Community Highlights: Meet Allycin Powell-Hicks of Doux Consulting Group

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allycin Powell-Hicks.

Hi Allycin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in a family where science and service were built into everyday life, doctors, problem-solvers, people who deeply believed knowledge should be used to help others. This shaped my early fascination with the human mind and its role in molding emergent consciousness. But alongside my love of knowledge and academia, I’d always been drawn to aesthetics: art, fashion, beauty, and the quiet power they hold over how we see ourselves and others. During graduate school, I began working as a beauty editor for a small fashion magazine and realized I didn’t want to choose between these worlds; I wanted to understand how they shaped each other.

When it came time to choose a research focus, I asked a question that didn’t land well with my professors: Why not study beauty? That resistance only made me more committed. I went on to research beauty, identity, and objectification anyway. After graduate school, I found myself drawn to media: first through radio interviews on stations like KFI, then podcasts, morning television on NBC, and eventually my own show on OWN called Like Mother Like Daughter (briefly lived, if I’m being honest). What emerged was a role that felt natural: the scientist who explains the everyday, the researcher translating complex psychological ideas into language people could actually feel and use.

Today, my work lives in the in-between spaces, between social science and beauty, research and creativity, intellect and intuition. That liminality has become my brand and my offering. My forthcoming book, The Problem with Pretty, launching in June 2026 and published by Hachette, brings this work together by examining how beauty pushes and pulls our behavior, self-concept, and lives. Looking back, every reflective detour and moment of disconnection led me here, toward building a bridge between worlds that were never meant to be separate in the first place.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, life rarely is. I chose a path without a clear roadmap, which meant there weren’t many examples to follow. Forging something new can be disorienting, and it requires a deep reliance on creativity and grit. That kind of path comes with constant rejection: missed opportunities, denied grants, unanswered pitches, and projects that never quite materialize. Over time, that rejection can feel deeply personal.

When it happened often enough, I learned to treat disappointment as data, otherwise I would have drowned. It became information about what was working, what wasn’t, and what still needed refinement. Rejection doesn’t always signal a deficit; often, it’s an early indicator of future growth. Holding onto that perspective has been essential, not just to my career, but to becoming the kind of person who can sustain meaningful, unconventional work.

We’ve been impressed with Doux Consulting Group, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Doux Consulting Group is a mental health ecosystem at the intersection of psychology, culture, beauty, media, and technology. Through my consulting practice and media work, I translate complex psychological and neuroscientific concepts into language people can actually use in their everyday lives.

I specialize in helping ambitious women understand how perception, especially around beauty, identity, and self-concept, shapes confidence, leadership, decision-making, and well-being. I don’t treat beauty as superficial. I treat it as psychological infrastructure.

What sets my work apart is its liminality. I live between worlds: researcher and creative, academic and media personality, rigorous and culturally fluent. I hold a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, but I work publicly, on television, on stages, in print, and across digital platforms, bridging social science with lived experience.

The Doux ecosystem includes:
High-level coaching for high-achieving women navigating reinvention and identity shifts
Research-informed workshops and corporate talks
A mental health card deck rooted in evidence-based interventions
Media work and my forthcoming book, The Problem with Pretty (Hachette, June 2, 2026)

Brand-wise, I’m most proud of building something intellectually rigorous yet emotionally resonant. Doux is grounded in science but aesthetically intentional. At its core, my work is about clarity and agency, helping women see themselves and the systems around them more clearly so they can move through the world with greater confidence and freedom.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Podcasts
Relationsht with Kamie Crawford
The Optimist Project with Yara Shahidi
Philosophize This!
Call Her Daddy

Books
Parable of the Talents
The Red Book
Spirits Come from Water
Why Woo-Woo Works
The Disordered Cosmos

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.allycinhicks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allycinhicks/?hl=en
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.ally?lang=en

Image Credits
First photo taken by, Aaron Lacy
Second photo taken by, Aaron Bernard