A gathering of wellness wisdom from some of the dynamic, creative women we are lucky enough to chat with each month on Vida Stories. Discover their inspired ideas to reconnect, stay grounded and feel beautiful, inside and out. 

When it comes to feeling radiant and healthy, each of us have the things that work for us. We gathered some of our favorite savvy insights from a coterie of creative women, from food pioneers to designers, aestheticians to artists. Their rituals (and attitudes) are fascinating and lucky for all of us, easy to adapt into our own self-care routine. Enjoy! 

DOAN LY, ARTIST AND FLORAL DESIGNER
“I think having some kind of physical practice, like being connected to your body, always helps me feel grounded and connected to my inner sense of beauty. Throughout the pandemic, I ran. I’m a terrible runner. I hate running. And I’m not a fast runner. I’m not going to run the marathon. That’s not the point. The point is just to have something I commit to. It became my form of meditation. I run very, very slowly, and I do it every day. And it makes me feel great, I’m always glad I did it.”

DR. AKILAH CADET, FOUNDER AND CEO 
“I have some pretty strong boundaries. I don't work on Fridays, so I have a four-day work week. Another important thing that I do for self care is I will not tolerate any type of disrespect. I’ve had clients who have been very disrespectful and I make it very clear that that’s not okay. And then I no longer work with them. I either terminate the contract or other people on my team will work with them. The last thing I do is basically one day a week, Sunday, no one can talk to me. I’m literally on my couch all day and I will binge watch something.”

JOOMEE SONG, CELEBRITY AESTHETICIAN
“For all of us, by massaging the face, feeling that tension every day, you start to notice the changes, the differences that happen on your face, and that’s how you connect with yourself. That’s a part of the reason why I ask people to massage and really feel their face every day. Practicing gua sha or using a jade roller is totally fine, but I want you to use your fingers after that. I want you to feel your face with your fingertips, because your hands will remember what your face felt like yesterday. I want you to connect with yourself.”

DR. SHAUNA SHAPIRO, PSYCHOLOGIST AND MINDFULNESS EXPERT
“When you start practicing mindfulness (which means to see clearly), you begin to see how connected we all are and how connected the breath and the heartbeat are. You start to realize, “I’m more like you than I am unlike. We are not so separate.” 99.9 percent of our DNA is exactly the same. There’s something really healing in that while still honoring and respecting our differences. It’s not saying that we’re all one and we’re all the same. But within that, recognizing at the most fundamental level we are all connected.”

CARLIE CUSHNIE, DESIGNER
“I love green juices or celery juice, or I’ll make a green smoothie with collagen. I try and do that as much as possible throughout the week, which is also just part of an overall effort to create a good habit. My eldest daughter, who is 18 months, loves green juice too and gets excited when I make a green smoothie. I like that she’s 18 months and I can get her to drink spinach, so I try to keep that up so she also learns the importance of that.”

ERICA CHIDI, DOULA, EDUCATOR, AUTHOR
“I don’t really wear any makeup, so my baths are definitely a really big part of my beauty ritual, and then my skincare. Obviously I love Vintner’s Daughter and have for a really long time. I love the simplicity of the skin ritual that I have. I’m a minimalist. I like to keep things simple and routine, so when I find something that works it’s rare that I will stray. My beauty rituals also have a lot to do with my hair. My hair is loced, and I’ve worn it in locs for years, and getting my hair retightened every six months or so is another important ritual.”

Discover our archive of In Conversation stories here. 

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