Women of Color Transforming Wellness
These women of color are revolutionizing the wellness world by inspiring women to take care of themselves mind, body, and soul. Looking for yummy recipes, self-care tips, or a supportive community or a new favorite wellness podcast? These ladies have you covered!
Stefanie Flores
“My favorite thing about the work that I do is being able to assist people in seeing themselves in a new light. I value being the guide to healing for those who seek my work.”
Credit: focusonyou.com
Stefanie Flores is a licensed mental health professional and self-care blogger. Her website, The Focus on You, which is committed to inspiring people to prioritize their mental and emotional well-being. When she’s not encouraging people to live their best lives, Stefanie loves to travel, taste authentic Latino food, and stay active with workouts, yoga, and salsa dancing. Her work is infused with humor, resilience, and loving encouragement.
“In order to live my best life, self-care and physical inventories keep me going. I love to travel, attend conferences, be outdoors, spend time with friends & family and watch sports. I feel more empowered by having an open view about wellness options that are best for me! ”
“You can look good all day long, Amber, but babygirl do you feel good, are you living good? Wellness ultimately begins with the transformation of our mental, emotional, and spiritual ways of being. Transforming ourselves internally is where it starts.”
Credit: amber-janae.com
Amber Janae is the reigning queen of self-care and wellness. Through her website Amber-janae.com, books, speaking engagements, and one-on-one coaching and consultation, Amber has transformed the lives of people in over 185 countries worldwide. Come for the self-care tips and inspiration; stay for her one-of-a-kind chic style and blissful vibes.
“What I love about this is the knowing that a blog post, a workshop, a chapter from a book, an Instagram caption, a tarot session, one of the many gifts that I am blessed with was the source of healing or change in someone’s life. Out of all the things in the world that could be my favorite, it’s about seeing the spark of life return to someone, to see their passion for life being restored after experiencing my work. ”
JennÉ Claiborne
“My favorite wellness practice is maintaining a vegan lifestyle. In addition to being great for your health, and helping to reduce your risk of our top killers (heart disease and cancer), it is a lifestyle based around compassion. Veganism is about compassion and respect for other living beings, and for yourself. It’s a humbling and empowering way to live because you are forced to rethink your actions, and that mindfulness extends itself through all parts of your life.”
Jennè Claiborne is the online embodiment of #healthyeatingoals. Her blog, Sweet Potato Soul, is an infusion of easy-to-make vegan recipes with a southern twist. Her journey from Chick-fil-a to Jerk Jackfruit Tacos represents more than healthy eating. Other benefits include healthy digestion, drastic improvements to depression, less fatigue, and a balanced menstrual cycle. Jennè is also co-founder of SoBuddahlicious, a meal subscription service for quick, healthy meals.
“I love knowing that I am making a positive difference and inspiring others to take charge of their health and wellness. I also gain so much purpose knowing that I am helping people to stop eating animal products, which reduces the number of animals who are exploited in our cruel animal agriculture system.”
Emily Wu Truong
“Finding wellness helped me discover my purpose in life. I made steps towards to find help for myself and became determined to normalize the conversations on mental health and suicide by sharing my story. After meeting advocates from all over the world, life is good. It feels good to know I’m not alone. ”
Emily Wu Truong is an award-winning motivational speaker based in Los Angeles. She works tirelessly to address the misconceptions of individuals who struggle with mental illness. As a suicide-attempt survivor diagnosed with depression and anxiety, she transformed her adversities into wisdom, inspiring others to face their fears and find value in their own life struggles. She uses her voice to advocate for children of immigrant families, whose voices are often under-represented.
“Wellness is the ability to balance our strengths and weaknesses and the good & bad in life. Practicing this is easier said than done, but with tools and daily practice, it is not impossible. Most acknowledge that we need to exercise to be physically fit, but we need mental fitness too. ”
Dr. Joy Harden
“My hope with Therapy for Black Girls is to make mental health topics more relevant and accessible to Black women. I want Black women to understand that we all have mental health that needs to be maintained and there are sometimes small things we can do to make a big impact in optimizing our mental health. ”
Doctor Joy is a licensed psychologist who specializes in divorce recovery, depression, work-life balance, relationship skills, and self-esteem improvement. Dr. Joy empowers women to become their best selves by providing a supportive environment to heal and thrive. It's no wonder that her self-proclaimed theme song is “Run the World” by Beyonce! With a therapist directory and podcast, Dr. Joy provides easily accessible resources so that Black girls no longer have to be ashamed to seek help!
