This Giving Tuesday, we are honored to be giving 5% of proceeds to three organizations at the epicenter of our mission: Women & Wellness. In their own special ways, SeekHer Foundation, Black Girl Ventures, and World Central Kitchen represent aspects of our mission that we are proud to support.   

 

SeekHer Foundation

 

SeekHer Foundation is a community organization dedicated to improving mental health for women through advocacy, research, and support for emerging leaders who are impacting change in their local communities & beyond. Their mental health-focused programs and resources are built for connection and community to help women thrive in their work and everyday life. Started by former biotech scientist turned social impact advisor and mental health advocate, Dr. Monica Mo, their work focuses on body & beauty standards commonly touted by a wellness industry driven by perfectionism and control, societal pressures on caregiving and motherhood roles that create impossible ideals & unrealistic expectations, career & leadership roles that women are hindered from due to cultural narratives and biases, and workplaces and communities that need to better serve our diverse range of perspectives & cultural differences⁠.

 

“SeekHer is doing exactly the type of work we need to see in the real world, and shift the narrative to elevate women’s voices on what matters to them — not what society tells them to value. ” — Dr. Jen Douglas, Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine

 

Some unique programs your dollars will support:

 

1. SeekHer Scholars, Continuing Education to Provide Unique Support to Women: Open to licensed health practitioners, therapists, psychologists, and social workers, the SeekHer Scholars program offers leadership training, continuing education & mentorship to care providers as they grow their brands to serve women and underrepresented groups within their communities.
2. “No” Is Beautiful – Work/ Life Boundaries: From navigating competing pressures at home to burnout and uncompassionate work conditions, women are making their voices heard by leaving at an unprecedented rate.  SeekHer helps women become aware of the signs of burnout and overwhelm, prioritize self-care, and speak up with her “No” – a word that women culturally are not as likely as men to use freely.

 

Why we love partnering with them…

 

1. Talk about an EXTREMELY aligned mission! Equilibria is not your standard wellness company that sells you supplements and sends you on your way. Focusing on holistic women’s wellness, every single member of our community has access to a Certified Wellness Coach with whom she can share what’s really going on in her life to hold back her wellness goals.  Our team hears issues such as burnout, fatigue, overwhelm, and disappointment with currently available resources, all the time from our members.
2. We lend an empathic ear to our members as Certified Coaches, and educate HER to take control of her own wellness journey with education on each and every one of our functional ingredients, how they work in the body, and discreet lifestyle tips and tricks to amplify her product routine. As women, we often take care of everyone around us, but when we focus first on ourselves we have more capacity and strength to continue doing good work in our communities, families, and organizations.  

 

Black Girl Ventures

 

This is our 4th consecutive year that we are able to support Black Girls Ventures (BGV) and we couldn’t be more excited to continue the partnership. BGV funds and scales revenue-generating businesses founded by Black & Brown women. They believe in a world where ALL ideas have a chance to succeed, and they help under-represented founders gain access to capital, counsel, and network to maximize their chances of growing a healthy business. Founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and computer scientist Shelly Bell, BGV addresses the unique challenges that Black/Brown women face in accessing social and financial capital to grow their businesses. 

 

Some unique programs your dollars will support:

 

1. Pitch competitions and competitive fund generation techniques for entrepreneurs: The BGV pitch competition is the largest pitch competition globally for Black and Brown women founders. It uniquely combines the premise of Shark Tank and Kickstarter by activating community participation in donating to support women-owned businesses directly. BGV have funded 450 women of color, held over 50 BGV Pitch Programs across 15 cities and served over 10,000 founders. BGV pitch participants are collectively generating over $10M in revenue and supporting 3,000 jobs. Plus, Equilibria was lucky enough to sponsor a BGV Consumer Packaged Good pitch contest in 2021!
2. BGV NextGen: Created for the next generation of Black and Brown entrepreneurs attending Historically Black Colleges & Universities  (HBCU) nationally, this experience creates access to capital, capacity, and community for student visionaries ranging from 18 to 24 years old. By democratizing entrepreneurship for the NextGeneration of business leaders, BGV will help change the playing field for Black and Brown women-identifying founders while closing the generational wealth gap, strengthening families, and creating a more equitable society.
3. BGV Emerging Leaders Fellowship: This program is a totally unique 3-month leadership skills development program created specifically to expand the capacity of early-stage entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders. BGV incubates Black/Brown woman-identifying founders and ecosystem builders across multiple local ecosystems as a means to amplify women leaders and to create an “each one, teach one” model for growing the long-term entrepreneurial knowledge and sustainability of underrepresented founders. Black Girl Ventures cultivates local leaders, who in-turn cultivate their community as a service to the greater good of creating equal opportunity to thrive at the intersection of being a Black/Brown woman and an entrepreneur.

