Women of Color in Wellness
Originally shared via IGTV, this Tea Talk Tuesday series breaks down various topics relating to the wellness industry — for practitioners, aspiring entrepreneurs and allies alike. Watch on this episode on IGTV.
Today I really want to talk about the influx of accounts that I'm seeing which. are wellness-oriented specifically for Black women and women of color. Back in the day when I started about three years ago - we're talking in summer 2017 - when I invited people to come out to a yoga class at the park and I specifically made it for women of color, beaucoup people showed up because it was something new, and it was something that wasn't really going on.
At that time, I didn't really know about other platforms that were happening like @blackgirlinom, who already had a huge following. They have over a million listeners on their platform doing big things. I didn't know about them at that time, but they had started even two years before me.
So now three years later, I'm seeing a plethora of accounts that are wellness-focused and wellness-oriented focusing specifically on Black women and women of color and I want to talk about why I think it’s both a good thing and a bad thing.
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First, this is a good thing because it does really show and is evidence of the fact that, as Black women and women of color, we are recognizing that we need to create our own tables, that we need to invite our own people to sit at them. And that we need to provide the opportunity for us to gather, to experience wellness, to be in community and to heal, right? From the traumatic experiences that we deal with on a day-to-day basis and the lack of opportunities that most of us have to be with other Black people and people of color in community. So this is a great thing.
At the same time, I think that what's happening as a result of so much of it is that there is a bit of an inundation, which means that people are getting lost. People are having issues gaining visibility because now a niche market is starting to become saturated. So what happens when a niche market becomes saturated is that you then have to become a niche within a niche, and I'm not really seeing too much of that.
What I'm seeing is just a lot of accounts that are very general. They’re focused on wellness, focused on yoga, focused on mental health, et cetera. But I think that what's really important now, because we're seeing so many of these types of accounts specifically geared towards us as women of color, consuming this content, it feels just like that there is just so much to choose from. Where do you go? And then with that plethora of accounts, then you kind of get lost in it.
The distinction is going to be how qualitative, how consistent and how unique what you offer is and also if people are connecting and relating to you directly as the person who runs your brand.
So, it’s like, "All right, well, who am I really going to fuck with, and who am I not?" And the distinction of that is going to be how qualitative, how consistent and how unique what you offer is and also if people are connecting and relating with you directly as the person who runs the brand.
I think that it's really important to be able to distinguish that having an online platform and posting things on Instagram is not the same as entrepreneurship. It is not the same as running a business, okay? These are two totally different things.
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What I see a lot of is people are creating social platforms, but there's no strategy. There's no structure. There's no clarity on vision. You're posting pictures of your dog along with your yoga practice along with this, along with that. Although I grant that it's important to share a variety of things, does that all really tie into what your brand is about? Is that going to allow you the opportunity to build upon your offering? Do you even have clarity on what your offerings are, and a plan for the buildup to the different offerings that you're going to have?
So, for those of you out here that are looking and watching people like myself or other people that you admire in the wellness industry, that you might be thinking, "Man, I want to do what they're doing." And I love that. I think that's fantastic, but I think it's really, really important that you sit down and take the time to think about, "Well, what do I really want to accomplish? Where do I want to make a change? What is my sweet sauce, my secret sauce, that's going to allow me to do something other than what everybody else is doing, even within the same niche?"
I was watching Netflix Street Food Latin America, which everybody should go watch because it was an incredible lesson in entrepreneurship of women of color throughout South America that have been doing what they do for 30 years and have, despite so many obstacles, found their way through and succeeded. I think that my biggest, biggest, biggest, biggest takeaway from all of it, from every single story that I heard, six different episodes, was that they found something unique that made them different. And that is what allowed them to win.
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So, if you have a strong conviction for what you're doing, if you absolutely love what you're doing and you are willing to put in the time and energy it takes to make it a business, I urge you to continue. But I also urge you to really sit down and think about some clarifying type questions.
What am I doing?
Why am I doing it?
How is it going to benefit my community?
How is it going to create change?
Does it bring me joy?
Does it bring me happiness?
Is this something that I see myself doing for a long time?
Do I have a strategy in place that's going to allow me to succeed?
Have I tapped into what is special or unique about me that I can share with the world?
When you get some of those things down and then you start showing up consistently and you find patience, you will succeed, hands down, guaranteed.