We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Onye Sample. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Onye below.

Onye, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Well, after reversing my own reproductive challenges naturally, I deeply felt that more women should have access to the information that took me over a decade to learn. I always felt like women should have a choice, not forced to deal with something simply because they may not fit into a system. When I was dealing with my reproductive challenges, pharmaceuticals did not agree with my body so I was forced to find more holistic alternatives.

I also love to cook. I found that the recipes that was making for myself to support my womb needs could also help with other things as byproduct. I began trying out my recipes on close friends and family and they saw the benefits as well. Having a blog where I could fully show up and offer real solutions that are easily accessible meant a lot to me.

So when a woman subscribes to my blog, they are gaining a ton of impactful information that I believe should have always been available to them, especially from someone who looks like me. There were almost no Black women representation in this space outside of medical professionals, but I also was left still trying to search for info on my own and piece things together.

Once a friend of mine who has very painful periods and terrible side effects (such as vomiting and hospitalizations) followed my meal plan for 2 weeks and the symptoms were gone, I knew it was worth pursuing.

Onye, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

So my first career is in the beauty industry as a hairstylist. It was here that I was able to study Black women’s needs, and use my intuition to help solve hair challenges and provide great natural hair care. I was able to begin to see the connection of how the inside affects the hair and cause and effects within the body.

After a few tough rounds of exhaustion, I knew I had to make some changes for my own life. I’ve always loved writing, cooking, and wellness. Over my entire twenties I studied various eating styles, health and wellness practices that would be best for my reproductive condition. I discovered how impactful holistic care was and never looked back.

As a hairstylist who mostly focused on natural hair, it felt like another natural extension of who I was. I was just able to express myself more instead only from behind the chair.

I solve the problem of stopping the “look” of wellness and what it actually is. It’s easy to get caught up with looks, cute workout outfits, matcha lattes, and abs. But, what is all of that if you don’t actually FEEL well within your body and mind. I offer practical ways to tap into that for yourself by addressing what is on your plate and easy to follow wellness tips and self reflection. Within a woman’s reproductive years, it’s easy to only feel valuable or useful when you are fertile. I help women see yes, you can be fertile AND reap the benefits for their OWN wellness too. We should not be an afterthought within our own bodies.

I believe what sets me a part from others within this industry is how practical the information I offer and how easy it is to apply. I know when I first needed help in my reproductive issues, everything felt so extreme or like something foreign. It was either hardcore diets like veganism or deeply spiritual things that couldn’t really resonate with me. I am a deep person, but I think assistance and support should be available to a woman without all the woo woo practices if she’s not comfortable with that. I tie in just enough self reflection and practicality to help you see how much you DO know about your body and you can take the rest from there. I also did not see much soul and flavor in the recipes that were provided, so I wanted to fill that void as well.

I am most proud of the impact that I am having on women that are like me or where I was. We can be extremely hard on ourselves and carry a ton. I am very happy when something I’ve created (whether it’s a recipe or simple protocol) actually impacts the body in a positive way so that women can be one step closer to feeling good in her life.

I want my potential clients/followers, etc to know that they have options with me to help them. I am all about authenticity, self love, and wellness and that is the core messaging of my offerings. Also there is power in applying things for yourself. You can become you’re own healer. Even if you can’t carry everything right now, trust yourself that the few steps you do here will continue to guide you the rest of the way so that wellness becomes you’re new baseline.

Currently I offer a low cost monthly subscription to my blog called Nourishing Soul where I share monthly hormone friendly soulful recipes, wellness tips, and self reflective essays that help draw women to feel back at home within their own bodies. I also offer custom meal plans for women who may need more tailoring to their dietary needs. With all of that, I also offer writing services for health and wellness brands looking for a more authentic voice to connect with their audience more.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Along with the reproductive issues that I overcame, I also found out last fall that I also have adhd. It took me about 8 years of a self guided journey to finally overcome the most difficult parts about having PCOS. I was able to finally get my period back regularly around 26 years old and finally stop heavy bleeding and pain around 30. It took a lot of resilience to get through this, but there was just a certain part of myself that just couldn’t accept that true healing wasn’t available for me. So all the information that I could find, I looked into it and applied what I felt was right.

Fast forward and finding out that I have adhd, it made a tremendous amount of sense when it came to not only my frequent fatigue, but also why I became so good at my job. Once I understood how hyper focus worked for adhd minds, it made sense of why I grew so fast within my hair business, but also why it rolled over into wellness. The pattern recognition and everything else helped push me into this space even more because I genuinely couldn’t help but see it.

Now obviously I still had challenges. From needing to be hospitalized for exhaustion, battles with anxiety, and navigating all this on my own. I just always maintain a belief that I deserved better and would have it one day. And that day would be soon. So if I could reverse my pcos symptoms, build a thriving hair business, surely I could overcome, learn and adapt to finding out how to rebuild around my adhd. I am doing that daily. It is not easy, but it is worth it when you finally find the right things that work for you. You realize that self devotion looks like determination to never give up on yourself, because you absolutely deserve the best.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I had to unlearn is that you are the only person to determine what true success looks like for you. When I first got started even within my hair business, I was thriving financially but kept getting caught up in the comparison game of logistics, when my clientele were more than satisfied with the services I was providing. I had many mentors and people that I looked up to, but honestly it added more noise than providing clarity. I abandoned my own self trust often, thinking that others knew best.

No one knows what it’s like to be in your body and handling things. So present day, I take what I need and leave the rest. This was one of the causing factors that led to me being hospitalized for exhaustion. Seeing many clients a day and doing operations on my own was glorified and even celebrated. I was crumbling on the inside and constantly adding more to my plate, when I didn’t even have room for myself.

So present day, I build with the future in mind. What are MY milestones and wins that will make me feel satisfied and what are ways that I need to maintain those? I check in with myself often to make sure I am still grounded within myself and not a version that someone else has in mind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://substack.com/@nourishingsoul
• Instagram: Yeliving
• Other: Tik Tok: Nourishing Soul