Meet Yana Gueye | Ritual Light Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yana Gueye and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yana, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Ritual light was founded with a mission to help women transform their routines into self-care rituals with a deeper purpose, to achieve a balance of the mind, body, and soul.

Our approach to wellbeing is a balanced dance between natural physical self-care and mental/emotional/spiritual self-care. We believe that the different aspects of wellbeing are intimately connected so we don’t just sell natural products we provide tools and guides for a balanced transformation.

One of our biggest impacts among our tribe of women is the knowledge and tools we provide on how they can reconnect with their divine feminine energy and reclaim their power. As a small business, we have the privilege of connecting personally with customers and building more than a business-customer relationship. We call our customers our light family because we walk together on our journey of healing, change, and growth and give light and love to those that are struggling in the dark.

What should our readers know about your business?
Ritual Light products were first created in 2010 when I started my journey of self-improvement for my mind, body, and soul. As an intuitive empath on a journey of growth, I was determined to remove as many chemicals and synthetic ingredients as possible from all aspects of my life. Then I ran into a difficult time finding personal care products that were natural AND worked AND compatible with melanin skin. That is when I started using my scientific and chemistry knowledge to handmake natural products for my skincare routine.

I was also dedicated to spiritual growth, so my journey was filled with hours studying ancient texts, learning from advanced teachers, learning about the principles of energy balance for the mind, body, and soul, and experiencing various ancient rituals from across the world. I started incorporating the practices, principles, and recipes I learned into the natural self-care products I made for myself. This had a huge impact.

A few years later I had to deal with several skin problems such as a pregnancy mask that would not go away, a belly that was 5 shades darker than the rest of my body after delivering my daughter, and hormonal changes that caused all kinds of hair and acne problems. So I did what I do best, create the solution to my problem. I started making natural products specifically to get even skin tone, even skin texture, remove dark spots, stop my hair loss and naturally nourish my skin.

I gradually went from using my products as a routine to creating more meaningful self-care rituals to help me find balance in life, reconnect with my inner self, bring more awareness to my body, love myself more, reduce stress, and stop being burned out mentally, emotionally and physically.

When my friends, family, and co-workers noticed my transformation they would ask me to make them some of the same products I used. When the demand increased I decided that I would share my products with everyone but I did not want to be just another body butter or soap seller. I wanted people to experience the power of taking care of our bodies with love and gratitude while achieving our skincare goals. Self-care of the body also requires self-care of the mind and soul and from that principle, I gave birth to Ritual Light.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The road that I walked to get here today was full of hardship, love, tragedy, support from strangers, heartbreak, hope, and darkness. Over the years I have been so grateful for the support and love I received from my friends and family. They have been the foundation that I stood on to build and achieve success even when I was starting with the rubble of my past failures.

The most impactful support I received was during the lowest, darkest, most difficult time of my life when I had lost everything. After fleeing my home due to domestic violence, I became homeless. I had the choice to drop out of school (temporarily) and stop working to stay with family located away from school and work but I could not give up on my goal of finishing school after having years of setbacks. So, I became homeless in order to go to continue school.

When a new coworker noticed I didn’t have my eyeglasses and could not see, I couldn’t tell him that they broke when I was attacked and choked, but she took off her glasses and let me wear them and keep them. When a classmate noticed that I was still at the library entrance after it closed, he offered me his couch to sleep on for the night. When a classmate noticed that I was coming to class every day with a carry-on suitcase she offered me a bed to sleep on. These three people have forever given me the courage and the reassurance that no matter how low I fall there are kind people to help me and they deserve the biggest shoutout.

Website: www.rituallight.com

Instagram: @rituallight

Other: @rituallight (TikTok)