WATCH: Shop Essence Live - Support Your Vitality And Beauty With Movita
Tonya Lewis Lee created Movita to help women gain a baseline of good nutrition, and a practice of positive choices that support a lifestyle of well-being. For Tonya, Movita is a platform to continue the conversation about finding balance and to offer a tool to help women as they work through this process.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Shop Essence Live. I am your host Noni
00:05 Dunavant and this is a show that we do in partnership with the New Voices family where
00:10 we bring you two new Black-owned brands to shop with us every single week. And when I tell you
00:16 we're going to be getting our luxury pajama life together with Melda Moda in a little bit, but up
00:24 first, we got to get the skin right, we got to get our mood right, we have to get all the things
00:30 right, and Tanya Lewis-Lee, who is the founder and CEO of Movita Organics, is going to do just that.
00:36 Let's welcome Tanya. Hello. Hey there. How are you? I am fantastic. So happy to be here.
00:46 We're so, so, so, so happy to have you. First of all, we can't skip over, this is a covergirl.
00:52 This is an Essence covergirl with her beautiful daughters, one of my favorite shoots.
00:57 So I have to shout you out for being an alumni there. We love Essence, always. So, so great. So
01:05 let's talk about Movita Organics. What was it that motivated you, that inspired you to start
01:13 this incredible brand? So I started Movita Organics, it's been about six years ago now,
01:19 really when I discovered that in the United States, women in general, we're not doing so great in
01:24 terms of our health and wellness. And so, you know, I wanted to figure out a way to talk to women
01:32 about how we access our healthiest lifestyle. It's hard for everybody, I don't care how many
01:36 resources you have. And I didn't want to just talk about it, I wanted to also provide a tool.
01:42 And so my vitamin supplement line, Movita Organics, is really a tool in a woman's toolbox,
01:49 as she's trying to access her healthiest lifestyle. Yes, indeed, there it is.
01:54 Come on. So I want you, before we get into the shopping, because you guys know you're tuning in,
02:02 this is a shopping show. We always hook you guys up with some kind of special promo code.
02:08 So before we start to get into all the products that you have, if you can just tell everybody
02:14 what your promo code is, when they go to the site, they can shop it.
02:18 Absolutely. The Movita Organics promo code is Essence20, and it's 20% off.
02:24 So please check out our products and use that code Essence20.
02:29 So good. Okay. So I am so excited to talk about all of the products in your line.
02:38 You mentioned, you know, especially for busy moms, busy Black women, period,
02:46 we often put ourselves last. We go until there's no gas in the tank, and self-care goes right out
02:57 the window. And I think that taking care of ourselves from the inside out is often neglected.
03:03 So I would love for you to go through kind of product by product, what you want to highlight,
03:09 but then what the benefits of it is. Sure. And what I want to say is,
03:14 you know, we really believe in sort of being your baseline of nutrition. So you have three
03:20 products there, although we do have six, we have six products. But the three products that we're
03:25 talking about today are, first our prenatal. We're talking to women who are thinking about getting
03:33 pregnant or have just gotten pregnant, check out Movita Prenatal. It is your baseline nutrition.
03:40 It's two tablets once a day. And what's so great about our products is you can take them on an
03:46 empty stomach without fear of having an upset stomach or queasiness or anything like that,
03:53 which is really important, especially when one is pregnant. So that's the first one, Movita
03:59 Prenatal. The second product you have there is our Vitamin D3. I think many of us, yes, many,
04:08 as you said, None, it is sunshine in a bottle. You know, many of us are very low in vitamin D,
04:16 and especially with those of us with melanated skin, you know, it's harder for us to absorb
04:22 the vitamin D from the sun. And that's where we get it from. That's the only place we get it from,
04:26 is from the sun. And I think about why in the summertime do I feel so much better? I have so
04:31 much energy. I'm so much more vibrant. And I think it's because I'm outside, I'm getting all that
04:36 vitamin D, but by wintertime, it starts to wane. And so our Vitamin D3 product, all of our products
04:43 are made from organic ingredients. Again, it's one a day, really high quality. By the way, they're
04:50 third-party tested. That's why I made these products. I wanted them to be premium. What's
04:57 in them is what we say is in them, and they're really good for you. The third product you have
05:03 there is our beauty, hair, skin, and nails, which is essentially, you know, a biotin supplement.
05:10 And I will say this, you know, I want to encourage women when you're using hair, skin, and nails,
05:17 again, made from organic ingredients, third-party tested, take on an empty stomach once a day.
