The entrepreneur discusses her journey and gives us a look inside of her NOLA-based wellness refuge.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 What I love most about being a black businesswoman is that I get to show up for my community.
00:04 I get to employ black people.
00:06 I get to work with black people.
00:08 I get to expose my community to luxurious products, to wellness, to, you know, healthier
00:18 options for them.
00:19 I just feel like for a long time, those things weren't available to us.
00:22 And so I really feel like that's what I was put here for, is to create this space and
00:29 create these opportunities and create this environment and community.
00:33 Hi, I am Marissa Jenkins, owner and founder of Freedom Apothecary.
00:38 Freedom Apothecary is a clean beauty, retail, wellness, and lifestyle space.
00:44 We carry a curated selection of products that are founded by women and small businesses,
00:49 so nothing you can find at any of your big box stores.
00:52 We're also a community space.
00:53 We host events and panels and yoga, really anything that's going to promote overall well-being
01:00 and wellness for the community.
01:03 I think it's very important not only to keep the money and the wealth in the black community,
01:10 but also to be a resource and a safe space and know that we have access to luxury, to
01:19 clean, to beauty, to wellness, and that these things are, you know, they're for us.
01:26 They're here for us.
01:27 And people that look like us have created spaces for us to survive and thrive.
01:32 The challenges are finding balance and, again, creating a space that is for us, but is also
01:41 inclusive and not exclusive.
01:44 And also like finding balance.
01:45 Not only as a black woman, but as a black mom, a single black mom, you know, showing
01:53 up in this space and being, giving my all and all of the passion I have for Freedom
01:59 Apothecary and then also showing up as a mother, as a community member.
02:05 Those are some of my biggest challenges.
02:08 Community and culture is very important to Freedom Apothecary.
02:11 Honestly, and just to me, I, growing up in the South, growing up in Mississippi, I didn't
02:18 see these spaces.
02:19 There weren't, you know, any spaces that made it easy for me to live a holistic lifestyle
02:27 and to have access to products and services and to really create awareness and be in the
02:34 know about things like this.
02:36 And so it's very important for me to provide this space and to create a community where
02:42 women that look like me know that this is accessible to them.
02:47 Being from the South and then having so much love and excitement for the city of New Orleans,
02:52 I couldn't think of a better place to share Freedom Apothecary with, to build community
03:00 in a city that's already so rich with culture and community.
03:03 And so just to create this safe haven for black women to come into and bring all of
03:08 that culture and pizazz and spirit and electricity and just be in community together and have
03:18 access to these products.
03:19 So in three years, I would love to still be here in New Orleans, expanding our footprint,
03:26 widening our community and our reach.
03:28 I would also love to continue creating these spaces for black people to rest and to heal
03:35 and to experience wellness.
03:37 I'm also working on another project to do just that and to create spaces that creates
03:47 a safe space and an environment for black people to do those things.
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