HerJoy began with a walk. 
 
In August 2024, I lost my beautiful daughter, Adaihe, at 36 weeks pregnant. 
 
There are experiences in life that are difficult to put into words. Losing a baby is one of them. And there is something about leaving the hospital with empty arms that stays with you. 
 
Nobody really prepares you for the instant cold that comes with being discharged from the hospital without your baby. 
 
I remember feeling like the world had continued moving while mine had come to a complete stop. 
 
I couldn’t journal. I couldn’t sit still. I didn’t always know what I needed, or how to begin processing what had happened. 
 
But I could walk. 
 
So I walked. 
 
Not because I had a plan, and certainly not because I knew where those walks would lead. I just needed somewhere for everything I was carrying to go. 
 
Those walks became a way of being with myself. Sometimes there were tears. Sometimes there were thoughts I hadn’t been ready to face. Sometimes there were no words at all. 
 
I began to notice that movement gave me a little room to breathe, to listen and to reconnect with parts of myself that felt distant. 
 
I wasn’t trying to become a different person. I was learning how to meet myself where I was. 
 
And that became the beginning of something I never expected. 
 
From a personal experience to a movement 
 
HerJoy Movement began in 2025, growing from what I had experienced and what I was beginning to understand about the relationship between movement, reflection and connection. 
 
I knew I couldn’t be the only woman who had needed a little space to pause, to process, or simply to feel less alone. 
 
I also knew I didn’t want to create something that told women how they should feel, how quickly they should move forward, or what their journey should look like. 
 
I wanted to create space. 
 
Space for women to move in ways that felt accessible to them. Space to reflect without pressure. Space to connect with others without needing to have everything figured out. 
 
That became the heart of HerJoy: 
 
Move. Reflect. Connect. 
 
What began with my own walks gradually grew into a movement with room for other women to find their own ways of participating. 
 
The women who became part of the movement 
 
As HerJoy grew, women began showing up. 
 
Through our free Saturday Sweat with Me sessions and shared walking challenges, women from Nigeria and the UK became part of the community. 
 
More than 70 women joined in different ways, sharing their steps, showing up for sessions and encouraging one another along the way. 
 
There were conversations, progress updates, shared experiences and moments of celebration. Women who may never have met in person found ways to participate in something together. 
 
Watching women show up for themselves and encourage one another reminded me that movement doesn’t have to be a solitary experience. 
 
It can be an invitation to connect. 
 
The fitness sessions were one expression of HerJoy, but they also helped me understand something bigger: the movement was never meant to be limited to exercise. 
 
Walking remains important to me because of where it began. But HerJoy has always had room to become more than that. 
 
It is about making space for women in the different seasons of their lives. 
 
The Witness: I didn’t plan to write this journal 
 
I didn’t plan to write this journal. I planned to survive. 
 
The Witness didn’t begin as a product idea or a business plan. It came from a deeply personal place, during a time when I was trying to find my way through an experience I never imagined I would have to live. 
 
I wasn’t setting out to create a journal. I was navigating my own experience, finding ways to sit with what had happened and learning to listen to myself again. 
 
But somewhere along that journey, the idea for The Witness began to take shape. 
 
I wanted to create something that could offer other women some of the space I had needed: somewhere to pause, reflect and explore the things that aren’t always easy to put into words. 
 
The Witness is a guided journal shaped by my experience of loss. It brings together guided prompts, body-based practices and original illustrations to offer a gentle starting point for reflection. 
 
It isn’t here to tell you what your experience means or rush you towards an outcome. It is an invitation to listen to yourself, one page at a time. 
 
Sometimes the body remembers what words can’t yet hold. 
 
More than one story. More than one way to begin. 
 
HerJoy is rooted in my experience, but it is not only about my experience. 
 
It is for the woman who needs to get outside and move. 
 
For the woman who wants a quiet moment with a journal. 
 
For the woman who is navigating a change she didn’t expect. 
 
For the woman who wants to connect with others but doesn’t know where to start. 
 
And for the woman who simply wants somewhere she can come as she is. 
 
I am particularly passionate about creating meaningful spaces for Black women, whose experiences are not always reflected, understood or given the room they deserve. 
 
That includes dedicated support for Black mothers after stillbirth, an area close to my heart and an important part of the work I hope to develop through HerJoy. 
 
Through initiatives such as The Witness: After Stillbirth, I want to help create opportunities for mothers to connect, be heard and find support beyond the hospital. 
 
Alongside this, The Witness Circle offers Black women a wider space to reflect, connect and engage with The Witness. 
 
These are different expressions of a wider vision: women having access to spaces, resources and connections that meet them with care and respect. 
 
Where we go from here 
 
I don’t believe every woman needs the same thing, and I don’t believe there is one right way to move through life’s experiences. 
 
Sometimes you need movement. Sometimes you need stillness. Sometimes you need a page to write on. Sometimes you need another woman who understands. 
 
HerJoy exists to make room for all of that. 
 
What started with a walk has grown into a movement built around three simple invitations: 
 
Move. Reflect. Connect. 
 
Whether you are discovering HerJoy through a walk, picking up The Witness, joining The Witness Circle or finding us through one of our community initiatives, there is room for you here. 
 
You don’t have to arrive with a plan. You don’t have to have the right words. 
 
Come as you are. 
 
With love,