🪴 Besties Turned Beverage Founders, $1M for Health Equity & Cooking up Native Meals

Hey crew! Welcome back to Thrivency’s weekly newsletter 👋🏽

Whether you’re easing into the spring season, powering through with big plans for the year ahead, or you barely crawled across the finish line of the last month… I honor wherever you are in your journey. Honestly, I’ve felt a mix of all three depending on the day! 😂

Thank you for still being here and reading this newsletter that I so lovingly put together each week. I continue to be really intentional about what’s included, and I still believe in the power of media to arm our communities with the information and resources to live healthier lives.

Let’s dive in to this edition of Wellness News You Can Use. 🗞

But first, a quick note about this week’s sponsor ⤵️

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🍷 Besties Turned Beverage Founders

Three friends realized they were tired of repeating this cycle: reaching for a glass of wine or cocktail when they wanted to unwind after a long day, but then needing to recover the next morning from a night of drinking. Sound familiar?

Meet Sensori, the functional beverage they formulated with botanicals, nootropics, and adaptogens to help you feel your best. And there’s zero alcohol involved.

Watch or listen to this episode of the She’s So Lucky podcast where the founders talk about their crazy journey so far as Black women in the entrepreneurial space, finding trustworthy formulators, and fundraising hundreds of thousands from investors, all while sill trying to prioritize their well-being:

💰 $1M for Health Equity

This is a massive opportunity for any organizations using technology to improve health outcomes for underserved communities. The WellWithAll Foundation just launched a nation-wide competition to award a whopping $1M (!!!) for an AI-powered solution that’s supporting daily health decisions, improving outcomes, and earning trust.

If you’re unfamiliar, WellWithAll and the WellWithAll Foundation are the direct product of Demond Martin—an investor, philanthropist, and UNC Charlotte alum, who’s using his resources and influence to advance health outcomes for Black and Brown communities.

Learn more about the prize:

🍲 Cooking up Native Meals

Ukwakhwa, meaning "Our Foods" in the Oneida language, is bringing Indigenous foodways back on the Oneida Nation reservation in Wisconsin. Through their seed-to-table program, Indigenous chefs grow, cook, and distribute culturally rooted meals like wild rice comfort bowls and maple seed cookies directly to the community.

This is bigger than just making good food. It's about food sovereignty as a wellness practice, and it's working:

📲 Check your DMs

Stopped scrolling so much lately? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered on a few things you missed that have been fueling the wellness conversation across socials:

Did you enjoy reading this edition of Wellness News You Can Use? Be sure to share the Thrivency newsletter with a friend that may want to receive it too! And then I’ll meet you right back here next week for the April & May Local Event Lineup.

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