Black Americans have long been known to choose calling on Jesus over calling on a therapist in times of mental health crises. According to Harvard Medical School affiliate McLcean, only 25% of Black Americans seek mental health treatment when needed, compared to 40% of Whites. Well Diva Lifestyle & Travel founder Renee Simpson has chosen to focus on combining wellness and travel to encourage Black women to explore travel as part of their self-care. “Prior to adding the travel component I practically had to beg my people to follow my wellness advice. Once I started hosting wellness trips, I created an audience who was much more receptive to the message” says Simpson.

Plant based chef, registered dietitian, happiness life coach, and travel agency owner Renee Simpson hosted her first wellness retreat in 2018 for 16 black women traveling to Sedona, Arizona. The group has since grown to more than 250 active members, traveling to Thailand, France, Tanzania, Morocco, the UAE, and many other highly desirable destinations. Some of the ladies experienced their first international travel with Well Diva. Many others credit the group with making it easier for them to take a long awaited bucket list trip. “My trip to Greece was one of my best travel adventures to date with fly, melanin poppin’ women from across the country who all share a love for traveling. Ladies, if you’re tired of waiting for your friends/family to be able to travel with you, this is a group for you” says VIP client Felicia.

Well Diva Lifestyle was created to provide black women, aged 40 and up with adventurous wellness travel itineraries, luxury accommodations, and like minded travel companions. “My Arizona experience with these ladies was great, calming and energizing. I was new to the group and they embraced me and helped me to feel at home. If you are a frequent traveler that wants to chill a bit and save yourself the hassle of figuring out an agenda, Well Diva will be a great experience” says retreat attendee Shirelle.

Starting in 2023, wellness experiences for the Well Divas will include one private RTT session per registered participant. “Our wellness retreats have previously focused mainly on the how to and benefits of transitioning to a plant based diet. However, once back home in your usual habitat, newly learned behaviors become nearly impossible to maintain. An RTT session can help clients with the difficult process of breaking old habits and maintaining new ones, creating lifelong transformational outcomes” says Simpson. RTT is an award winning therapy technique combining the principles of psychotherapy, neurolinguistic programming (NLP), hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and neuroscience. It has been successfully used, often within one session, for weight loss, overcoming addictive habits, treating anxiety, depression, and much more.

The Well Divas recently completed filming a pilot episode of the upcoming docuseries Unapologetically Fly, centered around the therapeutic benefits of travel. Simpson is hoping to widely spread her message of using travel as self-care. “Wellness begins with a happy life, and a happy life comes from creating bliss for yourself in every area. For many of us, we find that bliss when we travel” says Simpson.