BREAKING NEW GROUND IN HEALTH AND WELLNESS

By Andrea Bazoin, M.Ed., Founder of everHuman

Meet three extraordinary superstars who are breaking new ground in health and wellness. You might have revered them before, but their remarkable contribution to productive progressive engagement and resources for financial guidance and wellness education while providing affordable and healthy food under a sex-positive and genderempowerment framework that gets deep into the mesopause experience and will have you asking yourself when was the last time you asked someone: “Did you say vagina?!?”

Halle Berry

Cross-cultural, mixed-race actor Halle Berry has been wowing moviegoers for over 30 years. In the early 1990s, Berry starred in blockbuster hits alongside Spike Lee in “Jungle Fever” and Eddie Murphy in “Boomerang.” Her groundbreaking 2001 performance in “Monster’s Ball” made her the first African American to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards.

Berry’s 2000 role as Storm in “X-Men” ushered in an era of superhero superstardom, with later roles in action films like “Die Another Day,” “Catwoman,” three additional “X-Men” sequels and more. Berry continues to take on challenging and provocative roles that highlight the beauty of being a badass and the fierce strength of being a woman.

Arguably, Hollywood does not traditionally appropriately celebrate the aging actress. As Berry entered her mid-50s, she and her team launched a health and wellness company in 2018 that put a new spin on the narrative of aging — Rē-Spin.

Today, Rē-Spin focuses on the challenges and opportunities of menopause. In a panel interview at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Berry speaks about how women can start to reclaim their narrative around aging.

Focusing On Menopause

“We start with conversation. We start with community. We start with deciding that no subject is off-limits,” Berry says. “I am solidly, clearly, 100% in the middle of menopause. Yet, there was a time when women would be ashamed to say that because [that would mean] you’re no longer valuable to society, considered attractive, or valued in the workplace. We wanted to pretend like that wasn’t happening.”

“As a result, we had no one to talk to,” she continues. “We had to go through this very normal part of life alone. Now that we’re talking about it, it’s becoming easier. We’re finding resources. We can share our stories. We can talk to doctors. There are products on the market now that can ease us through this time and help us be our best selves.”

Although Rē-Spin started as a general health and wellness brand, Berry has recently decided to focus on perimenopause and menopause.

“Just like Dr. Dre took over the headphone market with Beats by Dre,” Berry explains, “that’s my dream for Rē-Spin: to be the highway for menopause.”

Bringing Men Into The Conversation

Although menopause is a woman’s experience, Berry wants to ensure men are in the conversation.

“Men get older and become silver foxes; we believe men get better with age,” Berry elaborates. “But, as women, we become disposable and have a harder time keeping our jobs. And, when we have these menopausal symptoms, we can’t take off work. We don’t have compassion and support.”

“Historically, men have been in charge of our marketing,” she continues. “And men don’t have vaginas. Caring about [women’s] bodies was less important to them, so it became less important to us. So, this movement is also about educating men about the part they have to play.”

As Berry continues to wow us on the big screen, she is determined to expand her impact through Rē-Spin.

“I’m committed to changing what you think menopause looks like,” she says. “This is what it looks like, and we have to rearrange how we think about it. When you are working for a cause that is greater than yourself, business will follow, but the best business starts with passion and in [uplifting] something that is true to you.”

Tiffany Haddish

Cross-cultural comic and actor Tiffany Haddish has been making us bust a gut since her 2017 breakout role in “Girls Trip,” alongside costars Queen Latifah, Regina Hall and Jada Pinkett Smith. Now, she is on a mission to heal the guts, bodies and minds of the BIPOC community of the historically underserved Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.A. through Diaspora Groceries.

Primary Goals

The primary goals of the future grocer will be to provide affordable and healthy food alongside financial and wellness education. Haddish is seeking to raise $25 million to launch the project.

Diaspora Groceries is a passion project inspired by Haddish’s personal struggles with food insecurity, health challenges and poverty.

“What we’re doing wrong [is that] we’re constantly focused on the outcome,” Haddish explains during the Welltainment Panel at the Inkwell Beach stage at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival of

Combining Passions

Haddish is ready to combine her passion for Welltainment with her dedication to addressing food insecurity and health challenges in her home community.

