About Us

Care is more than a service. It's a connection.

About Us

Care is more than a service. It's a connection.

Our story

Built together, on purpose.

Living Essence is a partnership, built by two people who see care from different sides.

Christina is a registered nurse, and caring for people in their own homes is the work she loves most. The people she visits are always glad to see her, and not because of anything complicated. She listens. She notices. She treats every person like they matter. That is the standard of care she brings to every family we serve.

Emmanuel spent years working with young people, and that work taught him something he builds on every day: the care people receive depends on how the people giving it are treated. When caregivers are respected, supported, and paid fairly, they bring their best, and they stay.

We started Living Essence to bring those two beliefs together: care that feels personal, from a team that feels valued. Christina sets the standard. Emmanuel builds the systems, the hiring, and the workplace that hold it steady. We have grown it the same way we run it, side by side, one decision at a time.

Caregiver and an older woman looking through a photo book together at the kitchen table

Our leadership stays close to the work. We don’t ask a caregiver to do anything we wouldn’t do ourselves, and we don’t confuse a full schedule with good care. A caregiver who is respected, fairly paid, and properly supported is a caregiver who comes back next week — and consistency is the single thing families need most.

About Us

Care is more than a service. It's a connection.

Our story

Built together, on purpose.

Living Essence is a partnership, built by two people who see care from different sides.

Christina is a registered nurse, and caring for people in their own homes is the work she loves most. The people she visits are always glad to see her, and not because of anything complicated. She listens. She notices. She treats every person like they matter. That is the standard of care she brings to every family we serve.

Emmanuel spent years working with young people, and that work taught him something he builds on every day: the care people receive depends on how the people giving it are treated. When caregivers are respected, supported, and paid fairly, they bring their best, and they stay.

We started Living Essence to bring those two beliefs together: care that feels personal, from a team that feels valued. Christina sets the standard. Emmanuel builds the systems, the hiring, and the workplace that hold it steady. We have grown it the same way we run it, side by side, one decision at a time.

Our leadership stays close to the work. We don’t ask a caregiver to do anything we wouldn’t do ourselves, and we don’t confuse a full schedule with good care. A caregiver who is respected, fairly paid, and properly supported is a caregiver who comes back next week — and consistency is the single thing families need most.

Caregiver and an older woman looking through a photo book together at the kitchen table
The essence of living

What we mean by the name.

The essence of living isn’t found in tasks completed or hours logged. It’s in a morning that starts the way you like it. A meal you actually wanted. A conversation that isn’t rushed. The dignity of being helped without being managed.

That’s what we protect. Everything else exists to serve it.

Our mission is to provide compassionate, non-medical support that honors dignity, fosters independence, and brings peace of mind in the comfort of home.

Whether care is covered by Medicaid or paid privately, every family receives the same caregivers, the same nurse oversight, and the same standard.

Our values, spelled out: E · S · S · E · N · C · E

Empathy in action

Understanding first, tasks second.

Stewardship of trust

We are guests in someone's home, and we act like it.

Service with purpose

Every visit has a reason and a plan behind it.

Excellence with integrity

High standards, honestly held.

Nurturing the whole person

Not just the need — the person.

Community-centered commitment

We serve the communities we call home, and we answer to our neighbors.

Eternal values, everyday actions

The same honesty and care whether anyone is watching or not.

Leadership

Who you're trusting.

Living Essence is led by the two people who founded it together. One sets the standard of care our team works to. The other builds the systems that keep that standard steady in every home we serve.

Christina Ocloo, MSN, RN

Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Christina is a registered nurse with a Master of Science in Nursing and years of direct experience caring for adults and older adults. As Chief Executive Officer, she leads Living Essence and oversees the training and competency of every caregiver on our team. She and Emmanuel founded Living Essence together to be the kind of agency they wanted to see — one where standards are set by people who have done the work, and where a team is supported well enough to stay.

She sets the care standard for every family we serve, reviews each plan of support, and remains the person our caregivers call when something needs a nurse’s judgment.

Emmanuel Gbajobi

Chief Operating Officer & Founder

Emmanuel’s background is in risk analysis, with training in behavioral health, across nonprofits, technology, and small business. He built the operational side of Living Essence — compliance, documentation, hiring standards, and the systems that make sure what we promise a family is what actually happens in their home. He builds them on one rule: a process isn’t finished until it works for the caregiver following it.

His work is mostly invisible from the outside, and that’s the point. Reliable care depends on infrastructure nobody should have to think about.

Credentials

RSA License

Maryland Department of Health, Office of Health Care Quality — #RSA-03228

Medicaid enrolled

Approved Maryland Medicaid provider for Community First Choice (CFC) and Community Personal Assistance Services (CPAS)

Insured

General liability and workers' compensation in force

Every caregiver, one standard

A W-2 employee of Living Essence, background-checked, screened against federal exclusion lists, health-screened as Maryland requires, and CPR certified before working alone with any family.

Service area

Prince George's, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, Howard, and Charles counties, Maryland