Give Thanks

Well, it's that time of year again where the holidays sneak up on you like a thief in the night. Although, we should celebrate our family, friends & loved ones everyday, Thanksgiving is extra special because this is the day besides Christmas, when family get together the most to celebrate their time with each other. It is also good to remember those who have lost loved ones, reach out to them and show them some love as well, this time of year can be extra hard for them.

This year, I get to kinda free up my hands for doing a lot of cooking and to also incorporate some of my vegan soul food dishes to the table for all to enjoy. I won’t just be eating sides but my mother-in-law bought me a Gardein Holiday Roast  and I’m making potato salad, peach cobbler & cranberry sauce (you haven’t had real cranberry sauce if you haven’t made your own), I’ll provide a simple recipe after this post. 

Instead of feeling overwhelmed with all the cooking I thought I was going to have to do, I’m actually relieved and excited that I don’t have to do it this year so Yaaassss for me! I’m coming in the door smelling all kinds of good and my skin super soft from exfoliating with our Bariki Body Care’s new Brown Sugar Vanilla Orange  Scrub.

I pray you Lovelies have a wonderful time with your friends, family & loved ones. A heartfelt thank you to you all for your love and support, I am truly honored to be blessed by you!

Recipe for Cranberry Sauce

INGREDIENTS

•  1 cup sugar
•  1/2 cup water
•  1/2 cup fresh orange juice
•  12-ounces fresh cranberries (frozen may be substituted)
•  1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Bring to sugar, water and orange juice to a boil in a medium saucepan.
2. Add cranberries and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer and cook stirring occasionally for about 10-15 minutes, until sauce thickens.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Buy-A-Soap Give-A-Soap My Story of Homelessness

Clickable link:

Buy-A-Soap Give-A-Soap

Hi, Lovelies! It's been a minute since I've posted on our Bariki Body Care Blog but there is something very important and near and dear to my heart that I wanted to talk about and that is homeless women & personal hygiene products.

Before I go into statistics, let me give you a little back story about my family and I being homeless. When I was in the 4th or 5th grade I remember that all of sudden my family and I was going to the park to go wash up in the bathroom before having to take my mom to work. We slept in the car until my mom got off and then went on our way from there. I'm not sure how long we did this but we ended up finding a women's shelter that provided us with a room no bigger than a walk in closet, food and a community area where everybody could eat together, play games and watch T.V. One of things that stood out the most to me was my mom not having enough money to get everything we needed including personal hygiene products such as soaps & whatnot. Here it is my mother, working to save money to get a place to live, couldn't even afford the bare necessities.

It was so rough. I wanted to be a lot of things in my life, and one of them is to be a giver. I wanted to do and still want to do a lot of philanthropy work in any capacity that I can. I kept telling myself when I started Bariki Body Care that I wanted my company to be more than just a company that made & sold stuff, more than just a brand but a company that would make a difference and impact people in the best way I knew how and with the tools I already have. Truth is, I started this project last year but with everything in life, there was some setbacks and I couldn't put my all into this project like I wanted to. I reconnected with myself and asked God within me and my ancestors before me, the direction I should go with this project and I received my answers. Some days I still question how am I'm going to make this possible, what if people don't have any faith in me to do it, what if people don't buy soap to make this dream possible? So you know what I did with all of those voices in my head saying "what if", I talked myself over those voices and said, I can and will no matter what, make my Dec. 11th deadline and two dozen soaps will be donated to my local community women's shelter.

An unidentified mother with child

An unidentified homeless mother with her child

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show women represent more than 40 percent of homeless Americans.

Being and active advocate for change in the needs of women is my primary goal on the other side of running my business.

Sea of Gold Soap

I hope you embark on this journey of philanthropy with me as we make a difference in homeless women lives.

Every soap that you buy, we will donate a bar, so the more soap you purchase, the more soap we can donate. 

BARIKI BODY CARE SKIN NOURISHING SOAP 4-PACK