Welcome And Guest Setup

SPEAKER_06 0:00

Welcome to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we're joined by two powerful creative forces, Andrea, Digital Drea Lachey, and Raquel Love. Digital Drea is a Columbia-born storyteller and creative strategist whose work sits at the intersection of culture, healing, and community. Through branding, strategy, and narrative, she helps artists and small businesses strengthen their voice and visibility. She is also the founder of Art Farm Project, a social impact initiative blending art and agriculture to support the emotional well-being of artists and farmers. Raquel Love is a Columbia native performance and sensory artist who uses movement, sound, and holistic healing to guide people back to themselves. As the inaugural face of First Thursday on Maine, she curates monthly experiences that center mindfulness, creativity, and self-love through offerings like the Colorflow Experience, Love Self Sanctuary, and The Frequency Lounge. Together, these women lead Art Farm Project, connecting farmers and artists to often isolated groups whose work nourishes the world. Stay tuned as we explore the unexpected but powerful relationship between art and agriculture. I like that. Alright, so getting into it, obviously. If you all could just tell the audience who you are and what it is you do, and then we'll have a great conversation from there. We'll start over here.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Yes. My name is Andrea Lachey. I go by Drea, Digital Drea, on all social media platforms. I'm from South Carolina, mainly

Andrea’s Storytelling Roots

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Columbia. Went to Ridgevie High School. Shout out to the Blazers. But my roots are in Barnwell County. My family is from Williston and Blackville, South Carolina. So if you guys have ever heard of Healing Springs, that is where my family is from, deep down in the country.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

So my background is in storytelling, digital content production. Initially, I um initially I was a digital content producer before that was a thing. I w grew up very, very isolated. I'm the oldest of four, but my mom had us in the house and on strict schedules. So I was behind the screen a lot, writing, um, editing, and just, you know, creating things in the digital space. So it started there. Um I managed a couple of like fan pages for Tyler Perry. So a lot of my ideas was on Tyler Perry's House of Pain when I was like 14, 15 years old. Tyler, you owe me some money. And that led me into um studying mass communications. So I studied mass communications at SC State University, graduated from there, and then uh went into my career in uh broadcast journalism at Watch Fox 57, and just have continued to work in the storytelling space from PR, marketing, social media, management, things of that nature. So it's a little bit about Miss Digital Drea.

SPEAKER_06 3:05

Awesome, awesome. Miss Love.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Hi everyone. Okay, hi everyone. My name is Raquel. Okay, I'm sorry, I am supposed to look at the camera. You know, I I have to do this before. I have to do this. You didn't talk to us as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

It's just there. If you want to tell the people something specifically.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Okay, um, I have to get my giggles out.

unknown 3:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Hi everyone. My name is Raquel Love, and um, I'm a little bit of everything. I consider myself to be an onion. I have several layers, as we all should. And I originally come from uh Chicago, Illinois, Hazelcrust, to be specific, South Side. Um, and my my family, my grandmother, my aunt, and my mom moved us to the South when I was probably around six, six years old. And moving here was definitely a journey because I've always been encouraged to be my authentic self. Um, my grandmother always reminded me how unique I've always been and to make sure that I didn't allow outside voices to affect who I am at my core. So moving into the South, where a lot of times people are fixated to be a specific type of way, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, um, it affects the children. So that's what I had a chance of experiencing growing up, all sides of that. So um when as soon as I uh graduated from um Lower Richland and went to RE for a little bit, played volleyball, was um the the head of JV. I was on varsity, I played AAU traveling's team, I was 13 on the 18th team. Stop. So I really so um there was a couple schools um in Ermo area um that wanted to like literally like get my mom to pull me. Yeah, like try and like offer my mom money, like for me to go.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Stop talking about what we do here.

SPEAKER_06 5:05

Yeah, it's real. We do it everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

It's just they wanted to offer her.

SPEAKER_07 5:11

Supports. Yeah, supports support to live here.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

So um when I graduated high school, I graduated with my cosmetology license. And then I um ended up getting licensed in South Carolina, North Carolina, and New York. When I moved to New York, I was 17 years old.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Um my mom and my uh my stepdad, my aunt, his mama, we we drove 15 hours. They dropped me off. I was real sad.

SPEAKER_06 5:37

By yourself?

SPEAKER_03 5:38

By yourself, but I wasn't, let me not say I was okay. I was sad when my mom was leaving me because it I could tell it was real, right? Right. But I am a I am Pocahontas at heart. Like I am definitely go with the wind, you know. So being in a new city, being a new space by myself, um, I learned so much about myself. Um, I overcame a lot of the challenges that I might have been um experiencing in South Carolina in a space where I was uh appreciated for being different, appreciated for having a different perspective. So I got a chance to learn to love and learn several versions of myself that I might not have been able to living here. So when I had to move back here, um that's a story on its own. We'll probably talk about later. But that goes back to, you know, when God puts something on your heart and you're listening and everything aligns, it might not the bowl that you may want, it might not look like what you expect it to be. It might not be all pretty and tied, nice. But when you really listen in and you listen in deeply to that calling, you'll end up learning that the bowl was already like tied. You just had to open it next door to see that it was there. So I like that.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Wow. Um, but a lot of times because we're expecting it to be a certain way, we're looking for it to be that particular. So I know I probably rambled just now. There's no rambling on this. There is no rambling on this. Yeah. I just told half of who I was. But yeah. No, you're good. You're good.

SPEAKER_06 7:06

But where do you come from?

SPEAKER_03 7:07

But living in New York, so going back to being 17.

Rockelle's Journey From Chicago To Purpose

SPEAKER_03 7:10

So being 17, I went to um uh Suffolk Community College. Uh again, after like a year and a half, I became the president of African American Student Union. The kind of school I went to, I was only the either the only melanated or black girl in a room or black person. But in these spaces, I never felt now. If anybody knows anything about Long Island, like I live near Roncankama. So this is like a piece of salt in everyone. And uh just the truth. And the truth of like, it's just the culture is different there. But the reason why I'm saying this is because I didn't allow that to affect how I walked and held my head. You know, I I went in spaces where when I became the president of African American Student Union, I opened up the perspective of where we all come from. So I'm inviting people in that people wouldn't normally think to come in because this is for all of us. This is not just for um a piece of us because we all have lineages, we all have heritage that is connected to African lineage, if people really look deeply into it. So uh I say that to say that to create a space up north where everybody felt seen, heard, and received, and was doing that in in, I guess you could say a small way when I was younger, through the different camps, through the fashion camp when I was in high school, just creating those spaces for people to be. So, what's kind of seeing myself evolve from that and being able to bring that home to South Carolina and kind of what we've been able to do together has been really cool to see full circle.

