“Who am I?”
It all started with this simple question. Nya Jones’ search for answers in the pages of her journal would lead her to help others on their own path to self-discovery.
“I’ve been journaling since I was seven or eight years old, but during 2020, it was really just my saving grace. It connected me back to myself,” Jones tells Because of Them We Can (BOTWC). “It started with a list of questions that I actually wanted to answer, and that’s how I first had the idea to create a guided journal.”
Thus, Inside Then Out was born, a wellness brand designed to share the tools to be more intentional in your daily life and create rituals that bring you back to yourself through journals, candles, prompts, and so much more.
“Inside Then Out offers products that help you take that step back from the busyness of your daily life and kind of create more intentional moments of rest and slowing down and connection with yourself and others,” the 25-year-old founder and CEO says. “With Inside Then Out, we’re not telling people what to do, we’re just kind of giving them a little nudge, a little guidance along the way. We’re not answering the questions for you, we’re not telling you what you need to do every day, but it’s about creating space for you to ask yourself the right questions.”
Jones knows that wellness is not one size fits all. With Inside Then Out, she wants to remind us to prioritize progress over perfection when it comes to our mental health. Wellness is a journey, and Inside Then Out has the tools to help you every step of the way.
Inside Then Out founder Nya Jones sat down with BOTWC to share her mental health journey, her tips for entrepreneurial success, and her hopes for the future of the wellness world.
BOTWC: What is Inside Then Out, and how does it work?
NYA: Inside Then Out [has] guided journals that have different prompts. For every page, there is a question that you answer. Our first product was the Better Every Day journal, which is a guided journal designed for self-love, reflection, and growth with one question for every single day of the year, and that’s good for someone who’s just getting started and wants to create a practice.
We also have another journal, which is a Dig Deeper journal. It similarly has themes and prompts, but it allows you to go at your own pace. We have a Zodiac collection as well. They’re blank journals, but they come with journal prompts for each astrological sign.
We recently launched candles with different themes, including presence, calm, focus, and intention. We also make productivity tools: planners, notepads, and sticky notes. But behind all of that, it’s really just those minimal things that you can do every day to really take time to take care of yourself.
What inspired you to create Inside Then Out?
I started it in 2020 during the pandemic, during a period in my life where I was at my personal rock bottom. I had just graduated from college, thinking that I was doing the right things in life, but I just wasn’t feeling good. I wasn’t happy and I didn’t feel like I was really truly living for myself and my purpose. Journaling is one of those practices that has brought me back to myself.
I first had the idea to create a guided journal, and then a whole brand grew around it. It’s crazy that journaling helped me bring me back to my purpose and then my purpose ended up being within wellness and journaling.
Why should people start journaling? What benefits did you experience?
I think journaling is amazing because it allows you to check in with your mind and your spirit, continuing to invest in yourself and listen to yourself. But I’m not the person who says journaling is for everybody and that everybody needs this specific Inside Then Out journal to feel good.
One of the things I like the least about wellness and the industry is it’s always trying to tell you all of these practices that you need to do to feel well when it’s really just about taking that step back and figuring out what you need. It’s about just being intentional and finding what those moments of peace and ritual are for you and what works for you and allowing that to change as the seasons of your life change as well.
What does “wellness” mean to you?
It’s about creating those small rituals that you do every day or every week, whatever you can commit to really make a conscious choice to show up for yourself. Like, you did something. Even if it’s just writing a few sentences, you took that time for yourself. I think that’s a positive thing that should be celebrated.
The human experience is very multidimensional, and there are tons of emotions that we experience. You’re going to have bad days and good days, and I wanted to create journals that walk you through that very human experience and allow it to be super personal.
What’s something the wellness industry gets wrong about self-care and mental health?
[We’ve] marketed wellness as these elaborate morning routines or these influencers who are saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’m taking a self-care day and getting their nails done and hair done at 2 pm on a Wednesday.’ And I’m like, do you not have a job? That is not attainable to the average person.
One of the things that I really want to accomplish long-term with Inside Then Out is making wellness accessible to the everyday person. You don’t need two hours in the morning to practice wellness. Sometimes, it’s 10 minutes, sometimes it’s journaling, and sometimes it’s hanging out with your friends and going out or going outside. There’s not one specific thing that is wellness.
What’s important to me and the brand is progress, not perfection, and enjoying the journey because there’s no time when you’re like, ‘Okay, well that’s it, I’m done with mental health!’ It’s about continuing to take time to invest in yourself and listen to yourself. I think journaling is amazing for checking in with your mind and your spirit.
What have you learned on your own wellness journey?
I’m Jamaican. My parents were not really not talking about wellness. They weren’t really talking about mental health when I was growing up. I think a lot of us have parents or grandparents that come from different cultural backgrounds and their definition of self-care and wellness might look different from ours.
I have a lot of imposter syndrome being a founder in wellness because I didn’t necessarily don’t have a Master’s in mental health or psychology. I’m not a yoga instructor. I don’t lead meditation. When you think of someone that might be a wellness founder, that’s what you’re going to think of. I am not the person that’s going to say, I’ve reached Peak Wellness and I’ve figured it all out. I’m doing this for me and it’s for nobody else. I want to dismantle the idea that your life is supposed to look a certain way. I’m still on my own journey.
What advice would you give other entrepreneurs trying to turn their passions into a profession?
I feel like starting a business comes across as very overwhelming. There’s a laundry list of things that you need to do, and it seems like you don’t know how to do anything, which was definitely my experience. I was like, okay, nothing that I’ve learned in college these past four years is teaching me anything about entrepreneurship right now. It’s kind of like getting back to that childlike learning; you’re in school again.
My biggest piece of advice would be to take that leap of faith and just take it one step at a time. The fun thing about having this brand is I feel like as my brand is growing, I’m also growing along with it. I started Inside Then Out at a time in my life where I was like, I don’t know what’s going on, I am not happy, I’m not fulfilled. Mental health is a journey, I’m still on my own journey, and Inside and Out wants to be along for other people’s journey.
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What does the future of wellness look like to you?
Looking into the future, I just hope that when we think about wellness, we’re really thinking about human experience and not just aesthetic. It shouldn’t be marketed specifically towards white women or it shouldn’t be even marketed towards only women. I really hope that wellness is a broader conversation even as it comes to talking about men and how men take care of themselves.
I feel like [wellness] should just be this open conversation where we’re really talking about how we prioritize ourselves and how we take care of ourselves in a way that’s apart from our work identity and how we show up for the other people in our lives.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Cover photo: ‘Inside Then Out’ Founder Nya Jones Wants to Change The Way We Think About Wellness / Photo courtesy of Nya Jones