“I’m going to make sure people have an experience [when they shop at Diaspora Groceries].

When you’re there, you’re going to be learning the whole time,” she says. “There’ll be little bar codes you can scan and learn [about every item]. You’ll learn how it affects your body when you eat [each type of food].”

“I really think it’s super important that people know what they’re putting inside themselves,” she continues.

We start with a conversation. We start with the community. We start by deciding that no subject is off-limits.

— Halle Berry

Creativity. “Through storytelling, I’ve healed. Growing up, I was babysat by the T.V. For me, TV and movies were my teachers. What I learned is that through communication and visuals, you can influence someone and change the way they think about things [including] the way they eat.”

Haddish says she did not know what a vegetarian was until she saw someone talking about it on a show.

“Then I learned about my blood type by watching a show on PBS,” Haddish says, adding she realized “that when you’re learning about something in a positive way, through storytelling,” you can do better.

Through storytelling, I’ve healed. Growing up, I was babysat by the T.V. For me, TV and movies were my teachers.

— Tiffany Haddish

“Food is drugs; that’s why we have the Food and Drug Administration. Food can heal you. I know it’s healed me.”

Patricia Corsi

What do the phrases “Just Do It,” “Because you’re worth it” and “I’m lovin’ it” have in common? They were all created by innovative marketing teams. You may never know their names, but you will never forget the impact they made.

With 14 Cannes Lions awards under her belt, Bayer’s Chief Marketing, Digital and Information Officer and crosscultural global citizen Patricia Corsi is one such innovator.

Corsi and her team are behind many award-winning creative public health campaigns that boldly question taboos and get real about tackling the root causes of global health challenges.

Two campaigns stand out: Vagina Academy and the DiversiTree Project.

DID YOU SAY VAGINA?

The first, Vagina Academy, partnered with consumer health brands Canesten and TikTok to challenge taboos and misinformation around vaginal health in Brazil. TikTok influencers, armed with scientifically accurate information, made entertaining and shame-free educational videos to engage women of all ages in a conversation about their vaginas.

Why? Those women ashamed to even say the word “vagina” are less likely to seek required medical treatment.

Brazil’s current conservative government’s stance to back abstinence-only rather than safe sex education amplified the problem.

The Vagina Academy campaign was such a tremendous success that it was reborn in the

U.K. as The Truth, Undressed, which won the 2023 Clio Health Gold Medal.

“These are the moments that you feel excited to be doing this job,” Corsi says. “And if you’re not feeling courageous enough to put your job on the line for something [you believe in], maybe you’re not really doing what you [set out to do]. I haven’t found more fulfillment and pleasure in my life than by serving a mission that helps the people that I love and the causes I believe in. I believe there is a place for [making a difference] in business.”

BRING ON THE FEMINIST ARBORISTS!

The second, the Diversitree Project, brought together Bayer brand Claritin and marketing agency BBDO to reveal the surprising culprit behind our rampant seasonal allergies: male trees.

If you’re not feeling courageous enough to put your job on the line for something [you believe in], maybe you’re not really doing what you [set out to do].

— Patricia Corsi

As it turns out, since 1949, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recommended that city planners plant only male trees to reduce the number of seeds and fruit workers needed to garner.

The problem is that male trees are the ones that release pollen. Female trees, on the other hand, absorb it.

The result? Pollen counts are out of control, and we are all sneezing our heads off. Our warming planet compounds this issue — with pollen counts expected to increase by 200% by the end of the century.

The solution is simple: plant more female trees.

By addressing the very literal gender gap between male and female trees, we can naturally reduce the tree pollen levels in the air, reducing seasonal allergy symptoms.

Feminist arborists are having a moment.

Rewriting The Narrative

Halle Berry, Tiffany Haddish and Patricia Corsi are not only well-known superstars in their fields but also shaking up the status quo. They are rewriting the narratives of aging, community nourishment and public health with passion and purpose.

As they continue to inspire and make a lasting impact, they remind us that true greatness lies in using one’s platform to uplift and transform the world for the better.

I haven’t found more fulfillment and pleasure in my life than by serving a mission that helps the people that I love and the causes I believe in. I believe there is a place for [making a difference] in business.

— Patricia Corsi

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