Founder: Jade Nealious

A native of Aiken, South Carolina, Jade Nealious is one woman on a mission. Graduating from the University of South Carolina Columbia with a Bachelor’s in Electronic Journalism, she is currently completing her final term for a master’s degree in Management and Leadership with a focus in Leadership from Southern Wesleyan University. But that is only one part of the strategic puzzle to her life.

At thirty-four years of age, Jade is will be a seventeen-year lupus survivor on March 15, 2021. The type that she has is SLE or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. While many have lupus, it affects every individual differently, even those with the same type. Jade has been hospitalized a number of times, battling drops in her blood platelet count. A low blood platelet count can lead to a number of issues including, but not limited to, internal bleeding, fatigue, or death. Jade said that “life is about choices! God enables every individual the ability to DECIDE what path he/she wants to take — It’s up to us to take the positive course!”

Jade was honored as the December 2013 WJBF News Channel 6’s Giving Your Best Award Recipient for “giving your best to your fellow man through your compassion for others and your commitment to the community” as well as the October 2014 Quarterly Adjuvant for A. Bevy Inc. and chosen by Aiken Standard as Nonprofit of the Week in April of this year. In addition, Jade is a two-time Jim Casey Community Service Award nominee (2015 and 2018) and was chosen out of 400,000 employees to be honored by CEO David Abney. But it does not stop there! She is also responsible for starting the UPS initiative Brown Goes Purple in support of lupus awareness during May 2015. She was inducted into Thomas Media Group’s Class of 2015 Top 40 under 40 for the South Carolina Black Pages. Last but not least, she was selected as a 2017 recipient Women to Watch for WJBF News Channel 6.

Today, Jade continues embarking on the mission to spread lupus awareness and give back to communities across South Carolina and the CSRA regions of Georgia through her nonprofit organization, Crowning Lupus. Despite starting her efforts in February 2013, Jade, along with her board members, have raised over $25,000 over the course of eight years. Not only does she continue to raise a large amount of funding towards assisting local lupus survivors, but she also raises funding for the following organizations through Crowning Lupus: Lupus Foundation of America, Children’s Hospital of Georgia, and Golden Harvest Food Bank, to name a few. Jade is committed to improving the quality of life for lupus survivors in their Fight Against Lupus.

Jade gives all credit to God and his ability to surround her with so many supporting faces, especially her parents and older sister – Jimmy, Elaine, and Jessica Nealious. Understanding the importance of nurturing our youth, not only does Jade advocate and raise funding for causes like her own, she also is a motivational speaker. Her subject matter has allowed her to travel across the country speaking to different groups about lupus, empowering women and adolescents, and the importance of being positive and turning trials into triumph with community organizations. From traveling lupus support groups to personal visits to survivors in need, Jade is not done yet. She states: “There is still so much more to be done! The journey continues!”

Jade’s motto: ” Run Lupus… Don’t Let it Run You! “