ATLANTA — Atlanta entrepreneur and health and wellness expert Maat Petrova is using her personal experience, wisdom and health and wellness journey to uplift other women.

At a young age, the Florida native moved to Trinidad where both of her parents are from. She says it was a major culture shock. Petrova later moved to Georgia to go to college in the early 2000′s before she got pregnant with her first child.

Petrova’s health and wellness journey was inspired by her experiences battling depression, anxiety, abuse and trauma growing up.

“I was trying to find a way out of feeling low about myself. I started reading self-help books. That’s where it all began, getting to know myself as a young black woman,” she said. “I changed my diet and it changed my life.”

She says diet serves as the foundation of her health and wellness journey.

“Diet,” she continued. “It can affect your mental health, physical wellness and spiritual enlightenment. Diet has shown me that the body is a temple. The way that it completely changed my mind, body and spirit was so impactful towards my journey.”

Petrova says it is extremely important to continue to inspire others and share her journey.

“Helping other Black women is extremely important because of the disparities and disadvantages that women are faced with just for being Black,” she continued. “Our struggles are not like others’ struggles. It comes with a lot of traumatic history. That history affects our ovaries and our wounds. Generations of trauma are being passed down.”

During her wellness, she teaches others about the importance of wound work and how generational trauma impacts your body.

“That’s where all life begins. Some people don’t understand that our emotions and our thoughts turn into physical blockages,” Petrova said. “It comes in the form of fibroids, or cyst, or some physical ailment.”

She says that is the reason why she takes a holistic approach.

“Women are having responses to this trauma. Its important for me to help these women identify its not just their bodies turning on them for no reason. It is all connected to their history. Our history for centuries is fraught with a lot of pain.”

Petrova started a refinement group in New York by doing workshops and consultations with formerly homeless people, and people with HIV.

“When I moved to Atlanta in 2014, I felt a lot more free. Your inner environment matters. Your mind, your heart and spirit, but also, your external environment matters,” she said. “When I moved to Atlanta with all of this nature as opposed to New York in the concrete jungle, the trees the air, the space, the nature all gave me the freedom that inspired me to tap into healing, and sexual healing.”

She began teaching exercises and yoga several years ago. She says the idea of tapping into her feminine magic inspired her to create, trademark and establish her company, FEMMAGIC.COM.

The name Feminine Magic was already trademarked by another individual, which led Petrova to shorten the word to FemMagic in 2015.

“I added some urbs, did some research and packaged it,” she said. “I ordered some bottles online, made the ingredients, put it on a store online. I sold my first product in 2015. I stand behind not harming women with chemicals and toxins. I want my products to heal and not harm. They have toxic free ingredients.”

She says helping offer positive words of wisdom to others is “a special feeling.”

As a feminine energy coach and speaker, Petrova leads weekly IG live where she talks with women, showcases the her wellness products and teaches yoga.

“This is extremely life-altering important because it makes me feel that I’m moving in my divine purpose of helping women to feel good about themselves and heal,” she said. “It touches my soul to know that another woman’s life has been uplifted because of my products.”

She offered words of encouragement for anyone chasing their dreams.

“Meet yourself where you are and don’t care what other people think,” she concluded. “Worrying about what the next crazy person is going to say about what you’re trying to convey or do is ridiculous. Focus on yourself. Meet yourself where you are, and work with what you have and start there.”