- 6 months ago
Tonya Lewis Lee created Movita to help women gain a baseline of good nutrition, and a practice of positive choices that support a lifestyle of well-being. For Tonya, Movita is a platform to continue the conversation about finding balance and to offer a tool to help women as they work through this process.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, hello and welcome to another episode of Shop Essence Live. I am your host Noni Donovan
00:06and this is a show that we do in partnership with the New Voices family where we bring you two new
00:12Black-owned brands to shop with us every single week and when I tell you we're going to be getting
00:18our luxury pajama life together with Melda Moda in a little bit but up first we got to get the
00:26skin right, we got to get our mood right, we have to get all the things right and Tanya Lewis-Lee
00:32who is the founder and CEO of Movita Organics is going to do just that. Let's welcome Tanya.
00:39Hello. Hey there. How are you? I am fantastic. So happy to be here. We're so so so so happy to have
00:49you. First of all we can't skip over this is a cover girl. This is an Essence cover girl with
00:54her beautiful daughter. It's one of my favorite shoots. So I have to shout you out for being an
00:59alumni there. We love Essence always. So so great. So let's talk about Movita Organics. What was it
01:10that motivated you, that inspired you to start this incredible brand? So I started Movita Organics,
01:17it's been about six years ago now. Really when I discovered that in the United States, women in
01:23general were not doing so great in terms of our health and wellness. And so, you know, I wanted
01:29to figure out a way to talk to women about how we access our healthiest lifestyle. It's hard for
01:35everybody. I don't care how many resources you have. And I didn't want to just talk about it. I
01:40wanted to also provide a tool. And so my vitamin supplement line, Movita Organics is really a tool in
01:48a woman's toolbox as she's trying to access her healthiest lifestyle. Yes, indeed. There it is.
01:55Oh, come on. So I want you before we get into the shopping, because you guys know you're tuning in,
02:02this is a shopping show. We always hook you guys up with some kind of special promo code. So before we
02:09start to get into all the products that you have, if you can just tell everybody what your promo code is,
02:16yes, they can shop it. Absolutely. The Movita Organics promo code is essence 20. And it's 20%
02:24off. So please check out our products and use that code essence 20. So good. Okay. So I am so excited
02:34to talk about all of the products in your line. You mentioned, you know, especially for busy moms,
02:44busy black women, period. We often put ourselves last. We go until there's no gas in the tank,
02:54and self care goes right out the window. And I think that taking care of ourselves from the inside out
03:02is often neglected. So I would love for you to go through kind of product by product, what you want
03:09to highlight, but then what the benefits of it is. Sure. And what I want to say is, you know,
03:15we really believe in sort of being your baseline of nutrition. So you have three products there,
03:21although we do have six, we have six products. But the three products that we're talking about today
03:27are first are prenatal. We're talking to women who are thinking about getting pregnant or have just
03:34gotten pregnant, check out Movida prenatal. It is your baseline nutrition. It's two tablets
03:42once a day. And what's so great about our products is you can take them on an empty stomach without fear
03:49of having an upset stomach or queasiness or anything like that, which is really important, especially
03:55when one is pregnant. So that's the first one, Movida prenatal. The second product you have there
04:03is our vitamin D3. I think many of us, yes, many, as, as you said, Nona, it is sunshine in a bottle.
04:13You know, many of us are very low in vitamin D and especially with those of us with melanated skin,
04:19you know, it's harder for us to absorb the vitamin D from the sun. And that's where we get it from.
04:25That's the only place we get it from is from the sun. And I think about why in the summertime,
04:29do I feel so much better? I have so much energy. I'm so much more vibrant. And I think it's because
04:34I'm outside. I'm getting all that vitamin D, but by wintertime, it starts to wane. And so our vitamin
04:42D3 products, all of our products are made from organic ingredients. Again, it's one a day,
04:48really high quality. By the way, they are third party tested. That's why I made these products. I
04:54wanted them to be premium. What they're what's in them is what we say is in them. And they're really
05:00good for you. The third product you have there is our beauty hair, skin and nails, which is
05:07essentially, you know, a biotin supplement. And I will say this, you know, I want to encourage women
05:16when you're using hair, skin and nails, again, made from organic ingredients, third party tested,
05:22take on an empty stomach once a day. But I will caution you with biotin. You should talk to your
05:29doctors about this because sometimes, you know, if we're thinking about getting pregnant or fertility,
05:35sometimes biotin does, can get into interact with our hormones. So make sure you talk to a doctor
05:42about taking biotin. But if you're looking for a great biotin product, Movida Organics is your product.
