We recently connected with Janet-Okwui Oputa and have shared our conversation below.

Janet-Okwui, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I am constantly learning the craft of blogging. When I started the Wellness 4 Brown Girls platform, I had no prior experience with blogging. The only experience I had with blogs were blogs that I had written for previous jobs, and they were very different from the style of blogging I’m doing for this creative project that focuses on the experiences of Black women in pop culture and wellness topics.

I always had a fascination with pop culture blogs. As a teenager, I was very interested in celebrity news and pop culture, especially Black pop culture. Back in the day, I would use our huge family computer in my home to scan through the latest celebrity news and gossip. I would have several internet tabs open that focused on different pop culture blog websites. This is how I learned about the pop culture blog scene and what this kind of storytelling was about.

When Instagram became popular, I started noticing a different style of blogging. Bloggers would post their pop culture content and celebrity news through social media platforms rather than a website. This style of blogging attracted a large audience because everyone is so attached to their phones these days. It’s easier for people to find content when it’s part of a social media app that they have daily access to. When I decided to start my Wellness 4 Brown Girls blog, I used this same approach. I launched on Instagram and Facebook, and I’m still using these social media platforms to grow my audience and spread the word about my content. I also have plans to start a website soon because I think it’s still important to have ownership of my own content.

I’m not an expert in this, but if I had to shed any light on starting a creative project, I would recommend you start with something that you are passionate about. I view my Wellness 4 Brown Girls platform as a rose that grew out of concrete. The idea formed from a challenging experience of my own and I turned it into a project that is meaningful to me and hopefully others. My motivation comes from my passion for the subject matter and my mission to amplify the lived experiences of Black women.

Something else that I learned along this journey is to stop comparing myself to others. There are so many people who may do the same craft as me, but my creative talent is unique. What I offer will be appreciated, and I have to remain confident in my mission and continue believing in myself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hi everyone! My name is Janet-Okwui. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

From a very young age, I’ve been obsessed with health and science, pop culture, and reality tv. My parents always imagined I would be a doctor because of my fascination with health and wellness, and my friends always encouraged me to start a blog because of my interest in celebrity culture and hot topics.

I was hesitant to start a blog for a very long time. I didn’t make the leap until I experienced my own life-changing event that forced me to think about my own wellness, passion, and purpose.

I was diagnosed with an autoimmune health condition, ulcerative colitis, in 2017 right before I completed my graduate program for my Master of Public Health degree. I started my passion project, Wellness 4 Brown Girls, a couple of years later. At the time, I was searching for a community to bond with about living with a rare chronic health condition. I didn’t know many people who had ulcerative colitis and the organizations that I found online lacked representation. I couldn’t find many colitis health awareness groups that spoke to the experiences of Black women or people of color.

I began to wonder if I needed to create the space that I was looking for. That’s when I had the epiphany to start my blog, Wellness 4 Brown Girls. It started as a hobby, then grew into something more purposeful. I wanted to create a community space for Black women to feel seen, heard, and valued. I also wanted to spread awareness about wellness and health conditions that impact the Black community, while also discussing trending topics in Black pop culture that connect with Black women. I found a way to fuse two interests of mine – health and pop culture.

I like to describe Wellness 4 Brown Girls as a Black pop culture blog with a wellness twist. I connect trending topics in Black pop culture to the everyday life experiences of Black women. The blog spotlights real stories of Black women in pop culture and creates a space for other Black women to form a community and bond over shared experiences. The blog was designed for Black women, from the lens of a Black woman; but it’s open to all who support and believe in the mission. The commentary for each post is thoughtful and designed to heal, educate, inspire, empower, and joyfully connect with the reader. I talk about different topics: health awareness, wellness, self-care, love and relationships, music, reality tv, film, and so much more.

The goal is for the content to resonate in a meaningful way with my audience. If I can uplift at least one person through the Wellness 4 Brown Girls platform, then I’ve done my job well.

I am very proud of the blog. I am always surprised by who views the blog and finds it valuable. I’m looking forward to the continued growth of the Wellness 4 Brown Girls platform and eventually expanding the content even more while still empowering and amplifying the experiences of Black women.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

This creative journey started with my own change in health status. I went from being a healthy 24-year-old who could eat whatever I wanted, to a person with an unpredictable autoimmune health condition that prevented me from eating the foods that I used to love. It forced me to redefine life for myself and pursue things that made me happy. It made me think more and more about my purpose and the importance of self-preservation and self-restoration.

This change in my life informed my creative journey and the mission of my blog, Wellness 4 Brown Girls. Before I was properly diagnosed with my autoimmune condition, I felt very overwhelmed and unheard by the US healthcare system. It took me 6 months to a year to receive a diagnosis. Despite the love and support from friends and family during this time, I still felt like, “Why me?”. There was this sense of loneliness that crept in. I needed a community I could identify with. This mindset is what inspired me to begin my creative project, Wellness 4 Brown Girls.

My goal is to spread awareness and amplify other life experiences of Black women. I want to create more wellness spaces and opportunities for Black women to build community and bond over shared experiences. I wanted to design a platform that would be educational, fun, and engaging. A place where people can feel hopeful, empowered, and joyful.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Do you know what is interesting? I never really pictured myself as a creative until recently. Growing up, I wasn’t viewed as a person with artistic talents or creative gifts, so I never thought about myself in this way. However, after working on my Wellness 4 Brown Girls blog for a couple of years I began to realize that this is a form of creativity. It made me think back to my childhood. I exercised my creativity in different ways. I wrote poetry and I really enjoyed drawing as a child. I would make my own cartoon comic books that would imitate my life at the time, and the life I imagined for myself.

My blog is another facet of my creative journey. I’m an empath by nature so the most rewarding part about my work as a creative is providing something meaningful for people and creating spaces for people – Black women especially – to feel seen, valued, and heard. I really enjoy creating thoughtful and wellness-inspired content from formats that are not typically viewed as wellness avenues. For example, reality tv. Reality tv to some can be viewed as junk tv. To me…I see it as an opportunity to learn. I watch reality tv with a different eye because I’m always thinking about the key takeaways. As a creative, my thought process is, “What lessons can I gather from these Black women in the shows that I watch, and how can I synthesize this material into meaningful content for my blog?”. I enjoy spotlighting the diversity of Black women and our experiences through this blog because representation matters.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellness4browngirls/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wellness4browngirls/

Image Credits
Janet-Okwui Oputa