A ‘Koined’ couple - Shannelle and Omari J. Harris navigate food, faith, and entrepreneurship together
Published:Sunday | October 20, 2024 | 11:27 AMShanel Lemmie - Staff Reporter
For the health and longevity of most relationships, time away is integral. However, for Omari J. Harris and Shannelle J. Harris, their synergistic union thrives on the fuel of faith, food, and a near-constant companionship.
Like many modern couples, the pair first crossed paths on TikTok in December 2021.
“I just saw his content, and I was, like, ‘Wow! This is such great high-quality Christian content’. I wasn’t, like, ‘Oh my gosh, him cute, eeh’. I just acknowledged and moved on,” Shanelle shared.
Omari chimed in, “It wasn’t until a few months later I saw her post some content, and I found it hilarious.”
Using that momentum, they got to talking, and within a week, were on their first date. By the following April, the pair was an official couple, and nine months later, were engaged.
Acknowledging the expedited timeline of their courtship, Omari said: “It’s a fast relationship, yes. However, it is an intentional one. Everything that we do, we wasted no time in trying to figure out and assess each other.”
Shannelle continued: “Yes, what stood out to me was how intentional you were, but I think also for us in terms of the expedited timing, we both had an assurance outside of each other. That’s where the confidence really came from. We both knew we eventually wanted to get married. We a big people. It was just if our values aligned.”
As Christians, the pair say their relationship is hinged on faith.
Omari began: “Our faith is integral for our relationship back then and now. I’d say without Christ at the centre, we would not have been where we are now. We wouldn’t have been able to get married at the speed that we did. We would not be able to enjoy each other the way in which we do now without Christ. One of the things a lot of people get confused about being married and a Christian is that it boring, we just wah get together because of sex. If you actually take the principles that are being taught by Christ through [the] scriptures, you understand that everything that is said, it helps to clarify your path and your mind and your heart. And it’s through the transformational process that helped us to come together.”
Though they are less than a year on from their nuptials, the pair are still smitten with each other.
Locking eyes with his wife, Omari said: “Initially, I was, like, dah b yah hot, that a di first thing. Second, she is hilarious, and third, her love for Christ is something that I haven’t seen in another woman. It’s very childlike, and it’s very refreshing for me. Just the way in which she loves Jesus and all of her other qualities, it just fits. And then outside of all of that, there was an assurance. Mi nuh know if a di Holy Spirit say ‘Yeah, man, a she’, but there was an assurance that she was a wise choice.”
With a broad smile, Shannelle added, “For me, it would be very unfair to pray to God for qualities in a man and for him to give that to me and for me not to love him.”
Taking another leap of faith, a few months into dating, the pair launched their company, Koined Digital.
Explaining how their professional partnership began, Shannelle said: “I was a freelance social media manager at the time. I was working with an agency, but I also had my own private clients. With these clients, I also provide content for them, and as Omari and I started to get closer, work would overwhelm me, and I would say, ‘Hey, can you edit this for me?’.”
Dreaming of the day she would start her own social media marketing agency, it wasn’t until she met her cinematographer soon-to-be husband that the pieces fell into place.
“I always had the intention to start my own business, and it was going to be a social media marketing agency. However, I was not an expert on production, so I guess that’s always something that kind of stopped me. We already worked together technically even though I wasn’t paying him, but we work together, and we work together well. Let’s just form a company, which in retrospect is crazy. This is just a couple of months into knowing each other. By November, the company was registered, and we were moving ahead.”
Prioritising content in the food and beverage space, the pair rose to fame for their social media series, Savour the City.
Taking things to the next level, the J. Harrises say they want to bring people behind the curtain of creative work through their podcast, Koined Insights, and up the value of content coming out of the region.
“Pretty much our aim is to bring our social media marketing up to international standards, that’s really just a pain point that we had,” she concluded.