Self-Care Rituals and the Diaspora’s Influence

References

1. ASD Market Week. (2025, October). Self-care trends for retailers in 2025. asdonline.com
2. Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. (2026, February). African American herbalism, part 1: Medicinal resilience: African plant knowledge through bondage and beyond. chestnutherbs.com
3. Get Histories. (2024, April 19). A history of shampoo. gethistories.com
4. GumSurgery.com. (2025, December 30). When did people start brushing their teeth? gumsurgery.com
5. National Wildlife Federation. (2025, Spring). Black herbalism's healing legacy. nwf.org
6. Self Help Education. (2024, October 18). The history of personal hygiene practices. selfhelp.education
7. Wikipedia. (2026). Tooth brushing. wikipedia.org

About the Founder

A. Elizabeth Ferguson, PharmD

FOUNDER & CHIEF CURATOR · SANKOFA COLLECTIVE

Dr. A. Elizabeth Ferguson is a Doctor of Pharmacy, retired U.S. Air Force Officer, and former Federal Pharmacist with the Defense Health Agency. She served as a Health Policy Advisor to the U.S. Senate, drafting legislation for both the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and the Committee on Finance. She is the Founder of Sankofa Collective™ — a pharmacist-led, curated clean beauty marketplace built exclusively for and by the Black community — and Managing Strategist at Health Strategy Collective [Global]. She currently lives in Panama City, Panama, while completing her MBA at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School with a focus in Finance and AI/ML.

Editorial Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of Dr. A. Elizabeth Ferguson and reflect her personal education, clinical training as a Doctor of Pharmacy, lived experience as a Black woman and consumer, and her convictions as a founder. This content is not intended as medical advice and does not constitute a pharmacist-patient relationship. AI tools were used to help refine and make this content editorially sound; all perspectives, positions, and conclusions are entirely her own.

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