“My favorite thing about my work is connecting with so many incredibly diverse Black women who allow me to walk with them through some very difficult times in their lives. I feel incredibly honored to hold space for them so that they can continue to live the life they are destined to have. ”
“Wellness has transformed my life by giving me more information about who I am and how I function at my best when I pay attention to myself. It’s given me more insight, more peace of mind and choices that I’ve defined for myself, placing me at the top of the priority list. ”
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Asha Tarry, also known as “The Behavioralist”, is a certified life coach and clinical psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience helping people access mental clarity and transformative breakthroughs in their lives. Through community building, workshops, speaking engagements, and one-on-one coaching, she motivates everyone around her to live abundantly in their personal, professional, and personal lives.
“The foundation of my message is community wellness as well as individual wellness, because when one person works to live a healthy, happy life the people in their lives and around them benefit from it. This is part of the regenerative benefits of psychotherapy and coaching.”
Dior Vargas
“I enjoy having moments during my workshops where the room is filled with women of color sharing their stories and talking about their shared experiences. It’s another opportunity to connect with one another and to remind ourselves that we aren’t alone.”
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Dior Vargas is a Latina feminist mental health activist and the creator of the People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project, which aims to highlight people of color living with mental illness. A native New Yorker, Dior travels the country giving keynotes, hosting workshops, and speaking on panels. Dior is the recipient of numerous awards: The White House Champion of Change for Disability Advocacy Across Generations, a Voices of the Year honoree under the Impact category at #BlogHer15.
“I hope that I’ve made some impact thus far through my photo project and my speaking engagements. I want to continue working on changing the way we think about self love and self care and believing that we are worthy of it. My current goal includes going back to school in the Fall to get a MPH and moving forward in my career so I can have a more active role in making sure that people of color get the mental health care treatment that they deserve.”
Precious Frazier
“My wellness journey has taught me what it truly means to love and love on oneself, what being in perfect alignment feels like, and the power that lies in honoring times that call me to stillness and rest. I am constantly evolving but my truest transformation was realizing that my call to wellness was really a call to practice more kindness, love, patience, acceptance and self-care. ”
Credit: Rockyourreality.co
Precious Frazier is a blogger, certified holistic health coach, wellness expert, and founder of Rock Your Reality. She has created a supportive and active community around wellness and self-care, empowering ambitious women to care for themselves first. Her website covers everything that you need to know about living a holistic lifestyle, from healthy recipes to yoga poses while also highlighting the transformational journeys of other women.
“There’s a school of thought that says in order to be successful you must work REALLY hard. This is compounded with the fact that today we see part of that “work” as having to always be tuned in to social media. It’s gotten to the point where we’ve become overworked, overwhelmed, anxious and disconnected from our own authentic voice. My goal is to help ambitious women reconnect with self and navigate the balance between effort and ease, work and rest, force and flow.”
“Wellness allows me to let down my defenses and be fully present in the moment. And I’m not referring strictly to yoga or meditation. While I love those practices, wellness is deeper than that. Wellness is a way to truly connect with myself and become aware of what I need to navigate life in an intentional and purposeful way. For me, I often find that connection through prayer.”
Photo Credit:Tia Boyd Photography
Davia Roberts is a licensed therapist and wellness blogger from Austin, Texas. Davia is determined to support marginalized women in need of mental health resources through her work as a mental health advocate and wellness educator. Her amazing podcast, Affirm Podcast, discusses the importance of mental health for women of color and Davia provides additional support through events like the She Is wellness retreat. Her blog, Redefine Enough gives a fresh and insightful perspective on mental health for the modern woman of color.
“The most fulfilling piece of my work is witnessing a woman reach the “Screw that! I AM GOOD ENOUGH” moment. It is mind blowing when a woman releases the expectations and burdens that family, friends, or society imposed on her and truly reclaims her power. ”