Aikisha Holly Colon holds the title of the original Southern Belle

Aikisha Holly Colon considers herself and fellow Belle Collective newbie Sophia “So Gucci” Williams the upgrade OWN’s Belle Collective needed in order to move to the next level. The Jackson-born beauty lives by the southern belle code, Carlos King’s ‘Belle Collective’ was created to emulate. “When I hear the term southern belle I think of my Grandmother. She carried herself a certain way. She took care of the home and her husband,” Aikisha shares.

Aikisha Holly Colon on Belle Collective, Motherhood, and Breaking Taboos

Joining the ladies of Belle Collective was an opportunity to continue her family’s legacy.  “I didn’t understand what to expect at first. I get an invite to a brunch and I was excited. I just wanted a clean plate and everything went crazy,” she laughs. The growing pains of reality television didn’t affect Aikisha as much as some of her co-stars, mainly because she and her former NFL star husband Willie Colon have a solid foundation. The couple have two young children and have homes on the east coast where Willie grew up and played ball. The transition from housewife and mother to reality star wasn’t challenging for Aikisha but her current  transition in womanhood threw her off course.

Becoming a mother in her early 40s was an answer to Aikisha and Willie’s prayers. The couple had two children back to back, but before Aikisha could relish getting her old figure back, she started experiencing symptoms she couldn’t explain. From dizzy spells and feeling light-headed to extremely high blood pressure, Aikisha said she became frantic thinking she was about to have a heart attack. She called her OBGyn and agreed to come in for testing. The testing revealed Aikisha was going through menopause.

After birthing two babies, menopause was the last thing on Aikisha’s mind. She took the diagnosis in stride and began doing research on her own. “I learned most women’s biological clocks follow their mothers. With me being adopted and my mother is not here, so I didn’t have anyone to ask about these things,” Aikisha explained.

Although her daughter is young, Aikisha says she is taking care of herself so that she has the opportunity to be there for her daughter well into her 40s. “I will be having these conversations with my daughter when she is entering puberty. It’s important for mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunts to have these conversations with young women so they know what to expect,” Aikisha says. Aikisha has made her transition a part of her Belle Collective storyline. Just as viewers were inspired by her fertility journey, she hopes there are viewers that will be encouraged with their own perimenopausal or menopausal journey.

You can keep up with Aikisha and the other Belles every Friday at 8/7 on the OWN network.