Website: https://unoialifestyle.com/

Instagram: @unoialifestyle

Email: hello@unoialifestyle.com

1) Tell us about Unoia Lifestyle?

Unoia is a lifestyle brand. We want to use our platform to illustrate how mental and physical health influence our wellbeing to create a conversation about self-care and development from a holistic perspective. We recognize that self-care is more than just taking baths and lighting candles. Self-care starts with spending time with yourself to reflect on your needs & desires to strengthen self-awareness. We refer to all the beautiful moments that you spend in your solitude as a state of unoia. Think about all the moments when you felt so consumed by the present moment that you lost track of time or when you let your mind wander into sweet daydreams and found inspiration through your imagination. We encourage you to recognize, cherish and chase these moments everyday, as you continue to engage in new experiences that enrich your self-discovery process. This is the unoia lifestyle.

We currently offer a bath bomb gift set infused with hemp seed oil & all natural ingredients to provide physical benefits and essential oils to create the ultimate aromatherapy experience that allows you to enter a state of unoia. Our products are curated with the aim to be used as a tool to enhance your self-discovery process, as you create a space that allows you to self indulge, embrace stillness and practice beautiful thoughts in your solitude.

2) Tell us about you? What makes you tick?

Ally and Laura are the founders of Unoia and life-long childhood best friends. They are passionate about mental health and are on a mission to increase accessibility to the services in society that drive our inner state. Laura is currently completing a masters for counselling psychology, while Ally has a Bachelor of Commerce and comes from a sales and marketing background. Laura & Ally hope to bring their knowledge & expertise from their unique backgrounds on to our Unoia platform to encourage people to practice self-awareness to enhance psychological well being, social relationships and physical lifestyle. With Laura’s background and passion for counselling psychology and Ally’s passion for building a brand & voice to promote this message, Unoia was born.

3) What made you want to start Unoia?

We wanted to create a platform to help people embrace their solitude and fall in love with taking care of their mental and physical self. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to be alone. When you lack a healthy relationship with yourself, you will likely engage in destructive or unhealthy behavioural patterns and seek external validation in attempt to cope with these negative emotions. We hope to use our platform to encourage people to build a beautiful inner state and expand outward to experience a positive shift in all facets of life. We recognize that self-care can be about forcing yourself to do the hard things that you don’t want to do or engaging in activities that make you feel more like yourself. However, our products have brought you to our page and have given us the opportunity to create a conversation about self-care and development from a holistic perspective.

4) What do you think the biggest challenges are for Women Entrepreneurs?

We think that the biggest challenge for women entrepreneurs is not being taken seriously. As women, we have been socialized to be extremely passive beings, which can be a major weakness in business. Unfortunately, assertive women are labelled as bossy, yet when you are passive in a business, many people will take advantage and you will fail to get the job done in the way that you requested. As we learn how to be more assertive, we continue to remind ourselves that, ‘I am not bossy, I am the boss.’ We recognize that we will continue to be doubted, questioned and criticized in this journey. However, it is the people that are doing less than you that always have the most to say and we cannot take advice from someone who’s life that we don't want. It’s important to have mentors and connect with like-minded people on your business journey to keep you motivated and to maintain a strong mind-set.

5) What did you do before Unoia?

Before we started Unoia, Laura was completing an undergraduate degree in law. She always thought that she would go to law school but when she graduated, she could not find the motivation, felt stuck and struggled with her identity. She discovered self-help books and through self-reflection, she gained the clarity that helped her grow and realized her true passions – this business.

During this period, Ally completed her Bachelor of Commerce degree and worked a 9-5 marketing job. She continuously felt stuck and found it extremely hard to find inner passion for any of the brands that she was building during her day job. This sparked ideas and conversations for Ally and Laura, in which they came together to bring their Unoia vision to life.

6) What does it mean to you to lead, and how do you do it in your community?

We hope that our brand message resonates and inspires you to check in and connect with your inner state to recognize your needs and set goals that help you to achieve the lifestyle that you want. Life can be chaotic, unpredictable, stressful and full of distractions, which can cause us to feel lost and isolated. We often cater to other people, while dismissing our own needs. We want to emphasize that your suffering matters and you should not wait for a crisis to consider your mental health needs – prioritize it everyday. 

We are excited to offer customers an option to donate to the World Federation of Mental Health at checkout on our website. They share the same mission as us - to promote accessibility & advancement of mental health services and prevent mental illness. With this feature, we hope to continuously contribute to making a change and will continue to do so as we grow as a business.

7) Anything else you want to tell us :)

We wanted to create a unique space on our website that allows you to check in with yourself, self-reflect and recognize that you are not alone in your feelings. We welcome you to check out our ‘How Do You Feel’ page, as you identify your feelings and read through generalized tips to overcome difficult emotions or maintain positive moods. We recognize that we may not understand your unique circumstance, but we all experience the same emotions. We also encourage people to email us at hello@unoialifestyle.com and share with us your personal tips to overcome difficult emotions or maintain positive feelings. We will review your post and upload your response on our page to help someone!