Sprinkle of Jesus founder Dana Chanel is at the top of everyone's Explore page - whether it be promoting one of her CurlBible products or creating cute TikToks with bae-siness partner, her husband Prince Donnell. When you think of #RelationshipGoals, you think of going on Instagram Live together and giving status updates of your relationship while planning out your next joint YouTube video and island-themed baecations. For the serial entrepreneurs, love and relationships are all held up by the foundation of communication, respect and faith. The Philly-based millennial power couple evolved from a private message to a marriage built on profit and prosperity. "You helped make our first million dollars. I praise God for giving me the ability to fire my husband's boss," she praised her hubby in an Instagram post.
Their multiple business endeavors across the financial- and faith-based enterprises include Jumping Jack Taxes, which aligns with their mission of building generational wealth while expanding to affiliates encouraged to jumpstart their own virtual tax services. Who would have thought that Donnell sliding in the DMs for mentorship and business advice would later lead to a Philly-bred marriage with a focus on building generational wealth while embarking on a journey of mental, emotional and spiritual strength? The best friends, lovers and business partners have shown all of social media and beyond that love and faith can coexist.
During an exclusive interview with xoNecole, the coupleprenuer opened up about gender roles, self-love and mental health.
Ready, Set, Go.
"Not gonna lie, I wasn't ready at all. I was a 20-year-old dude who just started my career as a personal banker with my life, accident and health insurance license and making $60,000 per year," Donnell admits to xoNecole about his mental preparation for a serious relationship. "I moved into my own apartment, got my own car and I had a few extra dollars on my check every two weeks after bills. To be honest, I felt like I made it."
After living what he thought in his mind was his best life with having his friends in and out of his apartment everyday and a fair share of friendships with various women, he soon came to realize that his life would change after meeting his wife with whom he shared the same alma mater, Community College of Philadelphia. "I remember her third time visiting my apartment and she threw out all of the liquor bottles on the top of my fridge and forced me to go food shopping because I would eat out everyday and she wanted me to start saving money. It was clear that she was different from the majority of women I've dated," added Donnell.
He admits that he wasn't ashamed of not "being ready" for a relationship when it presented itself to him while arguing pointedly that no one between the ages of 20-25 years of age is actually ready for what life has to give them. "We don't have enough experience. Social media places a ton of pressure on millennials to be this perfect person who is rich, has a business, drives a luxury car and seems to have their life in order. Man, that's for movies. As long as you're making a conscious decision to improve your life each day and your partner is supporting you through that journey, that's what truly matters," he advises.
"I'm 25-years-old today," Donnell continues, "and although I run a company that generates over ten times the amount of my yearly income at the bank and have all of these 'luxury items,' it still hasn't made me fully ready for my marriage. Everyday is a new learning experience to become a better man and to love my wife like Christ loves the church."
Courtesy of Dana Chanel/Prince Donnell
"We don't have enough experience. Social media places a ton of pressure on millennials to be this perfect person who is rich, has a business, drives a luxury car and seems to have their life in order. Man, that's for movies. As long as you're making a conscious decision to improve your life each day and your partner is supporting you through that journey, that's what truly matters."
Self-Love and Loving Each Other
As Donnell touches on loving one another and opens up about the practicality of readiness for a romantic relationship, Dana Chanel brings our attention to the importance of self-love and catering to one's self. Chanel agrees that self-love is a responsibility of one's own self, but there's additional work that needs to be done. "It is so important that if you're gonna decide to do life with someone that they honor, encourage and motivate you to continue to evolve as you guys get older," she says. "Never be afraid to join a journey with your spouse if you know it's important to them, ain't nothing like someone screaming in your ear."
Dana tells xoNecole that after getting married to Donnell, she gained twenty pounds of happy weight, but rather than being degrading or condescending, Donnell took it upon himself to encourage his wife and be her biggest support system. "Don saw I was irritated and disappointed in how lazy I had become with myself. So instead of just watching me embark on my own self-love fitness journey, he joined me at the gym [twice] a day, he intermediate fasted with me and encouraged me by being by my side," Chanel shares. "It's so much easier to self-love when your partner isn't just a bystander but is hype about you loving yourself."
This Isn’t Just a Man’s World
When it comes to the roles of gender in marriage, oftentimes the man is expected to be the breadwinner and the woman to be a docile housekeeper and child bearer. In the 21st century, the power couple has proven to the world that they can do it all as not only man and woman - but as equals. As the two began to step into their partnership, they've respected each other in business and romance. "I praise God every single day for blessing me with a husband that doesn't put me in a box as a woman and is my PARTNER!" Dana praises the equality and respect in her relationship with Donnell. "Listen, we are hardworking women. We grind and are just as emotionally and mentally exhausted after a long day of work, so we work together around the house. I cook, he does dishes, he does laundry, I do bathrooms. He doesn't just assume or force me into a duty we could do together. He respects the other roles I play in life as a CEO, a sister, a friend and alleviates pressure."
In their relationship, Dana and Donnell make it a point to uplift and encourage one another while providing emotional and mental support for one another in rough times. We live in a society where women aren't subjected to stand behind their man, but beside them. "When he is weak, I have to put on my cape and be superwoman," Dana adds.
"Something that is important though is [to not] be afraid to ask your spouse to help you out," she further advises. "We make it look really easy when we're struggling to do it all. Your relationship is about providing your spouse the best possible circumstance to grow and flourish, not feel burdened by obligation. Y'all are doing life together, remember that. Don't wait for a nervous breakdown before you ask for help. Ain't no gender roles, we're gonna do whatever necessary to be aware enough to spot each other's weaknesses and be an extraordinary family no matter what position we gotta play."
Courtesy of Dana Chanel/Prince Donnell
"I praise God every single day for blessing me with a husband that doesn't put me in a box as a woman and is my PARTNER! We grind and are just as emotionally and mentally exhausted after a long day of work, so we work together around the house. I cook, he does dishes, he does laundry, I do bathrooms. He doesn't just assume or force me into a duty we could do together. He respects the other roles I play in life as a CEO, a sister, a friend and alleviates pressure."
Faith, God and Hustle
Aside from holding one another accountable and being a stable support system, faith and a relationship with God serves as the foundation for the metaphorical house that is their aspirational marriage. "Faith is the foundation of our marriage. As a husband, I can't properly lead my family without the Holy Spirit's wisdom and guidance. Especially during those times when things get tough," says Donnell. In times of COVID-19, couples and friendships are deteriorating, but yet they find a way to communicate through Christ and keep a healthy relationship afloat.
"Faith is a superpower we all possess but don't fully tap into because we can't see the results right away - but faith isn't enough to make a relationship [or] marriage last," he continues. "It requires that other word called 'work' that people are afraid of. These 'relationship goals' couples look real good on social media and these marriages look like fairy tales on television. But what happens when it hits the fan?"
For more of Dana and Prince, follow them on Instagram @danachanel and @princedonnell.
Featured image via Dana Chanel/Instagram
RELATED
Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak