Leonardtown Author Shaniqua Cousins Launches National Live Well Tour Rooted In Habit Change

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — If you ask Shaniqua Cousins, she’ll say wellness begins at home — often at the stove, sometimes at the table, but always with intention. The Leonardtown-based author, certified health coach and creator of the Live Well movement, recently released her newest book, “Shaniqua Cousins Live Well: Creating a Lifestyle of Consistency and Intentionality,” an invitation to build daily habits rooted in purpose rather than perfection.

In “Live Well,” Cousins blends personal reflection with practical guidance, encouraging readers to see transformation not as a dramatic overhaul, but as a series of steady, consistent choices. Her book frames wellness as lived experience — in the meals we prepare, the conversations we share and what she defines as the rhythms of everyday life. “Wellness isn’t abstract, it’s lived,” the book description noted, pointing to the kitchen as a place of connection and return.

A United States Navy veteran and founder of Shaniqua Cousins World Group, LLC, Cousins has become a familiar face across Southern Maryland through cooking demonstrations, media appearances and community wellness conversations centered on intentional living. Her work consistently connects health with home cooking and mindset. She said she helps individuals and families create sustainable change “one meal at a time.”

“Really living well is rooted in habit change,” Cousins said.

The “Live Well” book includes lessons shaped by years of coaching and personal experience. Cousins repeatedly returns to one central idea: daily life already has a rhythm, and wellness is built by working within it.

“It’s rooted in the rhythm of your life,” Cousins said. “When we wake up in the morning, we’re going to eat breakfast, or have our coffee, we’re going to meet our friends for lunch, we’re going to have dinner, or get the kids a snack — it’s the flow and the rhythm of your life, and food is a consistent theme for most of us.”

Cousins said meals are a natural entry point because food is already part of most people’s day, whether they pause to think about it or not. “Food is a common denominator,” she said, arguing that the kitchen can become a practical place to rebuild structure and consistency.

But Cousins said the shift is not just about what people eat. It’s about the discipline that carries over into other areas.

“The common denominator is discipline,” Cousins said. “It’s the discipline of the small things that open up the doors for the larger things.”

Cousins described food as more than fuel. “Food gives your body information, food literally is information,” she said, and the meal settings matter too, including whether people eat in a calm environment or in a constant rush.

As a coach, Cousins said her work often begins with helping clients step out of overwhelm. When people feel swamped by wellness culture, advertising or conflicting nutrition advice, she said the starting point is simple.

“You have to pull back. Overwhelm comes from being inundated, and so the one thing you can do is tune off,” Cousins said. “It’s easy. It’s not simple.”

Cousins said her approach is built as a framework rather than a trend, emphasizing consistency and ingredient quality without moralizing food choices. She said she does not teach calorie counting or deprivation.

“I don’t count calories, I count chemicals,” Cousins said.

Cousins also framed wellness as a matter of responsibility. “Stop outsourcing your health. Stop leaving it for chance,” she said. “You take it back and take ownership of it.”

That message, she believes, can begin locally. Cousins said Southern Maryland has influenced her creative life and strengthened her commitment to building community, in part because it reminds her of her upbringing in South Carolina.

“Southern Maryland reminds me a lot of being in Charleston, South Carolina, the small-town feel, the families that are steeped in tradition,” Cousins said. “Where you feel at home, you feel comfortable, you feel like you want to contribute, you feel like you belong.”

Cousins said she hopes local readers take the book as encouragement rather than instruction and feel empowered to define what “living well” looks like in their own homes.

“Living well is yours to define, number one,” Cousins said. “You can live long. But do you live? Are you going to live? Well, those are two different things.”

The book builds on a broader mission: to impact 100,000 lives through practical wellness, nourishment and community connection. In Leonardtown and throughout Southern Maryland, Cousins continues to host conversations, share recipes and encourage residents to return to what she sees as a powerful starting point for change — the everyday choices made within their own homes.

For Cousins, that goal is not symbolic. It is measurable and personal. She described the Live Well movement as a call for individuals — particularly women — to take ownership of their health, habits and household rhythms, understanding that small shifts inside one home can ripple outward into neighborhoods and communities.

“I would love for people around the country to get a copy of the book,” Cousins said. “The book is a guide and a companion.”

This spring, Cousins plans to take that message beyond Southern Maryland with a national Live Well tour, bringing small-group discussions, book signings and habit-change conversations to communities across the country. The tour will focus less on performance and more on participation, inviting readers to reflect, share and commit to incremental changes rooted in structure and intention.

“You don’t need a new life,” Cousins said. “You need a structured one.”

From living room gatherings to regional events, Cousins said the aim is simple: build a community of people willing to examine their daily rhythms, redefine what living well means for themselves, and take consistent steps toward it — one meal, one habit and one intentional choice at a time.

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