Why the Balanced Black Girl is Pivoting Away from Wellness

Balanced Black Girl host Les Alfred is popping in your podcast queue this week with a bonus episode and exciting news: After nearly 300 episodes and 10 years, she’s pivoting from exclusively wellness content.

“For me, 2025 is going to be a year of exploration and finding what is interesting to me and bringing forth different topics, different formats, experimentation, and having wellness be a part of the story, but not having it be the whole story,” Alfred explains.

Since launching in 2014, Alfred has created content about the core pillars of being well: movement, nutrition, self-expression of feelings, and community. (The podcast was nominated for an NAACP Image Award this year for outstanding podcast under the lifestyle/self-help category.) While she will still talk about these topics, Alfred explains, “Balance just doesn’t fit the podcast anymore. I am not balanced, and I am finally ready to admit that I am simply not.”

Starting in March, Balanced Black Girl, will be changing its name and refocus on entrepreneurship, business, and exploring the minds and habits of successful women charting their own paths.

Listen to the episode below for more details about the rebrand and what’s next.

The Story Behind the Rebrand  

In this bonus Balanced Black Girl episode, Alfred opens up about her year in New York, the lessons she’s learned, and her professional identity crisis. 2024 marked her first full year living in New York (after four years in Los Angeles). It also was her one-year anniversary as a full-time self-employed podcaster.

 “The truth is I don’t have it all together. I don’t have all of the answers. That is very much a season of life that I’m in right now,” she shares.

Though she began as a wellness content creator in 2014, her interests have evolved. “I feel like the space that I started in no longer fits who I am anymore. Candidly, I don’t fully know what’s next. It doesn’t mean that I don’t still love wellness. I just don’t want to talk about wellness trends or fitness.”

Alfred explains that she’s tired of being pigeonholed and wants to branch out in an authentic way. She’s also wrestled with doubts and if she has anything meaningful to offer. She’s asking some big questions right now: What’s next? What do I like? What do I not like? But ultimately, she is ready to embrace her own evolution.

Looking Ahead to What’s Next 

Alfred shares that she is both scared and excited for the big change. “I am really excited to be able to evolve and to give myself the freedom and the permission to explore new formats, conversations and ideas. I’m really excited to bring each and every one of you along. So this is really an evolution that I want everyone to be a part of.”

The one word that best describes her new vision is “refreshing.” “My goal is to make the brand more positive and happy. Sometimes, when it comes to wellness, people want to focus so much on the hard parts. I cannot tell y’all how many pitches I get every single week where all they want to talk about is trauma and like traumatic things happening to Black women.”

Instead, Alfred aims to tell stories about Black women that are positive and highlight how multifaceted the community is. “I want to highlight the lucky, blessed, and incredible humans that we can all be. It’s going to be a lot of similar types of conversations, but approached in a new way that really highlights more of the goodness of our lives, as opposed to all of the barriers that we need to overcome.”

Advice on Embracing Change

Alfred wants anyone who is in the process of emerging into a new version of themselves to know that they are not alone. “I’m so sorry that I don’t have any tips or tricks or advice for you quite yet,” she laughs.

She is determined to embrace the pivot despite the fear: “I want to inspire you if you have been feeling a call to move a little bit differently or to jump on a new idea. Sometimes, it can be really scary to make changes and embrace pivots. As multifaceted human beings and people who often have multifaceted brands, we get to be whatever we want to be. I hope that me taking creative risks inspires you to take creative risks.”

Keep up with Alfred and what’s next by subscribing to the podcast and following her on TikTok on Instagram for all the behind-the-scenes tea. You can get the sneak peeks as to what’s coming!