Our health, wellness and lifestyle enterprise infuses the finest lessons of founder Sophie Wang, whose journey began in a faraway coal-mining region of Northeast China. This is where Sophie, a middle child with two brothers, grew up listening to the radio — imagining the world abroad.
Performing in a children’s troupe as the show’s mistress of ceremonies, the child Sophie discovered the power of her own voice. This makes a difference for a child living in era of The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of Communist China. Sophie eventually met and married an artist with whom she fell in love. They lived modestly and happily. Tragically, her husband suddenly died. Sophie was 27.
With a child to support, and earning less than $50 a month as a schoolteacher, Sophie resolved to endure her new hardship. Migrating with her son to South China, Sophie knew she wanted to live a happy, balanced and liberated life — but she hadn’t figured out how.
Keeping positive and upbeat, Sophie focused on the future. After 12 years of being a widowed, single mom, she met and married an American visiting China. Sophie moved with her son to the United States.
Sophie was grateful for her new family and freedom. Years of daily stress, damage and hardship had taken a toll. Sophie learned that she was beset by various health problems, including anxiety, insomnia and an iron deficiency. Sadly, the marriage didn’t work out.
Sophie made a choice, embarking on a journey toward wellness through reading, nutrition, studying, exercise and engaging her mind. She began to form her own fundamental philosophy for better living based on emphasizing what one can do — purging any drift toward dwelling on what one can’t do — geared for a new regimen of eating, cleansing and healing. Also, Sophie discovered that being one’s best involves gradual, not abrupt, steps toward personal growth, wellness and achievement.
She explicitly embraced the idea of treating herself well.
To achieve this, Sophie studied methods of achieving healthy selfesteem. She read books by Louise Hay, Stuart Wilde, Eckhart Tolle, Leonard Jacobson and Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell. Sophie learned to alleviate anxiety through an integrated approach to living in — not just for — the moment. Sophie read Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, which inspired in her self-reliance and resilience, and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, from which she learned to appreciate the strength sometimes found in loneliness. She read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which instilled a sense of gallantry and heroism — and works by Percy Shelley, Leo Tolstoy and Victor Hugo.
During her healing process, Sophie read, journaled and meditated. She practiced yoga and fitness. The result was metamorphic. Today, Sophie Wang is invigorated, spirited and motivated.
Sofi Essentials is Sophie’s foundation for offering the means to help the individual achieve wholeness, wellness and good health.
