on your own. You can have the nurses come to your house. There are things you can do to become independent.”
Jones started Think Beyond the Chair, an organization that offers social activities and events, as well as supports and advocates for those with disabilities. Think Beyond the Chair is deeply rooted in Michigan, working closely with the Rehab Institute of Michigan, Hurley Medical Center, University of Michigan’s Children Hospital and St. Joes. But she’s expanded nationwide, with contacts as far as India. All of those involved are following the standard that her parents set for her: push yourself beyond what you think your limits are and fight for your independence.
“People in these situations don’t need to be coddled,” states Jones. “They need support. They need someone to be honest with them, even if it’s brutally honest. Having a person take care of everything for you isn’t helpful; it’s you being lazy. Need to grab something? Let’s learn to use a grabber. Need to get ready? Let’s figure out a way for you to do it! Why not learn how to live the best life you can?”
Jones explains the harsh reality: one day, that person might not be around to take care of you. If that happens, you need to be prepared and equipped with the resources and knowledge to take care of yourself.
THE COMPANY
Think Beyond the Chair started a Christmas program in 2015 for individuals and families impacted by disabilities who depended on Social Security or lived on a limited income. Jones and her nonprofit would provide them with a holiday feast — which included a turkey, ham, sides and a dessert — as well as presents for the disabled individual and their families.
“The first year, we had five families participate,” says Jones. “The second year, we doubled and kept growing until we had over 40 families.”
Jones’ company was spending between $300 and $500 per family, but with how quickly the program was growing, they were desperately looking for new ways to find funding. “I reached out to one of my medical suppliers to see if they would be willing to donate to the program because some of those involved were their clients,” Jones explains. “When they said no, I was stunned.”
Jones informed them that she would no longer be buying their supplies and hung up. She immediately called her attorney to figure out what she needed to do to start her own medical supply company. After some paperwork, GNS Medical Supplies was born.
“I started with five patients, myself included,” says Jones. “My pitch was, ‘If you get your medical supplies through us, we donate part of the money back to Think Beyond the Chair and use it to pay for programs like the Christmas program.’”
In a couple of short years, Jones' client base had skyrocketed to over 900 clients, before she eventually sold it in 2021.
“The skills I learned from Oakland University’s entrepreneurship course really helped me build that company,” states Jones. “It provided for not only my family but also for our nonprofit, which was able to create new programs as well as keep the others afloat.”
The new owner of GNS Medical Supplies still donates a portion of the profits to Jones’s nonprofit.
THE BOOKS
Writing was a way for Jones to help cope with the reality of not only being a gunshot survivor at such a young age, but spending the rest of her life as a wheelchair-able individual. Before she knew it, those writings had taken shape into the form of the book, “Life of a Push Goddess.”
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“I wrote that book to help heal myself. I didn’t write it for anyone else,” Jones says.
Jones had a friend who was dating a book publisher, who heard about the book and asked to be able to read it. “He said, ‘this has to be published,’” Jones recalls. “But I was hesitant since it was so personal. He explained that people needed to hear it; that it was too important not to get out into the world.” After a year and a half of thinking it over, Jones finally decided to get the ball rolling on publishing her book.
Jones’ next book, “Not All Goddess Are Alike,” is yet to be released, but it’s a children’s book she decided to write after an interaction with a Little Ms. Wheelchair. “She was 11 at the time,” says Jones, “and she kept telling me she was too afraid to go to this camp she had been invited to.”
The premise of the book is a wheelchair-able girl going to camp. While she's going through the forest, she meets an owl who comforts her and explains that everyone at camp is going to be different, but there’s no reason to be afraid.
Today, Jones is starting a new business venture called Rehydrate — an IV and wellness clinic in Burton, Michigan — as well as day trading and spending more time with her husband of 12 years, Glover Cleveland Jones III, and their 7-year-old son, Grover Cleveland Jones IV. She still dedicates a lot of her time to her nonprofit and is always looking for new ways to make an impact wherever she can.
