We caught up with the brilliant and insightful De’Laija Napier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, De’Laija thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My sister and I (like everyone else) got the opportunity to spend a lot more time together with the onset of the pandemic. We are both always on the go and so busy but what was happening in the world forced us to take a break from most if not all of the things on our to-do lists. The thing that really sparked this idea was that of all the people I had been telling they needed to take time for self-care, I realized that I wasn’t doing it myself. With that in mind, I took some time to reflect and think inwardly about how I could put actions behind my words. I had to be more representative of the lifestyle I had been encouraging other people to live. With less and less to do, my sister and I started taking more staycations and road trips, scheduling massages, facials, nail appointments, exercising, and whatever else would bring us peace and joy.

Then we thought about what word would describe this process we had been going through and we thought of the word, pause. From there, we knew we wanted to help others learn how to pause.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

The beauty of self-care is that, once we’ve given ourselves permission to allow it, it can be as simple as taking a moment to breathe deeply. However, if we’ve been out of the habit for a long time, it sometimes takes a little extra help to get back into the groove.

That’s where Pause Wellness comes in. We help individuals and business owners to reenergize and recharge by providing them with tools, tips and support that enable them to step away from the day-to-day hustle in order to focus on themselves. And because we believe that wellness is better when shared, we also offer you the chance to give back by supporting causes that bring about positive change in our communities.
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Pause Wellness makes it easy for you to sustain healthy habits for yourself and help others along the way. We create a community where you can feel comfortable giving back—and receiving—compassion and support.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I’m lucky enough to have my sister, De’Landria, as my co-founder. We both realized how important it is to live in the moment, make the most of what you have now, and give yourself time to rest.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My sister and I originally started as a subscription box company. This was a fun idea (in theory). However, we quickly got caught up and overwhelmed with the logistics, sourcing products, timing of sending out boxes, and figuring out how to make a large enough profit. We decided to take a break and rethink our entire plan. We didn’t want this to become a source of stress and anxiety for us, especially since it was about self care and wellness! Pause Wellness started as a subscription box business, but it has now transformed into being a full on wellness brand. We have everything from apparel, coaching, self-paced online courses, events, plus a blog and podcast coming soon!

Contact Info:

• Website: pause-wellness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pause_wellness/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pause-wellness-self-care
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEWiBYHMFPzLiotMdT4Mf2w/videos

Image Credits
Personal Photo was taken by Topflash Photography