- 22 hours ago
Hear from 3 leading, trusted black women Dymetra Pernell, Tonya Lewis Lee & Koya Webb on how wellness businesses viewers can follow on their paths.
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00:00Hello, everyone. I am so excited to be here to have this conversation with you today.
00:11This is one near and dear to my heart. But first, I'm Allison McEvna. I'm the deputy editor of
00:17Essence and Essence.com. And I am just this conversation is about to be so great. I'm really,
00:24really excited to talk to these amazing women about wellness. Our panel, The Business of
00:29Wellness, Leading Black Women at the Forefront is all about not just taking care of ourselves,
00:35but the women in the business of wellness. So let me get to these guests right away. First up,
00:40I have Dimetra Purnell, who is a chef, author and culinary expert who is just inspiring us with
00:48her incredible vegan dishes, transforming what we think it means to be vegan. So welcome.
00:57You're welcome. Next up, we have Koya Webb, who's an internationally recognized yoga teacher,
01:04holistic health coach, author, speaker and vegan activist. Welcome.
01:09Welcome. Thank you for having me.
01:12Of course. And last but certainly not least, we have Tanya Lewis-Lee, who is a producer,
01:18entrepreneur, and advocate for women's health. And one of my favorite Instagram accounts,
01:23I just got the greatest smoothie recipe from her in all history recently. Thank you for joining us,
01:29Tanya. Hi. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited about this conversation.
01:35Me too. Well, you know, we can just, you know, wellness in general, I think has become something
01:41that everyone talks about. And everyone loves the idea of like self-care Sunday and, you know,
01:48just the concept of wellness, but putting it into practice, as we all know, is really, really
01:53challenging. So I'd love to start just first, if you guys could tell me how you kind of got into
02:00and familiar with, you know, wellness as a business and what your journeys went from from there. So
02:06I'd love to start with you, Koya. Why don't you tell me about yours?
02:09I started wellness. I mean, I'm a country girl. So I was always running outside being in nature. I was
02:18a bit of a tomboy growing up. So that was kind of my background. But when I really started getting
02:23passionate about wellness was after a track injury, after running myself into the ground,
02:30competing, trying to be a student athlete, I realized that I was doing very well, but I was often
02:37exhausted. And one day after class, I fell to the ground in pain with a sharp pain in my back.
02:43And in that moment, not even being on the track, I got a stress fracture. So that stress fracture
02:49ended my track and field season, which I was on scholarship. So I was wondering, what am I going
02:54to do? There was so much uncertainty. There was so much fear. I went into depression because I didn't
03:00know what I was going to do with my life. So I was sent to a counselor and the counselor suggested yoga.
03:06And when I first went to yoga, like most people, I was like, this is not for me. I'm not flexible.
03:12I'm an athlete, but I'm tight. No one's here that looks like me. This, what am I doing here?
03:18And the teacher saw me frustrated and she was like, I just want you to breathe with me. And I took a deep
03:24inhale and exhale. And I felt these chills all over my body. And I remember feeling those chills before.
03:33And the last time I felt those chills was when I was in church. And I was asking my parents,
03:37when am I supposed to get baptized? And they're like, you'll know, you'll know. And I was like,
03:41well, how am I supposed to know? And I remember feeling those chills. And I knew that was my time.
03:46So when I felt these chills, I knew that I should stay in the room and keep practicing.
03:51Well, fast forward, 12 years later, I am still practicing yoga and the mental, spiritual and
03:59physical. It just benefits that I received from this practice has not only blessed my life,
04:05but it continues to bless the life of my friends and my family. And now my students,
04:10as I teach holistic health and yoga school, just hoping other people can benefit from the benefits
04:16of yoga and holistic health. Oh, my God, what a beautiful journey. Thank you for sharing that
04:21with us. Tanya, tell me a little bit about how you came to the space. Yeah, well, you know,
04:28it's interesting. It actually started when I was young, in a way. I mean, I was a 13-year-old kid,
04:33a little chubby, and had to go to my doctor for weigh-ins once a week. And she started talking to me
04:40about how to eat better, to lose weight, to be a more appropriate size, I guess. And that really
04:50sent me off into dieting. For many years, I've been on every diet you can think of. And it wasn't
04:55until I actually started on a campaign with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources,
05:03Health and Human Services, sorry, here in the United States to raise awareness about the high rates of
05:08infant mortality. And when you talk about an infant's health, you're really talking about a woman's
05:12health. So I was really put into this world of women's health and just got amazing information.
05:20And I think at that point, I had gained a little bit of weight. I was thinking, oh, God, I'm going to
05:26go on another diet. And I said, I can't do it. I can't do another diet. And I realized that it had to be
05:32a lifestyle. And so I was getting lots of information from my travels, wanted to create
05:39a platform for women to support, educate it, and inspire, because I know personally how hard the
05:45journey is. And from there, as I was trying to raise funds for my website or blog, if you will,
05:54I had just started taking a multivitamin that was making me feel really good. I met a gentleman who was
06:01the CEO of a vitamin company to talk about funding my platform. He said, why don't we come together
06:07and create an organic supplement for here, for the U.S. market, specifically for targeting black women.