 

Why we love partnering with them…

 

Equilibria is founded by two serial tech entrepreneurs and female founders, Coco Meers & Mary Capron. We are very mindful that holistic wellness focusing on mind, body, and spirit isn’t possible until the base financial needs of  a household are met.  Financial independence allows women to pursue safe, healthy lifestyle choices  for themselves and the dependents that rely on them. By nurturing a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem for black and brown woman-identifying founders, we are helping to close the gender and racial wealth gap perpetuated in our society. With only 3% of venture funding going to female founders and less to black and grown woman-identifying founders, we are helping to solve a massive equity problem. As a women’s wellness company, we deeply believe that when women succeed communities succeed and are proud to be a continuing sponsor for BGV. 

 

World Central Kitchen

 

Founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a nonprofit organization that is first to the frontlines providing fresh meals in response to crises, while working to build resilient food systems with locally led solutions. Applying their model of quick action, leveraging local resources, and adapting in real time, WCK has served hundreds of millions nourishing meals around the world. In 2010, Chef José Andrés, ready to use his culinary knowledge and talent to help, headed to Haiti following a devastating earthquake. Cooking alongside displaced families in a camp, he was guided on the proper way to cook black beans the way Haitians like to eat them: mashed and sieved into a creamy sauce. It wasn’t just about feeding people in need—it was about listening, learning, and cooking side by side with the people impacted by the crisis.

 

“When you need medical service, you bring doctors and nurses. When you need the rebuilding of infrastructure, you bring in engineers and architects. And if you have to feed people, you need professional chefs…. Food has the power to be the nourishment and hope we need to pick ourselves back up in the darkest times.” – Jose Andres, Celebrity Chef & WCK Founder

 

While the organization focused on sustainable programming over the years, José never forgot about those early days cooking in the camp in Haiti. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, and José, with several chefs from his team, decided it was time to act. The group got on the ground and began helping to prepare meals. José continued learning, observing how food relief was handled following a crisis—he immediately saw gaps and ways that it could be done better. Then, just a month later, Hurricane María hit Puerto Rico—the storm brought catastrophic devastation, and millions of Americans were in need, immediately. Boarding the first commercial flight to San Juan, José started in one kitchen, cooking sancocho at a friend’s restaurant in the Santurce neighborhood. Building fast, chefs, food trucks, volunteers joined the team and #ChefsForPuertoRico was born. WCK would go on to serve nearly 4 million fresh meals in the aftermath of María. Since preparing the first few hundred meals in Puerto Rico, WCK teams have served meals to people recovering from crisis every single day. Hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis, and volcano eruptions took the team across the world, growing in knowledge and capacity with each crisis. 

 

Locales they’re serving now:

• Gaza/ Israel
• Ukraine
• Iceland  (pre-potential volcanic eruption)
• Mexico (Hurricane Otis)
• Various other climate and violence-stricken areas around the world

 

Why we love partnering with them…

 

With our recent launch of Daily Nutri-Greens, we are never more mindful that a balanced mind and body are impossible without foundational nutrients.  With many great organizations out there focusing on disaster and conflict relief, WCK was organized by chefs who understand the transformational power of nutrient diversity to lift spirits and help our bodies function. We stand by Chef Andres and the great work he’s doing to promote healthy nutrition for all!

 

The Takeaway…

 

Thank you so much for helping us support these three incredible organizations! With our daily focus on women and wellness, these three very different 501 C3’s share our mission of equitable mental health, economic opportunity, and foundational wellness. For those interested in making additional donations directly to these causes, please visit the websites for SeekHer Foundation, Black Girl Ventures, and World Central Kitchen! 

Happy Giving Tuesday!