- 1 day ago
What if success didn’t cost you your peace? This conversation explores what it truly means to do well and be well—building businesses, honoring purpose, and protecting your mental and emotional health at the same time.
Through honest dialogue and real experiences, panelists will reframe success as something sustainable rather than sacrificial.
Through honest dialogue and real experiences, panelists will reframe success as something sustainable rather than sacrificial.
Category
🎈
FunTranscript
00:00We are going to keep this conversation going because we're going to have a conversation
00:04about may you do well and be well, redefining success, wellness, and sustainability.
00:11Now, I have a question for you.
00:13What if success did not cost you your peace?
00:17I ask you that question because this conversation explores what it truly means to be well and
00:23live well while you're building your business, honoring your purpose, and protecting your
00:28mental and emotional health at the same time.
00:31Way too many of us as entrepreneurs, we sacrifice our peace as we are building successful businesses,
00:37and this particular conversation challenges all of that.
00:41It's going to be an honest dialogue and explore experiences.
00:45Panelists will reframe success as something sustainable rather than sacrificial.
00:50Are you ready for this conversation?
00:52All right.
00:53I love to hear it.
00:54So here to moderate this conversation, we have the magnificent Maria Casanova-Brown from
01:01Rise Well Solutions.
01:03Let's give her a round of applause.
01:06Joining Maria, we have Amika Coleman of Strands of Faith.
01:10Let's give Amika a round of applause.
01:14I love it.
01:16Up next, we have Ms. Khadijah Brunner of Deja B Coloring.
01:21Yes.
01:22Come on up, Ms. Khadijah.
01:25And last but not certainly not least, we have the lovely LaDonna Welch of Ebony Notes Co.
01:32All right, Ms. Maria, I am passing the mic to you.
01:36Well, hello, everyone.
01:37Well, I'm going to have to speak a little louder, and that's not normally the case.
01:40I'm Maria Casanova-Brown, a founder of Rise Well Solutions, and I'm excited to be on the
01:46panel today, moderating the panel with these gorgeous, beautiful, amazing, talented founders.
01:52And the subject that we have today is, may you do well and be well.
01:58And those words are incredibly intentional.
02:01And so we're going to jump right into it.
02:03But I'm going to introduce Amika Coleman first and allow her to tell you a little bit about
02:09herself and her business.
02:10And each panelist will actually begin by answering our very first question.
02:15And that will be, Amika, what does it mean, really, to do well and be well for you?
02:21So my name is Amika Coleman.
02:23I'm the founder and CEO of Strands of Faith.
02:26We're a purpose-driven, moisture-first beauty brand that brings joy to texture hair.
02:32And doing well and being well for me means showing up fully and authentically as who I
02:38am without diluting and watering myself down.
02:42So many times along the journey, it can be so tempting to fall into what everybody else
02:49wants us to become and to be.
02:50And we lose ourselves in the process.
02:53And throughout this entrepreneurial journey, I realized real quick that that leads to
02:59losing yourself.
03:00And so I, you know, my whole thing now is that I show up exactly as who I am.
03:05I give the world exactly who I am.
03:08And that's doing well for me.
03:10Wonderful.
03:11Wonderful.
03:12Well, thank you.
03:12I'm excited to hear a little bit more from you as well.
03:15Okay.
03:15The next we have Khadija.
03:17Khadija B. Coloring.
03:18Khadija Brummer.
03:19Tell us a little bit about yourself.
03:21And same question.
03:21What does it mean to do well and to be well?
03:25Yeah.
03:25So once again, my name is Khadija, the founder and creator of Khadija B.
03:29Coloring.
03:29And Khadija B.
03:30Coloring is a coloring book brand that celebrates our culture.
03:34It has melanin-rich art as well as positive quotes that you could color in as well.
03:40So I'm also an author, a mom, and et cetera, et cetera.
03:43So to be well and to do well for me is I know that to do well is to have
03:50impact and inspire others through my coloring books, through my children's books, as well as when people coming up to
03:57me when I have my booth at Essence Festival and letting me know that, you know, my books inspire them
04:03and help them with their mental health and stop them from committing suicide.
04:07So that's when I know that I'm doing well.
04:09And how do I know that I'm being well is when I have the clarity and the mental peace, right?
04:16And I'm able to spend time with my children and my family and I'm following my purpose.
04:23Okay.
04:24And last but not least, we have the amazing LaDonna Welch of Ebony Notes.
04:29Please share with us what does it mean for you and tell us a little bit about your business as
04:33well.
04:33Well, I am LaDonna Welch and Ebony Notes is a wellness brand that supports black women on their road to
04:41healing as they prioritize their well-being.
