This Wellness Brand Founder Is Destigmatizing Black Mental Health

As Women’s History Month winds down, Samia Gore– founder of the only Black woman-owned and formulated supplements brands on the market, Body Complete Rx– is leaning into taboo conversations about women’s health. “I have a therapist, but she didn’t necessarily help me get through this season,” Gore tells ESSENCE about the challenges she faced in the past 10 years. 

But Gore is no stranger to developing businesses that solve her problems, as, for example, Body Complete Rx was the solution to help support her weight loss and healthy lifestyle journey. That said, this Spring, to help others who feel like her be heard and seen, she’s developing a new mental health platform, FoundnWell. 

This platform “is an organization formed to support the mental health and wellness of minority founders, entrepreneurs, and executives,” says Gore. And, as of now, you can find mental health resources on the Instagram page, and expect the first meetup to happen, in partnership with Soho House, in May 2024.   

Aside from her personal mental health battles, learning that entrepreneurs are twice as likely to report a lifetime history of depression, is what inspired Gore to create this new and necessary organization. Afterall, she understands the need for something like this firsthand. To get her through a divorce, weight fluctuation, anxiety, and beyond? “It’s all about finding a balance that works for me and being mindful of my needs,” she shares.

That means– aside from practices such as meditating, journaling, exercising, and using favorite products from 54 Thrones, Brown Girl Jane and Topicals– leaning on her community. “It was the relationships I had with a couple of women founders who, too, were battling anxiety, stress, and bouts of depression that became my safe haven to lean on,” she says.

On that note, you, too, can have the community support you need with Foundnwell. Be sure to stay tuned in to their Instagram page for any updates and events coming near you. As Gore shares, “FoundnWell is really an important part of my journey and something that I hope will help others who look like me have the safe spaces, tools, and resources they need to help them through various seasons on this journey.”