What is self-care? Self-care is the intentional and concerned process of taking care of and improving your mental, emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual health with a balanced lifestyle. During this pandemic, it can be stressful and self-care is important. I strongly recommend that you eat well, sleep 8 hrs a day, maintain your social network, exercise, take care of your spiritual needs, have financial security and focus on the end of the tunnel.

Self-care is taking care of yourself and it is very important.

I have gone to the gym and eaten healthily for most of my life. I have taken care of my finances. These are examples of self-care. One area I was neglecting was my emotional self-care. I volunteered as a financial counselor, helped many friends go through a divorce and their own emotional challenges. I neglected boundaries and realized my gifts are not in the area of counseling and giving emotional support. I was burned out and it was impacting my marriage and parenting.

We can embrace busyness because that is the status symbol. We try to be busy so that we can feel important. I have learned to say NO to a lot of volunteer and other positions offered to me. I had to have a holistic approach to life.

The moment we align our goals, values, and ethos with our job, friends, charitable giving, and the various organizations that we are part of, cognitive dissonance disappears. We are happy. We live a purpose-driven life. Everything makes sense.

Over the next couple of weeks, this is what I want you to do. The job you have. Do you love it? Are you passionate about it? Does it work with your core competence and skillsets? The friends you have. Are they toxic? Do you hang out with them because of your own insecurity? Are they taking you to where you want to go in life? What about where you live, where you worship, and other organizations that you are part of?

I am asking you to take an inventory of where you are at. We get so caught up in financial net worth that we forget about our emotional, mental, psychological, spiritual worth? What is your identity?

It is 2022. We are still in the midst of a pandemic. Please stay safe and take care of yourself.

Josie D is the creator behind The Cheetah Buzz, a unique lifestyle blog on fashion, beauty, and travel. I catch up with her and talk about personal style, beauty trends, and self-care.

Josie, I am excited to talk to you about fashion, travel, and beauty. I want to know something about you?

Thank you so much for interviewing little ole’ me. I feel so humbled and blessed for this opportunity! One thing about me is that I was born in Accra, Ghana and I came to the United States when I was 6 ½ years old. I believe it will be about 22 years since I’ve been living in the States. I’m also a big fan of yellow cake and anything sweet!

I like The Cheetah Buzz. How did the name come about?

Thank you so much! During my freshman year of college, while I was chilling in my friend’s dorm room, her roommate busted in and told me I looked like a cheetah when I smiled lol. I thought it was really funny and it just stuck in my head. In 2017, when I started a portfolio of my pictures on Instagram, I named it The Cheetah Buzz and that snowballed over to the name of my blog!

I want to know how does one find our own personal style and not get caught following the crowd?

One thing I always stress is figuring out what colors you like to see yourself in, from there, you can build and figure out what textures and fabrics to gravitate towards. My recent blog post about finding your personal style touches more about this topic. To stand out from the crowd, it’s also important to not follow trends as they come and go, but instead be comfortable in doing your own thing. Let people copy off of your style not you copy of off theirs. Be a trendsetter!

Give women some tips on how they can dress better?

One way to learn how to dress better is to download fashion apps like the Combyne app and the Closet Love app. These apps will help you create and style different outfits so you can see which shirts, jeans, shoes, and accessories pair well together.  Once you do that, then you can implement some of those ideas into your own closet and see what pairs well together there. Another tip is to pick one accessory such as a pair of shoes or a silver necklace and create a look around that one item. You can turn this into a fun challenge!

My daughter is 16. What are some self-care drug store products she must own?

When I was 16, I wish I had the Clean & Clear Day & Night Face Wash 2 Pack to keep the pimples away. This product is both oil-free and hypoallergenic. Also, at this age, I was experimenting with lots of makeup, so the Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Wipes and the Lypsyl Lip Balm always came in handy. The wipes removed all of my makeup and the lip balm kept my lips super moisturized.

What are the beauty trends for 2021?

I’m not really sure what the beauty trends for 2021 will be as 2020 has been a stay at home look for a lot of people due to the lockdown. But what I’m hoping is less is more and loving the skin you’re in will be the beauty trend for women in 2021. Based on what I see on social media, fashion runways, and in music videos, it looks like lip glosses, defined eyebrows, colorful makeup, bejeweled eyes, and big lashes are staying strong; so maybe they might roll over into 2021.

Self-care, Self-love is not selfish. Please comment?

If something or outside forces are hurting your mental health and overall wellbeing, it’s definitely not selfish to put yourself first and treat yourself back to health. What good are you to others or to society if you don’t take good care of yourself or even love yourself? When you take care of yourself first, then you’ll be more productive in helping others, and that for sure is not selfish.

