For Etienne Maurice, storytelling has always been in his blood, but healing became his purpose. The filmmaker, actor, and community builder has been carving a new lane in Los Angeles where creativity and wellness meet.
As the son of Emmy Award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, Etienne grew up watching the power of performance. But it wasn’t until he faced his own mental and emotional battles that he realized the real work wasn’t just on the screen; it was within.
“I think reflecting back on that time in my life, it informs what I’m doing now because if I had a WalkGood, I don’t think I would have ended up at the psych ward,” he shared. “I don’t think I would have gotten shot. And in many ways, I feel like it’s my vulnerability and what I went through that brought me to this place, and this is why I’m so passionate about WalkGood — because I didn’t have this.”
WalkGood LA began in 2020, born from collective grief and a desire for connection.
“WalkGood started five years ago after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor,” Etienne explained. “I got my community together. I literally texted everybody in my phone during COVID and said, ‘Hey, we’re meeting in the park. We protested for 10 weeks straight. But we also did yoga, we’d protest on Saturday and do yoga on Sunday. We called it Breathe Good.”
That weekly ritual evolved into a movement, a Black-owned, family-led nonprofit that merges activism, mindfulness, and art. The name itself carries generational meaning.
“Walk good” is a Jamaican phrase his grandmother used to say, meaning take care of yourself, wishing somebody well on their journey.
Now, with his sister Ivy Coco Maurice and cousin Marley Ralph, Etienne has built a thriving space for wellness and storytelling, The WalkGood Yard, a creative sanctuary offering yoga, meditation, open mics, comedy nights, and community healing circles.
“We’re a family-led organization, really just trying to do the good work that’s not being done in Los Angeles,” he said. “Hopefully what we’re doing is going to send a ripple effect across the nation and across the world — that there are spaces for people to just be in a real, authentic, genuine way.”
Etienne’s latest project, FilmGood, has quickly become the nation’s first and only Film & Wellness Festival, merging his artistic roots with his commitment to well-being.
The third annual FilmGood Film & Wellness Festival just wrapped in Los Angeles, a four-day celebration featuring film screenings, yoga sessions, mindfulness workshops, and panels with major industry figures, including Bel-Air creator Morgan Cooper, Reasonable Doubt creator Raamla Mohamed, and film and TV producer Denise Davis.
“Nobody is doing a film and wellness festival; we’re the only ones,” Etienne said. “FilmGood was an opportunity for me to really pour back into my creative side. I didn’t want to abandon my passions as a filmmaker and actor because of the community I was building.”
For Etienne, the connection between art and wellness is natural.
“Think about wellness, mindfulness, meditation — that’s the one thing that intersects any business. If you don’t have a healthy, focused, clear mind, you can’t make healthy, clear decisions,” he said. “That’s the basis of creating: having the freedom to be liberated in a space where you can tell your story, because there’s a community out there that wants to hear it.”
One of WalkGood LA’s most powerful programs is YouGood?, a healing circle created specifically for Black men, where vulnerability, journaling, and brotherhood replace the traditional toughness that often isolates men of color.
“You Good is a Black men’s healing circle that I started three years ago,” Etienne explained. “We do yoga, we do sound baths, but most importantly, we do journaling. We reflect on life, grief, pain, what it means to be a man. The most important part is the breakout circles — groups of three or four brothers who get to reflect on what they wrote down.”
He says the space has become transformative for everyone who attends.
“I used to think that the movement of yoga was the healing experience, but the healing experience is brothers connecting, brothers sharing what we’ve been through. Then we become mirrors of each other.”
For Etienne, these circles are an antidote to isolation and ego.
“When you leave that ego at the door, there’s healing that can be experienced in a room full of like-minded men who are in pain and don’t know how to release that pain in a healthy way,” he said. “A healthy coping mechanism is to feel and acknowledge what you’re feeling, write it down, and talk about it. Because now, once you talk about it, you have to hold yourself accountable.”
Etienne’s story is one of full-circle healing, for himself and his community. After surviving both gun violence and mental health challenges, he speaks openly about his journey, hoping to normalize what too many Black men face in silence.
“Sometimes it’s easy for us to sit in what we’ve done, but it’s so much harder to sit in what we’ve overcome,” he said. “And I’m sitting in what I’ve overcome. That’s what has helped me along my path and my journey, being as vulnerable as I can.”
He credits his circle, including his best friends and family, for helping him through the darkest moments.
“The love, the consistent love, is what kept me whole when I was broken,” he said. “That patience and grace that I was given made me believe I could be a better version of myself because they empathized with me.”
Through WalkGood LA, FilmGood, and You Good, Etienne Maurice is leading a quiet revolution, one that reminds his community that wellness is not a luxury, but a right.
He believes healing is contagious when modeled publicly, especially by men who are expected to always be strong.
“Be a little more compassionate to people’s pain because you never know what they’re going through,” he said. “That’s what I want people to walk away with.”
From film to meditation mats, Etienne Maurice is building a legacy that bridges art, healing, and humanity, one breath, one story, and one community at a time. He next stars alongside Kiki Layne in Fake Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, premiering November 29 on OWN and HBO Max.
