Golde Founder Trinity Mouzon Wofford Has Mastered the Art of Chill

Though Golde launched in Sephora just a few months ago, the collaboration between Trinity Mouzon Wofford, her co-founder (and partner) Issey Kobori, and the beauty giant was a long time coming. “Sephora reached out to us when we were still in our first year of operations, at a point where it was the two of us out of a Brooklyn apartment. It was pretty wild and very much unexpected,” she told StyleCaster. “From there, there was definitely a lot of back-and-forth, sort of figuring out how the relationship was going to work. I think even a little bit surprising for us, they’re one of our favorite brands to work with. They’re super supportive and so excited about wellness.” (Fun fact: Wofford is the youngest Black woman to launch a line in Sephora.)

Today, the brand continues to thrive as it navigates the tricky balance of corporate partnerships and quick growth, while also remaining independently-owned. However, in the few minutes I had to chat with Wofford, I hardly got the idea that she was under any sort of pressure. Her aura is just as calm as I expected and I suspect it’s because she’s actually taking breaks; you know, not running herself into the ground (note to self).

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“I think that self-care ultimately is really just about finding practices that work for you and help you feel your best self. So for some people that might be sort of like the classic, like taking a bubble bath. But it could be just checking in with yourself or calling a friend,” she said. “I think it’s definitely something that evolves. As I’ve launched this business and watched it grow and had to think a little bit more consciously about taking care of myself, it’s something that I’ve definitely had to give a little bit more thought to.”

So what does a totally zen, insanely friendly, and crazy smart brand owner do in her free time? Keep reading for her weekend wind-down. I feel relaxed already.

Early Bird Gets the Worm

I am definitely a morning person. I try to get up at like 5am and just get straight to work. I think that’s been really valuable and helpful for me. You kind-of find ways to make balance because it’s important. I really do try to be good about taking weekends off. But usually I’m never really fully off. I’m not doing the grind stuff, like getting into spreadsheets. It’s more of thinking about my product development and marketing initiatives.

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Fresh to Death

Every weekend my partner Issey and I will go out to the farmers market either in Brooklyn or Union Square. We make sure to just stock up on veggies. I’m totally not the chef in the relationship. But I do just like a lot of whatever is in season and fresh. So I’ll just snack on whatever fresh raw veggies I can get my hands on. But also, I don’t really restrict myself. I’m definitely down to have a big bowl of pasta with mushrooms and veggies and everything in there.

My skin’s pretty sensitive and I’m honestly just too busy to do as much as I would like with all the different steps.

Staying Centered

I’ve never been much of an athlete, but I do try to do yoga every morning if I can. I just do it at home from YouTube…Yoga with Adriene. I met her in Austin a few months ago. She was as incredible in person as she is online, so it was really cool to have that connection.

Bare Skin Essentials

I try to keep my skincare routine as minimal as possible. My skin’s pretty sensitive and I’m honestly just too busy to do as much as I would like with all the different steps. So I always use our Superfood Face Mask; that’s huge for my skincare routine. And then outside of that, I’ll just make sure that I’m using some sort of a gentle cleanser, whether it’s cream or oil-based, and then some type of oil moisturizer, but that’s pretty much it.

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Wash Day Release

I have to do my hair on the weekends. I can’t take that on during the week because it takes a long time. I feel like if I didn’t have to do it, I wouldn’t do it. I like to put it off, but then once you’re actually doing it, there is some sort of release in doing work like that, that sort of allows your brain to turn off a little bit. I have to go through and detangle my hair, and then put it in six to eight braids, and doing that motion is just sort of… it’s almost cathartic in a way to kind of just be there with yourself. I use one conditioner that I buy from Whole Foods and then I throw whatever oil I have around on top of that, and that’s it.

Keepin’ It Old School

We recently came into an old-school record player that was my dad’s. He’s a musician, so he helped us get everything set up and ever since then, we’ve been collecting records as we travel and from our parents. Issey is originally from Japan. Recently his family went back and brought back some old records from his mom’s collection. So we definitely like listening to some old-school stuff from the 60s and 70s.

When people come into our apartment they always say, ‘It feels so homey.’

The Long Way Home

We live in Bedstuy (Brooklyn), so we’ll do a good long walk around the neighborhood. Sometimes we’ll go all the way into Fort Greene and walk around. I really like to stop at Saraghina Bakery, which is pretty close by. So I’ll grab a loaf of bread there or something to stock up for the week. Relationships Cafe is also super cute. And then if I have more time then I’ll usually go upstate where I’m from, just to get some fresh air.

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A Cozy Sanctuary

We’ve got lots of plants and lots of keepsakes. I try not to have any plants that are too complicated because I can’t manage that. So we have a bird of paradise and a fig tree. We’ve also got a nice spread of aloe. I also got a mint plant which is really awesome because we can drink summer cocktails and put it on salads. Everything is mint now. We’re lucky that we have a friend that is a plant expert; he’s written a book on plants. So we’re constantly testing him, like ‘Is this okay?’

A lot of [Issey’s] artwork and photography is up on the walls plus all of our books. When people come into our apartment they always say, ‘It feels so homey.’ I’ve even had people say, ‘I feel more at home here than I do in my own apartment.’ So it’s cozy. We’ve got candles burning. We just really try to make it as ‘us’ as possible.

In our series “Operation Recharge,” we task celebrities and influencers with sharing what self-care means to them, as well as the activities, products and treatments they indulge in for downtime done right.