It's our first thought when we're stressed and overwhelmed, the first step we're taught to take when a moment is in danger of spinning out of control. Just breathe, and it will all come back into focus. But what about the rest of the time? Do we need to focus on our breathing even when things aren't terrible? And what if the anxiety lasts for more than a moment? What if it's rooted somewhere deep in our pasts or — just as likely — the present strain of making worldwide sickness and economic uncertainty, together with political, social, and environmental upheaval all seem like business as usual? Can just breathing help for more than a moment? Can it work to regulate our bodies as well as our minds to create the kind of wellness we need to survive the world we find ourselves in? According to wellness guru and breathwork specialist Kiesha Yokers, the answer to all of these questions is yes. We sat down with the Seattle-based Breathwork Facilitator & Somatic Life Coach to talk about her own journey to breathwork, the power of daily practice, and the potential she believes it holds for us all.

For a city that’s famously only seven-by-seven in square miles, San Francisco carries a lot of history, a lot of stories — and even more dreams. One dream that’s come true in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood is that of Swiss-born interior designer, Eva Bradley of Studio Heimat and her husband, artist Cory Bradley. The creative couple’s Victorian home boasts 3,000 square feet, including 5 bedrooms in addition to generous outdoor space, breathtaking views and a historic, century-old facade. But for them, the magic started years ago and thousands of miles away.

Christa Barfield is the founder of FarmerJawn. The agricultural center in the Philadelphia region is focused on regenerative farming practices and reclaiming the legacy of Black farming. Christa shares her incredible story with us - leaving her job in health care administration and embracing a new perspective that quickly connected her to the social issues that surround Black and Brown communities around the perceptions, prices, and quality of the food available to us. With the mission of creating, educating and feeding the community through farming, FarmerJawn continues to grow, overseeing 600 acres of land in a Philadelphia suburb, and developing corner stores in the city that will offer healthy, organic foods.

Studies have shown that for all of the illnesses affecting Americans nationwide — heart disease and high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma, stroke, and stress — consistent Tai Chi practice can have a range of beneficial effects, improving motor function, reducing inflammation and more. For Black people, who suffer higher rates of incidence and mortality than other groups for these conditions, Tai Chi can be an essential part of a wellness routine. But like any practice, the first step to benefitting from Tai Chi is knowing what it is, what it does, and where to find it.

“Our dinner parties are about ownership, belong- ing, leisure, and community,” says Amber Mayfield, founder of To Be Hosted, an innovative supper club that hosts dinners focused on highlighting Black food culture and building community. “We gather at one table, share a family-style meal, and have meaningful conversation.”

Once upon a time, Hip-Hop was a many layered thing. It had its gangstas and its Ruff Ryders, conscious Afrikans and poets, choppers and crooners, its Bad Boys and its empowered women. From sampled R&B beats to jazz quartets, the wide world and deep history of Black music could be heard behind nearly every verse. There seemed to be room for every style and every story, and love stories were no exception. But eras pass, and for a time it seemed like R&B powered reflections on the soft sides and hard truths of relationships were part of the genre’s past. Then came Ace Clark.

Haitian-born, New York sculptor Jessica Jean-Baptiste, sits down with us to discuss her practice, her evolution as an artist and her exclusive collection for AphroChic. In the tradition of artists such as Edmonia Lewis, Elizabeth Catlett and Augusta Savage, Baptiste's latest works, the Keisha and Jamal busts are a celebration of the beauty of Black life and Black bodies. These new works present a Black man without conflict, and a Black woman at peace. Simple images, yet revolutionary pieces by Baptiste, in their rejection of the story of Black America that is commonly told.

Lara Downes, whose star currently shines in the world of classical music as one of its most innovative figures and most energetic activists, discusses the inspiration behind her latest work, Reflections: Scott Joplin Reconsidered. A modern reflection on Joplin’s musical legacy, we discuss the importance of cultural memory and how the music of Scott Joplin continues to speak to us all more than a century later.

Fast food is usually the last place anyone would look for a history lesson, a social conscience or a message of change. And maybe that’s the problem. In a world where fast food is often the only food available in our communities, is there any reason why it shouldn’t be a force for good, serving healthy food while encouraging community togetherness and mutual respect? Chef Rock Harper says no, and he’s proving his point with Queen Mother’s, his new Arlington, Virginia-based restaurant that’s aiming to change the way we see fried chicken, and a few other things as well.

In the fall of 2020, the National Urban League partnered with BET to launch a new initiative — National Black Voter Day. The day, part of BET’s #ReclaimYourVote campaign, was focused on increasing Black voter turnout at the ballot box in the United States. Black voter turnout has been relatively high in the US for decades. Pew Research Center surveys that examine voting patterns over the past 20 years show that a majority of Black voters turn out each election cycle, with 67% of eligible Black voters participating in the 2012 election. That number was higher than any other racial or ethnic group that year. But in 2016, during the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Black voter turnout dipped by 10%, resulting in a 20-year low (higher still than the percentage of eligible Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans who voted that year, but slightly lower than the percentage of eligible white Americans).

