Black Love’s Codie Elaine Oliver, Provides Healing And Wellness For Black Women With The You Retreat

In 2017, enterprise and life companions Tommy and Codie Oliver, founders of Black Love, Inc. and the Black Love docuseries, constructed their media empire to assist drive change by inspiring wholesome dialog round relationships throughout the Black group. Oliver understands Black ladies’s skill to like and affirm themselves and the way very important it’s to their existence and the way channeling it may be, which is why she determined to share her experience with ladies throughout the nation with The YOU Retreat.

The YOU Retreat is an intimate, one-day wellness expertise and alternative for Black ladies to pour into themselves. The retreat was particularly designed to interrupt down emotional and non secular partitions in ladies who must jumpstart their journey to readability and peace. All through the retreat, visitor audio system like Tabitha Brown, Angela Rye, Estelle, and extra, performed conversations about discovering peace amid tough life transitions and shared their wellness practices.

Forward of The YOU Retreat, we caught up with Oliver on why she created the wellness occasion and what’s subsequent for Black Love Inc.

Dominique Fluker: What led you to create The YOU Retreat, Black Love’s first-ever ladies’s wellness occasion? What’s the aim and the intention behind the retreat?

Codie Elaine Oliver: Final yr, earlier than the start of the pandemic, so many ladies in my life had been battling grief or heartbreak, self-doubt, and anxiousness feeling like there was nobody to speak to. I’m solution-oriented with regards to assist my family members get the assist they want, so The YOU Retreat was born out of wanting to assist these near me and, after all, understanding we weren’t alone in these feelings.

When the retreat was canceled in March 2020 on account of COVID, I wasn’t certain I’d strive it once more, however it’s not like getting by way of grief and anxiousness received any simpler during the last yr. So, we introduced it again and targeted not solely on serving to Black ladies really feel like we will get by way of something but in addition on sisterhood as one of many methods by way of. We’re stronger collectively, and actual queens repair one another’s crowns. The YOU Retreat 2021 was born!

Fluker: Why is it so necessary so that you can assist Black ladies discover love and acceptance inside themselves, particularly throughout COVID-19?

Oliver: Everybody deserves to know what it looks like to like your self totally. However as Black ladies, we are sometimes informed we’re much less fascinating, much less deserving of equal alternatives or revenue, and anticipated to suit into others’ expectations of what we needs to be. These detrimental tales can permeate our existence and have an effect on all {our relationships} except corrected, so I at all times wish to create an area the place we might pour into each other and really feel seen.

Fluker: The YOU Retreat has a star-studded line up of panelists like Estelle, Angela Rye, Tabitha Brown, and extra. Might you communicate to the retreat’s session themes and panel choice?

Oliver: The general theme of the YOU Retreat is for Black ladies to heal by way of group and proudly owning our worthiness. I personally curated conversations with ladies I knew could be susceptible in sharing their highs and lows and ladies who persistently encourage different ladies. We’ve a panel on conquering entrepreneurship and interior peace that includes the founding father of Brown Lady Jane, Tai Beauchamp and me, sisterhood regardless of life’s seasons that includes real-life finest pals Devi Brown and Angela Rye, creating your individual path with singers and trailblazers Estelle and Mickey Guyton, and affirming your self even when it’s powerful that includes Melissa Fredericks and Tabitha Brown.

Fluker: Coming off the heels of a profitable 5^th season of Black Love, how is The You Retreat an extension of your docuseries?

Oliver: The Black Love docuseries is about what it takes to make a wedding work. Nevertheless, our bigger Black Love model highlights 360 levels of Black love, together with partnership, relationship, parenting, friendship, and most significantly, self-love. Self-awareness and specializing in self-love are important elements to forging wholesome relationships with others. Our model is rooted in transparency, and people can at all times count on that the openness that made our docuseries common is what we provide throughout all our content material and occasions.

Fluker: What do you hope company obtain from attending The YOU Retreat?

Oliver: My best hope in all of the work we do is to point out folks they’re not alone in no matter they’re going by way of. Regardless of our degree of success, most of us have skilled self-doubt, low lows, grief, heartbreak, and setbacks. The audio system on the YOU Retreat share their tales to supply perspective to the viewers.

Fluker: What’s subsequent on your media firm, Black Love Inc.? Share your plans for enlargement and upcoming tasks, like producing the upcoming Netflix movie, The Excellent Discover.

Oliver: Simply this yr at Black Love Inc, we launched a podcast community, a content material app known as Black Love+, and we create stay and digital occasions, together with the 4th annual Black Love Summit, which is able to happen in November. We’re additionally creating a number of thrilling TV and movie tasks and simply wrapped the Netflix movie The Excellent Discover, a romantic comedy based mostly on a e-book I really like by Tia Williams. Our aim is to create content material that facilities Black folks as leads.