04:43And I do that with resources, tools, and elevated experiences.
04:48And I have stationery and I have a mobile app with affirmations for the black community that is free to
04:56download if you have an Apple device.
05:00And for me, what it means to be well and do well is for me to honor the season that
05:08I'm in.
05:09And by honoring the season I'm in, I'm not, like, being down on myself by where I am.
05:14I'm kind of going with the flow of I'm not rushing anything.
05:19And I'm just honoring where I am in that moment and not trying to do more than what's meant to
05:25happen in that moment.
05:27Wonderful.
05:28Well, thank you for that.
05:29And on that note, we're going to start off with our first question, and I'm going to give it to
05:34you specifically, Amika.
05:36And, you know, when we talk about doing well and being well, and particularly in today's world, we have so
05:42many images of what it means to do well and to be well.
05:45And if we're not careful, we can buy into other people's perspective about what success looks like.
05:51But success is deeply personal, and I know we've all had a conversation about that.
05:56So I'm going to kick this first question off to you, Amika, because oftentimes, as an entrepreneur, we're told the
06:03story that in order to do well, you have to sacrifice the things that matter to you most in life.
06:09And so my question for you very specifically is, when it comes to how you distinguish what it means to
06:17actually have healthy sacrifice, we all are willing to sacrifice, but when does it get to the point where you
06:24know, okay, this is not healthy sacrifice.
06:26I'm actually giving way too much.
06:29Can you tell us a little bit about that?
06:31So one of the things I realized quickly on this journey is that there's a difference between sacrificing for your
06:38purpose and sacrificing yourself for your purpose.
06:42And the difference is when you're sacrificing for your purpose, you're doing things that's in alignment with the ultimate goal
06:49and the impact you desire to create.
06:50But when you're sacrificing yourself for your purpose, you're saying yes to opportunities just because the opportunity is in front
06:58of you, and eventually that leads to burnout.
07:01And you find yourself like on this hamster wheel and trying to figure things out.
07:06And so I had to pull myself back in and ask myself the question, is this opportunity going to bring
07:16me peace?
07:17If it doesn't bring me peace while it's leading me to my purpose, then it's too expensive.
07:21And not expensive financially, but expensive like how is it stealing my joy?
07:27How is it pulling me away from my family?
07:29Like all of those things are very important.
07:31And so sacrifice is something that we all do when we're running a business, but there is a balance in
07:39between it.
07:40And that balance looks different for every single person.
07:43And as a mom of four, you know, and running a business, I had to decide, okay, there are seasons
07:49where the business needs me more.
07:51But then I also have kids and I have to prioritize them as well.
07:54And so I'm just finding that balance of knowing this is my version of sacrifice that I'm willing to give
08:02up without overextending.
08:04Because then also as entrepreneurs, we're always trying to, we're grinding and we're hustling and we're trying to get to
08:10the next level.
08:11But the next level will never come.
08:13And if you're not careful, you will find yourself constantly running and running and running until you run your battery
08:18dry.
08:19And so that imaginary line that never comes, you have to set the standard for yourself to say, this is
08:25my limit and put boundaries in place for yourself.
08:28And once I started doing that, the journey became a lot more easier.
08:32But it started with me.
08:34I love the fact that you said the question started with, is this opportunity going to give me peace and
08:41give me joy?
08:42Because oftentimes when you begin your entrepreneurial journey, you believe every opportunity or opportunities you need to take, right?
08:50And what you're saying is that is not the case.
08:52You have to really know which ones.
08:54Which really kind of leads us to our next question.
08:55And I'm going to go to you specifically, Deja.
08:58Because oftentimes you learn these lessons because you didn't do it the right way.
09:02Can anybody, you know, attest to that?
09:04And so my question is, was there a time in your entrepreneurial journey, Deja, where your choice to do well
09:13was pulling against what you needed to be well?
09:17You realized you were really out of bounds.
09:20Yes.
09:20I remember a moment, I want to say a few weeks before the pandemic.
09:25I was just, I just got a promotion as a senior business analyst.
09:29I'm a single parent.
09:30I'm also, a lot of people may not know, but I'm a recording artist.
09:33I have a song with the rap group Allure from the 80s and stuff like that.
09:37So we've been doing different shows and stuff like that.
09:40So literally, I want to say a week later, that's when the pandemic hit and we were stuck in quarantine,
09:47right?
09:47So now I just got this new promotion.
09:50Now we have to work from home.
09:51I have a son that was just starting kindergarten.
09:54I have a daughter that just started.
09:56So it was all these new things happening all at once when the pandemic happened.
10:00And it caused me a little stress and anxiety.
10:03I felt overwhelmed.
