About Us

Meet the Shanae Shantel Research brand, 

the place where identity meets awareness! 

Shanae Shantel LLC is a research-based cultural intelligence and identity strategy firm grounded in sociological insight.

At the center of our work is a simple belief: identity shapes how people think, lead, communicate, and build relationships, organizations, and communities. When identity is ignored, systems become misaligned. When identity is understood, people and institutions function with greater clarity, alignment, and intention.

Our work translates research into strategy, media, and practical tools that help individuals and organizations better understand themselves and the environments shaping them.

The firm operates through two primary divisions:

RADAR supports individuals, leaders, and organizations navigating transition, growth, and complexity.

For organizations, the work focuses on identity, communication, leadership alignment, organizational culture, and employee experience. For individuals, sessions provide structured clarity around career shifts, leadership development, personal transition, and strategic decision-making.

Whether advising an executive team or guiding one-on-one reflection, the goal remains the same: helping people understand the systems they are operating within and move through them with greater precision.

This is identity research applied to strategy.

Dr. Awkward brings identity research into everyday life through conversation, storytelling, guided reflection, and thoughtfully designed tools.

Created in response to the growing social disconnection intensified by isolation and rapid cultural change, this division explores the ways identity shapes relationships, communication, belonging, and human connection.

Through media, workshops, products, and community-centered experiences, Dr. Awkward encourages people to embrace curiosity, deepen connection, and move through the world with greater social awareness and self-understanding.

This is identity research applied to human connection.

We believe people make better decisions when they understand who they are and the systems shaping them. Whether in a boardroom, during a life transition, or within everyday relationships, that insight changes how people lead, relate, communicate, and build.

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. I earned my BA, MS, and PhD in the field, with research centered on identity, culture, and the stratified social patterns shaping everyday life. At the core of my work is a simple fascination: why people think the way they do, how society organizes those patterns, and what that reveals about us collectively.

My primary research focuses on naming practices, particularly within Black communities. I study the relationship between names, identity, culture, and stratification — and the ways names shape perception long before a person ever enters a room.

What began as an interest in workplace discrimination evolved into something much larger. As a child, I noticed people responded differently depending on whether I introduced myself as “Shanae” or “Shae.” Later, I learned research consistently showed that names influence assumptions about intelligence, race, professionalism, warmth, and social status.

But instead of focusing only on discrimination, I became more interested in meaning.

Why do people continue naming practices despite social stigma? What cultural values, histories, creativity, and forms of resistance exist within those choices? What power exists in naming itself?

That curiosity eventually led me to Afrocentric frameworks and the concept of nomo — the idea that there is power in what we call a thing.

Honestly, I could talk about this topic all day.

Outside of research, I’m the daughter of two U.S. Army veterans and was raised in military communities surrounded by people from different backgrounds and places. I completed my undergraduate studies at St. Edward’s University and earned my graduate degrees from University of North Texas. Today, I’m based in the DFW area, where I continue building research, media, and identity-centered work through the Shanae Shantel Research Brand.

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.