SPEAKER_06 8:36

That's a great explanation. Oh, it explains a lot about what you all do together. Yeah, yeah. And the reason why you all do it together. Yeah. And I know we were having this conversation when you all came in about the project and how you your two nodes come together to make a whole. And I thought that was really interesting. It explains so much.

unknown 8:53

Oh, I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_06 8:56

So with with that being said, I know I want to go at least start us on this, and then oh, obviously, from there we're gonna talk and we're gonna bother you. This way, Mike and I, we hold it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um obviously we live in a world, oh gosh, I'm only getting it right now, especially with AI, um, that prior prioritizes efficiency and productivity. Okay. However, we know art is not really that type of thing. And so, in you all's opinion, what role does art play in shaping our everyday lives, our sense of meaning, and our connection to one another?

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Um, for me, I think that art supports productivity. Um, so if you break down an artist and a farmer, two different individuals who are isolated, they're usually by themselves, that's true, working very hard for somebody else to benefit from their hard work. So, what that productivity, usually what comes in between that is usually stress, something mental, something uh, you know, that's disconnecting them from the community. So, art to me is that bridge or that muscle that is constantly helping you to strengthen your communication skills, your your social skills, uh, spiritual skills, because you have to literally slow down, pay attention in order to be productive. Um, and so art usually um when people are doing it from their heart and not doing it for monetary gain supports that process of slowing down, connecting back to yourself and being able to express yourself. Um, because again, a lot of the disconnect is not having the tools or the skills or the environment to feel safe enough uh to be able to connect with other people. And I think art bridges that that safety net uh for people.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah. That's a gosh, that's pretty hard.

Art As A Bridge In Grind Culture

SPEAKER_07 10:54

I mean I'm uh I don't I don't often say I'm an artist, but I don't I don't sell my work, I usually burn my work or something similar to it. But um a lot of times when you do an art like like there's this this bigger emotional thing that you're trying to find a way to and to me because I work in IT and I work in in in in uh creative field and communications and that kind of thing, but that's always like doing it for somebody else. Exactly. And then for me, a lot of times art requires a lot of like tactile physical labor. So if I'm out and I'm gardening and I'm doing these type of things, like like it's it's like that change to being uh physically active instead of mentally active is is like it allows me that space so then I can sit there and process all of these art concepts that I have, but that only happens when I'm not working in the creative field. Because if I'm working in the creative field, it's and we talked about this before, it's a little bit like prostituting your creative self out to the public for the capitalism. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it it it kind of like sucks all that energy out of you. You have to give some of it away. Go out and and and like you know, actually like touch dirt. It's healing. Yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Um, but yeah, in order to produce, you literally have to reduce your stress levels. And it's like, how do you I'll reduce my stress levels? So if you're not going to therapy and you're not sleeping, what are you doing? And there's two things, and this is one of my this is one of my favorite favorite quotes that I said if you believe in God or you believe in a higher being, when God rests, you create, and when God creates, you rest. That's the relationship that you have if you believe God is within you. Because when I'm resting, God is creating all these opportunities that I don't know anything about. He's He's putting people in places, protecting me from certain things. And when I'm creating, I'm allowing God to rest, to watch me do, use the tools that He's given me and able to go out and express those things, whether I'm connecting with other people, whether I'm connecting back to the land, putting my hands in the dirt, or whether I'm connecting with my art form, which for me um is storytelling as well as drumming. I forgot to mention that as well. Um, but we'll we'll get to all of those things in a few. But ultimately, yes, like in order for you to be an artist, we all are artists.

SPEAKER_05 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

After you rest, you are doing something to express yourself and to connect back to yourself, right? Whatever that looks like.

SPEAKER_05 13:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Even if you are editing a photo on your phone, like you're still an artist because you're resting, you're fo focusing, you're concentrating to get to communicate something. And you you're probably communicating with the higher source, more than likely. I hope I hope that's what you're doing because then it makes it more sacred on your journey. So that's what I was saying.

SPEAKER_06 14:00

How about famous love? How does your art affect and influence your everyday?

SPEAKER_03 14:07

How does my art affect and influence my everyday? I think for me, art is just stepping outside when I first wake up to look at the trees and listen to the birds, getting a chance to see like God's work first. Um and when art to me is just like I look at art as the sp the spiders that make webs on the side of my porch. I look at art as um similar to what Dre was saying, like being able to pause to process to receive and aid or and and able to allow something to create. So going back to the saying of like when we pause, I'm sorry, can you say it again? When we rest, God creates.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

And when God rests, we create.

unknown 14:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:53

So when we rest, God creates, and when we rest, when we rest, God creates. And when God rests, we create. Okay. So I just want to kind of explain what that means because that kind of goes back to like healing and arts. So a lot of times we look as when we are processing things and we are allowing ourselves to move through them. A lot of times, like we are also needing whether it's community, connection, or source to connect to in those moments. And when we take the time to process, after we process, we release. And after we release, that means we're surrendering to transfer transformation. And when we allow ourselves to surrender to transformation and rest afterwards, a lot of times we'll like surrender to it and then we'll be like, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. But then if you just go straight from the release, you're not able to see all the pieces in between in the rest. Rest allows you to slow everything down to see it. If you look at any like movie, um, specifically, I guess I could share like Taekwondo, right? Um, they're always slowing things down by using their breath in order to see and understand their next move instead of just like rushing there. Because a lot of times we get into this microwave society where we'll rush to get somewhere when we have to really understand that like presence and patience is not rushing. It's not. It's it's it's being still enough to see what is around you, what is surrounding you in order to decide what you want to bring into this next experience. But you can't do that if you're like on the go all the time. So I feel like when it comes to the question is healing arts. Is that what you asked? Like, what do I look at as healing arts? Um just arts, but you're defining your healing arts as well. Okay. Okay. Um, I think when you ask me the question, the first thing I think of is when I'm doing my somatic practice. And as a woman, um, when it comes to healing, a lot of our healing for everybody is internal, but for women, specifically like our womb. And our womb is attached to how we feel, our emotions, how we feel about ourselves. And um when I think of like my healing arts, I think of how I dance, um, how I move my body. A lot of people ask me, like, what kind of dance are you doing? What's the name of that? I'm like, I just call it freedom flow because I'm not dancing based off of something I saw. I'm dancing based off of what my spirit and my body needs me to move in, to release in, to process in. And then it becomes a piece of art and it looks like a story to someone else. But for me, this is my process. You're seeing me get through like my journal in my body. And um, to me, like that is art that people get a chance to experience outwardly. Art is what you feel internally, allowing that to be brought out to the surface for you and other people to see. So whether that is how you adorn yourself, right? How we dress is based off of how we feel internally, right? The colors we pick, all those different things. So that's why, like to me, everything is art from the animals, the ants that are working together, people, our like just everything is art when you look at it, it's just your perspective on um what what you may see as beautiful, because then it's like when people look at art, sometimes people only look at art from a beauty perspective, versus just like this is the story of what's being told, perspective.

