Everyone Belongs Somewhere: How Essie Dennis Turned Her Story Into a Ministry of Self Love

Some people spend their whole lives waiting for someone to tell them they matter. Essie Dennis decided to become the voice that tells them instead. Her mission is simple and it is powerful. Self love. Transform. Success. Those three words guide everything she writes, teaches, and builds.

That mission found a powerful stage this year at Her March Forward Conference and Awards, held at Bishop State College in Mobile, Alabama. The event brought together a room full of authors, coaches, and changemakers on Women Veterans Day, a day the City of Mobile chose to honor in a big way. City leaders presented a proclamation to visionary Dr. Lena Payton-Webb, recognizing her work and the movement she has built to celebrate women who served. Essie Dennis stood among the speakers that day, adding her voice and her mission to a room built entirely around honoring women veterans and the women who show up for them.

Who Essie Dennis Is

Essie Mae Dennis was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised by her grandmother and aunt alongside her cousins in a home they shared in Fort Valley, Georgia. That early foundation of family and community shaped the woman she became. She has spent her life fulfilling the roles of grandmother, mother, and community advocate, and her generosity of inclusion shows up everywhere she goes. Everyone belongs somewhere, she likes to say, and she has built her entire career around making that true for the people around her.

Among her many awards, medals, certificates, and degrees, Essie holds a distinction she takes special pride in. She became the first Black woman in Fort Valley, Georgia, to serve as CEO and executive director of a company providing supported living services. Through that work, she has helped train individuals with developmental disabilities, supported after school programs, provided rental spaces for entrepreneurs, and delivered professional training for college students pursuing careers in human services.

Essie is also a prolific author. Her book Loving Me: A Self Love Journal is a guided journal that helps readers build self worth, resilience, and emotional well being, drawing from her own experiences with adversity and disability. In Daughter of Another Mother, she tells her own story of being rejected by her mother, guiding readers through grief, forgiveness, and self discovery. In Making the Shift, written under the name S.E. Dennis, she offers a faith filled guide for families and caregivers supporting individuals with disabilities on their journey toward independence.

She has also written for the next generation. Chosen and Courageous: A Journey to Belonging is written for kids ages 10 to 12 who have ever felt left out or unsure of where they belong, helping young readers build confidence, courage, and compassion.

A Voice for Every Test and Every Testimony

Essie has also lent her voice to the anthology series My Test. My Testimony, guided by publisher Dr. Lena Payton Webb. The books bring together brave authors sharing their most life changing struggles and how they turned pain into purpose. Every chapter carries the same reminder. No struggle is wasted, and every test has the power to become a testimony that inspires someone else.

Readers who have followed Essie’s work describe her as someone who does not sugarcoat the truth, and that honesty is exactly why her message lands so deeply. Her books and teachings have helped people rebuild spiritually and emotionally after years of feeling stuck, offering real encouragement for real struggles.

Showing Up for Women Veterans

When Essie took her place among the speakers at Her March Forward, she joined a lineup of authors, coaches, and consultants gathered for one shared purpose. Honoring the women who served this country and often did so without the recognition they deserved. The conference and awards ceremony was built to change that, giving women veterans a stage, a story, and a spotlight of their own.

The timing could not have been more fitting. The event fell on Women Veterans Day, the very day the City of Mobile chose to publicly recognize Dr. Lena Payton-Webb with an official proclamation, honoring her vision and her tireless work lifting up women who served. Bishop State College opened its doors to host the gathering, giving the moment a home inside a historic institution that has long stood for opportunity and community in Mobile.

For Essie, being part of that room meant standing alongside women who have given so much of themselves in service to others, much like she has given her own life to serving her community back home in Fort Valley. Her message of belonging and self worth landed in a room full of women who have spent their careers making sure others were cared for, often while quietly carrying their own weight. It was a fitting match. A woman devoted to helping others heal, standing in honor of women who served and sacrificed for a nation.

Why This Story Matters

Every woman in that room at Bishop State College carried her own story of resilience. Essie Dennis’s story is proof that healing and leadership can grow from the same soil. She took her own experiences with rejection, adversity, and disability, and turned every one of them into a resource for someone else’s healing.

Her presence at Her March Forward was more than a speaking slot. It was a statement. Women who serve deserve to be seen, honored, and celebrated, and the women who show up to build them up deserve that same recognition. Essie Dennis showed up, and in doing so, she reminded every woman in that room of something worth carrying home. You matter, you belong, and your story still has the power to change someone else’s life.

Learn more about Essie Dennis at essiefdennis.com.

Learn more about Her March Forward at hermarchforward.com.