What Does Wellness Even Mean?
What Does Wellness Even Mean?
With Emma Breschi, Rahel Stephanie, Mali-Koa Hood and Portia Williams
By HURS Team
The $4 trillion wellness industry is feeling good. With an increasing amount of consumers investing in their health and wellbeing, the worldwide market is projected to grow to almost $7 trillion by 2025. From fitness plans to supplements to apps that help with mindfulness, there’s truly something for everyone. But where to start? With such an excessive amount of information available at our fingertips, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate the helpful products from the marketing ploys. And as everyone has become an expert overnight, how do you distinguish who to listen to?
In some ways the accessibility to information for all is positive. For a long time the idea of what wellness was, what it looked like and who the industry was targeting was very one-dimensional. That seems to have shifted slightly, thanks to a group of entrepreneurs that are creating products for consumers who were overlooked or underserved. But wellness still comes at a price. One that’s not accessible to everyone. The methods and brands built upon the promise of better health are often expensive. And with influencers promoting these products and brands, many consumers invest in products without understanding whether they will serve them. So how do we navigate the complex world of wellness?
EMMA BRESCHI
Emma Breschi is a creative, presenter, activist and model. She broke onto the scene in 2017 with Vivienne Westwood. Breschi is a UK Changemaker for UN Women, an ambassador for Bloody Good Period, a charity whose focus is to provide period supplies for asylum seekers, refugees and those who can't afford them and in 2019 she featured in the UN Women 'End FGM' campaign and spoke on Lady Garden's International Women's week panel discussing body ownership. Additionally, Breschi recently worked with new wellness platform Woo on a new three-part series on the benefits of psychedelics.
RAHEL STEPHANIE
Rahel Stephanie launched Spoons, a plant-based Indonesian supper club, in 2019 as a means to share foods and little-known recipes from her country with friends. For Stephanie, cooking Indonesian dishes—which have routinely been co-opted and appropriated by western vegans —serves as a way of reclaiming, decolonizing, and celebrating the plant-based foods of her heritage.
MALI-KOA HOOD
Sydney-born, London-based Mali-Koa Hood is a vocalist and songwriter. After initially focusing on artistry, Hood has now innately transitioned to songwriting for others. She’s also part of a project called AR/CO with fellow musician Leo Stannard. Combining their skill and experience to top-line across the pop, dance and singer songwriter genres.
PORTIA WILLIAMS
Portia Williams is a creator, actrice, spiritual practitioner and writer. Williams has a background in holistic health and is the co-founder of The High Priestxss, a platform that focuses on personal growth deepened through astrology and Tarot.
We asked four industry insiders about their thoughts on the wellness industry, their personal stories to finding wellness and their hopes for the future.