05:48Come through. First of all, everybody knows I am just such a sucker for beautiful packaging.
05:58And just imagine this in your medicine cabinet.
06:01Well, we did it, you know, because vitamins are in like an ugly bottle that you want to put up in
06:09the cabinet and then you forget you have it and then you forget to take it. Guilty as charged.
06:15So we really wanted to create beautiful packaging that you'd like to interface with that you wouldn't
06:21mind leaving out. So it reminds you to take it and you're buying it from Essence here. But if you were
06:27to get a subscription, which is what we have also, you we send you a pouch to refill the bottle. So
06:34it's also sustainable. So you get the bottle first and then you can refill your product.
06:40That's so great. And I love the glass. And yes, sustainability is so important. So we don't have
06:47a whole landfill of a bunch of plastic vitamin bottles. It's just this beautiful. And I definitely
06:53would not mind displaying these in a row on my bathroom sink. Like, look how beautiful.
06:58Oh, so beautiful for you. Good for the environment. Absolutely. So it's so interesting
07:06that we always when it's summertime, it's like it's happy time. And then we get the winter blues
07:11and we kind of just blame that on the weather and the coldness. But really, you make such a great
07:17point. It is, you know, our relationship to the sun and just personal testimony with your D3
07:23vitamins. Like it is literally sunshine in a bottle. It is such a great mood enhancer. Like
07:31I, I have been in a slump for the past few days, stressed out and trying to do X, Y, Z,
07:35just drinking coffee every second. This morning I took the D3. And when I tell you I was dancing
07:40in the bedroom, my husband's like, what's going on? I was dancing and I have not had any coffee
07:47today, y'all. Yeah. I have no coffee. And it's so great. Yeah. It's important. And I think,
07:54I think we don't realize it. Right. And, and I, I'm, I'm guilty as charged. I have a vitamin
07:58supplement company and I will take them when I'm not feeling so great. When I get that vitamin D
08:04lull and they're like, wait, I haven't taken my vitamin D in a week. And then I start taking it
08:10again. And suddenly I'm feeling like I've got a little more energy, a little more pep in my step.
08:15I'm a little happier, easier to get along with all of those things.
08:20Oh, so, so good. If you can, let's talk a little bit about this beauty. The beauty vitamin here,
08:28because there's a lot of, there's a lot in the market. This is going to grow your hair down to
08:34your feet and you got to take this and you got to take that. What, what are the noticeable differences
08:39once you start to take this Movita beauty? What, what are the benefits that people will see?
08:45Well, we've developed it specifically for hair, skin, and nails. So the idea is that your hair grows,
08:52it's got a nice shine to it. Now I'm not going to say it's going to grow down to your ankles,
08:57but I will say that it can, it can help your hair grow stronger, more vibrant, more shiny skin.
09:04I mean, I'm big on skincare inside and outside. And I think it's really important that we think
09:10about what we put inside. We try to get everything from what we eat. I mean, I certainly do,
09:16but it's not enough. And so what we have in our, our beauty product also helps with the skin,
09:23makes it shine, makes it glowy and helps to grow the nails. I I'm a girl who loves a manicure. I love
09:30to have my nails done always. When I, when my nails look good, I feel good. It's something about
09:35looking down at my nails and they grow stronger. They last, you know, they don't break as often.
09:41They're not so brittle with our, of our beauty product. Oh, this is such perfect timing because
09:48I am on a journey of soft beauty. And what soft beauty means is I found that I, I kept doing these
09:56like false nails or the, the, the acrylic tips and then take that off. And then my nails were
10:03wrecked. And it's almost like we are, if I would just leave my nails alone and take care of my own
10:09nails, the, the sustainability of that. And the beauty of that is just so much more beautiful
10:15instead of being prisoner to these other methods of actually causing damage to it. So I am just so
10:21excited to go on this healthy nail skin care journey with Mobita. I love that. I think it's
10:27important that we try to go back to our natural beauty, our natural, like as again, internal health
10:33goes on the outside, you know, people ask me, like, what do you, what do you think of as beauty? And I
10:40think of beauty as healthiness, as, as, as seeing peacefulness, as seeing calmness, as seeing what nature
10:49really brings forward. Um, but when you start with a good beauty product, it's always a way to,
10:54to begin. So good. Okay. Let's bring up the promo code one more time. Cause I know you guys are
11:02chomping at the bit. We're going to be putting all, if you're watching on Pinterest, we're pinning
11:07these products here. If you're watching on essence.com, we're going to fly up the product so that you can buy
11:11them there, but there's also a promo code. If you can give them the promo code one more time.
