leveling up

At 37, Ciara is proud to be calling her own shots. Whether it's running her label, releasing a new album in early 2023, or getting in a killer workout, this singer-songwriter mama of three is confidently and purposefully in the driver's seat now.

- CORI MURRAY

It's hard to imagine Ciara not being clear about what she wants-whether it's manifesting a loving partner through prayer (an invocation that later served as the lyrics for her 2021 song "Ciara's Prayer") or running her own music label, Beauty Marks Entertainment, with vision and integrity. Yet, like so many of us, she still feels unsure from time to time about taking risks or managing life as a CEO, a wife, and a mom of three. When that happens, she digs into her clarity toolbox to pull out a pair of gloves.

"I like boxing when I'm trying to figure things out," Ciara says. "That's a part of [my] 'therapy'-exercise." Just as important as her physical well-being is her emotional well-being now. Embracing self-love after a very public breakup with the rapper Future (with whom she has a son, named Future Zahir) in 2014 was the a-ha moment she needed to finally live her truth. "I told myself I've got to figure out how to navigate in the next chapter of my life," she says. "All the things I was aspiring to have at that time, even thinking about love, I was like, It's going to happen when it's supposed to. But I can't love anybody to the best of my ability if I'm not loving on myself. I can't be the best mom if I'm not loving on myself.