05:25 But I will caution you with biotin, you should talk to your doctors about this, because
05:30 sometimes, you know, if we're thinking about getting pregnant or our fertility, sometimes
05:35 biotin can interact with our hormones. So make sure you talk to a doctor about taking biotin,
05:43 but if you're looking for a great biotin product, Moveda Organics is your product.
05:48 Come through. First of all, everybody knows I am just such a sucker for beautiful packaging.
05:58 And just imagine this in your medicine cabinet. Yeah, well, that's why we did it, you know,
06:03 because vitamins are in like an ugly bottle that you want to put up in the cabinet,
06:09 and then you forget you have it, and then you forget to take it. Guilty as charged.
06:14 So we really wanted to create beautiful packaging that you like to interface with,
06:20 that you wouldn't mind leaving out, so it reminds you to take it in hand. You're buying it from
06:25 Essence here, but if you were to get a subscription, which is what we have also,
06:30 we send you a pouch to refill the bottle. So it's also sustainable. So you get the bottle first,
06:37 and then you can refill your product. That's so great. And I love the glass.
06:42 And yes, sustainability is so important. So we don't have a whole landfill of a bunch of plastic
06:49 vitamin bottles. It's just this beautiful. And I definitely would not mind displaying these in a
06:55 row on my bathroom sink. Like, look how beautiful. So beautiful.
06:59 Good for you, good for the environment.
07:00 Absolutely. So it's so interesting that we always, when it's summertime, it's like,
07:08 it's happy time. And then we get the winter blues, and we kind of just blame that on the weather and
07:14 the coldness. But really, you make such a great point. It is, you know, our relationship to the
07:20 sun and just personal testimony with your D3 vitamins. Like, it is literally sunshine in a
07:27 bottle. It is such a great mood enhancer. Like, I have been in a slump for the past few days,
07:33 stressed out and trying to do it XYZ, just drinking coffee every second. This morning,
07:37 I took the D3. And when I tell you I was dancing in the bedroom, my husband's like, "What's going
07:42 on?" I was dancing. And I have not had any coffee today, y'all. I have no coffee.
07:49 And it's so great.
07:51 Yeah, it's important. And I think we don't realize it, right? And I'm guilty as charged. I have a
07:58 vitamin supplement company, and I will take them when I'm not feeling so great, when I get that
08:02 vitamin D lull. And then I'm like, "I'm great. I haven't taken my vitamin D in a week." And then
08:08 I start taking it again. And suddenly, I'm feeling like I've got a little more energy,
08:13 a little more pep in my step. I'm a little happier, easier to get along with, all of those things.
08:19 Oh, so, so good. If you can, let's talk a little bit about this beauty,
08:25 the beauty vitamin here, because there's a lot in the market. This is going to grow your hair
08:33 down to your feet, and you got to take this, and you got to take that. What are the noticeable
08:38 differences once you start to take this Movita Beauty? What are the benefits that people will
08:44 see?
08:45 Well, we've developed it specifically for hair, skin, and nails. So the idea is that your hair
08:51 grows, it's got a nice shine to it. Now, I'm not going to say it's going to grow down to your
08:56 ankles, but I will say that it can help your hair grow stronger, more vibrant, more shiny skin. I
09:05 mean, I'm big on skincare inside and outside, and I think it's really important that we think
09:10 about what we put inside. We try to get everything from what we eat. I mean, I certainly do,
09:15 but it's not enough. And so what we have in our beauty product also helps with the skin,
09:23 makes it shine, makes it glowy, and helps to grow the nails. I'm a girl who loves a manicure. I love
09:29 to have my nails done always. When my nails look good, I feel good. It's something about looking
09:35 down at my nails. And they grow stronger. They don't break as often. They're not so brittle
09:42 with our beauty product.
09:44 This is such perfect timing because I am on a journey of soft beauty. And what soft beauty
09:52 means is I found that I kept doing these false nails or the acrylic tips, and then take that
10:01 off, and then my nails were wrecked. And it's almost like we are... If I would just leave my
10:06 nails alone and take care of my own nails, the sustainability of that and the beauty of that
10:13 is just so much more beautiful instead of being prisoner to these other methods that are actually
10:18 causing damage to it. So I am just so excited to go on this healthy nail skincare journey with
10:24 Mobita.
10:24 I love that. I think it's important that we try to go back to our natural beauty, our natural...
10:31 Like, again, internal health goes on the outside. People ask me, "What do you think of as beauty?"
10:39 And I think of beauty as healthiness, as seeing peacefulness, as seeing calmness, as seeing
10:48 what nature really brings forward. And so when you start with a good beauty product,
10:53 it's always a way to begin.
