There are things we create quietly, with trembling hands and a full heart. Things that are more prayer than plan. Of Trees and Butterflies was one of those things.
In 2018, I created a private healing space for women of African descent navigating generational trauma. No big launch. No press release. Just a deep need—for truth, for rest, for softness—and the courage to hold space for it. That year, I was working full-time in strategic communications and fundraising. My days were filled with campaigns, deadlines, donor calls. But in the quiet, after hours, I was building something else. A sacred offering. A home for the stories that didn’t fit into program reports or fundraising decks. A space for soul work.
I didn’t talk about Of Trees and Butterflies much. It wasn’t a brand. It wasn’t a product. It was a feeling. A container for unlearning and remembering. A place where women could reclaim their narratives, sit with their shadows, and reimagine healing on their own terms.
But some dreams don’t stay small. They grow. They stretch. They knock on your door again and again until you finally say: yes. I hear you.
So here we are.
In 2025, Of Trees and Butterflies is becoming a French nonprofit association. A bigger project. A bolder dream. What started as an intimate circle is becoming a structured organization, anchored in African perspectives on mental health, rooted in dignity, and expansive enough to hold the complexity of our stories.
Why now?
Because the need is louder than ever. Because our communities deserve support that is culturally anchored and spiritually aware. Because the mental health field, as it exists, too often pathologizes what is sacred and silences what is inconvenient. And because I finally asked myself the question I’d been avoiding for years: why not do for my own organization what I’ve spent a decade doing for others?
For years, I’ve raised money for nonprofits and social enterprises across Africa and beyond. I know how to build compelling strategies. I know how to write the proposals, design the programs, and engage the donors. I’ve done it all, for everyone else. But Of Trees and Butterflies is where my soul lives. And it’s time I brought my full self to the table.
The new iteration of Of Trees and Butterflies will begin in France, but it is meant for the continent. We’ll be working first in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Benin, offering mental health support and storytelling spaces that center African realities and restore a sense of communal healing. We will walk slowly. Listen deeply. And build with care.
This is not about scaling up for the sake of visibility. It’s about anchoring more deeply in the work. About offering something honest and necessary. About giving well, and receiving without guilt.
This time, I am not whispering.
This time, I am choosing to grow out loud.