We had the good fortune of connecting with Alyssa & Toni Junious and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Alyssa & Toni, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Soultry Sisters believe that arts and wellness is a birthright and should be accessible to all. Our mission is to address the lack of representation of diverse races and socioeconomic statuses in the wellness industry by providing affordable and accessible events for women of color. We collaborate with female entrepreneurs, women-led businesses, and community-based organizations to increase the visibility of the diverse women in our community and connect women of color to these necessary wellness resources. We strive to make wellness more equitable and empower women of color to live vibrant and creative lives. We believe holistic health and wellness are the connection of mind, body, soul, and community. Our events help reframe health from an individual perspective to a communal approach. We help support and celebrate our individual and collective healing journeys by building community.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Our collective, Soultry Sisters, is an extension of our professions, passions, and relationship as sisters. Alyssa is a professional performing artist, choreographer, arts educator, and pilates practitioner. Toni is a public health educator, holistic wellness advocate, and yoga instructor. Our workshops, events, and social mixers are centered around our advocacy to make arts & wellness experiences accessible to all. We strive to help our community invest in their personal development and healing journeys. We promote collective healing and creative expression by creating events centered around, sisterhood, self-care, sustainability, and arts engagement. We are most proud that we created a space where we can learn and grow alongside our community. A space where we can be curious and share our experiences. We believe our success is rooted in our ability to collaborate and partner with other women-led businesses. Sharing resources and collaboration has been a key factor in our ability to grow as a business. We value the relationships that have blossomed through creating Soultry Sisters. We strive to continue to grow alongside our community and hope to expand our reach as we continue to spread to the mission, vision, and values of our community-based organization.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would recommend staying in our hometown of Oceanside. This beach city has several new restaurants and hotels off the coast highway. We love to walk along the strand in the morning or at sunset. While staying downtown, we recommend checking out a library book to read while hanging out by the beach. If you are into the arts, we recommend watching a live performance at the historical Brooks Theater, Artist Alley to check out local artists, and Hill Street Country Club to view their current art exhibition. If you like thrifting, you can check out several second-hand shops; Captain’s Helm, Kit and Kaboodle, and the DAV. If you want to listen to live music, we recommend checking out Village Rock Shop. They host monthly art shows with live music!
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to dedicate our Shoutout to our Soultry Community. All the programs and events that we create are inspired by the community we serve, local artists, healers, and wellness practitioners that we collaborate with. We want to send a special shoutout to the William Male Foundation and the owner of Village Rock Shop, Xenia Mateiu. We are having our first-ever Summer Soulstice Festival, and it would not be possible without their partnership and support.
Website: https://www.soultrysisters.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soultrysisters/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soultry-sisters-652b041a6/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soultrysisters
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbedT4znNDY6pPMPPiLl0zw
Image Credits
Xenia Mateiu