Woman on the Rise: Arjahnae

Written by Linda Harvey 

Arjahnae, a 2024 graduate of Together We Bake, is well on her way to making her childhood dream come true. With a full-ride scholarship to a mortuary program and the opportunity for apprentice hours at a local funeral home, she is closer to becoming a funeral director one day. 

None of this could have happened without the support and guidance she found at Together We Bake. “I didn’t know how to make it happen,” she explains. “I didn’t have the strength to pursue it because no one was pushing me. People said that being a mortician is kind of crazy and weird.”

As this month’s Woman on the Rise, Arjahnae embodies what Together We Bake represents – women lifting each other up, transforming their lives, and creating brighter futures for themselves by breaking down barriers to employment. She was the featured Team Member in the “Power of We” short film that premiered at this year’s Empowerment Breakfast, sharing her bright smile and warm personality on screen. 

Like in the film, Arjahnae never felt alone from the minute she walked through the doors, connecting with other women and staff who were kind and welcoming, urging her on, truly believing in her.

“You Still Have Lots to Go!”

Described as “pure light and joy” and the resident “techie” by staff, Arjahnae was the youngest in her cohort and celebrated her 23rd birthday during the program. Despite her young age, she was under the impression she had already peaked and that her life goal had passed her by, she says.

Arjahnae recalls others insisting, “You’re in your 20s; you did not peak at this point. You still have lots to go!” She took their encouragement to heart, gaining more confidence each week, increasing her stamina and skill level in the kitchen, and embracing the morning meetings where she was initially quiet but soon was making others laugh with her humorous anime pictures.

She says she found her way at Together We Bake: “It made me really want to strive to become better than what I was before, and it made me realize that I'm just starting out. It made me want to fight for what I want, to fight for what I believe in. It made me want to become a funeral director, to have my own business. It really elevated what I wanted to do in life!”

Feeling Stuck and Isolated

Before Together We Bake, Arjahnae felt very isolated and didn’t leave her apartment much. She had aged out of foster care the year before at 21 and had been living alone since she was 18 years old. Even though she took online classes at NOVA for an associate’s degree in general studies, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next with her life. 

“I felt kind of stuck,” Arjahnae recalls. “I didn’t really know how to function in life and how to be an adult.” She also wasn’t sure if she had enough credits to graduate, and didn’t know how to find a job.

Her therapist recommended Together We Bake at just the right time, she says. She had struggled with depression, and living through the pandemic made everything worse. Despite being close to her foster parents and having her birth mother nearby, she isolated herself even more. “I didn’t really know how to exist. I didn’t really have healthy coping mechanisms, just deep diving into my computer,” she shares. She couldn’t wait to be a part of Together We Bake and learn how to socialize again, how to live as an adult, and even how to bake.

“The Best Experience of My Life”

Arjahnae now laughs about her first day. She was very late and worried about making a bad first impression. She told herself, “They probably already don’t like me! I should quit!” She was very quick to think that she needed to give up, and others would judge her. Yet everyone was immediately kind and understanding, putting her at ease.

Each day going forward, she continued to feel accepted and truly seen by others, helping her regain faith in people. As someone who had been bullied and faced animosity before, Together We Bake ended up being very healing for her. 

“It was the best experience of my life,” she exclaims. “It made me realize not everyone will be mean because there’s this whole group of people right here in Alexandria that are willing to treat you like their own kid.”

Her time at morning meetings and working with her job counselor were truly life-changing, according to her. “It made me realize there are people who are like ‘I see you!’” 

She found that coming together for morning meetings really “humanized everyone” since even staff would answer the daily question. Her one-on-one time with her job counselor was “liberating” since she finally took the necessary steps to make her career goal a reality: she graduated from NOVA and began the application process for mortuary programs. 

Arjahnae believes the workplace and life skills she gained – including resume writing, interviewing, and the ServSafe certification – boosted her confidence and have prepared her for this next chapter. 

One Goal with Two Paths

Arjahnae is still deciding whether she will start the two-year funeral services program at Brightpoint Community College in January or wait a year until she completes an internship with a local funeral home to fulfill her apprentice hours. Virginia requires a 2,000-hour internship for licensure, which can be done before or after a degree program. 

Becoming a mortician has been Arjahnae’s dream since her father passed away when she was 10 years old and she saw how funeral homes care for the deceased and their families. She had always been fascinated by the medical field, even meeting neurosurgeon Ben Carson. She became even more interested in mortuary science after a field trip to a morgue with her high school cosmetology class, where she learned how cosmetologists work on people who have passed away. 

Arjahnae knows she will be able to handle whichever path she chooses. She can already see herself as a funeral director, then coming home to bake cookies or make the granola she loves for cereal, she laughs. She claims to be very good at measuring and scooping cookie dough!

Feeling Hopeful for the Future

As Arjahnae looks back at her time with Together We Bake, she is grateful for everyone and knows they will always be there for her. Even though she’s now called an alum of the program, she believes she’s more like a family member. “It’s not like you’re saying hi to everyone when you return to your college, it’s more like you’re going back home and you’re saying hi to your family,” she explains.

Arjahnae wants to make her Together We Bake family proud, and she believes she has done so by returning to college and attending group therapy to continue working on herself and her trust in others. She’s branching out and making new friends, and not just playing video games at home alone. She admits she’s a bit eccentric and can give off “black cat energy.” However, when she gets to know people, she gives off “very golden retriever energy.” 

Everyone at Together We Bake grew to love her contagious energy and saw how she began to transform her life with courage and conviction — a true Woman on the Rise!

As for Arjahnae, she feels hopeful for the future and can say with conviction, “I’m going to be a mortician, and it’s not a dream anymore!”