What does women’s empowerment mean to you and what is it not?

Women’s empowerment is uplifting and fixing another woman’s crown when you see it tilt. This can refer to a lot of things. When you see, hear or read that another woman is going through some hard times or is feeling weak, reach out and lend an ear to them and let her know that you got her back and you are there to listen.

Woman empowerment is speaking out on issues that are hurting or will cause a problem for other women in the community. Woman empowerment does not mean bringing other women down so you can make yourself feel better. It’s also not being envious of other woman’s achievements or successes just because you are not successful yourself. I like to be in the mindset of when one woman is successful at something, we (women as a whole) are all successful too.

Talk to me a little bit about Ghana. I want to know about its vibrant culture and food scene?

Ghana is a beautiful country. I recently traveled to my hometown of Accra, Ghana back in 2018. My sister and I stayed in a local city called Agbogba. The streets were filled with tons of cars, buses, taxis, and lots of vendors trying to sell people things. There were tons of palm trees nearby and the sand was like a beautiful dark, orange-brown color. The houses were big and beautifully made with their own personalities. People were always smiling and happy about life. It’s definitely a great place to retire lol.

The locals spoke a lot of different languages including Ga, Twi, Ewe, and English of course. I believe the food was the best part of Ghana. You had a wide variety of savory foods to choose from like fufu with palm nut stew, banku with okra stew and crab, jollof rice with lots of goat meat, and kenkey with shito and fried fish, among many others.

I was never a people pleaser. I sleep better. You talk a lot about how people-pleasing can be destructive. Walk me through how it can be harmful?

Lol lucky you! Yes, I have always been a people pleaser since I was little. I think it was just embedded in me to be that way as a child. I was always taught to follow orders and help people out whether I wanted to or not. If I didn’t and told someone no, the guilt I would feel almost made doing the thing for that person better than the feeling of telling them no.

As a people pleaser, it hurt my personal self-care because I always put others’ needs before my own which made me rely upon and put my trust in people. And then when people would disappoint me, the hurt cut through me more than anything — and that is the destructive part about it. Now as a recovering people pleaser, I know I cannot put my trust in others anymore and I cannot be afraid to say no especially if hinders my mental health or overall wellbeing.

I love the fact that you talk about positive affirmation. Share a little about that?

Positive affirmations are so powerful! When you recite positive affirmations, the words can shift your perspective on how you see yourself. Though your circumstances or surroundings may be poor, if you tell yourself I am rich every day, you will start to believe that and that can manifest into you finding ways to become rich or make you look at different parts of your life in a positive way and know that you are rich in other ways: you are rich in health, rich in life, and rich because you have a family that loves you and so forth. Positive affirmations can make a world of difference.

The post Self Care: Taking Care of Yourself appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Entrepreneurship is taking a risk, bootstrapping, and the extraction or creation of value. Entrepreneurship is the robust and dynamic process of being energetic in launching and running a new business. The goal in taking on risk is to create profit. The creators who think outside the box are game-changers who see gaps and create products and services to meet those gaps. These creators are called entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship involves seeing opportunities and exploiting them. It takes hard work, guts, and determination to acquire and deploy the resources required to be efficient and be first to the marketplace with products and services. Entrepreneurs work hard and do not take no for an answer.

Entrepreneurs have to come up with a business plan. They need to do a SWOT, PESTLE, look at the McKinsey 7-S Framework, do a market analysis, and then align it all together under the Balanced Scorecard. Top that with shrewd leadership, financial acumen, taking ownership of success and failure, and surviving in the ecosystem. An entrepreneur thrives in a landscape of risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity.

Ethnic, institutional, cultural, feminist, social, nascent, or project-based are the different types of entrepreneurship.  Social entrepreneurship is where the entrepreneur expands, fund and executes solutions to environmental, social, and cultural issues.

Four columns have interviewed many women entrepreneurs. I had interviewed Paula a while back while she was running a beauty salon. Paula is a successful and serial entrepreneur who has an entrepreneurial mindset. I catch up with her as to how she is dealing with COVID and overcoming odds which is part of entrepreneurship.

Paula, what have you been doing since our last interview?

Since our last interview, quite a lot has happened, from relocating, rebranding, re-developing, and restructuring, all the “re’s” for the reason for my re-birth like the Phoenix to surpass the disruption of COVID. Just like most business owners, we have been victims of, on-again, off-again COVID operating restrictions, and our attempts to create some momentum have been seriously challenged.

You did not let COVID get to you. You pivoted and came out with a new line of business? Tell me about it?

