Name: Dixie Lincoln-Nichols

Who: Founder of Inside Outer Beauty Market 

From: Trinidad & Tobago, Currently in the countryside in Pennsylvania 

Fun Deets: My sun sign is Aquarius. Moon is Taurus, Ascendent ruler in Scorpio.

Who are you and a brief overview of your career journey? 

• I’m a biological science/health educator, health coach and qigong instructor. I’m also the CEO and founder of Inside Outer Beauty Market, an award-winning, multi-cultural retailer, centering Black artisans and consumers and curating beauty, wellness, personal, care and household care products to support the body inside and out. My sun sign is Aquarius. Moon is Taurus, Ascendent ruler in Scorpio. I’m curious and creative by nature and love a great adventure. I spent fourteen years as a biological science/health teacher. After my grandmother told me to jump, life and God will catch me, I had myself an eat, pray, love moment, quit my job and embarked on a self-care sabbatical. Right around the same time, I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids and cystic acne. The circumstances around the diagnosis and treatment set me on a path to alternative healing; a healing journey then became the impetus for launching Inside Outer Beauty Market.

How did mental health/stress/burnout impact your previous career? 

• Mental health illness runs in my family, on both my mom’s paternal and maternal sides. So, I’m always mindful of my mental wellbeing. That said. I was miserable showing up at a workplace in the capacity I did, and I stayed at that job for fourteen years even though I wanted to leave thirteen years prior. It took a long time, but when nausea began to set in every Sunday, in anticipation of the work week, I knew it was time to go. My career became a means to an end, and I had to put an end to the way I was showing up. I eventually built up the courage to get clear about what I wanted, face the fear and quit.

What does wellness mean to you?

• Wellbeing requires nurturing of the body, mind and spirit. It is not a perfect way of being. We’re all different and require different. So, for me, wellness is the ability to cope and thrive regardless of what life throws our way. But in order to be well we must have the resources to support our wellbeing goals.

Why does wellness need to be disrupted?

• The standard for wellness has been static for so long. It’s time for dynamic. So, some dynamite definitely needs to set it off its elitist, exclusive course. And we see that happening. There is a long-standing lack of diversity and inclusivity within the wellness industry. We’ve always seen spaces and places of wellness dominated by white people, catering exclusively to their wellness needs, even when many of the wellness practices are taken from people of color.

Everyone regardless of color or ethnicity, gender, gender identity, physical ability, age, social class, nationality, etc. deserves to have access to resources to support their wellbeing.

Wellness is more than medicine. It’s holistic. It’s rest. It’s movement.It’s good nutrition.It’s restorative practices.It’s safe skincare, personal care and household care.It’s recreation.It’s financial literacy. It’s community.It’s therapy. It’s inclusivity and diversity, equity and equalityand more.All of these components are woven into the wellness spectrum.Long gone is the notion that wellness can be found solely in a medicine bottle. And going, going, soon to be goneis the practice of wellness being for the wealthy.

Who are your wellness/health/spiritual heroes?

• On the spiritual side, my mom who is a mother in her church, and my Qigong master/instructor, Thich Nhat Hanh, TD Jakes and Iyalna Vanzant. I glean a lot from these folks. On the wellness side, my grandmother (She’s 86 and has all her teeth and not one cavity). Herlife mostly mirrors the people of the Blue Zones. So of course, the people of the five blue zones (Ikaria, Greece, Okinawa, Japan- Ogliastra Region, Sardinia Loma Linda, California and Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.) are wellness heroes. These places have the most centennials. They are definitely aspirations as I grow older. Hence, I’m doing my best to mirror their lifestyle practices.

And what wellness/health tips have been passed on to you by an elder? 

• My grandmama has passed on tons of tips for health and wellbeing. Among my favorites are extracting coconut oil, which I sometimes use for cooking or body care. Dried orange peel for nausea and upset stomach. And last but not least, the idea of not being too clean. She always encouraged us to go outside and get dirty, which was quite normal for us growing up in the countryside. But when I had my children, she got on my case to get my kids – who were born in the USA – outside and dirty in order to strengthen their immune system and make them more resilient to some germs.

Your favorite song that makes you happy every time you listen to it? 

• I Wanna Dance with Somebody. I wanna feel the heat with somebody. By Whitney Houston. It brings me absolute joy.