WBENC is excited to announce our Women of Color Highlight Series, where we proudly showcase the incredible achievements and unwavering determination of our WBEs.
Through this ongoing series, we aim to spotlight the entrepreneurial journeys of these inspiring women and shed light on their impactful businesses across a multitude of industries. From technology and finance to fashion and healthcare, we will showcase the diverse talents, innovation, and resilience of Women of Color WBEs. Join us as we uplift and empower these extraordinary entrepreneurs, sharing their stories, insights, and strategies for success, while celebrating their invaluable contributions to the business world.
In this article, we commemorate Mental Health Awareness Month. It is crucial to highlight the resilience and determination of women-owned businesses that not only contribute to the economy but also prioritize the well-being of themselves and their teams. Mental health, an essential aspect of overall well-being, plays a pivotal role in fostering a positive work environment and driving business success.
In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, WBENC-Certified WBEs Naa-Sakle Akuete, Stephanie Morimoto, and Dr. Unoma Okorafor share insights into their routines that attribute to their mental health.
Naa-Sakle Akuete | Founder and CEO of Eu’genia
Everyone knows what it’s like to want beautiful skin that glows like the movies and Naa-Sakle (the founder of Eu’Genia) thought she had the answer – shea butter.
Q: How do you manage the stress and pressure of running a business, while also taking care of your own mental health?
It sounds really obvious, but the single biggest contributor to my mental health is making sure that I sleep enough. I run a business, I have a toddler, and I am pregnant… It is not always easy to stay well rested. It helps me to remember that sleep is not an indulgence, but rather a basic human need. Also, sound machines are incredible!
Q: Have you ever experienced burnout, and if so, how did you recognize it and recover from it?
When my first child was born, I was still running the company essentially solo. I put up an out of office to note that I would respond within 3 business days, but other than that I didn’t really take time to heal. My brother was the first person to call me out on that and pushed me to hire an assistant and delegate freely. As I begin to think about what “maternity leave” will look like this time around (and now with a three-year-old in tow), it feels completely irrational to have tried it alone the first time for so long.
Q: What strategies have you found to be most effective in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and how do you ensure that you prioritize your mental health as a part of that balance?
When you work for yourself, it’s easy for work to seep into all waking hours. I found that I couldn’t fall asleep because I was thinking of emails, if I woke up during the night, I would walk through conversations I needed to have the next day. This is very new — only as of the last few weeks — but I am trying to create more boundaries around working hours. Outside of my “working hours” I don’t open email, sometimes that means my phone is in another room if necessary.
Stephanie Morimoto | Owner and CEO of Asutra
Stephanie is Owner & CEO of Asutra, where we’re passionate about helping people take care of themselves on purpose so they can get the most out of life – what we call active self care.
Q: How do you manage the stress and pressure of running a business, while also taking care of your own mental health?
For me, the definition of self-care is not just about taking baths or doing yoga, although those are great. It’s about being very intentional about taking care of yourself. For me, sleep, movement and taking real breaks are how I manage stress and take care of my mental health.
Sleep is so important because it makes you more patient, more creative and better at relating to other people. Being rested helps you manage the stressful times and keep perspective. I like to move in some way every day. I lift weights a couple of times a week, which for women is great to maintain bone density as we age. I love walking, which is excellent for your health and gets you outside, which also reduces stress. I also do Pilates and yoga for core strength and to prevent injuries.
Finally, I take real breaks. I often take Friday afternoons off of working and spend time with my partner or friends, go to a museum or do something outside. I’m a believer in real vacations, where you disconnect from work for a solid period of time.
Q: Have you ever experienced burnout, and if so, how did you recognize it and recover from it?
Experiencing burnout, then recovering from it, are what inspired me to create Asutra. I spent a dozen years in fundraising and partnerships for national nonprofits in the education space and I hit a burnout wall when I was working in the nonprofit arena. I was working 18-hour days flying across the country and burning the candle at both ends. I would stumble home late from work, exhausted on Friday nights but not wanting to go to bed because it was my only time to do anything fun.
I tried to change the culture where I worked and got shut down, I realized this was not how I wanted to live the rest of my life. I embarked on a 10-year wellness journey to learn how to take care of myself, on purpose. I got restful sleep, ate more nutritious foods, did yoga and moved a lot more, gardened, connected with friends and took care of my health.
I found an amazing therapist who helped me unlearn a lot of unhealthy practices about being a perfectionist, how my productivity was my worth and that what I did was more important than who I was in the world. It was life-changing for me.
Q: What strategies have you found to be most effective in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and how do you ensure that you prioritize your mental health as a part of that balance?
I often tell people to do one thing. Figuring out what aspects you want in your life – work, family, friends, hobbies, spirituality, community, etc. – and how much time each aspect takes up is an ongoing process. It is overwhelming to tackle 17 things at once. Pick one thing you think will have an outsize improvement on your stress level or your mental health and do that for at least two weeks to form a habit. Start simple, do that one thing and once you’ve got that down, you can always add a second thing.
Dr. Unoma Okorafor | Founder and CEO of Herbal Goodness, LLC.
Dr. Unoma Okorafor is the founder and CEO of Herbal Goodness. She has a Master’s degree from Rice University and her Ph.D. from Texas A & M University, both in Computer Engineering.
Q: How do you manage the stress and pressure of running a business, while also taking care of your own mental health?
I delegate a lot! A common habit of business owners is that we want to control everything, we want to take on every aspect of our business by ourselves. The big issue with this is that at the end of the day, we are exhausted, fatigued, and most likely haven’t accomplished much. When I formed a habit of delegating tasks to other capable people, it not only helped build my trust in other people’s ability to perform but also relieved me of the burden of having to do it all. This took a lot of stress and tension off my shoulders and helped me be in a better space mentally as well.
Q: Have you ever experienced burnout, and if so, how did you recognize it and recover from it?
Yes, I have experienced burnout. For me, it came in the form of this overwhelming feeling of defeat. I just felt very tired and like no matter how hard I pushed, studied, implemented, and networked – I still had a long way to go.
I remember feeling suffocated at a conference and needing to leave the venue. I sat in my car and was like “You know what? I am taking a break!” and I turned off everything. Yup, I took a break from work, research, meetings…all of it. And when I got back to work after a few weeks, I felt new and ready to take on anything. I have been working with that formula ever since.
I take breaks once I feel like I have been pushing myself too hard. These breaks vary on my need at the time, it could be a few hours off-grid or a few days, or a few weeks. It all depends on my mental state and how exhausted I am.
Q: What strategies have you found to be most effective in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and how do you ensure that you prioritize your mental health as a part of that balance?
An effective strategy for me would be time management. One reason why business owners experience burnout is the lack of proper time management. Being a business owner, I have full autonomy to do whatever I like and see fit, but this can be a double-edged sword because most times I find that I work round the clock as I try to keep my business afloat. I sometimes find that I can’t stop the work clock. But then I learned that time management is essential to destressing and having a healthy work-life balance. It is necessary to have a working schedule, a start time, and a stop time. This will help you know when to close shop and hit “DnD” so you can enjoy and immerse yourself in other activities that refresh you.
Learn more about Herbal Goodness, LLC.
WBENC is excited to feature more Women of Color throughout our network in 2023! Each month we will be featuring at least one WBENC-Certified Women of Color WBE related to a specific, timely topic.
We cordially invite you to be a part of the Women of Color Highlight Blog Series by filling out the form by selecting the upcoming months you’d like to be featured in! This is a remarkable opportunity to showcase the strength, resilience, and accomplishments of WBEs, and we highly encourage you to participate!
Learn More & Submit
