We recently connected with MaKayla Wright and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, MaKayla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.
To me, a lot of problems within the health and wellness space stem from capitalism, lack of inclusion, and unequal access to resources. At the end of the day, the goal is to generate income within Corporate America. However, this often neglects the true needs of people across the board. For example, food deserts. It’s easy to tell someone to eat healthier & sell them a supplement but its not always easy to address the root cause of why they can not eat healthy in the first place from a systematic stand point. There’s a ton of research that shows how social determinants of health will greatly impact ones health, yet we still see cycles repeating themselves in marginalized communities. Instead of just selling a product to someone to “fix” their problems, I believe it’s important to address the needs of the community and look at the larger picture as well. Being consumed with greed & money provides temporary satisfaction but so many people continue to suffer because they’re seen as a profit over a human. Access to fresh produce, side walks for physical activity, and quality health treatments seem like a basic necessity yet so many communities don’t even have that. The lack of inclusion stems from assuming there’s a one size fits all approach to health. Completing shutting off what some cultures and communities may need to heal simply because you don’t understand it. Or not including diversity within the scope of health in general. If someone claims that they truly want to “help” someone with their health, then from a collective standpoint we must address the different needs accordingly.
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 back background and context?
Sure thing, I’m MaKayla, a Holistic Nutritionist and Community Organizer. I got into this work after witnessing many of my family members experience chronic illnesses. I noticed common themes that contributed to their conditions were their diet, stress, community outline, and lack of access to resources. While health addresses one problem, organizing has allowed me to go deeper within communities to hear what barriers they are encountering. Policy impacts way more than what people are aware of and advocates are needed to bring this to the surface.
During my time in college, I wanted to document what I was learning about Nutrition through my course work so I started posting randomly to a separate Instagram page. However, after a very challenging freshman year regarding my own personal health, Internal Joy was finally born. Despite what may be occurring in the world, I realized how we feel internally impacts so much.
Internal Joy (IJ) was created to address the complexities of holistic wellness and to provide a safe intellectual space for conscious development. The name, Internal Joy, emphasizes that joy is a state of being and should not primarily be contingent upon external factors and influences. The goal is to create a community of people and empowered networks to sustain spiritual vitality to promote emotional, mental, and physical well-being.
Internal Joy currently offers a tailor-made coaching program to assist participants in changing their dietary habits and eating behaviors. Our society has been steered towards restrictive fade-based diets and supplements. Internal Joy works within a person’s current diet to address mental blockers and triggers, increase knowledge of foods, and provide the necessary tools to sustain a lifestyle change. In addition to this, Internal Joy hosts events such as women circles, in collaboration with other clinicians, to bring conscious development tools and techniques to the community at large.
I am most proud of being a vessel to those in need. Through my work, I’ve seen so many transformations that completely blow my mind. I know the work is beyond me and the changes that people make will make an impact beyond what I can see. Holding space for people to blossom is an honor I do not take lightly. What I want people to know about this work is it is truly a safe space for you to experience joy from within. What we’re eating, how we’re thinking and living impacts our journey tremendously. My goal is for you to feel your best as we aim to make the world a better place.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Pursuing higher education definitely has its pros, especially if you are in the health space like I am. Going to school for my degree in Nutrition Science was by far one of the best decisions i’ve made. Nonetheless, a lesson I had to unlearn was thinking higher education and degrees are the only route to helping people. Knowing your scope of work and not trying to do everything is essential. You should never ever cause more harm than good for someone. It takes self awareness to know what you can and can not do. However, I’ve quickly learned that experience, intrinsic motivation to master your craft, relationship building, and mentorship can take you places you never thought you would be. Especially when it comes to translating your knowledge into something tangible. Whether it’s for a job or establishing your own business. In addition to this, a lot of science is driven by research. As a research assistant for many years and published author, I was trained to have a critical eye and have a scientific viewpoint on why something works. While I still use this approach to finding credible background information on a topic, I’ve also had to learn balance in allowing room for what occurs beyond the physical. For example, complementary and alternative methods for healing. Sometimes treatments to health concerns are seen as this or that but I believe there can be more room for this and that if it is truly assisting someone in their healing process without harm.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Life experiences have been a huge driving force in my philosophy and thinking. I have to give a huge shout out to my dad for giving me a lot of pointers through his experience in business. However, some resources that have helped me along the way include “Food as Medicine” by Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D, African American Herbalism by Lucretia VanDyke, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, “The transformation of silence into language and action.” By Audre Lorde, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” by Paulo Freire, “Working for Social Justice: Visions and Strategies for Change.” By Barbara J. Love and “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss. Also amazing podcasts from some of my favorite entrepreneurs such as “The EntreMD” podcast by Dr. Una and “Jereshia Said” by Jereshia Hawk. I could list so many more but a takeaway is focus on your own personal and spiritual development as much as you do everything else.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/internal_joy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/internal.joy
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/internal_joy
Image Credits
amonetphotography by Alivia Stewart! (amonetphotos.com)