Mar 15

Mar 15 Pg. 53 Ivory & Ash

For the cover of our latest issue, the Love Issue, we had the pleasure of working with Lauren Ash and Deun Ivory, the soulful creative duo redefining — and beautifying — the world of wellness for Black women. In the issue, I sit down with them for an in-depth chat and they each share insights on sisterhood, self-love, partnership and career wins (+ setbacks).

Everything that led up to working with these two was so divinely timed; Nkrumah and I having admired both ladies' work for years. When we happened to reconnect in early 2017 — after Deun had just stepped in as the Art Director of Black Girl in Om, the wellness platform founded by Lauren in 2014 — the lightbulb went off. We'd found our next cover girls.

The Cover of the Love Issue, featuring Lauren Ash (Left) and Deun Ivory (Right)

The beauty of working with Lauren and Deun is their genuine vibe and openness, the creative vision they bring to every project they take part in, and the creative community that they intentionally cultivate. We worked closely with the two, plus genius photographer Brad Ogbonna, phenomenal stylist Mecca James Williams and uber talented makeup artist Sage White; who each added colors and flavors that brought the pair's essence to life for the cover feature.

What sticks with me the most is that this wasn't just a cover shoot and interview — we truly expanded our creative family. Within one year's time, together we shot the cover of the Love Issue (announced by Saint Heron); hosted the Ivory + Ash Launch Kiki at the CRWN HQ in NYC; recorded an episode for their amazing Black Girl In Om podcast; became media partners for the #BGIOMindful Twitter Chat; hosted a Creative Reception with Deun leading the artist talk; offered each other moral support; and so much more...

The Love Issue features the wedding photography of Temi Coker, who also happens to be the person who introduced Lauren and Deun!

Lauren and Deun demonstrate the meaning of sisterhood at work, and it's an honor to have immortalized this moment in their respective journeys. We'll all be seeing a lot more of these two, that's a fact.

Thank you both for sharing your story with us. 😘😘😘