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From mantras to meditation, mindfulness to manifestation, Well Intentioned offers an intimate look at how to make space for self-care in meaningful ways, big and small.
Yvonne Orji has been putting in the work, on and off screen. There’s the final season of Insecure, where she returns as everyone’s favorite type-A lawyer Molly who, after many hiccups, is learning the power of letting go. She’s also the host for the second season of Amazon’s Yearly Departed and still enjoying the high of publishing her first book, Bamboozled By Jesus, over the summer.
When we get on the phone, she asks me how the weather is in New York since she’ll soon be in the city to host the International Emmys. Orji sounds refreshed and focused—the result of prioritizing her mental and physical health even amid her many professional demands. “I’ve been working on resetting my mind, body, and soul so that I can be more present in the now,” she says.
The reason we’re on the call, and the reason why Orji has made room in a jam-packed schedule to talk with me, also comes down to a matter of health. The actor has partnered with the pharmaceutical company Merck for their Uncovering TNBC initiative, raising awareness around triple-negative breast cancer (a rare and particularly aggressive form of breast cancer that doesn’t require any of the usual receptors—estrogen, progesterone, or excess HER2—to grow) while championing greater access to education and care for those who need it.
Orji has a master’s degree in public health, and has long been informed on the medical disparities that Black women face. (Data shows that African-American women have a higher chance of developing TNBC.) She also knows first-hand how it feels to know you might receive a life-changing diagnosis.
“I had a breast cancer scare my senior year of high school. There was a lump and I was the one who found it. My mom was a nurse for 27 years so we always had an awareness of [how to check]. So I knew the general gist of how to do that. One particular day something moved and as I m touching it I m like, ‘I don’t know, that feels different.’” After undergoing surgery to remove the lump, which was thankfully benign, Orji has since become a firm advocate for regular screenings and checkups.
“We are all in this together and no one should go through a diagnosis alone,” says Orji. “I like to look at it as a sisterhood—which is something we created with Uncovering TNBC and is apparent through the original docuseries we developed as part of it...Through open and honest conversations, the series aims to help educate Black women about their higher risk for developing TNBC than women of other racial/ethnic backgrounds and help to equip them to advocate for themselves in a biased system.”
Orji has found that she’s best situated to listen and help other women when she makes herself a priority. Below, the multi-hyphenate walks us through her approach to staying grounded as she helps other Black women put their health first.
