Beloved Muse | Jewel Williams. Founder of jewelry brand Aura
"Beauty is authenticity. It is validating yourself at every phase. It's allowing yourself to be a human being."
What is beauty to you?
Beauty is authenticity. It is validating yourself at every phase. It's allowing yourself to be a human being.
How do you stay connected to your roots?
Jazz. Jazz originated from black folk. There is emotion in every tune. I often feel like I'm connecting directly to my ancestors when I play jazz. I can feel the pain, the sadness and joy. It's the duality. The melodies and frequencies evoke feeling.
What do you wish someone would have told you to teach you self-love?
There isn't enough conversation around the ebbs and flows of it all. Self-love can not be found in anything outside of who you are. It takes vulnerability and understanding of who you are and why you do what you do to understand what you need.
What inspires you to create and where do you get inspiration from?
Black women. I am inspired by the beauty that are black women. I think of what it would look to create a space where black women can just be. I create based on what I feel at that time. A lot of my inspiration comes from what I need to see for myself. What I need to honor.
"I create based on what I feel at that time"
What wellness rituals do you practice?
I constantly ask myself "what do you need right now?". I often give myself those things. It may be rest, food, comfort, a good laugh, a tangible item. I give myself what I want because I deserve. Black women deserve.
What life philosophy or mantra do you live by?
"Allow yourself to feel". Black women are not given the spaces to feel and when we do feel we are told that it's too much. I vow to always allow myself to feel everything that comes up. There is strength in allowing yourself to experience the full range of emotion.
What is one beauty practice, tool or product you wish to never do without?
Blistex in the tube. Not the chapstick form, the blue tube. I can not live without this lol. There is something soothing about lathering the Blistex on my lips. It's a gloss, it's a lipstick, it's a protectant. Whatever you need it to be, it's that. I am here for anything that feels soothing because again Black women deserve to be soothed. Finding this in the simplest of forms is pleasant.
