Black Women Beat the Odds
A young black women meditates using healing crystals at Sol & Sound on Oct. 4 at LA High Memorial Park. She is among a variety of diverse individuals who enjoyed the relaxing sounds of the meditation, put on by the women’s wellness collective, Garden of Her. (Silvia Curiel / The Corsair)
The emergence of COVID-19 across the U.S. has tragically affected small businesses nationwide, but Black-owned businesses are one of many racially-diverse business groups affected exponentially more than others.
According to the research of Robert E. Fairle, a Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, 41 percent of Black-owned businesses have closed this year as a result of COVID-19, compared to 17 percent of White-owned businesses.
Jasmine Amirah Johnson and Janelle Ross are two remarkable young Black women who managed to beat the odds and start their business during the pandemic. After the start of California’s lockdown, Johnson and Ross co-founded Garden of Her, a women’s wellness collective that informs and educates women about spiritual, mental, and physical wellness.
Ross and Johnson’s business is a product of their strong friendship that started at their high school in Inglewood, CA. They have since been best friends with a bond that evolved in their womanhood, where they’ve talked about “spiritual topics and being a Black woman in America,” said Johnson.
These conversations contributed to the reason why they started Garden of Her. “This year, [we] realized we had a lot of symmetry when it came to wellness and caring for wellness of our mind, body, and spirit. So that's why we decided to team up and form Garden of Her,” said Johnson.
Garden of Her uses social media platforms, and live events, to teach healing and wellness. They are most active on Instagram where infographics are posted with wellness tips and tricks. These nuggets of knowledge include daily affirmations, health tips, meditation guidance and more.
Instagram is also used to market and inform their audience about their free meditation event called Sol & Sound -- an outdoor event featuring a sound bath meditation and wellness-oriented small businesses that sell their goods and services.
At the meditation on Oct. 4, the products available included massage therapy, oracle readings, apparel, acai bowls, and henna. Some of their sponsors provided free goods, such as juices and teas.
Standing on the right is sound bath practitioner, Italia, talking to a few ladies who participated in her meditation at Sol & Sound on Oct. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. Italia is holding an instrument she played during her sound bath that created ambient sounds to relax and balance the mind, body, and spirit of those who partook. (Silvia Curiel / The Corsair)
The sound bath is their main attraction. It is a meditation class guided by a practitioner who uses traditional instruments such as gongs, and crystal and gemstone bowls, to bathe their listeners in ambient sounds. The sound vibrates at frequencies that relax and balance the mind, body, and spirit of listeners, to help increase their overall wellness.
The event started on Aug. 2, and has occurred once a month on a Sunday afternoon at LA High Memorial Park. The season finale was on Nov. 1, but Johnson and Ross plan for Sol & Sound to continue in the future.
Johnson noted that her first experience with a sound bath changed her life and inspired Sol & Sound. “The experience just took me to a completely different dimension of meditating and incorporating sound,” said Johnson.
Sol & Sound’s mission is to make this experience accessible to the people of L.A., specifically attracting the Black community and allies who stand in solidarity.
“When things were becoming a bit chaotic, and really painful in the environment for the Black community, I knew that we needed peace, we needed a space to come together, align and just release any of the pain temporarily that we may be feeling based on what is happening within our community,” said Johnson.
Sol & Sound was created in response to hardships that the Black community faced this year as a result of the Black Lives Matter protests ignited by the unlawful killing of George Floyd, the pandemic, and heightened racial tension and violence. The event was also informed by the experience Ross and Johnson had as Black women growing up in America.
Ross particularly noted her undergraduate years when she moved from Inglewood, which has a predominantly Black and Latinx community, to Dartmouth College where only 5 percent of the student’s population was Black. She experienced microaggressions and “extreme culture shock,” said Ross.
This motivated her to learn more about her culture and heritage. “I learned a lot and it instilled this pride in my Blackness, in my Black womanhood, that I want all Black people to feel because we are beautiful and we deserve to know who we are and where we come from,” said Ross.
Flash forward to Sol & Sound that creates a space to support the pride of the Black community. Johnson and Ross mentioned that it’s an environment where Black people can take time to find balance within themselves as individuals, a part of a larger collective as they all come together to meditate.
This collective was not limited to Black people at the Sol & Sound on Oct. 4. A large variety of diverse individuals were enjoying the sound bath -- people of all ages, ranging from children to elders, people of different races, different sexual orientations, and more.
“I love seeing that people from all different walks of life are here to support us and then we can support them. It allows us to build this camaraderie with each other and it’s just nothing but loving energy in the air,” said Ross.
Kasey-Marie Nivero was a woman of color who felt a similar connection to Sol & Sound. “As soon as we started, I cried,” said Nivero, admitting that the tumultuous events of 2020 have been a lot for her, and the meditation provided her space to release her emotions. She also felt that Sol & Sound was an example of a united community amid the turbulence of 2020.
“With everything going on, there’s such a divide. [Sol & Sound] makes us remember that we need each other more than ever,” said Nivero.
Johnson and Ross are eager to meet the needs of the L.A. community and are grateful to have its support. They have goals to create content for Youtube and eventually create a Women’s Wellness Center in L.A. Yet, their biggest hurdle is ensuring they have enough money to fund their business.
Sound bath participants laid on their backs, stretched their limbs, or sat with their legs crossed, as they meditated to the ambient stylings of the sound bath on Oct. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. The Sol & Sound banner is in the background under a tent that served as the main stage of the event. (Silvia Curiel / The Corsair)
Garden of Her is not alone, as Black-owned businesses in America are financially disadvantaged due to systemic racism. They experience discrimination in many ways including the denial of loans in their early stages. This has even contributed to a wealth gap where Black people hold about 15 percent of the average wealth of White people, according to UC Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman.
The odds of success are stacked against Garden of Her, and even more so with COVID-19. They are one of many Black-owned businesses that need support from their community.
On Oct. 4, Ross and Johnson were showered with gratitude, compliments, and donations which they graciously accepted. They admitted that every dollar helped as the majority of their business is paid for with their own money, but they continue to develop creative ideas to fund Garden of Her and provide accessible resources to the L.A. community.
For more information on events, where to give donations, and wellness education, visit their Instagram account @GardenOfHerLA.