As I said, like the Phoenix I rebirthed by taking this unfortunate time to develop what I have been dreaming and working on for years, and COVID simply created the opportunity for me to take this new venture more seriously. Let’s face it, during regular business hours my focus has always been on giving my clients the very best of my experience and time possible, and so that did not leave me much spare time to work on new ideas.

So, when we saw that the personal care restrictions were going to stick around for a while I decided to go all-in on the new idea because now I had the time. Pulling together a team of advisors, manufacturers, online shopping developers, and marketing specialists, we quickly formulated a plan to create, complete, package, and market the new Paula’s TRY Miracle skincare collections.

Why should we use your organic and vegan products?

For us organic and vegan was the only way to go. If you can remember our last interview we spoke openly about me using only vegan and organic products in my spa. Our skin is already subjected to so many toxic things in our environment and the only true way to combat that is with nature’s own natural ingredients. Our products contain highly effective medical and organic grade ingredients such as Apple Stem Cells, Peptides, Plant Sourced Pseudo Collagen and Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamins, Enzymes, and AHA exfoliants. Exotic skin conditioners such as Gotu Kola, Lychee, Inca Inchi, Konjac Root, Argon, Murumuru, and Kukui Nut offer a distinctive cachet to each exquisite product. These powerful skin conditioners, oils, butter, and antioxidants will help clients achieve a healthy natural glow!

Talk to me about some of the lessons you have learned with your salon and opening a new line of business?

One thing is for certain, you cannot rely on what you did last year to provide you with the best possible results for this year. That approach is a sure-fire way to lose your business. People are more demanding today about what they want and when they want it. Technology has found its way into every corner of our lives and the result is that we have developed into a society of supply and demand. When someone decides it’s time for them to buy or sell something, they are able to execute that transaction online and in record time.

Now within that scenario that I just described to you, Jerry lies a great opportunity because with such speed and hustle people soon lose themselves, they get stressed out and with COVID on top of that, many are ready to explode. They need to de-stress, relax and regenerate now more than ever. This is where our pivot to promoting a healthy skincare regimen adds true value for those people who understand and accept that it makes sense to take better care of themselves, or quickly burn out.

I am sure as entrepreneurs we all make mistakes? Help me understand some of the mistakes you made and what you would do differently going forward?

True entrepreneurs often make mistakes and are sometimes distracted by what we call “shiny objects”. There’s always something that comes along that appears like a great idea on the surface. What I’ve found over time is to trust my true instincts and remain true to my roots as it relates to my business. Yes, I’ve experienced great heartaches, business interruptions along with many other things in my life, but nothing has been as rewarding for me as to see the feeling of revitalization on the faces of my clients, family, and friends.

Yes, like many others I’ve been taken in by a smooth word and a fleeting moment when I believed in someone that really only had their eye on either their own bottom line or well being with little or no consideration for myself. I believe I’ve gotten better at recognizing those things when I see them now.

So going forward for me, if the idea is not aligned with my core purpose, and values around giving and serving nothing but a great experience to my clients and others, then I am not very likely to be that interested in it. Having now found this great opportunity to bring one of my personal dreams to the forefront, with this new Vegan and organic product line, I’m feeling blessed.

What are some of the challenges your business is facing?

I don’t have a crystal ball Jerry, but if this current pandemic continues to plague us and prevents us from being in a position where we cannot return to a full-service salon and spa. We are going to have to rebuild and maybe redesign the process by which we serve our clients, which I am prepared to do.

Jerry before I go I want to say this to you that the hardship and past are behind me now, I will not dwell on it, nor talk about it anymore, but truthfully it was the past, my faith in God, and all the hardship that made me who I am today. In saying all of this I want to encourage you and the audience that whatever it is you are going through right now it is only for a moment. This is only a season and every season changes and change are imminent, growth is not possible without change.

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Cosmetics are products designed to enhance or transform the appearance of the face and body, highlighting beauty and improving skin smoothness. They can be made from natural or synthetic ingredients and include items such as foundation, blush, eye shadow, mascara, and lipstick. In the United States, cosmetics are regulated by the FDA to ensure their safety and quality.

Today, I am delighted to interview Fiona Poh, a talented content creator from Singapore who runs a popular YouTube channel dedicated to makeup artistry and beauty tips.

Fiona, welcome to my blog. Tell me something important about you?

Arts and food are my motivation in life. Seeing beautiful dishes brightens my mood. The colors and displays of food often intrigue me.

Art of all kinds, such as music and drawings, often serves as a healing energy for me. Whenever I am tired, stressed or worn out, I look towards music and drawings to relax.

Art also enables me to express myself whenever I have that desire.

