Today we’d like to introduce you to Adenike Cabbell.
Hi Adenike, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
My preferred name is Adenike, I am a spirit having a human experience. This journey has offered me the opportunity to be a mom and a wife in this lifetime. I am also known as she who holds space and I absolutely love it here. My business was birthed while I was on my self-love journey. I was experiencing infertility and decided to take the route of natural medicine to assist me. I had taken a natural medicine course to learn more about plant medicine and started researching plants that assisted with the woman’s reproductive system, I was inspired to eat cleaner and drink herbal tea blends as a way to detox my body. This led me to a journey of rediscovering who I was and caused me to unlearn old habits and learn healthy habits.
I didn’t always feel like my voice mattered and growing up I was an only child I experienced being bullied and made fun of so I didn’t believe I had the potential to inspire others or can teach anyone anything because I didn’t believe what I’d say would be worth listening to. I had little confidence and my self-esteem was pretty low most of my life. I built defense mechanisms that I thought were helping to protect me but along the way they did more harm than good. My self-love journey left me feeling tender but a healing journey that allowed me to peel back many layers and confront uncomfortable experiences I buried.
Once I had enough courage to confront my triggers and traumatizing experiences, I was then able to release what wasn’t serving me which became a lot of negative self-talk and stories I believed about myself so that I could make room for more joyful experiences to enter my life. I was on a journey to build myself up where I felt weak. I was learning that everything I needed was within me the entire time I just needed some inspiration to tap into it. Infertility was an obstacle that was difficult to digest and I had all these thoughts as to why this might be happening to me. As a woman you could imagine the terror, I felt not being able to become a mother in this lifetime.
I was insecure and very emotional about not being able to conceive. I grew up Christian so I constantly heard scriptures that related to what I was going through. I got curious and started to ask specific questions about what might be happening with my body. When I went to my gynecologist at the time, she had done several tests but told me I was healthy and nothing was wrong. Prayer led me to a revelation and after reading Matthew 7; 7-8. 7 Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For everyone that asked, received; and he that seeks will find; and to him that knocked it shall be opened.
I decided to get a second opinion and I connected with a doctor that specialized in infertility and informed me of a slight chance of PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome which from what I understood had a lot to do with reproductive hormone imbalance. I enjoyed learning so naturally, I started researching and learned so much about how changing my diet could be a great start to bringing balance back to my body.
Research also helped me to realize how partnering with our plant allies and choosing the right supplements could also be included in my regimen to assist me. Making medicine from certain plants became an interest and I continued to explore.
As I dived deeper, I learned to create healthy blends from fresh and dried herbs to strengthen my body and it inspired and motivated me to experiment with creating herbal tea blends. I believed this could not only help me but help my family. My business idea felt like a pile of puzzle pieces but I also felt like I was on the right track. I felt like the decision I made to commit to a 90-day fast in hopes to reset my body was working for me. I committed to no dairy, no processed foods, no sugars, and no meat, and included more water, fresh vegetables, and fruits. I wasn’t hard on myself with the restrictions and allowed what needed to happen, happen.
I noticed I had more energy, I was less stressed, I had more clarity, and I was sleeping better, but I also kept praying and speaking positive affirmations. I incorporated more exercise and dance to ease my mind and took it one day at a time. I found that I was slowly on a path to becoming an herbalist, the art of applying herbs to promote a healthy lifestyle. It was a sacred journey for me. I developed a love for plants and learned that the environmental benefits of life on Earth are synonymous with the human body.
There is power in plant medicine and it is healing to the human body. Some of the benefits include providing medicine, food, and fiber. No only is it used as a source of fiber and food, but it is also used as a medicine to heal our skin, gut, lungs, emotions, and much more. What the human body can do when healing itself is amazing. I wasn’t reinventing anything but I was remembering this practice that has been in many cultures for thousands of years. I was guiding my body back to health. I was remembering nature and when I went there peace and joy met me there. Nature was providing me with what I needed mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Mother Earth had many gifts to offer and having a cup of herbal tea was one gift that allowed me to take a moment to be grateful for the support and health benefits that plants were offering to me in that season. It was all coming together for me. Although, I was in unfamiliar territory, it was becoming familiar and I was learning new ways to love myself more and more.
The unhealthy behaviors of my past were now no longer attractive to me. I became distracted with healthy actions that were maturing me. As I was experimenting with making medicine I became attracted to the art of beauty and skincare. I found an esthetics program that would help me learn more about caring for the skin and how to infuse plant medicine with natural skin care products. I decided to dive deeper into herbalism and esthetics to align with a more holistic approach to guiding the body back to health.
This became my reality and my passion led me to make a conscious decision to become an esthetician. I was accepted into an esthetics program at Durham Technical College and I received a full scholarship to attend. I couldn’t believe I was being blessed in this way.