SPEAKER_06 18:12

So aesthetics, exactly, and looking into the actual communication emotion, transformation, exactly. Yeah, man. And all right, so and I guess this is a man, I like what you I mean, oh making me so how is this and this is what I gotta ask from this because I like what you all are saying because it make it making me understand um this from a different perspective. And might you might want to chime in on this, but why is it essential then in our society for us to inspire people to create more? Why do you all think because especially as folks that that use art in your in your daily endeavors, and it's not to say, and I'll say this from I'm not a quote unquote a traditional creative or artist. Um you're artists, DJ, and what but I'm not a traditional creative or artist. I don't make it what traditional was. I know, but why look, Mike, I get me. I get me. But this is why I said I wanted to chime in on this. I don't like put anything on a on a board, I don't put anything out that you're gonna go and buy it. You're not a canvas artist. Yeah, I don't do anything. No mix media, nothing like that. I don't write out things for people to read. I don't do that. The the most I do is I my mouth works. I just talk. That's art though. You see, I I talk. That's why I do speak to people, right? Uh and so why is it important for us, and as because especially for our audience, they're gonna ask it, so why do I need to create? Like, why is it important for me to be for me to be a creative, for me to process emotions, so the universe keeps expanding? Like works. What does that do for the rest of the people around me?

SPEAKER_03 20:06

You want to answer?

Why Everyone Needs To Create

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Um, I think it reminds people that the world continues to go round and to see it and um to choose to see it in a different perspective and color than what you've been told it what you've been told and sold. Um I think art brings perspective to people to make them realize expand your imagination. Um again, what you've been told and sold. Like it's you know what I'm saying? Right. Like just expanding um your perception and perspective, like all of it, all the words, you know, pause, perspective, percept perception, purpose. How can you really get to your purpose if you don't understand yourself? That's why people go all this time, like, what's my purpose? We can have multiple purposes, but if you're not spending time with self, you will just sit here, be reaching out to I don't know what you're reaching out to. But you need to do this. You doing this, you need to do this because you came here with yourself. You came here in this vessel, you came here filled up in this vessel. So understanding that what what are you supposed to be learning in this time in life, in this journey? And if you don't pause, if you don't create, we all are creative, right? You said that you don't see yourself as a creative. Do you cook?

SPEAKER_06 21:20

Yes. Every once in a while, it cooks deliciously.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Is it good?

SPEAKER_06 21:24

I think so. Yeah. See, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

When you when you put your icing on your cinnamon roll, do you take your time or you just like throw it on there?

SPEAKER_06 21:32

Oh, I better take my time.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

So that's a form of done with intention. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 21:37

He did magic.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

Right, right.

SPEAKER_06 21:41

I'm just telling you, it ain't compliment. I'm just telling you what it is. Well, well, because I'm gonna say like and I'm gonna put it, I'm gonna frame it like this for you. The the normal like nine to five grinder out here. I get up in the morning, four o'clock in the morning, I get ready, I go to work at six. Get ready.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

I used to do that, not no more.

SPEAKER_07 22:00

To be getting off a lot earlier if you get going to work at four o'clock in the morning. I'm just saying there's a certain balance.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Why would you say that earlier? Are you balancing? Are you letting God do God's work? Years of years. You're doing all the work. When is God gonna have time to do what God needs to do? This is why when you were saying, I was like, I was like, doing what we're doing. That's why we're doing it.

SPEAKER_07 22:24

Is that whole on the eighth day thing? Yeah. Yeah. Is it changes? I'm sorry, I'm swatting gnats.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Is it summertime and summertime and we swatting gats preach? All the buns are out.

SPEAKER_04 22:39

Leave us alone, please. Like, go somewhere.

unknown 22:43

No, the buttons are ridiculous in the sound.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

That was ridiculous. I don't want to have to spray you or put something on you.

SPEAKER_06 22:52

No, this is why, like, when you when you or before we started, she gave me some of this oil here and she put a lot in my hands, and I was like, I must need that. Oh, she gave me the oil. She felt it. She was like, Yeah, you yeah, you you get some of that. Because you see, the stress levels are high over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, you you're talking about. All right, we'll say something about So we were talking about folks, 40-hour week, work week, more than that. You're going out, you're doing your job, and you're needing to understand the importance of making sure that creativity is a part of your daily chores.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 23:27

What you said, God creates when you asleep.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

When you're right. No, no, no, no. Why you're resting.

SPEAKER_07 23:34

When you rest when you're resting. When you rest when God, I mean you make when you create when God is resting. Yes. Yes. That throws a whole nother day into that whole seven-day thing because then when God goes to rest, that's your job to pick up the creativity and start making things. There you go. That's a whole nother level that they didn't teach you in Sunday school.

SPEAKER_06 23:58

Exactly. That's why I had to point put the part in about that grinder, that person going to work, getting up, working, going, like not creating the time to allow for the rest so that creation can happen properly.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

That's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:14

And then we're out here, Diana AIDS.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

I was just about to say you're grinding out yourself though. Like you're literally grinding out yourself like a like an herb. And it's and it's it's one of those things where it's like, okay, what do you do when you've been put in this society where it's like work, work, work, work, work.

SPEAKER_06 24:30

Preach. Speak on it.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Congratulations, you worked a lot. Exactly. That's about it. Um, I worked at Apple for about three years in New York, upper west side, and um, I would say quite the experience. I've met everyone from Whoopi Goldberg to uh the wife from Bill Cosby. And it's Alicia Rashad. Yeah, she's awesome. She came in a whole bunch of it. Whoopie was sweet too. We had a really good conversation. Um, and I'm always say this on anything because I've worked with a lot of public figures um or celebrities. She's told me that I need to change my words. And people are like, Do you don't know who public figures are? And I'm like, I think people do, but public figures are elected.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

No, I'm saying I guess it's how you say that you work on set. Oh people need to know what you're on set.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, you were talking about working at Apple. No, because I was gonna go back to this and get go back, but um, I was gonna just disclaimer people are just people. I always have to be able to. Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotcha. Yeah. A lot of like, I guess you could say my accolades, I've never posted we're working on that, but because of the fact that people are just I can tell you don't. I know you don't. And her she's so professional, she's letting you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

She got her no, she got a resume that she's humble about.

