Madam CJ Walker Self Made: A Black Woman's Stressful Journey to Success

If you haven’t seen the Madam CJ Walker series yet on Netflix, what are you waiting for?

I strongly encourage you to see this riveting success story! It’s definitely an eye opener for all women, especially African American women chasing their dream across the world. It was profound to see a black woman during that era become so wealthy! I mean sis went from 0-100 but it wasn’t real quick, nor was it easy. She had to go through trials, dealing with her husband having multiple affairs, not being recognized by others like Booker T. Washington, being sexually assaulted by a potential investor, underhanded by her top sales agents and other events leading to stress, but guess what? Her tenacity was regarded as remarkable! Therefore she was able to afford the grand house and leave a major legacy behind. Isn’t that what we all strive for?

I just want to say that I aspire to be as tenacious as her with not just my business, but with my personal life and self care, and this is what inspired me to write this blog.

Story time: I’m also on my journey to success and it can be stressful at times. Speaking of, I have a guy friend who I chat with every now and then who doesn’t mind giving me a reality check, especially when I’m wrong. Something about us women is that we don’t like to be wrong and we definitely don’t want a man telling that to us, that’s for certain.

So anyways, we got in a disagreement about a suggestion I made to him that he was not ready for. I suggested he hire a financial coach because as a young black father, having a good handle on money would be beneficial to him and his daughter. He was in denial and being a man who likes to take control, he said no, because he could handle it himself. So we went back and forth with me trying to prove him wrong and in the end I hung up on him because the conversation went overboard and became stressful.

The next day, he called me and gave me a reality check saying that I shouldn’t take things so personal when someone doesn’t agree with me, and to just take the L and move on. Otherwise I’d be causing unnecessary stress for myself and the other person.

I had to pause and think for a second because essentially he was right! My response to him was “I appreciate that. Sometimes I need that reality check. I recently watched Madam CJ Walker, and she was checking everybody except herself and no one really checked her like they should have. Granted she was successful, but she died from hypertension that was probably due to stress” and he agreed and let me know that he will always have my back (love you friend)!

This made me think of Madam CJ Walker and the fact that she went through personal struggles as she built her legacy without seeking mental health advice (at least not to my knowledge). It’s not like she couldn’t afford one, she was a millionaire! This just goes to show that money does not solve everything and black women really need to consider “securing ourselves while securing the bag” beginning with a counselor, psychiatrist, therapist, etc. At the end of the day, we are still humans, and we face personal problems that should be addressed professionally.

Side note: being mentally secured is as (if not, more) important as being financially secured.

If this self made millionaire received therapy or counseling for her personal problems, and was mentally secured, I doubt that she would have faced the issue of high blood pressure in the way she did. One of the causes leading to high blood pressure for black women is the level of stress we endure without help, and if you’ve seen the series, this black woman went through a lot.

I know that as a woman, when I faced my first college heartbreak, I had to see a counselor. When I lost my sister to murder, I had to go through therapy. Lastly, when my job and relationship became toxic while I was building my first business, I also had to undergo therapy. Therapy allowed me to cope with things differently and deviate from stress.

According to Black Women Health Imperative, “Stress is unhealthy. Less stress can boost your emotional and physical health—and lower your blood pressure. Stress is a silent killer among us if we dont seek the proper help to cure it.” Furthermore, when looking at statistics for high blood pressure across the world, Medicine Net asserts, “the rate among black women was 64 percent, compared with 52 percent in white women and 51 percent in both black and white men.”

With that being said, black women, and even black men, take care of yourselves! We can’t become successful adequately if we aren’t secured on all levels. This is why I created Secured Society, to empower black men and women to be secured mentally, emotionally, physically, sexually, spiritually so we can be secured financially and receive the wealth that we were created for!

I leave you with this: yes, it’s important to secure the bag, but SECURE YOURSELF! Don’t let your wealth affect your health.