Although, my husband and I wanted to bring a baby earth side. My mission was to help other women by encouraging them to nurture themselves and return to self-awareness. Being conscious of what we are listening to, eating, watching, and what we are speaking is super important in this work. Our words are very powerful and we don’t want to manifest negativity into our lives because that might be what we are used to. We are all so worthy of what our heart desires and we can connect with them in this lifetime.
I just want to empower myself and other women with this reminder. As independent as we are as women, we don’t have to journey alone. We can walk knowing others are willing to hold us up and straighten our crown without judgment. I am grateful there were women in my life to support me and hold me accountable, the amount of disservice I was doing to myself was so harmful but I was empowered to take my power back from things that weren’t conducive to my growth. I have a great respect for sisterhood now than I ever did.
As I was attending school, I was also working two jobs to make ends meet because as my husband supported me and we were newlyweds, I was intentional about having balance in all areas of my life as I pursued nurturing my body and my business; that was my growing baby at the time. It was a challenging road but I was fully committed. The pandemic turned the world upside down while I was in school and the program lasted longer than expected because we had to pivot but everything happens in divine time.
I learned to respect divine timing and I digested the idea of everything happening when it was supposed to. In February and April of 2020, I lost both my jobs due to the pandemic but I was so grateful for them being financial resources during school that I wasn’t upset. I didn’t realize it but it was all a part of a bigger plan for my life. In March of that year, I found out I was pregnant. Yay!! The tears of joy came naturally, as I reflected on how far I’d come. I felt like I was being rewarded for all my perseverance. Infertility was no longer an obstacle but this experience allowed me to learn valuable lessons about advocating for myself and maintaining a healthy relationship with my womb and my yoni.
This opportunity offered me time to slow down and take it all in. I had to care for myself and get laser-focused on school, and my growing family. I graduated in August 2020, passed my state exam to get my esthetician license in September 2020, and had my baby boy in December 2020. We were extremely blessed. My husband and I celebrated all that came from this journey. After the storm, my rainbow appeared and I was Initiated into motherhood which is the most magical and joyous experience. I had successfully created products of my own and could now add skincare services and much more as a licensed esthetician.
My dance with courage saw me through even if it felt like I had two left feet at first. I chose my faith over my fears. I am proud of all that I’ve accomplished thus far. This was a great year and I welcome many more. I am grateful for the many different healing modalities that were available to me to bring the beat back into my life. I was dancing to the beat of my own drum. I am grateful for the genuine support from my husband, divine sisterhood, family, friends, and community.
I sit in gratitude for my ancestors because I know they walk with me every step of the way and support me in being my best self. Hearing testimonials from my clients have kept me motivated and I appreciate the positive exchanges. The confidence I now have in myself is a reminder that I can do all things and no longer claim to be a victim of my circumstances, I am victorious. Networking has allowed me to learn and collaborate with some great people, which has been super rewarding.
House of FLYA is First to Love Yourself Abundantly, LLC, my business baby. As times get hard as a mompreneur, I can look to the name of my business to remind me of my why and to remind me to do it all with love in mind. I am being the flow, being present and I sit in gratitude for all of my experiences that have brought me where I am. I hope that someone may read this and be reminded to not feel forgotten. Continue to celebrate all your wins big or small because our gifts come from the highest and they will make room for us to succeed.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road at all. The rewards have outweighed the challenges. Trying to remain balanced and focused while managing the challenges in all areas in my life. To be more specific health, finances, family, and building a business.
I also made a conscious decision to change my lifestyle. I found my way through by keeping the faith and believing in myself and my vision. The pile of puzzle pieces slowly came together and are being developed into a masterpiece.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an herbalist and a licensed esthetician. This journey has also offered me the opportunity to hold space for other women as we empower one another through life experiences. I create my products and offer self-care packages through my FLYA boxes which include goodies to guide the community to self-care on a deeper level. I specialize in skincare/herbal medicine and other healing modalities such as sound bowl healing and reiki. House of Flya offers what is needed by providing relaxation, spiritual, and self-care tools.
I am most proud of being confident in sharing my gifts so that others can benefit positively. May we continue to grow and grow together by learning how to care for our temple. What sets me apart is the flya experience, hoping that everyone’s experience is unique and there is an opportunity for positive exchange. This life is a never-ending journey of learning so I hope that I can continue learning from others and they learn from me as well. May those that come to House of Flya leave lighter than they came. May seeds be planted and watered here.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting.
My advice is to be so grounded in your truth that no one can influence you to change who you are. Stand for something so that you don’t fall for anything. Please do not compete with others who may be in your line of business, collaboration and networking are key. What is for you will not pass you by. There is a lot I wish I knew but in time I found my way through the fog. I probably would have saved a lot of money but entrepreneurship is about trial and error so don’t get discouraged. You may fail but keep moving forward. You won’t regret it. Do what you are good at and partner with others to help you grow your brand. It is ok to not know everything, lighten your load and allow others to help you get to where you are trying to go.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.flyabehavior.com
- Instagram: @flyabehavior
Image Credits
Christopher James Artistry and Shemorah Sheikh
