Research + Public Scholarship + Storytelling
About Us
Here's What to Know About the Company
Meet Shanae Shantel, a research and media company!
Shanae Shantel is home to my research, storytelling, and everything in between: podcasts, film, public scholarship, and community-centered work exploring identity, culture, memory, and place. I built it to hold all of that in one place instead of splitting it into separate lanes.
The work always starts the same way: a genuine question and a refusal to settle for the easy answer. Through interviews, oral histories, archival research, and cultural analysis, I dig for the meaning inside everyday experiences and shape it into work that's rigorous, accessible, and deeply human.
Given Name is our flagship storytelling platform, alongside original film, public scholarship, and place-based research projects still taking shape.
I'm a sociologist and storyteller by training, and Shanae Shantel reflects both sides of that: the discipline of research and the instinct to tell a good story. We collaborate with filmmakers, municipalities, universities, cultural organizations, and communities who want to understand what identity, culture, memory, and place reveal about who we are.
Dr. Awkward is my online professional personality, rooted in mindfulness and education. The same questions that drive my research show up in a lighter, more playful form. Catch Dr. Awkward live every Tuesday morning on TikTok at 9am CST, and look out for our card deck, (coming soon), bringing that same mix of mindfulness and curiosity into everyday moments.
Here's What to Know About Me
Hi, I’m Dr. Shanae S. Jefferies!
I love to think. My brain is almost always connecting ideas, asking questions, and trying to understand how people make meaning of the world around them. I'm also sarcastic, curious, and probably a little too entertained by human behavior.
My background is in sociology, with a BA, MS, and PhD centered on identity, culture, and the social patterns shaping everyday life. My primary research focuses on naming practices, particularly within Black communities, and the ways names shape perception long before a person ever enters a room.
That interest started early. As a kid, I noticed people responded differently depending on whether I introduced myself as "Shanae" or "Shae," and it eventually led me to Afrocentric frameworks and the concept of nommo, the idea that there is power in what we call a thing.
I'm the daughter of two U.S. Army veterans, raised in military communities among people from many backgrounds. I studied at St. Edward's University and the University of North Texas. I'm now based in the DFW area, building research, media, and identity-centered work through Shanae Shantel research and media.
I also care deeply about mental health and mindfulness, especially for people whose minds rarely slow down. At one point, I was genuinely shocked to learn that some people experience moments of complete mental quiet. Apparently that's mindfulness. I'm still working on it, too.