US streetwear brand fuses fashion, hip hop and mental health to help people heal

Jonathan “Quest” Brown is the multi-hyphenate creative behind the American mental health and wellness streetwear brand Heal, Homie. Brown’s sagacious nature is inviting and assured, but getting to the iteration of himself that aims to help so many along their healing journeys took reckoning with his own grief and deep inner work that led him to another continent. Eight years ago, Brown found himself in Amsterdam, just three days after his mother unexpectedly died from a heart attack. Grappling with the life-altering loss, he was searching for something. During his nine-day trip, he was introduced to psychedelics and other wellness practices that he says opened his mind. Now, he draws from those experiences, as well as fashion, to help others. “I was searching for a way to find what I had just lost,” says the 39-year-old. When he returned home, he tried kundalini yoga, a practice that combines poses with breathing techniques, chanting and meditation. “It’s been a journey of feeling comfortable enough in my own skin and what I’m embodying to offer that to others,” he says. Heal, Homie had been in the making for several years, but he officially launched the brand in April. A portion of the profits supports access to mental health services, including therapy, yoga sessions and other wellness tools. “We’re really promoting mental health through fashion and bridging the gap between the hip-hop culture that I live and breathe every day,” says Brown, a father of two. His first encounter with yoga happened at a studio near his home in Swissvale, outside Pittsburgh, in the US state of Pennsylvania. He was uncomfortable. “I looked around and everyone was white, except for the teacher. She was a black woman,” he says. Brown credits his mother, Debora, who raised him on her own, for shaping his open-hearted nature. “She accepted me for who I was. No matter what I did, my mother still loved me for me. She showed me how to love others unconditionally … I do my best to offer that to anyone that I meet,” Brown says. He dove into spiritual exploration, finding mentors to guide him through meditation. The practice evolved into reiki – a system of touching with the hands based on the belief that such touching by an experienced practitioner produces beneficial effects – and other wellness modalities. Friends and family who knew him from his upbringing in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, or through his 15-year hip-hop career as “Jon Quest”, began asking questions. “That’s when I began to come out and introduce them to what had helped me,” he says. Not everyone was accepting. He was judged because of the way he decided to process his grief. People who knew him through the lens of hip hop did not understand the new direction. He lost friends and family along the way. “A lot of black and brown folks might be scared to meditate or not even feel comfortable enough to try that, so Heal, Homie is my way of introducing those modalities through fashion and ‘Hey, if you are curious about healing, this is how I did it,’” Brown says. On a recent overcast summer Friday in July, Brown was sat in the plush sofa chairs of his fiancée Jamie Korchak’s studio, Sacred Social House in Dormont, Pennsylvania. He wore the inaugural collection of his brand: a beige raw umber Initiation 111 T-shirt, or the “OG shirt” as he calls it. He styled the shirt with a Heal, Homie hat, relaxed light-wash jeans and his signature round metal frames. “Heal, Homie was born for a couple of reasons: to honour and be authentic around our healing journeys and giving someone space to heal their own way. The journey is not perfect,” Brown says. Leading up to the brand’s release in April, Brown posted positive affirmations and wellness messages on social media. Gina Vensel, 44, co-founder of the Plan Media Project – which advocates for cannabis and psychedelics – was following his posts and reached out to try a reiki session. After discussing their mutual work, they decided to collaborate and co-founded Three Rivers Psychedelic Society, or Trips – a community-based educational organisation focused on compassionate care and destigmatising psychedelics. Brown plans to drop Heal, Homie seasonal collections, with an autumn line featuring multiple shirt and hat styles, and a hoodie. Healing, he says, is messy: “It’s about coming together to combat the messed-up things happening around us.” Vensel says that there is a collective trauma we are all experiencing regarding what is taking place across the world, and residual trauma from the Covid-19 pandemic. As a young black man growing up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Brown says he was taught not to cry or emote, despite the traumas and barriers that can come with living in the inner city. “[The attitude was] just fight through it … don’t talk about what is happening inside the house,” he recalls. Being a black male leader in a wellness space often led by women is something he approaches with humility. Brown began offering men’s meet-up sessions in person over the last few years. “This is my responsibility,” he says. “I understand now why my mother passed away. It took time, but I’ve found the beauty in her death because it showed me my purpose. This is it.” Part of Brown’s healing journey also includes honouring all aspects of his heritage, which includes being about 15 per cent Irish, which has deepened his self-awareness. More people are now paying attention. He is still the same “Quest” they knew on the stage, dropping albums and mixtapes. “I’m just an evolved version,” he says.

US streetwear brand fuses fashion, hip hop and mental health to help people heal

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}After his mother died, Jonanthan ‘Quest’ Brown dove into spirituality to overcome his grief. Now Heal, Homie is helping others do the same

After his mother died, Jonanthan ‘Quest’ Brown dove into spirituality to overcome his grief. Now Heal, Homie is helping others do the same