Sherin Ali, Founder of Mokha, Creates Radical Self-Care Boxes Supporting Black Chicago Creatives and Activists
Sherin Ali, Founder of Mokha, creates Radical Self-Care Boxes that support Black Chicago creatives and activists.
Sherin Ali shares her inspiring story of personal resilience, grit in the face of the U.S.’s painstaking immigration laws, and the launch of Mokha. Inspired by black leaders in her community, she’s creating limited edition Radical Self-Care Boxes featuring the products of Black creatives. With each purchase, 1 box will be sent to a Black Chicago activist doing justice work on the front lines.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AND WHERE YOU GREW UP.
I was born in Thailand and raised between Thailand and Yemen before moving to the U.S. at 18. I remember falling in love with a skyline picture of Chicago and decided to find my way here. I’ve visited many cities, but Chicago has my heart in a different kind of way.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START YOUR BUSINESS?
Before starting Mokha, I did a lot of event planning. An eye-opening experience for me was when I hosted a Chicago Christmas shopping market. A friend of mine knew a lot of vendors, so we emailed many of them and told them we were not charging vendor fees.
That was the day, I learned two things.
There are so many dope women who make dope shit. They make cool things out of love for their craft. These are more than their hobbies. These are the things they do best.
I also learned that vendor fees in Chicago are crazy expensive, often more than $200 per gig. It's ridiculous. That hit me in a weird way. Many of these women are hoping they can do this full-time. They are hustlers. A lot of them are single moms plus a million other things. That's honestly what it's like to be a woman of color in America. I started wondering how these two issues could be solved.
Sherin Ali, Founder of Mokha, creates Radical Self-Care Boxes that support Black Chicago creatives and activists.
BEFORE STARTING MOKHA, YOU HAD TO GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY BECAUSE OF THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION. HOW DID THIS AFFECT YOU?
A year ago I was on track to get permanent residency, but with the new administration, the process became strenuous and horrible. Everything was back-logged, even though I was on track.
Unfortunately, I got kicked out of the country and was in complete exile. I was on my own for 8 months.
Being in isolation forces you to dig in your soul and ask the important questions in life. I remember asking myself what actually MATTERS to me? What am I passionate about? And I just kept thinking about those hard working women. That's when I knew I wanted in, I wanted to see what could be done about this.
WITH THIS NEWFOUND DIRECTION, HOW DID YOU START MOKHA?
When I eventually got back into the country, I had a dinner party with some of those women and we shared stories. I realized - I wanna do this. I want to organize community with entrepreneurial BIPOC, create resources, and let the city know what they’re doing. Their work is incredible but totally swept under the rug.
So, I started Mokha, an e-commerce store featuring the works of BIWOC creatives and entrepreneurs. It took a couple weeks to gather inventory, and pretty soon after, people started buying stuff.
I never thought it would unfold as an e-commerce store initially, but COVID happened… and like all BIWOC, when life presents obstacles, you still find a way. It’s nothing new to us. If it weren’t for COVID, I would also be hosting events and meetups.
WHAT'S THE BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED SO FAR?
What I’ve realized is that it’s much more possible to start a business than we think. Don’t get me wrong, the truth is that you do need a few things lined up before just being able to put an idea together, launch a website, and start selling stuff. Not everyone is in that position right away. But if you are, there will be people who will tell you that it’s not for you, that it’s way too big, too hard.
Yes, it’s hard but life is fucking hard. And who knows “hard” better than BIWOC? And who knows overcoming BIG obstacles better than BIWOC?? A challenge for me is learning that it’s also a matter of overcoming personal obstacles and just doing it. You have to dismantle a lot of the mental barriers.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST OBSTACLE SO FAR, AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME IT?
At first, I racked my brain thinking about how to market to white people, without stripping the dignity of women of color. I tried to be very intentional about the language. Eventually, I gave up and just started writing from the heart, which actually helped with sales. It's great to see people listening to Black voices.
YOU CREATED RADICAL SELF-CARE BOXES. WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT?
My church is led by fierce Black leaders. A few weeks ago at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, one of the Black women elders said something that resonated with me: "We, the Black church leaders, are exhausted and taxed on all levels. We need to practice radical self-care first. You need to wait until we are ready to lead."
This was powerful to me. In a world where there are a lot of demands of Black leaders, to practice radical self-care is a form of protest to the system. We needed to first practice radical self-care before being ready to lead successfully.
This is what inspired me to create radical self-care boxes, and I hope that the radical self-care boxes can help those who need it on their journey to personal peace, recovery, and strength.