Shea Butter Wellness.
- Mar 7
- 5 min read
In a society that glorifies escapism as a way to deal with daily life situations, on very few yet imperative occasions does one come into contact with people who actively choose to show up in their communities with a healthier approach. Wellness is a concept that maintains intra and interpersonal connections, or as ZenJewels believes is, “the rest and healthy regulation in our birthright of wealth well-being, in mind, body, soul, and emotions.” In dissecting the categories of wellness, we have to make a decision with our bodies to move intentionally – physically: to be responsible with the choices of practices, urges and vices; socially: to contribute to the welfare of your locals and embrace progressive relationships; emotionally: to be in the process of recognizing your inner compass, how to awaken your strength, and express yourself as truthfully as possible; spiritually: actively seeking your purpose and using your voice to make an impact.
ZenJewels is a beauty and personal care brand formed in the heart of Zeerust, South Africa by Julieta Aurelio. Ever since their re-launch in 2024 they have collected multiple customer testimonials from their clients. In 2025 they introduced a new program ‘Tribe Hike Club’, which has sparked an expanding movement of Mindful Mountain Adventurers from Zeerust and surrounding areas. All of this is derived from the motive of constant learning through academic and life experiences. Gathering insight from the mid-1990s, to scholarly career and eventually being initiated after tertiary graduation, ZenJewels is firm in a variety of fields such as communication, marketing, spirituality and tourism. They pride themselves on being a tribe that’s rooted in community, and that’s how it’s easy to gain expert-level guidance and lean on collaboration where they fall short.
“ZENJEWELS Group is something to stay tuned for.” – Julieta
Elijah: What inspired you to venture into different dimensions within your brand - skin care, mentoring programs and so on?
Julieta: The birth of ZenJewels as a Holistic Brand has always been the intention. It just takes time for the rest of the world to realize what that is as you see us grow beyond aesthetics. We would love to invite everyone into a world where skincare and beauty is just one aspect of someone’s well-being. One of many. Sure, our Golden Jar will leave you with glowing skin and growing hair, but what about what your mind’s been consuming? How is your mental health? Your physical health? Do you have investment knowledge? What about your connection with the Divine? How’s your spirit been feeling? Do you even notice your emotions? People notice these things. This perspective has driven us to open our mentoring programs to help people navigate their internal light, because we glow-up beyond aesthetics. ZenJewels Group holds the lens that shows you a night routine without enough hydration and a conversation with your Creator before you sleep can be the artificial light.
E: How flexible are your programs to adapt to?
J: Very personal. I assume you mean the mentorship, that is. It’s as individualistic as can be. After our initial consultation we weigh out what you need, what we notice, and what your birth details give us insight to. That data lets us know if we can work together and everything else unfolds after that.
E: I believe ‘Shea Butter, Baby’ kickstarted your brand. What does the future look like for it, and why did you pick that name?
J: With ZenJewels, that’s accurate. “Shea Butter, Baby” bloomed from being an R&B girlie in love with Ari Lennox’s song of the same title. Before ZenJewels was Goldenhandlers, which supplied holistic wellness tools like crystal gemstones and smudges. The future of ZenJewels is heavily influenced by the vision of Goldenhandlers. Although that one item (now our 100ml) has already expanded into different sizes to the Golden Jar (250ml) and the Family Shea Share Tub (1kg), additional products like our O.G Afrikan Black Soap and Shea Soft Lip Balm have already come into the range. Hereon forth, we are paying attention to ethical suppliers towards our next big step, to embody the alignment of other wellness tools and the like. Zenjewels Group is something to stay tuned for.
E: Do you have a team, and if so, what is everyone’s responsibility?
J: Yes! We currently have an agile team, and we look towards scaling as time goes on. Besides our founder who is the full-time director, we have Daniel aka Romeo aka Portuguese_Gent who is all hands wherever needed. Passionate about keeping people entertained and married to dance, Daniel also facilitates our hikes and dabbles in some of our content creation. We have someone handling our social media marketing. He’s a talented copywriter who also handles our brand’s and partnership correspondences. We have an in-house hand model and she’s our expert therapist too. And two home graphic designers. We freshly appointed our creative director who also does our content creation. The Tribe Hike Club also got a manager who’s an expert filmmaker and mushroom forager. There are helpful titles for appointment and all, but we all remain flexible - and still growing.
E: How do you engage with your customers and maintain healthy relationships?
J: We aim for authentic and compassionate engagement with our tribe. Be it through WhatsApp, our comment sections or in person – from markets to pick-up point collections – we keep it that way. We do our best to get back to sales queries within 24 hours. We also keep an open channel of communicating what’s upcoming with our Textlist Gemstones as they are the first to get any updates.
We are currently transitioning to e-mail textlists that will be more seamless for these updates outside of WhatsApp and subscribed Gemstones will always be the first on everything new.
E: What long-term goals do you have for ZENJEWELS?
J: In the longer term it holds Afrikan skincare and haircare products that our DNA recognizes. Just as shea butter holds riches that Queen Cleopatra herself used, the Zenjewels range is to offer more items for skincare and haircare sourced from different Afrikan countries that tie to the history of the people in Afrika.
E: Are you happy with yourself?
J: Oh yesss
Beauty brands are one of the most evolving markets in the world. To involve personalized customer care is one way to improve the ecosystem of your brand’s values. It is, for the sake of the brand’s aliveness, necessary to stay grounded and be innovative enough to reach unimaginable potential, especially when health is at the center. How the public discovers you, whether through social media or traditionally, is a responsibility to maintain as a brand that shouts collective ministry.
Follow ZENJEWELS on social media:
@zenjewels_za via Facebook, Instagram, TikTok & X.
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