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

Hi Thea, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The focus is always to create global healing opportunities by decolonizing joy, pleasure, and mental health, with an emphasis on Black bodies.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

MarleyAyo is a creative wellness company, a living organism, focused on creating global healing through the decolonization of joy, pleasure, and mental wellness. We aren’t conventional, we don’t limit ourselves, and we center joy in every single detail of our growth and development. We are a WE. We thrive through authenticity; it protects our brand from interfacing with values that counter ours. We work hard, but we laugh harder. When we run into a challenge, we take a moment of introspection, assess for colonized thinking/behavior, assess for places we can co-create and expand, and then move forward collectively. I am very proud of who we are and the work that we do.
If we are looking under the lens of projects, we represent a variety of decolonized educational and creative endeavors.
Shaping The Shift Podcast is a love offering that serves as a healing and learning resource to its listeners. By highlighting different areas of the human experience, we have featured amazing guests such as Melanie Fiona, Adrienne Maree Brown and Patrice Washington. A podcast that started in May of this year 2020 we are so proud to announce our 15K+growing global listeners.
Our second child, The Blacker The Brain, is a cohort, community and conversation that decolonizes mental health and social services. By framing the Black American experience as the most important conversation surrounding the healthcare and social service industries, we highlight the immediate need for industry and societal transformation. Through a series of lectures, strategic and inclusive tools and community engagement activities, we are working toward the ability to have these courses taught and used for professional and personal development. The decolonization process in all of our work means that we ensure that our accreditation is not limited to the previous academic and capitalistic standards but, inclusive of these new standards and taught by those who are directly and indirectly receiving services.
Our third child, EnterWell, is dedicated to integrating decolonized and joy-centered mental wellness services into the entertainment and music industries.
EnterWell customizes wellness and mental health consulting services including:

  • Confidential and Customized artist/team need assessments
  • Confidential and Customized EnterWell Artist/Team Plan of Action
  • Confidential and Customized Mental Wellness Education Sessions for artists and teams
  • Confidential and Customized Well-Being Check Ins with artists
  • Confidential and Customized Joy Maintenance Resource List co-created with artist, team, and mental health facilitators.
  • Consulting services for designing wellness strategies within entities such as music labels, management teams, etc.

All services are provided using decolonized therapeutic practices developed with the understanding that systemic racism adversely impacts Black/POC artists in all areas of life. Our practices strive to be inclusive of cultural, spiritual, and ancestral wisdom integrated into client care.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would give them the black tour. We’d head to Leimert, grab some incense, enjoy some ceviche from Mr. Ceviche Man, maybe desserts from Southern Girl (I am a bit of a foodie). We’d have to hit the beach, and a hike in Altadena. I’d love to have a girls night in my backyard to seal the week.

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?
Tamikka Claybrook, Sophia Willis, and Bejai Miller are the powerhouses behind so much of the magic of MarleyAyo, Shaping The Shift, and The Blacker The Brain. Also Nikki Blak of Little Cali Creative Co, and our sound engineer Juan Pablo. And always Oya.

Website: theamonyee.com
Instagram: @theamonyee
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/theamonyeé
Twitter: @BlackerTheBrain
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theamonyee
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BookThea
Other: marleyayo.com podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shaping-the-shift-podcast/id1511202579

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