SPEAKER_06 25:43

No, I can tell she's very humble. I get it.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Um but I will say, when I was younger, uh, I will say from the age of, I mean, okay, so I've been doing hair for over 13 years. So I started doing like I started taking clients at 14 years old. So I got licensed in 2016, so like I'm like 17 at that point. So mind you, I've been like, when I'm doing hair, we're

Overwork, Burnout, And Listening To Body

SPEAKER_03 26:01

talking like 12 hours. We're talking like then I started when I moved back here, I started traveling and doing hair, right? So then I moved, I'm going from New Jersey, I'm going from South Carolina to New Jersey or New York flying or driving every other month because I have clients up there. But it also allows me this, you know, I'm up there for like a week and a half. I'm doing hair. I'm taking multiple people a day. I'm not really getting any sleep. My feet are swollen. But great. I'm not complaining. Right. I'm not, you know, let me tell you why I'm not complaining. It is hard work. It is hard work. I'm not complaining because of the I don't want to just call them my clients, but my tribe, like my sisters, like that's why I keep going. It's because I get a chance to pour into those people that work in 40 hour shifts. I get a chance to get them scalp reflexology and help them with their breathing technique and bring them deeper into their scalp massage. Because we hold a lot of tension in our head because we hold a lot of um information in our head, whether it's our own information or information that we didn't have no business even want to look at, but it's now it's just other people's crap, right? Like, so um going back to the overworking, like when you get to the point where your body is so tired that you lay down and you feel you feel your spirit like lift from your body, come back down. That's that's at that point you need to sit down, right? Oh, look at that. And I know a lot of people be so tired that their soul is tired and they're not listening to it because they're not slowing down to hear that their soul is talking to them. Right? Your soul and your body will tell you, like, I'm tired. Or you don't even get to the point where your soul is tired, right? You don't get to know where your your body's tired first. And because my body was so tired, like I had to pause in the thing that I loved, right? It was the thing that was also like securing the foundation um for my life at the time, you know. But I had to pause because of the pain. The pain was so bad I had to pause. And then I was like, okay, well, uh, all right, God, what we got next, right? Like, I gotta pause on this. So bring me into something that you know I can still use my hands, but don't, you know, I I need I need I need this to be healing for me.

unknown 28:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

I need this to be just as healing for me as it is for the other person. I didn't know what this was. Well, you don't know what this is, you just gonna go with the flow of what you already know, right? But this is where you go back to allowing um time for God to do God's work in your rest. And resting might look like going outside, going to the park, sitting with a journal, listening to some music, or also just listening to something that might trigger an emotion. Sometimes we'd be afraid to trigger ourselves. We talk about like other people triggering us, but sometimes we're afraid to trigger ourselves. And we need to trigger ourselves in order to process things at times, right? I have a a snippet of a story about that, but give it. Okay, I'll give it. Um because I was trying to go back into rest, but I guess this kind of goes back to it. We care about our questions.

SPEAKER_06 28:57

Yeah, we don't.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

We don't care about it.

SPEAKER_06 28:59

Yeah, I'm gonna say it like this. I'm gonna tell you like this. Tomia had to make sure we had questions because I was acting up.

SPEAKER_07 29:03

Two fingers and we gone. Look at that. It's a blank screen.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

It's blank screen. Um so let me check us up. Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

That's our healing springs wardy. It is healing springs traveling. You preached the healing spring wardy. Oh, you talking about that in uh black bill.

SPEAKER_07 29:26

We got our he goes on there with drugs of the you know the old um Galliano jugs of old wine drugs, the glass wine drugs, he fills them up and he comes back with them.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Every month. I'm sorry, every month. Yeah. It's like good water. That is great water. It has all the minerals that you need in it. That's why we shouldn't be drinking filter water. But um, going back We're those girls.

SPEAKER_06 29:51

Um filter water. Right. Go ahead, my fault.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

We're not gonna listen to the cordial water from your sexality.

SPEAKER_07 30:01

We don't care.

SPEAKER_03 30:02

No, filter water is really depleting our bodies for real. But um uh going back, so going back to the importance of like listening to our body. So um, when I was younger, I used to get nauseous randomly. And I was doing one of my friends here for her wedding, and um, this is years later, and we were in school together in high school, and I was she mentioned that she's like, You used to always get nauseous, and I didn't know why, because like we would have just had lunch, so like it doesn't make any sense. And I was like, huh, like I did used to get nauseous. What was that about? As time went on, I learned that my nausea was because of my emotions. So imagine you just like chilling, and you just like nauseous for no reason. You're like, why am I nauseous? That is your body trying to tell you something. So, what did I do? I didn't just keep being like, Oh, I'm nauseous, what am I gonna do? You know, I did something about it because it gets to a point where like, how uncomfortable is that, right? Like just to randomly be nauseous. Um, so I ended up deciding on creating a tool. What I learned is music triggers everything, right? So, like we listen to a song that we haven't heard in years, it might trigger like a happy memory or a sad memory, or like the time you were in that one relationship, or whatever it is, music triggers emotion. So um I was like, okay, I'm gonna turn on my music, I lay out my my mat, I'm an ambiance person, so I love like incense, I love um my candles, my um diffuser, all the extra stuff because I'm a smell person. And um for me particularly, I always have I always set a mirror in front of me. I always have the mirror in front of me. That's just me though. That's just my practice because I need to see myself in my full truth. And a lot of times I feel like people are afraid to see their full truth within themselves. And I try to not be afraid of that because I need to love all sides of myself. So I I lay down on my belly and I play the music. As the music starts playing, tears just start rolling. And at this point, I'm like, okay, why am I crying? When I just allowed myself to stop questioning and just be present, then I started to get visions of where the emotion was coming from. Then I just allowed, I allowed, I allowed. And one thing I do is um as I'm releasing, I put my head in between my arms and I wiggle my hips side to side. And what that does is it brings your nervous system back to like a regulated state. So it helps calm you. It's kind of like a baby, right? So two things I'ma share is like if you're ever needing to process something, you can um lay down on your belly and like do your hips side to side. And say if like your partner um is having like a moment and needs to process, you know, when you have a baby and you patting a baby on the butt and a baby, that actually calms, yeah. That actually calms. Because that's your that's your root, that's the root of our of our energy system. So it's that's the security, right? So it might them, you pad them like amazing and just hold their back, like and it will it will calm their nervous system down. So it's like learning these tools. So when I did that, okay, when I was done processing, crying, whatever, when I got up, the nausea went away. I had clarity, I felt empowered because I actually took the time to process what I was holding. But when we don't take the time to process what we're holding, we're mean for no reason. We're like, you know, people just be ready to go from zero to 100, you know, and I always have a fun, funny saying, it's like either they haven't processed some pain or they haven't processed some poop. It's one or the other. It's one or the other. Because the gut and the mind are very connected just as much as the heart. Yeah. So um processing is so important because what you don't process, you can't transmute, nor can you transform.

