Meet Bria Hines

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bria Hines. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Bria’s Corner started September of 2020 when I finally realized why my voice needed to be heard by the world. One of the quotes that has changed my outlook on life is “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” While I was battling depression, my therapist encouraged my to journal my feelings and progress. As a person who was tired of writing (because I was in a master’s program and writing all the time), I started video journaling myself and my journey. After going back through the videos, I realized as time went on, they were more of encouraging videos that I felt the world needed to hear. 

One day as I was talking to a few members of my family and finally sharing my story, they began to encourage me to start a page, but I put it off. But, one day, my sister called me and said “I’m going to design your logo, so people can learn from you”. So after she designed it, I waited a month or two and decided one day to just go for it, and it’s been amazing ever since. 

Bria’s Corner is as a point of encouragement to tell my followers to keep fighting through their situations, just like I have done and will continue to do. It’s a space where they can cultivate a sense of safeness, healing, reflection, support, and appreciation of oneself. My hope is for them to know that there will be light at the end. I counted myself out, but God let me win. Now, I am the creator and owner of Bria’s Corner, a Master of Education in Counseling graduate, a therapist/counselor, academic specialist, a professor at one of the best HBCU’s (Fisk University), and a testament of how much prayer and therapy work. He is making everything I went through a sense of motivation for others. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Life has definitely not been smooth, but I’ve been blessed to learn from the hard times that have come my way. By the time I was 7, I knew what true loss was. I lost my father to his battle with sarcoidosis. When I started college in 2011, I thought everything was fine with me, by the time 2013 rolled around, life as I knew it was completely changed. I was officially diagnosed with a hearing loss and had to begin wearing bilateral hearing aids. As time went on, I elected not to wear them because of the fear of being labeled as a disabled person. Soon after, I began to read lips and that became the way I communicated with people. As time continued on, things would start to get worse for me 

On June 1, 2019, I woke up and had lost all of the hearing in my left ear without any warning. With this new profound hearing loss, I had to withdraw from all of my summer classes that I was currently enrolled in. Day after day, I sought answers from some of the best specialists in Birmingham, but no one had a clue as to what was going on. While I had no answers, depression began to sink in. I started therapy to cope with my current situation. I had given up hope and felt like the life I had pictured for myself was coming to an immediate end. As each day passed, and more questions formed, I was sicker than I had ever been. 

On the last day of July, I came across what appeared as my final resort, an amazing Otologist by the name of Dr. Pappas. Although I was on the verge of giving up, God assured me of his plans. Dr. Pappas ran every test known to man and sent me to some of the best doctors he knew in the state. 

Finally, right before my birthday (August), I had an answer. I was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease, an inner ear issue that affects the middle ear, but it has no cure. Happy and distraught at the same time, I started leaning and depending on God more than I have ever before. 

During one of the hardest times in my life, I also went through a tough 3-year long relationship break-up to my fiancé. While battling heartbreak and disappointment simultaneously, I worked hard to find a new normal in my life. 

As the new semester started, I enrolled into classes, this time with a new diagnosis and extreme case of tinnitus. I had to wear hearing aids because there was no way I could hear my professors without them. I went through a span of three painful perfusions in my left ear to help regain partial hearing. Fortunately, I recovered 40% of my hearing. The episodes were lighter, but my tinnitus became unbearable. Mornings I would wake up crying in unimaginable pain. I continued to fight with a spirit of tenacity which allowed me to work and complete school full time. 

Last summer I went in for a regular hearing check-up. In my heart, I was hoping for some great news, however, I found out that I had lost hearing in my right ear. Feeling hopeless, I told God, whatever your plan is for my life, I will not stand in the way. Dr. Pappas informed me that the hearing loss was permanent and the only option was to schedule a cochlear implant. But God’s grace and mercy gave me the strength to be at peace. 

Two days after my birthday last year, I had a cochlear implant surgery, and two weeks after that I began my final semester of graduate school. 

I would be lying if I told you that I was not dismayed or discouraged. This process was hard, the diagnosis was hard, the procedure was hard, but at my lowest point, I was reminded that this is not the end. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a counselor and academic specialist for a TRIO Student Support Program and a Professor at Fisk University. I work with college students who are from low-income backgrounds, first-generation, and those who have disabilities. This program aids them with their mental health, academics, financial literacy, personal, and career goals, amongst so many more things. As a previous TRIO student, these programs helped shape the person that I am today, so it feels great to be able to give back to students that come behind me. 

Aside from working in higher education I own and operate Bria’s Corner by offering Confidence Building Sessions, Finding Your Purpose Sessions, and helping people create a self-care plan with my Accountability Sessions, all while co-leading an amazing self-care group. 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success to me is accomplishing something that matters to you the most. Also, I believe success is achieving something you haven’t before. Whether you’ve been suffering depression and you get out of the bed for the first time in 3 days, that is achieving success. 

Pricing:

• Confidence Building Session $40 1 Hour Session
• Self-Care Plan & Accountability Session $40 1 Hour Session
• Finding Your Purpose Session $40 1 Hour Session
• Motivational Speaking prices vary based on event and time.

Contact Info:

• Email: hines.bria2@gmail.com
• Website: https://lnk.bio/briascorner
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/briascorner
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/briascorner

Image Credits
Anleia Nance Photography
Donald Love
Love Photography