Walk me through your YouTube channel. What is it all about?

My YouTube channel is Fiona Poh. It is mainly an outlet for me to share my makeup ideas, my love for music, and some of my travels, both locally and globally. I started my YouTube channel with makeup tutorials. Makeup has always been my interest and inspiration. I am always inspired by beautiful things which made me want to do makeup tutorials. My makeup tutorials often contain tips that I learned through YouTube videos and beauty magazines while experimenting with my own choice of colors. I love Korean makeup for their natural and yet sophisticated feel. American makeup is also interesting as they bring out the creative side in a person.

Did you choose Tumblr for your blog? What is your blog about? Why did you choose this medium?

I chose Tumblr for my blog. I did not manage to consistently update it as I was focusing on other things in my life. My blog is basically about my daily life and the things I learned. Thus, it contains some of my everyday activities. I chose Tumblr as it is easy to log in and fuss-free. It also provides nice and decent layouts for bloggers. It is convenient for updating posts.

Who is your audience and why should we read and watch your channel?

My audiences are usually food and art lovers. Read my channel if you want to expose yourself to engage in new food ideas, new art inspirations, and relaxation. We learn from everyone. And I hope my ideas will be inspiring for others to create their own. I am not really a food or art expert. However, I am someone who does have inspirations and ideas. I hope everyone can pursue their inspirations and desires despite their fears. I hope everyone can listen to their inner voice and do what they really love. I hope everyone finds comfort in my ideas. Whenever people are stressed or troubled, I hope my channel is a source of comfort and relaxation.

Talk to me about your city, the food, music and why should we visit it?

My country is Singapore. I am proud of my country definitely.

Singapore is a beautiful country with wide choices of good food. Visit Singapore if you love food. We have food from several ethnicity and countries. Our local art scene is growing with new actors; actresses and singers. Visit our local pubs and cafes to catch local talents to display their prowess while you relax in this beautiful country.

We have a beautiful airport with several terminals, food and especially the famous shopping mall, Jewel. Must try in Jewel is A&W! Their root beer float is damn famous. Our beautiful jazz music at the airport is very relaxing.

Help me understand what women’s empowerment means to you? How is it dealt with in your culture?

Women’s empowerment means allowing a woman to have freedom of expression, speech, and decisions which will equip women with self-confidence. Gender equality is very much present in Singapore. Singapore’s women often have the freedom to express themselves and make decisions for themselves. Several of Singapore’s women are highly educated and have their own thoughts. Often in families, husbands and wives do work. Women’s rights are prominent in Singapore. I feel Singapore’s women are pretty much empowered and self-sufficient.

Life is challenging? Let us talk about something challenging you have been through and how did you deal with it?

Life is challenging, definitely. We are always faced with new fears, new problems, and unpredictable failures. Challenges and failures make us grow and build resilience. We cannot change who we are as a person, but we can always find betterment in the things we do. Something challenging I have been through was discovering more about myself and questioning my purpose. I seek some friends’ opinions, guidance, and reflect this gathered information by relating them to my wants and eventually arrive at a conclusion. I realized more things about myself and it was rewarding.

You are banished to an island and can only take five things with you. What would those be and why?

I would take my iPhone, iPhones power bank, water bottle, portable stove, and pot. iPhone and iPhones power bank allows me to take photos of the island until the power bank depletes. At least, I have retained memories of the island. Water bottles, portable stove and pot are things for me to survive on the island. Who doesn’t need food and water?

Rapid-fire questions for you:

Favorite food

My favorite food is my mum’s Peranakan dish, Ayam Buah Keluak. Being half-Peranakan, I am usually addicted to Peranakan food. Ayam Buah Keluak contains the original flavors of Peranakan in their sauces and I love prawns in my Buah Keluak’s paste. Prawns are my favorite!!

Favorite music

I do not really have favorite music. Any music that is nice, I will listen to them. I love the different melodies and styles produced by each songwriter or musician. They give me the inspiration to write songs. I love to be exposed to various kinds of music genres as they broaden my mind.

Favorite group

I do have a favorite group though and it was Tohoshinki; also known as Dong Bang Shin Gi. I started to listen to Kpop because of them and their amazing powerful vocals. Their visuals are astounding. I still remembered myself humming Balloons and Mirotic.

Favorite fashion designer

My favorite fashion designer is Kate Spade. It is a pity she passed away. Several talents have been claimed by suicide and it is something that I hope will not happen again. I hope society is more aware of mental illness. I hope the world is more empathetic and open-minded towards sufferers of mental illness. I think more love, care, and mercy will make this world a better place.

Please write a short song for me?