SPEAKER_06 34:07

So people, you know, they say that again.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

What you don't process, you cannot transmute, therefore you cannot transform. And if you do a lot of times, people just like complain. You ever hear people complain, complain about the same things, and they'll like you, they'll get closer and closer. Half of the time the issue is they didn't sit with their self because they're walking around talking to everybody else about the situation and not talking to their self. And let's be honest, like the person you're gonna probably be the most honest with either is yourself or the closest person that's next to you. And a lot of times we'll go around all those things just to hear what we want to hear versus hear what we need to hear, right?

SPEAKER_07 34:47

But maybe the closest person is yourself, but it takes a lot of word to get there.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

It takes a lot of word to get there, and having like, you know, trust and discernment with yourself, you know. The more trust you have, discernment with yourself, the more you can easily build that with other people. My personal opinion, I feel like the issue is a lot of people are missing discernment. Because if people weren't missing discernment, it would be a lot more of us on the same page.

SPEAKER_06 35:10

Yeah, I think discernment, I like that. I like discernment.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

When you have discernment, you you can discern things differently. And then we have discernment and understanding, your perspective of judgment is different. Because instead of me just judging someone based off of like everything in that one moment, I can also have a perspective of all these other things that's also true because two things can be true. So that's why I always tell people like this person is not a horrible person, but this is also true. So because this is also true, this doesn't mean I need to treat them mean or be rude. I just have to move in what's best aligned for where I am. I don't have to be rude or be nasty to somebody else while I'm trying to walk forward. But when people do that, they don't realize they just pull themselves back. Because how are you gonna act that way moving forward, not thinking it's gonna not affect you? That's not fair, right? So this is when we go back into reciprocity. The way you want to be treated is the way you should treat others. So we say that and we hear that all the time, and I think we forget it sometimes to um operate in the same love we want to receive, but a lot of us forget that we actually deserve the love that we've always wanted.

SPEAKER_07 36:14

That's that's that's the difference. I think a lot of times we s we forget that that there is a certain way that we're supposed to be treated. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like like we we just assume that this is the way that that people treat each other, but it's not necessarily.

SPEAKER_06 36:32

Yeah. Yeah. Now, I love where you went with that, and you are so in your flow right now. Continue, sis. That's what I'm talking about. You was in your flow, you're where we wanted you to be. So here's my thing, and I and I gotta ask this. All right, so with what you all do, how is that understanding infused into it?

SPEAKER_02 36:54

So, um, with the Art Farm Project in particular, it's art, agriculture, and wellness. So the art side, as we stated, um, storyteller, hairstylist. Also, um, I drum. I I I initially started off more so pen tapping. That was my thing. I was the girl in the classroom and the lunch table tearing it up. I was killing it. That was the original talent. That shifted because I paused, slowed down, and allowed God to deliver what I needed. And she supported me in that, and I became um more of African drumming. Um, but I'm learning multiple djembe, uh, dune dune, uh, lots of different instruments there. Um, and where was I going with this? Art. Infusing. Infusing. And then um I was trying to hold on, because I was trying to bring bring it back together. That was the art side. The agriculture side is um connecting back to the land. Um, so for me, and we'll talk more about it with that storytelling. Um, that's where Wine About It came about. Um, so Wine About It is an anthology series. Okay. Um, and the ultimate the ultimate point of it is to tell the story of South Carolina and South Carolina's people. So I'm gonna pause real quick. I'm gonna answer your question, but I'm gonna pause real quick. Have y'all ever had a muscadon grape? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Scupper knot, bullets.

SPEAKER_07 38:20

Yep. You know what that's cupped, muscadons.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

That's that's Muskadon 1.

SPEAKER_07 38:24

Scupper Number.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

So, going back to that land part of it, um, that muscadon

Art Pharm Project Pillars And Wine About It

SPEAKER_02 38:30

grape is very resilient. We know that we can't eat that skin. Well, they say you can't eat the skin of the grape.

SPEAKER_07 38:35

I eat the whole thing. You gotta eat it and everything. You gotta do that. We do the little thing with the where you roll it between your fingers and make it come out like her space right now.

SPEAKER_06 38:41

She's like, I eat this.

SPEAKER_07 38:43

I eat it. I only eat it when it's like. But it's a lot tougher than a regular grape. It is a different thing. You gotta eat it in resilience.

SPEAKER_06 38:50

Right. Yeah, right. Same thing. Yeah, there's a point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

It can handle various different weather types. So can the people of South Carolina. You see what I'm saying? So that's where whine about it came about. Um, and so I worked with a couple of um local Muscadown winemakers here um to create this series for people to whine about their stories of the resilience, whine about their stories of success. You see what I'm saying? Because a lot of times, like she was saying before, like sometimes we complain, and it's like if you pause and process and express creatively whatever that looks like. So whether you're drumming that anger out or whether you're dancing that that frustration out, um, that though those things are incorporated. And then going back to that wellness portion of it, that is the slowing down, that is the connecting in community, that is allowing somebody to show you what it is that you need. I didn't know that I needed that djembe drum. I was fine beating on the table with my pencils, you know? That was cool.

SPEAKER_06 39:48

She's like, no, we'll start.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

But she saw that and she said, try this.

