Inspiring Conversations with Dawn Fowler of Phoenix & Louise

Dawn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey started in 2020. I spent the entire COVID season going back and forth in my head about business ideas and things I wanted to do. I kept putting it off but could not stop thinking about it. I was struggling mentally, and internalizing all my feelings. I would eat and sleep all day to calm my nerves. Before I realized it, I gained over 25 pounds. By the end of the year, I was over it. One day, I randomly came across a video of Kevin Gates talking about standing in your own way. I had never heard that before. Was I standing in my way? Absolutely. I was the only person stopping me from creating the life I knew I wanted for myself. It was like a lightbulb went off. I started with one thing at a time. I was determined. I didn’t have it all figured out. But I knew I would get there. I discovered waist beads to be a helpful accountability tool while on my weight loss journey. They remind me to love myself through every phase and every chapter of my life. When I wear them, I feel empowered. Especially when I can see my progress and remember where I was when I first put them on. It keeps me motivated. I wanted other women to experience the freedom of feeling comfortable and confident in their skin.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road at all. In the beginning, I was overthinking everything. That caused A LOT of delayed progress and spending money unnecessarily. And honestly, I was scared! Lol, I had no idea what to do. I had no idea where to start. I wasn’t allowing myself to do anything outside my comfort zone, so I wasn’t growing. I also struggled a lot with social media. I’m not a social media girl. However, not documenting my journey on social media was stunting my growth. I had to adjust. I still feel like I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time, but I’m not stopping.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Phoenix & Louise?
I genuinely love making people feel good and confident in their skin. So, I wanted to create a business around that. Phoenix & Louise is a safe and inclusive space for all the girls who need a little encouragement sometimes.

Phoenix and Louise provide authentic West African waist beads from Ghana and gemstone bracelets that help to encourage body positivity and self-love. Waist beads have been a tremendous motivational tool to stay accountable during my self-love journey. I felt it was necessary to share that with others. Phoenix & Louise is named after my parents, Nathan Phoenix & Sherrie Louise. I lost my mother to breast cancer in 1992 and chose the name in honor of her.