06:16And so I would say my journey has been really personal all my life, sort of struggling with
06:20this weight thing, what I look like. It was always about what I look like, not about how I was feeling
06:25until I got older and discovered that it's really about how you feel and finding one's purpose and
06:34taking care of one's biology, your physical biology of your body, your mind and spirit, so that you can
06:41live out that purpose you're supposed to be doing. And what I discovered is it's a lifelong journey.
06:47You know, it's not easy. It changes throughout your life. What you do at 20, you're not necessarily
06:54going to do when you're 50 and you're not supposed to, but you're not going to do what you do when
06:57you're 70. And so I, I'm still in my, in my journey of health and wellness, even as a health and
07:06wellness entrepreneur, right? Because I'm listening to women about what works. I mean, for me, I love
07:12yoga. I'm new to yoga. It's been a, it's been a year and I, I, I'm so happy. Why was I so resistant?
07:18I don't know, but, but I guess it shows up when it's supposed to, right? And it's here now and,
07:25and I love it. And I, I'm mostly plant-based. I threw fish back in. I was vegan for many years
07:31and threw fish back in because it's working for me, right? And who knows, maybe I'll throw fish out
07:37if I feel like I don't want it for a while, but it's an ongoing journey that never ends for all of us.
07:42Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's a perfect segue into, uh, Dimetra, your, your incredible
07:49work that you're doing and your beautiful dishes. Tell me how you came into this space.
07:57Wow. So it's kind of 360 for me. Originally, uh, I was, um, a chef and had my own catering company
08:04and was diagnosed with, uh, pre-diabetes. I was headed to type two diabetes and high blood pressure.
08:11And the doctors kept telling me, they basically diagnosed me as being fat, you know, lose weight,
08:16just lose weight. So I lost weight yet. The blood pressure was still there. And the type two diabetes
08:21was still there. Well, I was working with a doctor in Atlanta who told me, listen, you can lose all
08:27the weight you want, but if you don't change your lifestyle, you're never going to be able to change
08:31those numbers. And so he challenged me to go vegan for 30 days. And at first I was like, how am I going
08:38to do this? I have a business selling chicken and ribs and Dumbo and all of these things. And I
08:44couldn't really figure it out, but I said, you know what? I want to live. So I decided to do the
08:49challenge for 30 days. And literally I said, I'm going to challenge myself to do it for 60. Well,
08:55by the time I'd gone back to the doctor, blood pressure had normalized, no more type two diabetes.
09:00My A1C was like a 4.8. And then I had to ask myself a question. Do you really want to go back to
09:06doing the things that brought you here in the first place? And the answer was no. So I decided
09:10to go vegan, but not just that. It was such a revelation to me that food was medicine that I
09:15decided it was time for me to like hang up my apron and go back to school to get my doctorate so I
09:21could teach other people how to heal themselves, especially people in our community, because so
09:25many people in my own family have passed away from complications of diabetes or high blood pressure
09:30or all of these things. And I continue to see it plague my friends and family. And I said,
09:34enough is enough. If God gave me a second chance, what better to do than to figure out how to empower
09:41myself to help others. And went back to school, got my doctorate and then started practicing as a
09:46doctor. Well, of course, your passion and your gifts never really leave you for too long. In the process
09:53of eating vegan, I really got sick and tired of not being able to have the things traditionally that I
09:57would eat, which was like ice cream, sweet potato pies, pound cakes, all these fun things. So I decided
10:03to get back into the kitchen and figure out how to make these things. Once I did, I had a few people
10:07taste them and they went nuts, decided to test the idea. And it was something that caught on like
10:13wildfire so much so that I literally had to leave the practice and go back into culinary. And so here we
10:19are. Wow, that's amazing. And you know, what's so interesting to me hearing all of your incredible
10:26stories, really, you know, there's a there's a common denominator here when we talk about wellness,
10:32and so many of the wellness experts that I follow talk all the time about how truly, you know, food
10:36and moving your body is truly like the foundation of it all. And I think we all know that. But you
10:43know, it's hard to put it into practice. That said, you know, I do see I did read a statistic that
10:49black women are the largest growing and most rapid growing population of vegans. So talk to me just a
10:56little bit about, you know, why you guys kind of made that decision and truly, you know, why we
11:02don't as a as a culture and a society understand that food truly is medicine. Anyone can can jump in
11:10on that. I'll just say and I think this is a question for Demetria. But I think, you know, for me, it was,
11:16it was a light bulb moment. Similarly, when I when I really began to understand that food nourishes my
11:24body, like understanding that there is a biological connection to what happens. It's not just about
11:32what tastes good. It's not it's and by the way, a lot of those other foods, when I gave up the dairy,
11:38dairy didn't make me feel good. Actually, I would eat things. And then I wouldn't feel so good. And,
11:44you know, I discovered that I can eat food that actually makes me feel good. That gives me energy.