SPEAKER_05 39:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

And those things, me slowing down, me processing, me uh practicing um the tools to slow down, like breathing, like the yoga. Y'all, I'm stiff, but she's getting me there. We are working on stretching, you know, stretching me out and doing those things. All of that is a is a part of the process in supporting the well-being of the individuals. Um, so yeah, ultimately, I would say understanding what your art style and art forms are, connecting that back to who you are, where you come from, and centering yourself on what makes me feel good. Um, how can I feel better? What what tools, what things do I need to support me in my well-being? That is what Art Farm Project is doing because a lot of people they don't know. They don't know. You don't know until you know, until you get in it, until you get around the community that's that has depth. We have depth, as you see. So we're gonna ask the deep questions. Um, we're going to have the the writing prompts to support you, the breathing techniques to support you. Um, and so that's ultimately how we bridge all of those things together. Supporting people and slowing down, connecting back to themselves, connecting them to their art, and connecting them to the land.

SPEAKER_06 40:57

Now, question. Kind of before you How did y'all meet and find each other? Because you know how you find two things, like y'all work well together. Because what you have, she needs, and what she has, you need. And I've been able to see that since y'all walked into the door. I saw that. This is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

How did this happen? How did you all we met at a black nerd mafia event? So shout out to community.

SPEAKER_07 41:19

Shout out to Black Nair Mafia.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Yes, and it goes back to um shout out to Quasi, him walking in his power, him doing those things. Because he, we both, we were very much selective in community. We were pretty, pretty in much in solitude.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

I was too busy traveling. Honestly. Because I mean, when I moved back here, I was just like, She was home to I didn't want to. Who was I about to talk to? That's what I was gonna say. Say it.

SPEAKER_07 41:47

That's what you need is like an event to show up at and just be like, boom, this is my community.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Yeah, that's definitely what happened. I'll let you because I definitely want to talk about that. But yeah, when I came back, I mean it wasn't that it what I was doing was going to the farmer's market, coming back home, seeing my family. Because other than that, I was traveling and doing hair.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

Yeah, I was going to work, going back to work, and then doing a side hustle.

SPEAKER_06 42:12

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

That was that was what I was doing. And um, I started doing various community events, and I started working with farmers. Um, and then I was like, But I need to go out and like be around other people.

SPEAKER_05 42:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

Um, and I had been to a few black neuromafia events before, but um, like I really like both of us were like, we're we're gonna get out the house. We're gonna get out of the house. Um yeah, we we met there and clearly here we here we are now.

SPEAKER_03 42:38

Do y'all want the cliff notes?

SPEAKER_06 42:39

Yeah, give me your story because you'll be telling like go ahead, you say it.

SPEAKER_03 42:43

Well, no, I don't know

How They Met Through Community

SPEAKER_03 42:44

if y'all want the cliff notes or y'all want the story. Give us the story. Give us a story. So um one thing that uh we might not have mentioned is like everything that I teach in wellness um pretty much has come through my connection with ancestral wisdom and with source, meaning that I'm not getting these things from the internet or from like someone else's, you know, don't get me wrong, I read books and stuff, but that's not where the root of my stuff is coming from. Um, so I am who I am, I've always been who I am. I've always been aware of my gifts since I was seven. So I speak up for those that are aware of our gifts and we use it for um the goodness of God's people. So when me and Drea, before we met, two weeks before, I felt her. I felt like some, I was getting ready to meet someone. I was walking down some steps and I was like jolted. I was like, oh my what is this fit? I'm about to meet someone.

SPEAKER_07 43:41

There's energy moving.

SPEAKER_03 43:43

Like, what is this about? Okay, whatever. Um, so I had on my calendar to go to this mixer. I was like, I haven't been in a community in a while. Um, I've been traveling, like I said, traveling, doing hair, also traveling, doing private flow experiences. So I bring the wellness, the flow. God is experienced to Tampa, to Chicago, different places and spaces for people. So I'm like, okay, I'm pausing because remember, had to pause from doing here. I'm pausing. Right. So I'm like, okay, I want to get into some community. So I had it on my skip, my calendar. I had it set. I invited some friends to come with me. One of them didn't show up. Um, and then two of my friends, they're they're a couple, they've been together for like eight years. Um, I know that doesn't like matter matter, but for my friend, my friend couple to be here, it does matter. Because when I walked in, I guess, can you want to give the walked in perspective? Because my walked in perspective was oh, this is a lot of people. I need to find somewhere to sit down. There are no seats. Oh, every a lot of people looking at me. Hi. Um, I want to sit down.

SPEAKER_07 44:45

Yeah, you the introvert.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

So uh I'm I'm I'm a like introvert, extrovert, extrovert, introvert. Sure, sure. I feel so like I'm both. Yeah. When I when I feel safe, I do it. Yeah, that's what I was saying. I feel the closed part of it is good. When it's a good space, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:59

When you walk in and there's no open seats, that is a little bit weird.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

I was just like, you know, so what would you say?

SPEAKER_02 45:06

When yeah. Um for me it was the same thing. I came with the I came with a friend. Um, shout out to Trish. Uh she is my lock stylist. Um, we were there, and I'm like, girl, like I don't really know, you know, really know nobody like that. You know, I know him and him, but that's about it. Um, chilling. And then she walks in, and the whole room is like, who is that? Because her energy just like everybody's like, who is this? Um, so I don't know where you were about to take the take the conversation.

SPEAKER_03 45:37

I guess we'll go back and forth. So I'm walking in and I sit down next to Kree. Shout out to Kree. Um Kree is great. We love Kree. Kree is my girl. Kree is my girl. That is my my right hand. Um she is uh, I I guess you could say, like, I don't even know what to consider Kree, but Kree is Kree helps me with with my love soap sanctuary. She helps me sell um when I'm not available at first Thursday doing, you know, face of first Thursday duties and things. I appreciate her for always having my back. I know that was random, so I put that out there. Um but so yeah, so that day I'm like sitting down, I find a seat next to Kree. My friends come in, they're sitting down, they're playing a card game, and like I noticed her. I was like, oh, she's really pretty. And then I went outside to get my coconut water. Or like I went outside to go do something, and then I can't because like I said, like I really do like to go places by myself or friends that understand me because I be flowing. Right, right. And when I be flowing, I want to flow, don't mess up my flow. I ain't here to mess up your flow. Okay. So, because God be flowing with me, so that's why I'm like, ain't nothing wrong with my flow. Exactly. Because my flow is corrected.

SPEAKER_02 46:43

So uh she be flowing and flowing because I asked her to come sing with me and my hairstylist. She went to go get coconut water. We didn't know where she went for the longest because she just was flowing.