10:04And someone told me that coloring books will help out with that, with stress and anxiety.
10:09But when I went to go look for it, you know, the coloring books didn't really represent us.
10:14It wasn't positive.
10:15It wasn't inspirational.
10:16And that's where DJB Coloring was born.
10:19And with that, I found my purpose.
10:22And I realized that so many people were suffering from mental health and stuff like that.
10:27But it wasn't products that we could relate to.
10:30So I learned from that is a lot of times, you know how they say, check on your strong friends?
10:35Because on paper, people looking at me, okay, I'm doing shows.
10:39I just got a promotion as a senior business analyst, et cetera, et cetera.
10:43And on paper and on to the world, I looked like I'm doing okay, but I was suffering.
10:48So for me, it's just, you know, sometimes you have to just know that everything is not all the way
10:55right.
10:56But you could also use that as a time to create a business and a purpose.
11:02So now I found my purpose, and I don't suffer, you know, from mental health.
11:07And I found clarity and peace because I was able to create something out of nothing.
11:12Wow.
11:14That's amazing to me that there's oftentimes some of our greatest accomplishments are born out of our struggles.
11:22Exactly.
11:22As I heard you say.
11:23But I can imagine that it had to begin with you acknowledging that you may have been doing well, which
11:30is what the external vision looked like, but internally you weren't necessarily being well.
11:35Exactly.
11:37Well, Adana, I have a question for you as well.
11:40Because, you know, you can come to events like this, and I don't know how many of you have gone
11:44to some of the sessions.
11:46I know we all have, and you can get incredibly hyped up, right?
11:49And then you go back home on Monday or Tuesday, back to the same world with the same set of
11:55challenges, the same, you know, concerns.
11:59And at the end of the day, we all want strategies that are really sustainable, right?
12:04Things that we can invoke in our lives that allow us not only to maintain peace in the moment, but
12:11to continue it on.
12:13So because you are in the wellness space, if you had to share with our audience some very specific strategies
12:20for sustainable wellness, what would some of those strategies be?
12:24Well, first, I want to say that a lot of times the things that we consider self-care or wellness
12:29are not sustainable, like the things that we see on a regular basis.
12:33Like, some of us can't afford or don't have time to go sit at, like, a spa every weekend or
12:39once a month.
12:40Some of us can't do those things, and it's also not sustainable.
12:45But when we think of what is sustainable is what can we do just, I don't know, five to ten
12:53minutes a day to pour into ourselves.
12:56For me, I do something that's a little odd.
12:58When I get home from a long day, either at work or doing things or being out and about, I
13:05sit in the car.
13:06That is, I sit in the quiet space, like, that is my time to kind of unwind, to ground myself,
13:14to transition from being, doing whatever, like, from being here to being home, to being, to being, getting ready to
13:21step into, like, that mom, wife, whatever role.
13:24And then we have to have, like, accountability, and we have to set things in place so that we can
13:30hold ourselves accountable.
13:32For instance, I set calendar reminders.
13:34So if I have a goal or if it's something I want to do, like, I want to journal once
13:38a week, and I figure out what day I would like to journal on.
13:42I want to journal on Wednesday once a week.
13:44I put a calendar reminder, and I set it to be early enough in the day that if I haven't
13:48done it yet, I'm going to do it.
13:51So, like, 4 p.m., I'll say, it'll pop up.
13:54Did you journal today?
13:56And if I haven't journaled today, it's 4 o'clock.
13:58I still have time to do those things.
14:00Maybe you want to meditate before you go to bed, and you'll set a reminder maybe an hour before your
14:06bedtime and say, did I meditate today?
14:10And another thing is having an accountability partner.
14:13So having someone to check in on you, and they really know how you are truly doing.
14:19They're not just saying how you're doing just to say how you're doing.
14:22And they're really, truly checking in on you.
14:26Absolutely.
14:27I'd love to hear from you all as well because, again, these tips sometimes can seem so simple, but then
14:35when you really look at it, like, wait, I can actually apply that this evening.
14:39So what's one sustainable tip that you've been able to leverage around being able to take care of yourself?
14:46So for me, it's letting my no be no.
14:49I was that type of girly that no matter what you ask me for, because I like to give, I
14:54like to help people, and I'm always giving to people.
14:57And I had to say, let my no be no.
15:00It's okay to say no to things.
15:02And how I judge whether I say yes is I see if I have the mental capacity.
15:07I might not have the mental capacity to handle whatever it is that you want me to handle, right?
15:12Also, whatever opportunity comes to me, I see if it aligns with my purpose, right?
15:17Does it go to my mission?
15:19Does it help with mental health?