11:50I mean, my smoothie that you mentioned, like that, that that makes myself happy in the morning. Like
11:56it gets me going. And it's so tasty and delicious at the same time. So I think for me, it was really
12:04about discovering that food can either aid in healing, it can, it can kill cancer, or it can feed
12:12cancer. So I'd rather be eating the foods that get rid of the bad things. And, you know,
12:19eat the foods that are going to make me feel good.
12:23I think that's so powerful as well, because I wrote a book in 2008 called Foods You Love That
12:30Love You Back. So you're saying, yeah, I ate it, but I didn't really like it. It didn't make me feel
12:35good. And I think a lot of times in our culture, we have foods that we say we love, but the food
12:40doesn't love us back. So we have a bad relationship with food. But when we think about fruits and
12:45vegetables, nuts and seeds, all the foods that give us the most nutrients, that are the most
12:50nutrient dense without the toxins, we actually are feeding ourselves and all those preservative foods
12:57and foods that are more toxic. If we start, you know, slowly taking those out of our diet, we're
13:02going to feel better. And I think for me personally, as a girl coming from the South, I like flavor. So if
13:08I can, you know, do like the meat there and put that curry and that barbecue and all those things on my
13:13food, that's what made me stay. And I think honestly, when we have great chefs making amazing
13:18food and we can still get that flavor from our culture, we're going to stick with it because
13:22we know we're going to feel better and we're going to look better if we eat foods that love us back.
13:28You know, I love what you said. And it's so interesting to me because I think a lot of times
13:34in our grind culture, you know, we just keep going and going and going. And sometimes, you know,
13:38you're waiting for the sign of like, if your blood pressure is okay, or your blood sugar is okay,
13:42that that means you're okay, right? But a lot of us, there are a lot of things happening
13:46internally that we're not aware of. So I would love to hear, you know, just from your expert
13:51opinions, you know, what are some ways that we can really look out for that and also be thinking
13:56preventatively so that we are taking best care of ourselves. Demetria, why don't you start with that?
14:02I think from a food perspective, there's a thing called an intolerance test, a food intolerance
14:06test, which basically teaches us which foods we eat that actually begin to cause the inflammation
14:12in things that begin disease or cancer. So taking a food intolerance test, and as Ms. Lewis Lee stated
14:19earlier, paying attention, when you eat something, it could be blueberries, but if you don't feel well,
14:25then it's not good for you. And so we first have to sort of, I believe in, you know, bioindividualism,
14:31so bioindividuality. So I think it's very important that we understand exactly what foods work well for
14:36us, which foods don't, and then have the discipline to put the fork down for those things.
14:42In my practice, the things that we see over and over again are the things that we eat traditionally
14:46as a culture, are things that cause lots of inflammation, and things that cause us to become
14:51sick. So it's time to start tearing down those walls and social norms of, you don't eat them
14:57pork chops? Oh, come on now, you're not gonna eat my food? And learning how to say no, and then
15:02explaining to grandma or auntie, well, auntie, it's not that I don't love your food, it's just
15:06that it makes me sick, and I want you to eat better, too, so why don't we try some dishes
15:11together? Yeah, absolutely. I think that's great. And the only thing, other thing I'd add, too,
15:16is like, we do have a culture where people are working hard, right? So people want it quick and
15:20fast. And, you know, fast food came into our lives and really has wreaked havoc, trying to be helpful.
15:29And I think it's about how we think about preparing our food, how we approach it, right? I mean,
15:36I must admit that corona has forced me into cooking every night. And I've sustained it,
15:44because I have found joy, again, at being in the kitchen and cooking for myself every night.
15:50It's planning, yes, I have to plan it, though. Because I don't want to get slammed at five o'clock
15:55thinking, oh, my God, when am I going to cook for dinner? That's the worst. But if you take the
15:59time and plan it out and get your groceries in the house and the things that you need,
16:06when it comes time to actually doing the actual cooking, it's actually an enjoyment and not a chore.
16:14Absolutely. Ladies, I am so sad. Can you believe that our time is, I mean, it's up already. I feel
16:22like we're scratching the surface. So what I would love to say is just thank you all so much for joining
16:26us for this very brief conversation that I'm sure we could talk for hours on. But I would love to also
16:32just ask, you know, where we can, you know, find you guys, and how we can, you know, just very
16:38briefly how we can make sure that we're following you for the best info. So my name is Demetra
16:45Purnell. I'm the owner of First Batch Artisan Foods. And you can find us on Instagram at
16:50firstbatchaf or at our website, www.firstbatchartisan.com.
16:57And my name is Koya Webb. I'm a holistic health coach and author of Let Your Fears Make You Fierce.
17:02And you can find me on Instagram at Koya Webb, K-O-Y-A-W-E-B-B and koyawebb.com.
17:10And I'm Tanya Lewis-Lee. I'm the founder of Moveda Organics. And you can find me at Tanya
17:17Lewis-Lee. Tanya spelled with an O. Wonderful. Thank you, ladies, so much. Thank you for just a
17:23great conversation. Take care of yourselves. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye, ladies.
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