11:17The promo code is essence 20, 20% off. So check it out. Check it out. 20% off. You can have your
11:24bathroom filled with a whole row of beautiful Mobita. And I want to say, you know, we talked a
11:32little bit about the prenatal, um, which I'm really excited about. That was the second product you came up,
11:37came out with and, um, you know, going forward, you know, my husband and I wrote a children's book
11:45called please, baby, please many years ago, but it's been around for a long time. I, at this point,
11:50I think it's considered a classic, uh, holiday we'll be offering a box of please, baby, please.
11:59That has please, baby, please. And the prenatal, uh, product together. So it's a great shower gift.
12:05It's a great Christmas gift for anyone that you know, who is, uh, about to be pregnant,
12:11who is pregnant or has just been pregnant. Prenatals are good, even postpartum. If you
12:17are breastfeeding, which I encourage women to do, uh, sometimes breastfeeding is not easy.
12:23It seems like a natural thing that just happens like that, but you've got to work at it. And if you
12:29can, continuing along with prenatals is really good for, for mom and for baby.
12:35So good. I had the healthiest hair, right? And it grew and grew. So yeah, definitely. This is such,
12:44this is one of those things where they say it's the thought that counts. This is such a thoughtful
12:48gift to get for someone that is expecting. Think about the holidays coming up. Think about that
12:53baby shower invite that you just got. And you're trying to figure out what you're going to get on
12:56the registry, but you want to surprise them with something for the mom to trust me. And the book is
13:01incredible written by her and her husband. In case you don't know, legendary Spike Lee is who we're
13:06talking about is her husband. Okay. I'll put that out there. Um, but so incredible. It's so
13:12like, I hope that everyone tries out these products, see the difference, make sure you're tagging,
13:20tag me, tag Movita for sure. And let them know the difference that you're seeing, especially with the
13:25D3, D3, there was no weight. Like I felt it immediately. So you want to make sure, take care
13:32of yourself from the inside out. If you're in a slump, if you're always grumpy, you might be low
13:37on the D3. Absolutely. You might be. And I want to say like, you know, we really took some time,
13:43effort and thought in developing our products because it was really important to me. There's so
13:49many vitamin products out there. Sometimes it's really hard to know what to take and what not to
13:53take. And when I started at Movita, I had just started taking a different vitamin supplement
13:58and was kind of, and I was feeling good and trying to figure out what was the difference? Why did this
14:03product make me feel better? And another didn't. And I got an education. And what I learned is just
14:08like everything else, there's some really great products on the market and not so great products
14:13on the market. So I wanted to bring for women, a really positive, good tool that one can use and
14:20really get the bang for their buck. Your body absorbs most of it when you take it. So, you know,
14:27you, you, you get the bang for your buck when you take the vitamin, which is why you feel so good.
14:33Come on. So good. Okay. Before I let you go, you are a member of the New Voices family. So I have to
14:39ask, what has that been like for you being a part of such a great community? Well, you know, any,
14:45being a part of the Essence community, the New Voices community, it's fantastic just in terms of,
14:51you know, Shop Essence Live. This is amazing. Reaching so many other people that I otherwise
14:57wouldn't be able to. You know, obviously Essence Fest is amazing. Anytime that you can participate in
15:05that. I believe we were in a wellness gift bag. So we're able to reach so many people. And again,
15:11while our products are for everyone, I was really thinking about black women when I started
15:18MoVita. And so being able to reach, you know, my core audience through New Voices is just exciting.
15:25And I'm, I'm so grateful that I'm able to do it.
15:29Oh, well, I appreciate, we appreciate all the work that you have done and everything you've put into
15:35MoVita. You guys definitely should try this out. Make sure you tag us and let us know what has been
15:41like for you and your progress. Cause this is a game changer. Treat yourself.
15:47And take care of yourself too. We know you're taking care of everybody else. Take care of
15:52yourself. Exactly. This is for you, your time. And trust me, when you take care of yourself,
15:57you're taking care of other people. Everybody's better. When, when, when a woman is better,
16:03everybody's better. Exactly. Tanya, you have been so incredible. Thank you so much for being
16:09on this week's episode of Shop Essence Live. And I can't wait to see more of MoVita in the future.
16:15Well, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. I'm glad the D3 is working for
16:20you and I, and I hope it works for all of you too. Yes. Thank you, Tanya.
16:24All right.
16:25All right.
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