The WELLTH Exchange | January 2026

Where healing joy, wellbeing, and liberation are shared as our true wealth.

Somatics + Rest + Nourisment + Storytelling + Community

From Symbol to Medicine

You may have noticed Experience WELLTH’s shifted visual identity. At the center of that change is the cowrie shell.

This was not an aesthetic decision. It was an ancestral one.

Across the African continent, cowrie shells were used for centuries as currency, trade, and exchange; particularly in West and Central Africa. They carried value not because of scarcity alone, but because of relationship: to land, to water, to community, to continuity. Wealth was not hoarded; it circulated.

Cowries are also deeply tied to the feminine. Their shape mirrors the womb. In many African spiritual traditions, cowries are associated with fertility, protection, divination, and the wisdom of women. They appear in rituals, adornment, and sacred practice; not as decoration, but as medicine.

As a Black woman founder, I wanted Experience WELLTH to visibly reflect:

• my connection to the African continent,

• the ancestral knowledge that predates colonial definitions of wealth,

• and the indigenous understanding - across the globe - that healing, spirituality, land, and community are inseparable.

The cowrie reminds us that wellbeing is wealth, that healing has always been currency,

and that exchange, of care, wisdom, rest, and truth, has always been how we survive and transform.

That is also why this newsletter is called The WELLTH Exchange. Not transactional. Transformational. An exchange of ideas. An exchange of practices. An exchange that moves us closer to liberation.

Healing as Liberation for Black Women

The Why

In a racialized world, Black women carry a compounded weight. We navigate structural racism and sexism in every sector of life. We bear the invisible labor of care for family, community, and workplaces that demand our brilliance while denying our humanity. We absorb microaggressions, surveillance, erasure, and hostility as a daily condition.

This weight manifests as ‘Black fatigue’ (Winters, 2020); the cumulative emotional, physical, and mental toll of constant exposure to racism. It shows up as stress, burnout, chronic illness, and the quiet loss of joy. Too often, we are told to push through without ever being offered culturally safe, liberation-centered spaces to rest, heal, and reclaim our own pace.

WELLTH Labs exist to change that.

Our Vision

As my friend and colleague Brittany Janay teaches us:

Black Liberation is Black people’s inherent right to make our own decisions, build

our own communities, affirm our identities and experiences, heal, and imagine a

world beyond whiteness. Liberated Love Notes.

For Black women, wellbeing and healing are not luxuries. They are survival tools and liberation strategies. When we rest, we resist systems that feed on our exhaustion. When we heal together, we repair the collective fabric of our communities. When we imagine freely, we practice futures not organized around whiteness.

The WELLTH Lab Proposition

WELLTH Labs are quarterly, intimate, day-long gatherings for Black women to engage in liberation-centered healing practices. Think of the Lab as an invention space. In our culture, “being in the lab” means you’re deep in creation - experimenting, refining, preparing what comes next. In WELLTH Labs, we apply that energy to our bodies, our nervous systems, our stories, and our futures.

In each Lab, participants:

• Leave the Attacks Outside: Grounding rituals help us move from survival mode into rest.

• Experiment with Healing: Somatic practices, breathwork, creative arts, storytelling, and dialogue help release stored stress and reclaim the body.

• Connect in Community: Nourishment through food, conversation, and shared cultural practices.

• Imagine Beyond Whiteness: Visioning and reflection anchor what liberation can look and feel like.

• Take Home the Tools: “Lab Notes” offer simple, culturally rooted practices for daily wellbeing.

Who We Serve

Black women across the U.S. who:

• Experience ‘Black fatigue’ (Winters, 2020), burnout, and chronic stress

• Have been impacted by layoffs, DEI rollbacks, or hostile work environments

• Are leading or supporting racial equity and community change work

• Desire healing, joy, and community without performance

Why It Matters

Black women are under siege, in policy, in workplaces, and in public discourse, yet are still expected to lead the work of justice without tending to our own healing. Stress-related illnesses like hypertension, autoimmune disease, and heart disease are not personal failures. They are political outcomes.

Liberation requires more than resistance. It requires rest, repair, and reimagination.

WELLTH Labs are more than events. They are infrastructure for a future where Black women are not merely surviving; but thriving, creating, and living free.

When Black women heal, the entire community moves closer to liberation.

Winters, M. (2020). Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit. Barrett-Koehler.

Growing the Black Wellbeing & Healing Directory

Healing doesn’t only happen in Labs - it happens every day in the hands, hearts, kitchens, studios, and sacred spaces of those who hold our communities. The Black Wellbeing & Healing Directory is a living, searchable hub for Black practitioners, creatives, food healers, and Black-owned spaces offering culturally rooted care. If you serve Black communities through healing, wellbeing, culture, or space, you belong here. Joining brings visibility, connection, collaboration, and opportunities to partner in WELLTH Labs and beyond. Add yourself or suggest someone: https://experiencewellth.com/amplifying

Call to Action

• Register for an upcoming WELLTH Lab www.experienceWELLTH.com/wellth-labs

• Share an invitation to WELLTH Labs with someone who needs rest and refuge

• Reply to connect with us directly and suggest a city where a WELLTH Lab should open next