https://linktr.ee/MahoganyManifesto

Mahogany Manifesto, Columbus, OH (2026)

03/20/2026

From to 🖤 Today I’m reflecting on memories, gratitude, and the gift of travel across generations.

My love for global exploration started with my parents and our Caribbean cruises in the 80s and 90s.

I’m grateful my child got to experience that joy with his grandma, and that I now get to continue it with him 🛳️

When I found a cruise departing on my father’s birthday in 2027, from one of my favorite places (Portugal), it felt deeply aligned.

In their memory, I’m creating a nursing scholarship at Columbus State (more soon). ✨👉🏾 If you join the cruise, a portion of proceeds will support this fund through Mahogany Manifesto LLC.

Travel with intention. 🌍 Travel with .

⏱️ The Sail & Save discount is only available through March 31. After that, base pricing is protected through April 12. Thus, this is the time to make your deposit (25% down). The remaining amount isn’t due until December 2026. Practice (reserving now for the best price, then save and spend wisely) while prioritizing your joy ans ⏳

03/20/2026

Last month, I shared via the email list that I would be switching from Wordpress to Substack to share reflections on my wellness and self care journey and, hopefully, to spark conversation.

The first article—aptly called 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 as we head into the —is now up on Substack.

To offer clarity, here is how ’s remaining platforms fit together:

𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭 (𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩): A monthly “manifesto,” or digest, that will provide you with a short ICYMI-style summary as well as an overview of what’s happening next and how to engage

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞: Your one-stop-shop for every Mahogany Manifesto offering — i.e., Wellness Retreats and Excursions, CommUniversity Workshops and Outings, Dates and Locations for Market Days, Details about The Daily Manifesto All-In-One Wellness Planner, and Other Recommendations

𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 + 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐤𝐲 + 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤: Your social media respite spaces — Visit often for story shares, thought starters, and relaxing posts

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧: Mostly reminders for you to use every last minute of you PTO 😉 Come here for your Career Wellness connection

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐌 (𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬): A static space for previous blog posts that tell the MM story

Thanks for being part of this community 🖤

03/15/2026

Still manifesting an intern to help me remember to take photos at every event 😩 but ANYWHO — The book club kick off was wonderful!!

11 folks have committed to the journey 🙌🏽✨

We met at the ultra beautiful Barnett Branch of the . (We have to have the BEST library system in the country!) Our April meetup will also be at Barnett and then we will be at the MLK Branch for May and June.

A huge thank you goes to for the mini grant that enabled the purchase of 10 books for this nearly year-long journey.

Stay tuned for more CommUniversity by MM activities 🙌🏽

03/03/2026

The 2026 9 Dimensions of Wellness recap has come to a close, but I hope you will incorporate the practice of reflecting on these categories into your days and weeks throughout the year. 💡 all-in-one wellness planner was designed to help with that 🤗 DM or email to order!

03/02/2026

𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴) 🌱 Out of all 9 Dimensions of Wellness, this is the signature category for me.

Environmental Wellness quite literally changed my life.

Gardening spawned a passion in me that I didn’t know existed until 2020.

It is hard work, but I love it.

Hours pass by when I’m weeding, pruning, watering (and taking pictures 😆) of my plants.

It has transformed the way I travel. I make sure I include some intentional outdoor experience is every trip that I can.

It changed the way that I eat and shop. I can go several weeks at a time without having to step foot inside of a grocery store in the height of the growing season because I produce more food than I need, leaving plenty to share with friends and family, and with neighbors via .

It inspired me to experiment with common herbs, combining them as teas for wellness and enjoyment.

It motivated me to be vocal about important issues like climate change, environmental injustice, and soil health.

This one category of wellness has taught me a lot, but overall, it taught me about collective care.

When we tend the land, we participate in shared survival and stewardship. Environmental Wellness drives home how doing good for yourself goes a long way toward doing good for the community.

🫶🏽 Take one action today that supports the environment you share with others.

03/01/2026

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹) 👩🏾‍🎨 I had an early introduction to the value of Creative Wellness, I just didn’t know that’s what it was called.

I attended arts immersion schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Learning through, with, and in the arts was my foundation for education. In adulthood, this framework has proven to be beneficial. I believe that it helped me think outside of the box and pivot on a dime. I see a multitude of possibilities. The both/and of life (unless that both/and is an attempt to justify genocide, colonization, imperialism, patriarchy, homophobia, and/or capitalism 😒) is easy for me to comprehend.