10:55 So good. Okay. Let's bring up the promo code one more time, because I know you guys are
11:01 chomping at the bit. We're going to be putting all... If you're watching on Pinterest, we're
11:06 pinning these products here. If you're watching on Essence.com, we're going to fly up the products
11:10 so that you can buy them there. But there's also a promo code. If you can give them the
11:15 promo code one more time.
11:16 The promo code is Essence20, 20% off. So check it out. Check it out.
11:22 20% off. You can have your bathroom filled with a whole row of beautiful Movita.
11:28 And I want to say, we talked a little bit about the prenatal, which I'm really excited
11:35 about. That was the second product that came out for you, that you came out with. And going
11:42 forward, my husband and I wrote a children's book called Please, Baby, Please, many years
11:47 ago, but it's been around for a long time. At this point, I think it's considered a classic.
11:53 And this holiday, we'll be offering a box of Please, Baby, Please, that has Please,
11:59 Baby, Please, and the prenatal product together. So it's a great shower gift. It's a great
12:06 Christmas gift for anyone that you know who is about to be pregnant, who is pregnant,
12:12 or has just been pregnant. Prenatals are good even postpartum, if you are breastfeeding,
12:18 which I encourage women to do. Sometimes breastfeeding is not easy. It seems like a
12:23 natural thing that just happens like that, but you've got to work at it. And if you can,
12:30 continuing along with prenatals is really good for mom and for baby.
12:34 So good. I had the healthiest hair during prenatals, right? And it grew and grew. So
12:42 yeah, definitely, this is one of those things where they say it's the thought that counts.
12:47 This is such a thoughtful gift to get for someone that is expecting. Think about the
12:51 holidays coming up. Think about that baby shower invite that you just got, and you're
12:55 trying to figure out what you're going to get on the registry, but you want to surprise
12:57 them with something for the mom too, trust me. And the book is incredible, written by
13:02 her and her husband. In case you don't know, legendary Spike Lee is who we're talking about,
13:06 is her husband. So put that out there. But so incredible. I hope that everyone tries
13:16 out these products, see the difference, make sure you're tagging, tag me, tag Mobita for
13:22 sure. And let them know the difference that you're seeing, especially with the D3. D3,
13:26 there was no way. I felt it immediately. So you want to make sure, take care of yourself
13:32 from the inside out. If you're in a slump, if you're always grumpy, you might be low on the D3.
13:38 Absolutely. You might be. And I want to say, we really took some time, effort, and thought
13:44 in developing our products because it was really important to me. There's so many vitamin products
13:50 out there. Sometimes it's really hard to know what to take and what not to take. And when I started
13:54 Mobita, I had just started taking a different vitamin supplement and I was feeling good and
14:00 trying to figure out what was the difference. Why did this product make me feel better and another
14:05 didn't? And I got an education. And what I learned is just like everything else, there's some really
14:10 great products on the market and not so great products on the market. So I wanted to bring for
14:15 women a really positive, good tool that one can use and really get the bang for their buck.
14:22 Your body absorbs most of it when you take it. So you get the bang for your buck when you take
14:29 the vitamin, which is why you feel so good. Come on, so good. Okay. Before I let you go,
14:36 you are a member of the New Voices family. So I have to ask, what has that been like for you
14:41 being a part of such a great community? Well, being a part of the Essence community,
14:47 the New Voices community, it's fantastic just in terms of Shop Essence Live. This is amazing,
14:54 reaching so many other people that I otherwise wouldn't be able to. Obviously Essence Fest is
15:01 amazing. Anytime that you can participate in that, I believe we were in a wellness gift bag.
15:08 So we're able to reach so many people. And again, while our products are for everyone,
15:14 I was really thinking about Black women when I started MoVita. And so being able to reach
15:20 my core audience through New Voices is just exciting. And I'm so grateful that I'm able to do
15:27 it. Well, I appreciate, we appreciate all the work that you have done and everything you've put into
15:35 MoVita. You guys definitely should try this out. Make sure you tag us and let us know what it's
15:41 been like for you and your progress. This is a game changer. Treat yourself.
15:46 And take care of yourself too, please.
15:49 Take care of yourself. We know you're taking care of everybody else. Take care of yourself.
15:53 Exactly.
15:53 This is for you, your time. And trust me, when you take care of yourself,
15:57 you're taking care of other people.
15:58 Everybody's better. When a woman is better, everybody's better.
16:04 Exactly. Tanya, you have been so incredible. Thank you so much for being on this week's
16:10 episode of Shop Essence Live. And I can't wait to see more of MoVita in the future.
16:14 Well, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. I'm glad the D3 is working
16:19 for you and I hope it works for all of you too.
16:21 Yes. Thank you, Tanya.
16:25 Bye.