We had the good fortune of connecting with Authum Bertrand and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Authum, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Growing up facing childhood adversities and not knowing how to deal with traumatic experiences caused me to have internal battles. Sports has always been a huge outlet for me and being told “No you can’t play football with the boys,” always bothered me. I moved to Atlanta, GA in 2012. I’ve been athletic my entire life, but once I moved here I discovered my passion for health and fitness. I decided to do something about those feelings and I now play in the women’s X League for the Atlanta Empire, which is the highest platform of women’s tackle football. It has been a major blessing to my life being around other professional athletes who have inspired me to be able to see that football is bigger than me and has helped me grow as a person. I wanted to take things to another level for women in fitness, so I decided to partner with my childhood track & field friend, Maiya Beavers. We birthed Vessel Movement at the beginning of this year.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Vessel Movement is a black-owned luxury athleisure wear apparel & clothing company created by two women. Vessel focuses on everyday comfortability for easy mobility for the ideal fitness journey. Our athleisure wear allows you to keep your curves while simultaneously reaching your personal goals by becoming wholesome. Our purpose is to be used as a Vessel through our physical bodies to reach our highest potential and to look and feel good while doing so.

At the end of 2018 I tore my ACL in my left knee. Right before this incident I made a decision to prepare my body for a career in women’s tackle football. So, when I tore my ACL it made me extremely curious about what God was trying to tell me. After surgery when I was going through the healing process for my knee God took me through a very deep emotional and spiritual healing chapter. He made me realize that things I thought I had healed from and people I thought I had forgiven weren’t so. That was a huge challenge for me because it was bittersweet. I learned more about God and more about myself and how much the process is much greater than the product. It wasn’t about just healing and playing football again, but it was about getting to know God and myself through the process and fully healing from the inside out.

Vessel Movement’s goal is to become a household name in the women’s world, to partner with larger scale companies, and to be able to cater to an even broader audience of women in 2022. We aim to educate and motivate women through fitness and encourage them to thrive within their own precious vessels. Vessel is a movement in the making representing women of all ethnic, cultural and physical backgrounds, therefore we see ourselves amongst the world, widely. We look forward to growing and expanding immensely while building a community of women along our journey to becoming whole.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First, we would go to Mojave Restaurant in Sandy Springs, GA for a nice latin brunch. Next, I would take her to the Shops at Buckhead where we could walk and shop! Then, I would take her to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Last, I would take her to Jeni’s Ice Cream to have a sweet treat and wind down from the busy day.

Other places we would visit throughout the week include Dave’s Cheesesteaks, Eight Sushi Lounge, The Walking Dead VIP Tour, and the Atlanta Jazz Festival at Piedmont Park on Memorial Day Weekend

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We’d like to dedicated our shoutout to a few people: (in no particular order) 1: Danielle Ta’Shae (owner of LoveBillboard Apparel) has been a tremendous help when it comes to advice and branding tips. She’s been a great mentor and role model.

2. Shonda Rhimes’ book entitled ‘Year of Yes’ initially inspired Vessel Movement to simply go for it and stop waiting for the “right time”. If we would’ve waited we would’ve never started.

3. Inky Johnson who is a notable motivational speaker has personally motivated me throughout my journey especially when I was in recovery from an injury. I was really able to relate to his speeches and stories being that we’ve gone through something similar.

4. Marquise Goodwin is one of my favorite athletes. He has really inspired me in regards to his relationship with God, his resiliency about starting a family, and his work ethic by being able to be in the Olympics and the NFL at the same time.

Website: www.vesselmovement.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/vesselmovement

Facebook: www.facebook.com/vesselmovement

Other: email: vesselmove@gmail.com

Image Credits
Kelius Shannon – XoticShots

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