15:20Is this going to inspire people?
15:22And then I also look at the cost.
15:24What is it going to cost me?
15:25Is it going to take me away from my family?
15:27Is it going to cost me money, travel, time?
15:30The most precious thing that we have is our time, right?
15:33So before I say yes to opportunity, I go through those three things and see if it's going to be
15:41worth it.
15:42And for me, it has been simply allowing myself to rest.
15:46I think so many times we feel like we have to-
15:48Hold on, say that again.
15:50Allowing myself to rest.
15:51I said, say it one more time.
15:53Allowing myself to rest.
15:55Because so many times we feel like we have to earn rest, like we're beating ourselves into the ground.
16:01And I found myself one day I woke up, I had a full calendar and a list of things to
16:05do.
16:06And my body said, not today, sis.
16:08And so it sat me down.
16:10I found myself laying in a bed, looking up at the ceiling.
16:13And that simple act was so rejuvenating for me.
16:16And so now after that, I work that into my schedule to allow myself that time to rest.
16:21And then LaDonna mentioned the car.
16:23How many of y'all have ever sat in a car to just recuperate?
16:27That is a real simple yet powerful thing.
16:31Last week, I pulled in the driveway, and I texted my husband.
16:35I said, listen, don't send those kids outside.
16:37Because every time I drive up, they hear, I was like, I just need a breather.
16:40And that is enough.
16:42And so it's just the simple things that we can incorporate every day that doesn't cost anything that you can
16:47put into your routine.
16:49Right.
16:49And then I want to piggyback on you saying, allowing yourself to rest.
16:53I just want to let everyone know that they always say that you can't pour from an empty cup.
16:58I'm going to tell you that you should be pouring from a place of overflow.
17:02You know how your cup has a little saucer under it?
17:06That's where you should be pouring from.
17:07Everything that's in your cup is for you.
17:09And that's not selfish.
17:11So just remember that you should be pouring from a place of overflow.
17:15And if your cup is just to the tippy-tippy top and nothing's coming out, it's not for you to
17:20give.
17:21You have to wait until you have something to give.
17:23And I know, LaDonna, when we all met, I got to say, I had never heard that.
17:29I'd always heard, pour, don't pour from an empty cup.
17:32And that made sense to me.
17:34It made sense to a lot of you.
17:35And so you almost can physically see your cup getting lower and lower and lower.
17:39And what LaDonna taught me was, no, the cup is for you, the whole cup, right?
17:45And the overflow is for everyone else.
17:47And also, as black women, we have been conditioned to work hard, work yourself to death, you know, the hustle
17:53culture and stuff like that.
17:55And you don't have to, I'm in my soft career, you know.
17:59Sometimes I do drop-off laundry.
18:01You should see the older black woman looking at me, oh, my God.
18:04You know, so sometimes you have to do stuff for yourself, and it's okay.
18:07Yes, yes.
18:08Well, as we close out, this next discussion or final discussion really is about permission.
18:15Because, you know, all of the tips are amazing, and I know a lot of you probably heard some things
18:21that thought, oh, I could try that.
18:23But it really boils down to you giving yourself permission, right?
18:28So I want you to think about five to ten years from now, when you all remember coming to Essence
18:33Fest 2026, what's the one tip you want everyone to remember for having been in this room with you today?
18:41I'll start with you, LaDonna.
18:42Oh, we're going to start with me.
18:43Okay.
18:45The one tip, I'm just going to repeat what I said.
18:48The one tip I want every single one of y'all to remember is that what's in your cup is
18:53for you, and you do not have to give that to anyone else.
18:56You need to pour it from a place of overflow.
18:59Excellent.
18:59What about you, Deja?
19:00I'm going to be a broken record, but I want to say just let your no be your no.
19:05And it's okay to say no to some things.
19:07You don't have to do everything for everyone.
19:10What about you, Amika?
19:11And my tip would be to keep the faith, because that applies to every single thing in life.
19:16When you're feeling low, when you're feeling down, when you're in a valley, keeping the faith is all you need
19:21to keep going and be hopeful for your next.
19:24Yes.
19:24And I'll just add to that in this one second.
19:27Define your own success.
19:29What I love about all of these founders is that you all have your own definition of what success is,
19:34and it begins with there.
19:36The truth.
19:37So that may you all not just do well, but be well.
19:40Thank you so much, ladies.
19:41Thank you so much.
19:45And baby, I'm one tonight.
19:49Ready, set, let's go.
19:52I'm a rum and lemon dealer.
19:56Cause I know what gets you.
19:57I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:57I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:57I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:57I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:58I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:58I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:58I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:58I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and
19:58I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I'm a rum and I
Comments