Shawn Schwaner has spent most of his life guiding others.
After sharing his wisdom with students at Kendall Campus for the past 13 years, the Miami Dade College criminal justice and sociology professor is ready to carve a new lane to share his knowledge.
Schwaner, who has a doctorate degree in sociology, has been developing a virtual personal development program called The House Of Rogue Life Coaching Center. He plans to launch the platform in early August.
The program, based on his book The Rogue Street Awakening which is available for purchase online, is dedicated to helping people with their personal growth, career guidance and self-discovery.
According to Schwaner, a catalog of almost 100 workbooks have been prepared and a YouTube podcast has been developed. They will be released when the center is open.
A Substack page that coincides with the program was also established.
The House of Rogue is different from most guidance plans—rather than a prepackaged program, all participants are treated according to their conditions and needs.
“[The center] is designed for us to go back to our most authentic self,” Schwaner said.
Rogue Street’s focus is to “steal your life back from the iron cage.” The sociological term describes how bureaucracy and rationalization can trap people in strict systems, hindering their individualism.
In its earliest renditions, the center was an in-person program and the 60-year-old gave advice to people he knew personally.
Serena Morris, who was Schwaner’s student at Sullivan University in Kentucky 2008, reached out to him after reading The Rogue Street Awakening. The 56-year-old eventually reached out to Schwaner and their conversations started her on a path to self-discovery.
“He guides you and coaches you to find your own answers in your own way of dealing with things,” Morris said.
Schwaner intends to target Generation X and Generation Z through his platform, helping them address their concerns of identity, self and career troubles.
“How do I move forward in this world? How do I get a job? Well, this whole thing is designed for that,” Schwaner said.
After introducing his plans for the platform in several of his classes, some of Schwaner’s students have signed up, including Melody Pena, who was in his narcotics and drug education course last fall semester.
“He is the ideal person, not because of how he grew up and how his life was, but because of the person that he is now,” the 22-year-old Pena said.
Schwaner’s interest in sociology started with his upbringing. He was raised in a violent neighborhood in Ohio by Bertha Lee Green, an African-American woman who worked as a sharecropper.
“I’m very good at working with people…whether it’s career, money, whether it’s just life in general…I just know because I’ve been down all those pathways before,” Schwaner said.
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