Christina (Fontenelle) Westbrook `14 didn’t start her collegiate journey with the end goal of becoming an art therapist. Now, she is a successful entrepreneur in the field, simply because she followed her passion. Westbrook is looking forward to returning to campus to inspire other Redbirds to do the same.
Westbrook is one of five alumni participating in Conversando Entre Nostros, a gathering of the Latinx Alumni Network on September 30 at the Multicultural Center from 6–8 p.m. during Latinx Heritage Month. The panel, moderated by Dr. Rocio Rivadeneyra and Dr. Maura Toro-Morn, will discuss career opportunities, leadership roles, and offer strategies for success beyond college.
“I plan to share real-life experiences of how it was to be a Latinx student on campus,” Westbrook said. “Good things, challenging things. But my goal is to give hope and inspiration that there’s more to get, depending on how you show up to receive it.”
Westbrook is the CEO and founder of two mental health companies, Fontenelle Art and Aligning Your Inner Self. Westbrook’s companies are born from her desire to explore art and help people cope with trauma. She explains that verbal therapy, while helpful for some, can be challenging for many people to engage in—especially individuals from communities of color, according to Westbrook.
“I knew I wanted to break through that barrier to bring healing,” she said.
But before she was an entrepreneur in her field, she was on a very different path. Originally from Chicago, Westbrook studied biochemistry at another university on her journey to become a pediatrician. One day, she realized that the route she thought she needed to take wasn’t the one she wanted.
“I just remember sitting in class, and we were balancing equations, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life,’” she said.
Westbrook decided to take an art class and discovered she had a passion for the arts. After doing some research, she decided to transfer to Illinois State because of the University’s strong reputation for producing art educators.
Westbrook strongly believes in the importance of advocating for oneself. During the application process to attend Illinois State, Westbrook met with Nancy Fewkes, who currently serves as the assistant to the director in the Wonsook Kim School of Art, to discuss what she needed to produce to make herself a strong applicant.
“It was when I received the letter of acceptance, I saw (Nancy’s) name at the bottom,” Westbrook said. “So that just like really warmed my heart knowing that even though she was a part of that process she still helped me when she didn’t have to. It just kind of felt like an angel just guiding me through my experience.”
Westbrook also credits Angell Howard, who was working with the TRIO program at the time, with helping her discover a career path when she was struggling to find direction.
“She’s like, ‘Just tell me, what do you like?’ And I said, ‘I like art. I like the brain. And I like helping people.’ She turned over to her computer and Google searched, ‘art and psychology.’ And that’s where art therapy came up,” Westbrook said.
After graduating from Illinois State, Westbrook attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where she obtained her Master of Arts in art therapy. She then graduated from 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s alternate route dance/movement therapy program in New York. The fusion of her educational experience and her desire to help people led directly to the creation of her two mental health companies.
“Everyone, every single person—if you have a heartbeat and a breath—everyone can benefit from it,” Westbrook said. “The youngest I’ve worked with was three weeks old. And the oldest I worked with was 98 years old.”
Westbrook encourages current and future Redbirds who want to become entrepreneurs to pursue their passion relentlessly to achieve their goals.
“Because I was passionate enough about making changes in art and movement—even though there were days where no one answered newsletters, no one answered calls, no one answered any of that—I knew that I was passionate enough about it to continue to pursue it.”