SPEAKER_03 46:55

I think the cutest thing is that your hairstylist uh friend actually captured our first interaction on camera. Yeah. Wow. So like our whole our whole story is actually documented like from beginning to end. Oh, not there is no future. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, and there actually is other futuristic stuff. Like she wrote about me and one of her stories two years before we met. So um, you know, energy is intriguing.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

It it's a lot of energetic things.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

So uh so I guess fast forwarding the story, um, I always tell her like I've been supporting her since day one because they wanted to sing. It was going a little, you know, how people just kind of come together and sing. I was in the back, I didn't have a mic, so I was just, you know, hyping them up, and I was just hyping her up from day one, you know, having your back from day one.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_03 47:42

And then at that point, you know, I guess we were done, and I was getting flowing, floating and flowing. And I don't know where she went. No, because that night was so random. Like somebody asked me to be a part of a music video, you know, like I'm just like, and then like you know, music video, you know, I can say no to my favorite like videographer and photographer, you know, Darius Thinking Kingdom. Shout out to you know what I'm saying, like stealing. Yeah, so I know, right? That's another friend of show. Yes, that's my friend. He he has too much. Listen, listen, though, because I I was about to get excited and get ahead of myself. But um, so yeah, came back in and we're getting ready to wrap up, and then she comes up to me, and you ask me for my number. Would you like to tell them how you ask?

SPEAKER_02 48:27

How I asked for her number. Yeah. Well, I was working on why about it at the time. And I'm like, I don't know what to say. I don't know. I just know that there's a I feel something. There's a there's a connection. And so um, I'm like, hey, like, like what do you do? Like, what's your art? And so um, I was like, Do you do you write? And she's like, Yeah, you know, I I write here and there, I write some poetry, so I'm telling her, you know, about the book. And I was like, Well, can you write your number down? So Dr. That was smooth.

SPEAKER_07 48:59

Yeah, oh you write.

SPEAKER_03 49:01

I was like, that was that was good. Spring out of the house. That was good. Okay, so I wrote I wrote my number down, and um the next one was uh in in in Instagram because the number didn't make it.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

Somebody went behind me and took out my number and put their number in.

SPEAKER_06 49:22

Listen, that was dastardly.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

Exactly. But it worked out because we followed each other on Instagram and we and we stayed connected. Um we went to Five Points um for to grab something from the Toasty Hot Spot shop to Toasty Hot. Um so yeah, that's where we met. And the reason we're what we're getting to is um while we were there, um I was like just bouncing my leg while we were eating our food. And um she was just like, are you anxious? And I was like, yeah, she's like, is it too, is it too um crowded? Because it was a small space. She's like, is it too crowded in here? You want to eat outside? And I was like, yeah. And from that moment, I'm like, oh wow. Like nobody's ever like she paid attention. She paid me to the bottom of that of what's going on. Because I wasn't nervous, or I wasn't nervous to be around her. That wasn't an issue. But it was a small space, people are like elbow to elbow, and I'm like, this is making me uncomfortable. She was able to see it. Um, and then we started having the deep conversations, and we started realizing, oh, this is what you do. This is this is what you're working on, and from there, it we've it's been an 18-month sprint of us just taking those two things and sharing it with community.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

I think that's what we've done. If I could quickly like speak on like how a perspective, so we met at the end of January and we did our it really wasn't an event that we were doing together. We're really just going there to support her and Myrtle Beach for the um Black Oh, the Women's and Agriculture Conference. The Women's Agriculture Conference. And um we were like, you know, I was like, okay, this is a trip to Myrtle Beach, like let's roll do this thing. So um there was some other film. There were some other bad behind the scenes go we, you know, behind the scenes things going on. We're not gonna speak on specifically, but I do want to say this just because you see somebody thriving in their purpose and alignment, that does not mean that they didn't have to go through some bound some some challenges, some obstacles, and some people that try to steer them off their path, right? So that happens to everybody. So we don't need to go into who, but we, you know. Um, and the reason why I even pointed that out was I think that time that we did that experience. So we went there, I went there just to support her in capturing. And um, we ended up g doing um, there was who was speaking at the time, Miss Um Pharmacy.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

Farmer C. She is a farmer out in uh North Carolina, doing great things. Far follow her on social media. Um, she's definitely will teach you a lot about the farm um industry if you're interested in that. And specifically, she specializes in herbs. Yes. Um, so she was there as the speaker.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Um, and go ahead. So she was there as a speaker, and um I raised my hand and asked a question because of course I have to ask a question. So I asked a question, and um, because I actually form also I've been formulating um herbal hair oils for years that have been doing amazing things.

SPEAKER_06 52:19

And it's talking to you about

A Surprise Wellness Session For Farmers

SPEAKER_06 52:21

that. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

We have lots of things to do. Yeah, when we're done, we can roll out all of our gifts, like all, and just so like so you can just catch that. Just roll them all out. So we can just shameless plug portion. Yeah, we try to do it. Yeah, we do. We do. Um, so so yeah, we're I asked a question, something about hair and herbs. Um, and then we and at the end, some of the farmers actually came up to us, you know, asking about hair, asking about different things. And one of the farmers we ended up meeting be building a beautiful relationship with, her name is Miss Carroll.

SPEAKER_02 52:53

And Miss Carroll is actually the um the she's one of she is three owners of Omer Grown Farms. And we'll talk about um Omer grown and those products in a few, but I'll let you finish the story.

SPEAKER_03 53:04

So, Miss Carroll, uh, we meet her and she was like, I was like, Did y'all get yoga mats for this? And she was like, Yeah, I was like, this is ridiculous. Like, y'all have yoga mats, they're not doing any yoga. Y'all were supposed to be eating healthy, they got y'all bellies messed up. Like, what what did they do? They spent the money on themselves. A lot of places and companies and schools do. Point it out. So they spent the money on themselves, they didn't spend it on the farmers because they're they're taking time away from their farmers. It was a retreat. They sat in rooms for hours. I mean, hours, all that.

SPEAKER_05 53:33

As farmers?

SPEAKER_03 53:34

As farmers, as farmers. It was just like gratefully, you know, we we we we took some time to like get away and we let let God create, right? Right. So um, you know, we're talking to her and she's like, why don't y'all do something? And we're like, you know, Miss Carol. Maybe we should. So we talk about it, and this was the day that we decided to put on our heels, okay? And the reason why I also said that is because we were already in our our spirits with stepping, right? We were already in the all right, we here, and we also had to stand up to some bullies, right?

