We had the good fortune of connecting with Nike Aurea and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nike, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The work I do right now is a product of my own direct experiences. I help spiritual and conscious businesses create safer spaces for BIPOC and learn how to be more intersectional and use less oppressive systems.

When I started to get more into the spiritual space and wanting to learn about healing and navigating the journey of understanding personal and socialized trauma, I found myself investing in and trying to build community & connection in spaces that ignore the healing of black and brown folks. This lead to more trauma and being in unsafe spaces, that still participated in harmful systems. So I wanted to bring more awareness to the spiritual space for more trauma informed, inclusive, and safer spaces for all.

What should our readers know about your business?
My business has taught me so much about worth, boundaries, and myself. I am most proud of choosing myself every single day. Meaning that I choose who is best to work with for me, who I want to collaborate with, and who I want to engage with, and don’t care about the hustle culture around it. My well being is the most important to me because this work has to be sustainable in order to have longevity. Its not a race, its a commitment with ups and downs.
I explicit state in my business, retreats, and workshops that I center black and indigenous healing and safety. You don’t really see that in other spiritual spaces that are diverse, because we are socialized to center whiteness. This has allowed my community to be really unique and authentic and created beautiful educational moments. And I am really proud of that.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I actually recently did this LA so it was amazing. First I would go to Echo Park. I like the park, I have had so many wonderful moments there and love doing a chill homemade morning brunch and tea with family and friends.
Connecting with nature is something I can sometimes forget I am able to do, so it is perfect to enjoy.
My next stop is in the valley at my parents small oasis.
My mother has an amazing garden there and I love hearing her rave about her fruits and veggies, and share her tips and tricks.
Her green thumb creates the most delicious veggies so we often use them to make a delicious veggie pizza from my childhood, chef’s kiss.
Lastly a place that is so familiar and feels like home is this crystal shop down the street. I don’t know the name which is…wow, but I walked in one day and I connect so much with the owners. Its family owned, they know exactly where they source from and they are so nice and sweet and encouraging. I went there so much the year I was retreating and healing and it was such a nurturing place.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The book who sparked my understanding of all this is “Do Better” by Rachel Ricketts. It completely validating all the feelings that I had been experiencing but had been gaslit by “love & white” spiritual teacher, coaches, and interactions. It was so important for my healing and was the catalyst to me bringing up these topics and standing in my power, and not caring about people who would rather subscribe to white supremacy culture and their “feel good” feelings than support their fellow siblings in their fight for liberation. Spirituality is beautiful, however we are still humans and to bypass the oppressive systems that plague many black and indigenous people in the name of ascension is harmful. That book ignited all of this for me and empowered me to speak about my lived experiences and call in people who value intersectionality and community.

Website: www.nikeaurea.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikeaurea/?hl=en

Other: tiktok: nikeaurea

Image Credits
Prana Portraits By Erin Jones https://pranaportraits.com/

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