Creative Wellness expands your mindset just the same as travel.

Just about everywhere I go, I include some kind of creative/artistic experience. In fact, the Afro Nation Portugal excursion that I coordinated for July 2026 is a perfect representation of how Creative Wellness can guide travel.

🛫 Have you looked into the any of the retreats yet? Did you know that the founder, Jera, is available for personalized consultations? Let’s connect!

03/01/2026

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴) 👩🏽‍🌾 My reconnection with the land began during a dark and scary time for the world — COVID-19.

The pandemic was a trying time. In the middle of the fear and the fury, a bright light broke through.

People picked up new hobbies and new books. Some people even wrote books!

I picked up gardening.

Every gardening webinar. I was in it. Every “how to get started” YouTube video. I watched it.

I dove deep into the process of developing skills that nurtured my new interest AND provided resources for pure survival.

We’re in another dark time in this crazy world.

(My left-as-left-can-be politics are clear, so I won’t recount them.)

Gardening will once again step in to get me through, but it has grown to become a source of social and intellectual community for me with like minded people.

Perhaps it’s delusion, but I truly believe that our persistent development of a right relationship with the land will change the world.

Your area of intellectual growth may not be gardening, but hopefully — whatever it is — you are elevating the skill/knowledge to advance liberation.

🌱 What is your intellectual superpower? How are you using this wealth of information to make a positive, most-needed difference in the world?

02/27/2026

𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹) 👯‍♀️Just a quick swipe through the photos in this post and throughout the page will make it clear that we are all about over here!

Travel is an ESSENTIAL aspect of my identity.

I have learned a lot about how to connect authentically with people across languages and cultures through travel. I have also practiced skills like compromise and communication when trekking with friends and family. Additionally, though, I’ve learned as much, if not more, about me, myself, and I while galavanting the world 🛫🌍📍

Balancing solo travel with group travel mirrors the way I try to carve out time for myaelf in “regular” life, too.

I started taking trips alone in college (much to my mother’s chagrin). If I want to sit on the balcony all day and doom scroll to the sound of the ocean’s waves or read at a different coffee shop everyday, I can! If I want to visit that museum or go see that play, I can!

Social Wellness most certainly involves community, and community is imperative, but Social Wellness also involves healthy boundary setting and knowing when to step away for rejuvenation.

This is a practice in group travel, too. On the trips that I host, I encourage people to curate their own experience, but to just do it in a way that is mindful of the group. Be on time if you are going on group excursions. Communicate ahead of time if you are sitting something out. It’s simple in theory, but for some, it’s a point for growth. meets
 ✈️ Check out the retreats and excursions that are on deck through this year. Which one are you most interested in joining?

02/22/2026

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴) 👩🏽‍🌾 “Our money relationship is our everyday attitudes and actions toward money — how we think and feel about money, and how we use or misuse it. Like any relationship, it can be good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, on the upswing or on life support.”

This quote is from the book Your New Money Mindset by Brad Hewitt and James Moline. It is biblically-based, so I know this book might not work for everyone, but the lessons transcend religion.

Brad and James goes on to describe two mindsets: One that is rooted in scarcity and one the it rooted in surplus.

A scarcity mindset can lead to a range of unhealthy behaviors — hoarding out of fear and spending recklessly because ya know… YOLO/time is of the essence!

We’ve all battled some form of financial insecurity, either real or imaged.

Shifting to a surplus, or abundance, mindset is the recommended solution: “[A] surplus mindset isn’t about how much we have. It’s a conscious choice to think and act differently about everything we own or might wish we did. A surplus mindset means deciding we have enough for ourselves and enough to share. [… W]e want to suggest a different starting point: begin by adding more good stuff. By adding ‘more good stuff’ we don’t mean another round of spending. We’re talking about leading with generosity grounded in grace. Instead of putting all your energy into cutting, focus on giving. Start by volunteering. Spend time helping family, friends, and strangers in ways that also give life to you.”

How does this relate to gardening and ?

In ALL the ways!

Gardening is a fantastic, hands-on practice for building a surplus mindset.

Financial wellness is about cultivating stability that allows us to meet our needs and support others without sacrificing ourselves.

