Anita Cheung

When it seems the world can’t stop spinning, it can be hard to take a moment for yourself. Whether you’re overwhelmed with work, struggling with your mental health, or just need to take a moment to breathe, it can be hard to remember to pause, take a step back, and refocus your energy. Meet ANITA CHEUNG, a 28 year old Vancouver-based freelance creator. Cheung knows all about being overwhelmed and dealing with mental illness, which is why she created Betty, a meditation subscription service run through Instagram.

WRITTEN BY CAROLINE EDWARDS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANOVA HOU

Learning to focus on what was actually here in this moment, rather than get swept up in my negative thoughts, was everything I didn't know I needed

“Meditation can be instrumental in keeping us emotionally afloat during a tumultuous time and helps us connect with our ‘inner road map,’ as cheesy as that sounds,” Cheung explained. “It also can aid in quieting the negative thoughts, shows us what we really need at this moment, and teaches us the compassion to be with ourselves whenever we feel like we’ve messed up — which is bound to happen.”

As a meditation teacher, Cheung “works to create positive habits and community through meditation and friendship.” After struggling with undiagnosed mental illness for much of her teenage and young adult life, she sought professional help: a therapist. “It was frustrating because I was always a straight A student and to feel as if my mind — which had always been my greatest asset, was turning against me — was absolutely frightening.”

It was during therapy that Cheung was introduced to meditation. She noted that although she had been a yoga teacher since graduating from university, she never practiced meditation. “Learning to focus on what was actually here in this moment, rather than get swept up in my negative thoughts, was everything I didn’t know I needed,” Cheung reflected.

With that, Betty was born. Betty aims to keep meditation light-hearted and something people actively participate in. Through the subscription services, users practice morning ‘beditations.’ That is, meditation from the convenience of your bed, five times a week, for 15 minutes through Instagram Live, known as the Betty Broadcast. For Betty users, it’s more than meditation — it’s a community.

Through the creation of Betty and Cheung’s story of struggling with mental illness, the company is adding to the conversation surrounding mental health, as Cheung said the most helpful thing is to talk about it so that the topic is less taboo. “The more people see the different faces of mental health, and how symptoms can show up in different ways for different people; for example, depression can look very different amongst POC, the more normalized it becomes, which means folks will be able to identify it in themselves and their loved ones,” Cheung shared.

Cheung credits Betty for helping her, but said it’s also important to have a community to support you and be your advocates.

“Find people who will be on your team,” Cheung noted. “This can be a team composed of health professionals, friends, or family. It is exhausting to navigate the healthcare system and advocate for yourself, especially when you are struggling with mental illness, so having folks who can pick up where you left off and advocate for you is so important. There were days where I didn’t care about myself, but knowing that I had to care for someone else, or that someone else cared about me kept me going.”

Although Betty is run on Instagram, social media and meditation don’t go hand-in-hand, as studies show social media can actually worsen your mental health.

“The actual act of meditating is easy to balance as it’s really only 10-15 minutes a day,” Cheung pointed out. “Working in branding and being on Instagram for work can be a challenge, but I’ve learned to set really good boundaries around my social media use. My personal social media is strictly that — purely personal.”

When Cheung isn’t busy with Betty, she’s working on other personal projects. She runs not one, but two companies, with multiple side hustles. From brand and website design, photography, teaching yoga, supporting women of color, and running Betty, there’s little she can’t do. Cheung’s work has changed throughout the years but that the intention remained the same: “to connect people to themselves, and to connect people to others.”

As a freelancer, Cheung doesn’t have a typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job. Instead, she wakes up at 5:30 a.m. for Betty Broadcast, does emails, makes breakfast and waters her plants, then gets the day started at 8 a.m. and works for 12 hours; however 5 hours of the day are actually truly focused and productive, but everyday is different. “I acknowledge that life happens in season,” Cheung sighed. “Some months will be quiet or full of social opportunities, and some months will just be so busy I'm barely getting six hours of sleep. In those cases, I take a big breath, buckle down, and get ready to fully embrace the storm with the knowledge that everything is ephemeral.”

The hardest part of being freelance? The financial insecurity. While Cheung noted her privilege, she shared the reality of

being freelance. “I'm in my ‘late 20s,’ five years after diving into self employment [and] entrepreneurship, and I'm finally beginning to earn a living—though there are still considerable debts that have to be paid beforeI can even think about the "life goals" that my peers are currently in.”

With all the uncertainty in being freelance, Cheung views running her own businesses as an ongoing process that can grow and change over time, which is why she’s letting Betty transform into whatever it evolves into.“

For Betty, it's one big happy experiment so my intention is to continue with that—seeing what lights folks up, how do I make meditation something people actually want to do, and how do we build community in a digital space.”