I made a prayer

For skies to remain blue

Let’s be hopeful

Life is a ride

For we don’t know what might

The post Makeup Looks appeared first on Four Columns of a Balanced Life.

Suzana Serravalle talks about essential oils.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs are the foundation and essence of the Canadian economy. Women entrepreneurs continue to face barriers in the ecosystem like gender bias, systematic discrimination, and access to mentors, support, services, and financing.

Suzana Serravalle is an Independent Wellness Consultant with doTERRA International which deals in essential oils. Suzana has shown ingenuity, tenacity, and resilience and continues to grow her business through all the challenges.

Sue, please tell me a little about you?

My name is Suzana Serravalle. I’m a McMaster University graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology.  I have been married to a wonderful man and business partner for 17 years.  Together we have a daughter and son ages 14 and 12.  We live in Burlington Ontario and just love this city and the people in it.  My husband and I are Entrepreneurs.  For the past 10 years, we have run our own Electrical Contracting Company together.  We started this business from the ground up and are proud of how well we have done.  For 16 years I also worked as a Registered Massage Therapist.  I loved being fully self-employed as it afforded me the opportunity to work from home and take care of my family.

About 4 years ago I embarked on a new venture that fit my true passion in life, natural health care.  I am an Independent Wellness Consultant with doTERRA International.  It is my absolute pleasure to educate people about the quality and effectiveness of doTerra’s essential oils and other natural products and how people can incorporate these into their lifestyles to improve their overall health and wellness.  In short, I’m a mom, a wife, and an entrepreneur with a great passion for natural health care and essential oils!

Wow! So, you quit massage therapy to pursue your dream of owning a business. Tell me about the process and how does it make you feel like a successful person? 

As much as I loved being a Massage Therapist and helping people with their various muscle, and tissue concerns, relieving stress, and other physical conditions, I felt that there was always something more I could do.  Half of my clients were on anti-depressants, all of them were under extreme stress and people were sick all the time.  My role with doTERRA has allowed me to educate and empower others to make healthier and proactive choices regarding their health.   I’m successful when I’ve helped just one person, and to date, I’ve helped over a thousand with essential oils. That’s true Success!

How important it is for you to feed your kids healthy food?

This is so important.  Now, I’m not perfect by any means.  Being self-employed and working from home allows me to schedule a time to buy groceries and make homemade meals on a daily basis.  I love knowing what is in the food, I’m feeding my family.  It’s not just important for kids but for us all.  Our gut is the key to good health.  When our digestive system is messed up, it affects every part of our body including our mood, emotions, and mental health.  Along with healthy food I make sure we all take extra vitamins with our food to ensure enough nutrient extraction and absorption and to make sure our bodies receive a solid foundation of health.

How have essential oils made a difference in your life and the family?

It has made the biggest impact on our overall health and wellness as well as provided me with a career that I love!  First, we have completely detoxified our home and only use healthy and natural products.  You won’t find any chemicals that are harmful to our home.  This includes all our toiletries, cleaning products, and solutions for any and all health concerns in our family.  We’ve improved our internal health with doTerra’s vitamins and other natural supplements and addressed emotions and moods with essential oils. We are healthier than ever before and have a natural solution for everything.  As a family, we are better educated and make better choices.  Being a doTERRA Wellness Educator has afforded me the work lifestyle I want and opened the door to endless earning potential!  The sky’s the limit and I’m in the driver’s seat with essential oils!

Essential oils make a difference in our moods and our health please explain?

With essential oils, we have the ability to direct our own emotional traffic.  Each aroma introduced to the brain conveys information that determines the brain’s response.  Imagine having the power to change your mood using natural chemical responses.  Making sure you are using pure and tested therapeutic-grade essential oils from a science-based company can give you endless possibilities.  Overall, the essential oils give our bodies what they need to work at their optimal level!  It’s as simple as that!

How do you balance food, faith, family, and finance in the 21st century?

To be honest…. I don’t personally believe that you can achieve true balance.  The scales will usually be tipped one way or another as life is unpredictable and stuff always happens.  But we can most certainly try and that’s what I do.  I believe being an Entrepreneur allows me the opportunity to choose my destiny, to choose what is important to me, and make that happen.  I guess I started with the basics of eating good quality food and making good choices as to what we put in and on our bodies.  Faith, to me, is being good to one another and serving others.  I am blessed to do this with my family, friends, and a thousand customers that I have.  Family is what I live for and therefore they are my number one priority each day.  And as far as finance goes, I’m so glad you listed it last because when all of the first three actions are taken, finance is just a bonus.  Far too often people just focus on the finance piece and don’t realize how important it is to take care of ourselves, love one another and serve others.

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