I recently had the pleasure to attend the Kroger’s Wellness Your Way Festival (WYWF). I had the opportunity of interviewing Shanicia Boswell the creator of Black Moms Blog, where she talks parenting, culture, and lifestyle from a Black mom’s point of view. As a content creator, she wears many hats. Delving in the forms of photography and videography, Shanicia shoots womanhood, birth, and lifestyle images for her global blog community and for personal clients.
Shanicia works to facilitate gatherings for women and sisterhood to bond through educational conversations and spiritual connectivity. Her global brand has spread to an international level with her traveling to places like Toronto and Colombia to help women bond. Shanicia Boswell created The Self Care Retreat: A space for women to relax, release, and unwind. Her first international retreat is being held in Santa Marta, Colombia in June of 2019.
As an entrepreneur for nearly six years, Shanicia teaches others what she has learned from running a business through video and public speaking. She helps to make entrepreneurship practical by breaking down step by step processes to streamline productivity.
Thank you so much for joining us Shanicia. This festival is about “Wellness Your Way”. What does the term “Wellness Your Way” mean to you?
Wellness my way means choosing my own state of peace and happiness. To me it goes beyond just food, for me, wellness is self care. I’m a mom. I don’t know how many people are moms, but moms have the worst self-care on the planet because we’re constantly in the state of putting everybody before us. So just really honing in on my own self-care putting myself first. Because I believe that instead of living for your children, you have to live for yourself, and they benefit from seeing a happy and healthy parent.
Can you tell me about a wellness challenge you’ve had and overcome?
A wellness challenge that I’ve had to overcome has do do with my physical health. I’ve always been fairly slender. I didn’t gain a hundred pounds until high school. I was very tiny and then I had my daughter and I mean it just, boom boom boom it happened. And then being a black woman, in our community, to be thicker is to be perceived as more beautiful, but it’s not always healthy. I went through all the trends I’ve tried to be vegan, I’ve tried to be vegetarian, and I realized that its whatever worked for me. I have this rule that I don’t bring meat in the house, but I’ll eat it if I go out. So all the meals I cook at home are vegan or vegetarian. But if I eat out I eat meat and I’m OK with that. I’ve learned to say “No” to all the trends and write my own rules.
What’s your current wellness mantra or life quote?
I’m currently reading The Alchemist and the book speaks to my entire life. They speak about finding your personal legend, walking in your purpose, in your dream unapologetically, having full body “Yeses”. The quote that I want to mention in the book and I’m probably gonna misquote this “when you want something the whole universe conspires to help you get it.” I love that quote It means so much to me because as someone that is currently you know searching for their personal legend and working towards it. It rings so true. I encourage anybody that is in the process of finding their destiny or looking for their bigger purpose to pick up a copy of The Alchemist.
What’s one wellness product/routine you can’t live without right now?
I’m big on face oil probably because I used to have a skincare line in Atlanta so I learned about skincare many years ago. That wasn’t really what I wanted to do so I got out of it. But skincare is still really important to me. A lot of people are afraid to use oil but say use things on your skin that’s going to moisturize it. There’s a company called Alchemy that I use a lot. And Origins makes a really great face oil.
Regarding my spiritual well-being I write. I’m a writer by trade. That’s what I do, I’m an author. I always encourage people to keep a notebook by their bed so that when they wake up whether it be in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning write down your dreams.
What projects are you currently working on?
I’m working on some things that I haven’t released yet. I’m working on some children’s books that really guide children on how to handle everyday situations. I have a daughter. This is something I know from experience with her. She struggles with introductions. So the first book is on teaching children how to confidently introduce themselves to other people. Why not start them when they’re five or six years old?
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Connect with Shanicia on Instagram @shaniciaboswell