Iyanla Vanzant Has Two Words For Marginalized Communities Most Affected By COVID-19 ‘Fear Not’—Her New Show On OWN Is A Call To Faith Over Fear

When Oprah calls, Iyanla Vanzant answers. The six time New York Times best selling author admits she hasn’t spent this much time in her home in years and she’s been loving it. The host of OWN’s hit show “Iyanla: Fix My Life, usually has a pretty packed schedule that keeps her traveling all over the globe for speaking engagements, production and other work. However, since stay-at-home orders went into effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iyanla Vanzant has been taking more time for herself. “I was happy being bra-less and late night snacking,” she laughs. So why break away from quarantine snacks and time at home to launch a new show in the middle of a pandemic? Vanzant says simply “When your boss asks you to do something, you do it.” That’s especially true when your boss is Oprah Winfrey.

It all started with a phone call from Oprah. “[Oprah] really felt that it was time when we had an opportunity to share with people—to support people because so many of us are having the same concerns the same issues; particularly when you look in communities of color,” comments Vanzant.

It certainly isn’t lost on Vanzant or Winfrey that many of the people suffering most in the US are people who look like them. In OWN’s recent special, Oprah Talks COVID-19 — The Deadly Impact on Black America, Winfrey addressed the many pre-existing racial health disparities that were only exacerbated by the Corona Virus. Vanzant also assents “that the Corona Virus pandemic hasn’t brought anything forward that wasn’t already there.” With statistic like African- Americans accounting for 70% of cases in states like Louisiana where black people make up 33% of the population, or 41% in Michigan while only accounting for 14% of the population; communities of color are undoubtedly being disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

Still, when asked if communities of color will be able to sustain the courage that many culturally identify with, Iyanla says “yes.” “If we are, who we define ourselves to be. We are who we present ourselves to be. I think they’re profiles of courage in every tradition and every race to me. My patriarchal lineage is Native American. And to me, those are profiles in courage. When you have strangers invade your land, and enslave you in the open, and they’re still enslaved on reservations. And now, you know, this thing [COVID-19] has come in ravishing the Navajo, the Lakota, Dakota, all of these nations they don’t even talk about on the news, you know. And so, to me, that lineage for me, are profiles in courage. So I don’t think that this virus has changed any of that, if that’s how we define ourselves, and if that’s what we live into, and up to, I don’t think that we will lose that at all,” Vanzant affirms. 

Executive Produced and hosted by the popular inspirational life coach, Vanzant offers guidance on how to live beyond fear, one step at a time on the new series, Fear Not. The weekly series includes heart-to-heart conversations with experts and notable guests that explore the basis of human fear, offering guidance and tools that will support guests and viewers in living beyond the stress and anxieties they are now attributing to the Corona Virus pandemic. Guests will include Oprah Winfrey, financial educator Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche and Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Bebe Winans who was recently diagnosed with the virus.  The limited unscripted series, joins the newly created Sisterhood Saturday Nights which also features new show Girlfriends Check In. The series premieres tonight, Saturday, May 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Vanzant’s hope is that viewers will gain tangible and useful tools to overcome fear and practive overall wellness.