3 Voices Changing The Conversation Around Self-Care

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word self-care? You're not alone if it's an image of face masks and Epsom salt baths hash-tagged as such on a Sunday (and you're far from it if that's your ritual—it's one of our favorites, too). But the scope of the self-care movement as we know it is progressing in more ways than one, and the work of today's purpose-driven visionaries and voices are proof that acts of self-care can be richer and more relevant than ever before.

Olowo-n'djo Tchala, Founder and CEO of Alaffia

It's one thing to care for your body and skin by knowing what's in a product. But when that same product is changing lives on the other end of the supply chain, that's the ultimate sweet spot of cultivating well-being. And Olowo-n'djo Tchala, the founder of natural personal care brand Alaffia (which you probably recognize from Whole Foods Market's beauty section) is moving this particular needle in West Africa.

Tchala's entrepreneurship stems from a childhood of sharing a studio-size room in Togo, West Africa, with seven siblings and his hardworking mother—and dropping out of school as an 11-year-old to help her provide for the family. Uplifting women, he believes, is the key to alleviating the region's long history of generational poverty.

Since moving to the U.S. in 1998 and launching Alaffia in 2003, Tchala has been lauded for establishing revolutionary fair-trade business practices that sustainably contribute to the health and education of women like Tchala's mother, changing their trajectory and the future of their family. "When you talk with these women, they don't say, Oh, I'm happy to have money or even a job. They say, I feel like what I'm doing matters to the world. To me, that's priceless."

Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D., psychologist and founder of Therapy for Black Girls

We're seeing a swell of new spaces dedicated to nearly every aspect of personal care—from holistic fertility services to acupuncture studios. But ahead of the curve in 2014, clinical psychologist Joy Bradford filled a necessary gap in mental well-being that hadn't yet existed. Bradford launched Therapy for Black Girls—an online space and resource uniquely created for Black women to find mental health information that feels relevant and accessible. Bradford started by blogging about different topics, then added a therapist directory and a weekly podcast in the years since. 

Lalah Delia, spiritual teacher, founder of Vibrate Higher Daily, and bestselling author of Vibrate Higher Daily: Live Your Power

The idea that everything in the world has vibrational energy isn't new, but when it comes to combining self-love and soul work, spiritual writer Lalah Delia is shining a new light on vibrational-based living. Her approach to spirituality as a part of well-being is emblematic of a generation that's come up in the era of social media (and if you're one of her 270k followers on Instagram, you know)—she shares simple yet powerful daily meditations that can help us heal, find a higher purpose, and move through life more intentionally. 

Her backstory looks like a place many of us have been: "I was so tired of my life being in this loop," Delia tells mbg. "No matter what job or relationship I was in, or where I moved to, the same story would play out, just with different characters. To break the cycle, I understood that it was going to take a different energy or force to do that."

In a time when we have access to an unprecedented amount of content, especially when our world is facing enormous challenges, Delia's voice is part of a rising movement of self-awareness and empowerment. It's a much-needed reminder of the beauty that exists on this planet and the role we all play in it because, as Delia puts it, we're all connected.