Luxury as Liberation: Why Self-Care Is Not Optional for Black Women Entrepreneurs

Oct 30

I’ll be real with you - right now, the world is pressing hard on Black women.

We’re losing jobs at higher rates than most, watching our health decline under the weight of stress, and living in a country where even the autonomy of our bodies is up for debate. It’s a lot. And for those of us who are building businesses, carrying households, and leading in our communities, the pressure is relentless.

But here’s what I know to be true: self-care is not a luxury add-on to life - it is the very strategy that makes our longevity, our leadership, and our legacy possible.

As the CEO of Holistree, a Luxury Wellness Lifestyle brand, I’ve seen how the narrative around self-care gets watered down into bubble baths and “treat yourself” memes. That’s not the full story. For Black women, especially those of us running businesses, self-care must be both radical and strategic. It must sit at the very center of how we move, how we build, and how we thrive.

The Sweet Life Framework: A New Standard of Success

In Holistree’s work, we operate from what I call the Sweet Life Framework - a luxury lens on wellness that honors five core truths:

Rest Is a Business Strategy – Exhaustion cannot be your brand. The most powerful entrepreneurs I know are disciplined about rest. They protect their mornings, they honor their evenings, and they don’t treat burnout as a badge of honor.
Joy Fuels Innovation – When joy is present, creativity flows. When joy is absent, even the best business ideas fall flat. That joy is cultivated through rituals, travel, community, and intentional design of your days.
Ritual Creates Rhythm – Whether it’s meditation, journaling, or a grounding practice that reminds you of your why, ritual keeps you steady when the world feels chaotic.
Space Is Sacred – From the spaces we work in to the spaces we curate for others, what surrounds us either drains us or restores us. Luxury wellness isn’t about excess—it’s about surrounding yourself with what elevates you.
Connection Builds Legacy – Isolation is the enemy of sustainability. As Black women, our power multiplies when we connect with each other in honest, nurturing, and strategic ways.

Why This Matters for Black Women in Business

Here’s the reality: running a business while navigating systemic inequities takes more than strategy decks and marketing funnels. It requires a body and spirit that can withstand the storm.

When Black women are losing jobs at alarming rates, entrepreneurship can be a path to autonomy - but only if we don’t sacrifice our health in the process.
When chronic illness and stress threaten our well-being, our businesses suffer, too. No amount of revenue can replace what’s lost when we ignore our health.
When the world attempts to strip us of power, our daily practices of self-care become acts of defiance, resilience, and reclamation.

For me, leading Holistree isn’t just about curating retreats or luxury experiences. It’s about modeling a different way of being - a Sweet Life way - that proves Black women deserve lives that are soft, spacious, and sustainable.

A Call to My Fellow Black Women Leaders

If you’re reading this and feeling the weight of it all, hear me clearly:

You don’t have to wait until the weekend to rest.
You don’t have to wait until your body breaks down to prioritize your health.
You don’t have to wait until the “busy season” is over to enjoy your life.

Luxury is not something to earn after suffering - it’s a practice of living well now.

And when we as Black women practice true self-care, we don’t just heal ourselves - we transform our businesses, our communities, and the generations that come after us.

That’s the revolution I’m committed to leading with Holistree.