Healers Harnessing the Power of Black Girl Magik

This Black-woman centered collective provides a space for us to reflect, grow, and receive pleasure

Illustration: D’Ara Nazaryan

Healing is an ongoing, layered process… and the healers that lead these spaces are no exception. For Black womxn specifically, finding spaces that are intentionally and unapologetically Black while also focused on our needs within the wellness space is almost as hard as feeling like we have the permission that we need to center our own collective healing. However difficult it is to carve out that space for ourselves within a whitewashed field, Black womxn are coming forward to prioritize our own healing, and the impact is incredible.

That’s why the work that Black Girl Magik has done, and continues to do, needs to be chronicled.

Established back in 2015, Black Girl Magik began as meetup groups, soon evolving into a “collective creating healing spaces for Black women and girls.” Shydeia Caldwell (founder, executive director, and workshop facilitator) heads Black Girl Magik alongside Brittany Josephina (PR director and workshop facilitator), Sierra King (research director), and Zainab Aliyu (creative director). The New York City-based collective has covered everything from spirituality to sex. And as of this past summer, they’ve hit the road to meet their growing fan base across the country.

In the midst of their Homecoming tour across New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of chatting with Caldwell and Josephina on what Black Girl Magik has conjured up for their personal definitions of pleasure and healing, as well as what’s in store for the movement as a whole.

ZORA: BGM was created back in 2015 — how has the brand grown and evolved over the years?

Shydeia Caldwell: In the beginning, I didn’t really grasp how important it was until I experienced the Black Girl Magik meetup. [F]or me, the Black Girl Magik meetup and seeing it grow to what it is now only reinforces for us as a collective why the work is so important and why healing spaces are so necessary — not just in New York City but in other places around the U.S. and also around the globe.