Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mecca Walker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Mecca thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

being an entrepreneur or business owner to one entity is a risk in itself so when thinking about making small or big risks , it will always be one and it can always make or break your business or project. One risk I’d call medium sized would be, taking money out of the budget or my own personal money to create a sample of an idea that I may want to promote and sell next. I can spend any where from $50 to $110 just creating a sample and mock up of how a product, this includes , ingredients, labeling, packaging and an alternative ingredient or two in case the original idea needs to be scratched. During slow periods of time in the business, I have wasted money that could go towards promotion or restock , on a new idea that social media never responses to whether I post it daily or not; that always tells me to stick to what I have or produce more. Most likely when an idea doesn’t work out, I use it on myself or I sit on the idea and pass it along to someone as a self care gift and get their take on it.

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

After taking a four years hiatus and leaving Los Angeles for Atlanta, I decided to move back to my 2nd home, Los Angeles. My wife and I were deeply affected by Nipsey Hussle’s death I wanted to come home to give back and to a community that I knew, we moved back September 2019 and immediately started working on getting settled but nothing was going as planned. I realized that I had extreme anxiety and started to have frequent panic attacks and seasonal and situational depression all at once. Seven months into being back in LA, March 23rd, 2020 Los Angeles County declared shut down due to COVID 19 and I had nothing but time to sit home and get into my spiritual self. I started meditating again, praying, doing yoga for 60 days straight but I still had plenty of anxiety and panic attacks, giving me major tension headaches and I was tired of taking over the counter medication, which eventually I got immune to. I went to Pinterest and researched essential oils that I could use to help me ease the pain of my headaches and calm me down when having these attacks.At this point, George Floyd was murdered, our community was hurting, black men and women were stressed, tired and mental health became the center of our conversations and so I decided to start an Instagram page called Vibe Vision and Mind where I wanted to create an online community for the black community and those allied, I would speak on meditation, therapy and building a safe space within us and that’s when my first product was created, Zen Tf Out anxiety rollerball, which is an essential oil blend to be applied to your temples to help relieve your headaches. I started using it for two months before even thinking about selling it. That was my only product at first and I would advertise it on my Instagram, then after handing it to a few friends and family members and realizing it actually worked, Everyday Vibe LA the shop was born, I then expanded and created bath salts that helped your root and crown chakra, a multi-purpose body oil, sold Sage bundles and about four more products all made with intentions to alleviate stress and mental wellness.

I am most proud that 3 years later, I still have loyal supporters and those who want to follow me and are still interested in what Everyday Vibe LA has to offer, even aside from physical product.
Everyday Vibe LA is currently on break due to revamp but we are stepping away from only selling and promotion of physical products and focusing more on the original idea of the business which is community outreach and services that we can provide for those struggling with their mental being and how to take care of themselves. We may be scaling back from all the products we had and becoming service based.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Definitely joining networking groups and for myself personally going Live on Instagram and building community within the self care and wellness circles. I would always post questions and prompts and ask the uncomfortable questions to get conversations started surrounding the emotions and struggles I would feel along with some friends and supporters, and come up with different solutions of how to get through it. I would post playlist, challenges, facts and various outlets that could help a struggling individual get to their comfort spot and better mentally.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

November 2021 was the beginning of my marriage separation and that took a complete toll on my mental health and everything surrounding my life. Business for Everyday Vibe stopped for multiple reasons and I decided to go on hiatus from November to February 2022 to give myself grace and a reset. It had to stop for multiple reasons but mainly my mental space, I am a Virgo (lol) so I am not one who throws themselves into work to distract me from what is going on around me and because this was happening TO me , I had to pause. Fast forward to February 2022 , VoyageLA magazine reached out to me for an interview and it was a stepping stone for me to step back out into the public and introduce myself to the world through a publication. Not only does Everyday Vibe LA focus on wellness products but we focus on the actual work of self care and what it takes to focus on your mental wellness and your mental head space so I also took some time away from the products to focus on community outreach and actually speak to my followers and supporters of Everyday Vibe LA . I did the interview, along with some other podcast and publications and it helped me get back out into the world of business ownership. I made a few sales in between and October 2022, I set up shop at my first pop-up since 2021, sales weren’t really great if I am honest but I wanted to know that I could still go out and be the business owner I could be and also still reach my supporters on another level.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Theeverydayvibela

Image Credits
AspenCierra Photography