Unapologetically Laurel Refuses to Dim Her Light
Singer, dancer, seamstress, herbalist…is there anything Laurel Symone can’t do? Based in Phoenix, Laurel is a self-taught jack-of-all-trades whose dedication to honing her craft across many disciplines is as impressive as it is inspiring. Her journey, riddled with obstacles, creativity, and resilience, resonates with her equally diverse and authentic audience.
The R&B singer, designer, and herbalist is a true creative force. Born and raised in Arizona, she’s always been a part of the creative sphere, often spending her time dancing, acting, and singing as a child. Other children ridiculed her for her speech impediment and she eventually focused on dance as her primary form of self expression. By the time she was 18 years old, she began teaching inner-city kids how to dance, her pull to education inspired by her mother. Her creative path was gaining momentum, until a decline in her health required eight months of bed rest, the change forcing her to give up dance and teaching altogether.
“I got bored,'“ she says. “As a person who wanted to express, I got lost in the sadness.”
Although she took a step back, her creative spark never diminished. Confined to a bed, she taught herself how to sew and gradually began creating her own designs. By the time her health improved, she was attending community college and participating in Phoenix Fashion Week. Once her treatments had finished, she made the bold move to Paris, where she finished her degree.
“It was great creatively. I grew on so many different levels,” Symone says. “It expanded my world.”
Just as her creativity peaked, her health declined again, moving her back home. Searching for healing, Symone became interested in the medicinal properties of the plants around her, which blossomed into a love of herbalism.
“Everything I do, I am self-taught because I hyperfocus. I am so enveloped in my interests,” she says.
It wasn’t long until she founded her own herbal beauty and health company, Sacred Phoenix, and held small pop-up events across the country, combining healing, beauty, and community.
Throughout all of these challenges, Symone has remained an artist at heart. For the last couple of years, she has been focused on herself and unleashing her true potential.
“I wanted to take the mask off,” she says. “I got into music and writing, [I’ve been] getting into art, and just unearthing everything from the past.”
Symone prefers to work through her thoughts one theme at a time, weaving a central narrative across all of her artistic disciplines. She’s currently focused on a theme of identity and the embracement of self, and plans to release an EP with a “Golden” theme in late 2025.
“I’ve been reconnecting with how I am in this world,” she says. “It's interesting because so many people have perceptions of a Black woman, a Latina woman, a person with mental health issues, and autoimmune issues. It's a season of me owning it and being proud of it. I’m no longer in a mode where I want to keep dimming my light to make anyone comfortable.”
To reflect her layered journey, Symone frequently hosts multi-sensory shows that include scent, taste, and visuals, immersing her audience in the resilience and wisdom that she injects into her art. She recently celebrated the release of her first album, ELEMENTS OF COLOR, which she wrote, edited, and produced herself. The album is a dreamy, soulful blend of love and pain, her voice a deep whisper against simple beats and instrumentals reminiscent of Lauryn Hill.
“I’m really proud of it. It’s my first baby in music,” she says.
Everything she has accomplished has proven to be an expression of her true self and the various experiences that have shaped her story, the process never dimming her light but instead, showing her all the new ways that it can shine bright.