Growing food-bearing plants that produce more than you can consume in a season is a great way to practice saving, sharing, and being creative.

🌱 Reflect on one of your financial choices and contemplate how you can use gardening as a tool to improve it or make a needed change.

02/14/2026

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹) 🚘 How fitting is it that on the day I drove to Newark, Ohio for the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association Conference, I’m also reflecting on 😊

Careers are more than what shows up on your resume as a chronological list of job titles and responsibilities.

Careers should be an criss-crossing map with intersections of passion, relationships, and value (both received and given), but oftentimes, they are not.

How many times have you heard someone in the field of nursing, medicine, mental health counseling, or similar professions recount conversations with dying patients about how they wish they had of lived fuller, more passion-driven lives than ones that were focused on punching a clock?

We all have to make ends meet, but we don’t have to make our jobs our identities and we can make changes, big and small, that root us more deeply in our purposes.

Today, I’m at a farming conference, but I am not a full time farmer (yet ☺️).

I secured support from my doctoral program department to be here. I chose to devote a weekend to enriching my other interests and to making new connections.

Conferences are great ways to explore your passions and to grow your skills.

A lot of organizations offer free conferences, symposia, workshops, and networking programs, and there are even scholarships out there for professional development or sliding scale registration fees.

I make leisure trips out of my conference travel whenever possible. Tack on a day or two so that you can explore a new city. I visited Memphis a few years ago when I went on my own two a BIPOC travel conference.

I didn’t know what I would do with the information, or if I’d “do” anything with it at all, but here I am years later, a whole official travel planner.

Even if it doesn’t turn into a job/business for you, it’s still good to be in rooms with like minded folks.

✍🏽 When is the last time you attended a conference that related to something outside of your paid employment? Do an internet search to find options that are in-person and/or online for an area of personal interest. You never know where the connections can take you!

02/13/2026

𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴) 👩🏽‍🌾 I’m looking forward to spring for many reasons, but one of them is to get my garden body back! Growing food and flowers is hard work, and I love it!

I’m not a gym person. I hate “working out.” Doing something that keeps me physically and mentally active in a natural flow is essential.

This is a major tenet of research: “The beauty of moving naturally, i.e. walking and gardening, is they’re low impact. You’re less likely to fall down and break a hip. Setting up your life so you’re nudged into general physical activity every day is a strategy for your entire life from age 10 to 100.”

Maybe it’s dancing or swimming for you. Gardening works for me! The bonus is that I get to eat and share what I grow 🙌🏽

🌱 What’s your go-to natural form of mindful movement?

02/06/2026

𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹) 🛫 In this year’s 9 Dimensions of Wellness Reflection Series, I’m alternating between gardening and travel for context and application. ✨ One other “housekeeping” note about the posts: ALL of the background images were taken by yours truly 💁🏽‍♀️ on my recent travel adventures

Anywho! 😂 On to the post!

Travel has helped me unpack some stuff that I didn’t even know I was carrying.

After my father passed away in 2017, I needed to go somewhere. Anywhere. Just away from the family drama and personal health issues that made my father’s transition even harder to process.

There was one major issue: I felt like I couldn’t go and I didn’t really know why.

I held a mix of things — fear of judgment for being in a building stage of my life as a new homeowner and mother of an elementary-aged kid, and still wanting to do what some would critique as a diversion of resources from savings and to a “luxury.”

I wanted to take my child with me, so there was also the hurdle of needing his passport.

All of the barriers just felt overwhelming.

Then, literally one random day, I gave myself permission to let all of that go and I didn’t say a word to anybody. I just decided that I wasn’t going to let fear and judgment hold me back. I found a reasonably priced cruise, paid the deposit, and I think a few months went by before I said anything to my family 😂 My decision to do something that I felt like I NEEDED to do would NOT be mucked up by other people’s mess!

The exercise of paying attention to what my spirit is calling me to do for myself, my child, my family, and/or my community and then following it through has played out many times.

My choice to engage in counseling.

My choice to start this social enterprise.

My choice to “get anotha degree” and pursue a research doctorate as a full-time employee and triple-time caregiver.

God willing, I will continue to give myself permission to follow the all the days of my life.

🌴 What internal “call” have you been ignoring—Give yourself permission TODAY to take a step toward your own healing and elevation and don’t say nothin to nobody!

Mahogany Manifesto

03/20/2026

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