Why I Paused My Herbal Business for Motherhood — And What I Came Back With

There is a Swahili word I return to often: asili. It means origin. Nature. Ancestor. It is the name I gave this business because it is the name I gave my calling — to bring people back to their beginning, so they may thrive in body, emotion, and spirit.

What I did not anticipate, when I named this work, was that the work itself would one day ask me to stop. To go deeper. To root, before I could grow again.

So that is what I did.

Why I Stepped Away

Asili Herbs was born from my own initiation into motherhood. The decision to step away — to pause the public-facing work of this business — was made for the same reason: my children needed me present. Not on a screen. Not building. Just there, in the dirt with them, in the kitchen, in the ordinary holiness of raising small people.

I don't believe in performing wellness while neglecting the life that wellness is supposed to serve. That would be a contradiction too loud to ignore.

What Happened During the Pause

I never stopped being an herbalist. I kept studying — across clinical texts, mentorship, homestead practice, and lived experience. By now, I've put over 3,000 hours into this craft, and those hours continued to accumulate even in the quiet.

I kept formulating. I kept growing. And I became, in ways I couldn't have predicted, a better herbalist — because I slowed down enough to actually observe. Plants. Seasons. My own body. My children's bodies.

The pause was not a departure. It was a deepening.

What I'm Coming Back With

I'm returning to Asili Herbs with clearer eyes and a fuller practice. In the weeks and months ahead, I'll be sharing:

Deep plant profiles — the chemistry, history, and practical use of the herbs we work with most

The roots of African herbalism — our ancestral traditions of plant medicine, and why reclaiming them matters

Honest conversations about holistic motherhood and family wellness

A closer look at our products and clinical consultation services

This is not a relaunch. This is a return. And there is a difference.

A relaunch is about momentum. A return is about remembering who you are and why you began.

I remember. I'm here. Let's grow together.

— Gloria, Founder of Asili Herbs LLC