For most of us, it was around 2010 that today’s trendiest houseplant came onto the scene. The ficus lyrata, better known as the fiddle leaf fig started a revolution, quickly replacing the old, outdated palm tree of virtually every home and office of the 1990s. While the fiddle leaf fig has enjoyed soaring popularity over the past decade — even getting recognized by The New York Times as the go-to plant of top interior designers — its history is much longer and deeper than that. In fact, this stylishly modern plant is millions of years old and traces its roots to West Africa, specifically modern day Cameroon and Sierra Leone.

History is a tricky beast to nail down. The result of a mixture that’s equal parts objective science, subjective perspective, political power, and good old fashioned belief, history is a feat, the attempt of which leaves scholars and students alike with the same inevitable paradox: on one hand, an unwilling acceptance of the fact that we will never be able to recount with complete accuracy or objectivity exactly what happened; and on the other hand a grim understanding of the consequences of getting it too wrong or worse yet, not trying at all.

In the summer of 2020, AphroChic spoke with Janelle Jones on Instagram Live about Black Women's Equal Pay Day, economics, and racial inequality. Janelle is the first African American woman to serve as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and is currently the chief economist for Service Employees International Union. Here we present the edited conversation from two years ago in honor of Black Women's Equal Pay Day 2022, which takes place this year on September 21st. Black women are paid 58 cents for every dollar paid to white men and this day symbolically denotes how far into the year Black women must work to be paid what men were paid the previous year. 

“You have a social responsibility as an artist,” says Tiffany-Anne Parkes, the founder of Pienanny. It’s a responsibility that she does not take lightly. Speaking with the culinary artist over Zoom, it’s clear that Parkes is always thinking deeply and intentionally about the work she’s doing, even while on vacation. Enjoying the Jamaica sun while visiting with family, her hair pulled back in beach-ready blonde cornrows, she’s equal parts reflective and instructive, talking about pies as if she were still teaching history in front of a classroom - a full-time profession that she recently left in 2022. “For me,” she continues, “art is not just about being pretty. It’s not about something just being attractive…” After a brief pause she asks, “Why aren’t we taking it a step further and thinking a bit more deeply about culinary artistry and thinking about how we can use that as a way to say something meaningful?”

For Hana Getachew, the Bolé Road is a lot of things. It’s the name of her celebrated textile line, a gorgeous collection of traditionally-inspired Ethiopian pillows and accessories, currently enjoying a collaboration with West Elm. It’s a popular thoroughfare in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the designer was born. Most of all it’s a metaphor for all of the important journeys she’s been on in life, starting with the first one.

“Strategy. Action. Walk into who you claim to be and lead.” Jill Scott’s reading of her poem, Agitation Definition #3 at the nationally televised, Juneteenth: A Global Celebration, was an urgent call to action. A rebuke of America’s so-called leaders — political and cultural — who seem to be failing us at every turn. She was demanding that those in a position to lead, do so. The fiery poem, ending with Scott’s defiant scream, “LEAD!”, evoked remembrances of Fannie Lou Hamer’s emphatic rallying cry, “We are sick and tired of being sick and tired!” Half a desperate plea and half a revolutionary command, the moment captured perfectly the emotions of a nation that genuinely wants to be better than it is, yet feels itself edging ever closer to something terrible.

Have you ever had one of those days? A terrible day, right in the middle of everything being bad, when you can’t remember how good it used to be and can’t imagine it ever being that good again? And then something happens, someone happens, they do or say something that cuts through all the bad, and they didn’t even know what they’d done? With music and song, Greg Banks has been that person to break through on more than one occasion. We know, because he did it for us.

Storytelling is an important part of African culture. All throughout the continent, there are griots - repositories of oral traditions who keep history and culture alive through poems, music, songs, tales, and clothes. For fashion designer Sindiso Khumalo, her newest collection is a moment of storytelling worthy of the tradition.

One of the potential hazards of loving art is the tendency to see it as something separate from everyday life — a thing apart, with no ability to function practically beyond what it stirs in us emotionally or intellectually. Sometimes that can be true, but often our most inspired works are the ones inspired by a practical need, like the patterned rugs of the Middle East and Central Asia. Similarly, the African American quilts of Gee’s Bend, hailed as pivotal works of modern art in museum exhibitions around the country, were inspired by the simple need to stay warm.

Malcolm Simmons has been designing all of his life. A native of Virginia who spent years living abroad before studying graphic and interior design, he’s now known as the owner of the design consultation company, Mas Means More. For the last two years, the self-styled “environmental graphic designer,” has made his home in a 2-story colonial-style condo in Arlington, Virginia.