Valerie Weyland (formerly Valerie Ogoke) is an explorer at heart, always open to what life may bring. She is a business owner, meditation facilitator, health + wellness coach, and a reiki healer. She is Nigerian-American and was born and raised in Inglewood, California. Currently residing in Perth, Western Australia, she founded Brown Girl Bloom in 2017. Brown Girl Bloom curates safe spaces for women of colour to thrive with a focus on holistic wellbeing.

She is also the co-founder of Ayune Hair, an ethical South East Asian human hair extension business that focuses on celebrating the layers of beauty. Her passion lies in being in complete alignment with her truth, living a purpose-full life, developing soul sister connections and community empowerment. She is an avid lover of all things spiritual. She believes that there is an abundance of beauty all around us, we simply need to open our heart to truly experience it.

1. Tell us about yourself, childhood, and what brought you to personal development today.

My journey has been an ocean of crashing waves and calm water as it flows gently against my skin. Both have served in my ever-evolving growth towards standing in my magic and truth.

As I reflect on my childhood years, there was no singular moment that led to my current self-awareness. There was no singular moment, where I thought ‘aha, I’m finally waking up! I’m finally seeing myself for the very first time.

It was the crumbs of curiosity, the gentle whispers in the middle of the night, the darkness, the pain, the laughter, the joy, the discomfort, the frustration that all moved me from my dormant state to a state of awakening.

In my childhood years, I have vivid memories of tears running down my face, feeling the anguish of my mother’s reality. Moving from Nigeria into a Western world, no family just my father. A man that had no sense of ‘love’, it was just a word with no real meaning. My mother left my father before I was born, while I was still in her womb. That was the beginning of my darkness, struggling to see light in a world full of resentment, anger, greed, and selfishness.

And yet, this darkness was my greatest gift

That is my childhood story.

As I evolved and healed, I found my purpose within my community. Within the souls of Black women.

My journey now is an interconnected movement of serving my heart and my community.

I hold space from fellow women of colour in Perth, Western Australia through my birth child ‘Brown Girl Bloom’

I use the beauty of stillness and observation to guide my fellow soul sisters back to themselves, back to the radiance of their inner light.

2. Advice you would give your 20-year-old self.

Flow with all that is. Your life will unfold into a beautiful masterpiece once you let go.

3. Name your favorite self development, self-help, or personal development book.

My inner voice and nature have been my greatest teachers far before I consciously began reading books pertaining to spirituality.

If there are women that are still eager to read while tapping into their inner abundance, I would encourage them to start with Indigenous authors. They have had a deep understanding of the self far beyond the introduction of western culture which often needs research documents for knowledge that can only be attained through our connection with ourselves.

A great book is ‘The Spirit of Intimacy - Ancient African Teachings in the Ways of Relationships’ by Sobunfu Some

4. Which area of life are you evolving in right now?

We all have the same basic human needs, they are all intertwined and interconnected. So there is no singular area that I’m focusing on because I know that my holistic wellbeing is priority in every way. I meditate and observe the continuous ebbs and flows of my being and send love to any space that may be out of balance on any particular day.

Beyond myself, I am prioritising serving my community in a more vocal way through ‘Brown Girl Bloom’. This means consistently creating soul sister circles almost every month, exploring ways to make the healing space more radically inclusive and building opportunities for more intimate one-on-one healing sessions through reiki.

5. Tell us more about @browngirlbloom.

Brown Girl Bloom was birthed from my own healing journey. I was shedding past pain that would often materialise in different forms throughout my life. As anger, sorrow, discontentment and fear left my body, I became lighter, calmer and more self-aware. I felt liberated, I was filling my empty cup with compassion and love. As my cup began to overflow with gentleness and abundance, I felt called to serve.

Brown Girl Bloom creates a safe space for women of colour to heal, bloom and thrive.

And in this climate of radical unease, it is needed more than ever before.

6. What is your top tip to manifesting the life of your dreams?

I’ve manifested a life that I visualised far before it took form 8 years later. What I’ve learned from my journey thus far, is that manifestation is a culmination of consistency, intent and emotion.

Visualisation helps to create clarity but isn’t always necessary if one can commit to all three factors for a sustained period of time.

One must also let go and allow for life to unfold. This is probably the most difficult part of manifestation : detachment

7. What is the biggest challenge you have faced on your healing journey?

Darkness is always challenging, there’s no easy way around it. There are levels to how challenging darkness is but it is always filled with a certain level of pain.

Personally, the most challenging moment of darkness within my healing journey (which we are continuously on) was the loss of my baby.

Death has to be the most painful challenge of any person’s healing journey because light can be buried under an unspeakable level of sorrow.

Death is also incredibly mysterious and most humans struggle to build a relationship with it. Even so, it is an inevitable part of our journey. Some experience it sooner than others but we will all experience it, regardless of race, religion, money, status, Instagram followers, etc.

My source of healing has been to acknowledge and accept my pain. Sit with it, welcome it with love and empathy. It was then that I could see the beauty in pain.

8. What mantra do you live by?

9. How do you continue to build the empire within?

I continue to observe my emotions, actions and thoughts. As well as, continuously focusing on intentionally bringing myself back to the present. Life is ever-evolving, so we must constantly create sacred rituals that remind us of our light within.

Okay, are you not obsessed?! Find out more about Valerie + Brown Girl Bloom events based in Perth, Australia, here:

IG: @browngirlbloom + @brownbelleabroad + @ayunehair

Website/Blog: Upcoming Sister Circle Event