SPEAKER_02 54:09

Because remember we remember what we said, really, not the farmers, no, but bullies, as in people, I just say this there are some mentors that are mean girls, yeah. And you have to learn, like, oh, okay, you have to learn I can take this from the from the from the relationship and leave myself because not everybody wants you to succeed past the box or the place that they put you in. Exactly. So when you get an opportunity to create your own world, that's exactly that's the story that she's telling. That moment where we're at the conference, there's a lot of, like you said, a lot of things going on behind the scenes. We see an opportunity. Okay, these farmers have been sitting in this room for three days. Um no motion. No motion. There's they came here to rest, relax. We're not seeing that. So um, we took it upon ourselves to ask, hey, anybody here ever heard of a sound bath? Let's back it up. I'm sorry. I know that details might not be important to everybody.

SPEAKER_03 55:10

I'm a visual person for those people that are visual. So we walked into this conference room, this huge conference room, and it's over like 50 people eating. So we walk in and she walks on stage, and I'm beside her on the stage, and she taps the mic and she asks, excuse me, hi everyone. Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_04 55:26

Oh, so y'all just you see, I have to set the stage. This is like permission.

SPEAKER_03 55:31

Mind you, we mind you, God gave me permission. That was March. We met at the end, you could really just say beginning of February, right? So this is just our energy just moving in there. She says it, she says, Hey, we're gonna be doing yoga in a sound bath. Um, we're gonna we have a sign-up sheep going around. Let if you're interested, you can sign up. We had 17 women sign up, 25 went and showed up. And when I tell you, we have the video footage of us setting up the room, and I mean just putting everything together to hear the women express that they after it, they had to tell them what they did.

SPEAKER_02 56:10

Oh, I'm sorry. Sound bad. So yoga. Mm-hmm. Um, go ahead, continue. You get to get I know you're excited.

SPEAKER_01 56:18

Um what we did.

SPEAKER_03 56:20

So what we did was um what I usually always do is when it comes to wellness spaces, um, specifically the one we were in, we had to do some movements. So we did some stretching, some yoga, um, we did some meditation, we had some conversation, we did some breath work, and then we go into the sound and voice bath. And the reason why we call it a sound and voice bath, because I infuse my voice into the bath, which takes people on a whole different experience, which has been really cool in the last 18 months to hear everybody's experience and testimonies about where it's taken them. Um, because it goes back into like, I love science and spirituality, they really do work together. True. Um, and so these women we were done, you know, or mind you, a lot of them don't know each other, right? A lot of them, like some of them probably spoke to each other, probably didn't. We had women in in that room anywhere from 20s all the way up until like 80 years old in one space.

SPEAKER_04 57:12

Gosh.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

Connecting with themselves and each other.

SPEAKER_04 57:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:15

And there was a group hug, there was tears. Um, some some we had ranges where some pie one woman saw herself um walk with Jesus. Somebody else saw themselves um on a uh a path, somebody else saw themselves like somebody else had pain that was in their back when it go away. Everybody's everybody's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 57:36

Everybody's don't act surprised, you know about this shit. But I'm just saying, how they just did this with the farmers just out of like nowhere. Because it happens when everybody is.

SPEAKER_02 57:46

We arrested, we went there. It was so much happening behind the scenes. We had to surrender. I was like, God, I'm showing up. I don't know, you know, what's you know, what's going on, what do you want me to do? And then once I saw that opportunity, I was like, okay, God, we locked in, let's get it done.

SPEAKER_03 58:00

Everything has a sequence. So like, you know, any when it comes to like the realm of like wellness and and and things of that nature, like, yes, you can do this, down, and a third, and gives you that result, but everything is about like um synchronicities. Synchronicities are everything, whether that's numbers or whether that's just like motion, memory, all those things. So what I do is help people process and move that, move those things. I'm one of those people where we talked about pausing and slowing down. I'm definitely gonna get someone to pause and slow down because the way I process things, I process things at such a fast rate, I have to process and slow down throughout my day in order to process at the capacity that my mind is processing. I have to take breaks, you know. Absolutely. Because it's it's so fast. Like I could process like 20 different things in like less than 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_07 58:50

So you can do it.

SPEAKER_03 58:51

Because it comes so it comes really, really quickly.

SPEAKER_07 58:53

The way we are sitting in this current system is like like if you can process quickly, it's like, okay, then that means you can move on to the next task. You can produce more, you can do this and this, and this, and this, and this. And I think finding a space to just kind of like like, no, I'm processing for me. Yeah, it's not about the production.

SPEAKER_04 59:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 59:21

Speaking of production, we do have to wrap. But before we get there, because conversation was good. I knew we were getting where we need to get. She opened up, but that's why I was like, Let her let her flow. Um, I do have to ask this. Yeah, what future do you all envision for your organization?

SPEAKER_02 59:36

Yes. Um, so right now we are working on a traveling creative reset for adults. It is called Field Trips, F-E-E-L, so that you can connect to these feelings that you have. That anger feeling, that's a good feeling to know that you have because we have some tools and resources and experiences to support that anger, just as much as the happiness, just as much as the joy. Um, so field trips is coming. Um, all free events, because we have done a lot of free events moving forward. All free events will be on the first Thursday, during first Thursday. That's how you can catch us free in the community.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:10

But it's not every first Thursday, it's only when you see the colorful experience.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:15

I'm gonna make sure I leave working on the city.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:17

The last colorful experience was out of the water. Yeah. Yeah. So um, how else can we? What do you what do you have coming up, ma'am?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:24

And how can you um so she's talking about the 18-month sprint, as you may say. I wish we could have touched on some of the things. Can I touch on some of the things that so like last year um I did a sound and voice bath uh with Columbia College, um Uhuru Academy. I taught, I've been teaching a yoga and meditation to the kitties and the rising, um, the Gulagichi Festival, uh the Black Cowboy Festival. So, with all that being said, like we've been on this supporting the community in all these ways. It's so beautiful to see people take the time to breathe, and they've never did their breath in that way. It's so beautiful to see people feel lighter, engage with each other um in a deepened way. And I lost it. I was right there. Okay, what were you talking about? So I can just piggyback off of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:14

You went to the 18-month run, the free event.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:17

Okay, so we did an 18-month

What’s Next For Art Pharm Project

SPEAKER_03 1:01:18

run, and right before we were ending our 18-month run, um I did a series called Um Return to Alignment Series. And it was a three-part series that we did once a month for three years, three months. So once a month for three months, and we focused on energy centers, and it was a great, great turnout, just just great testimonies. We're gonna be posting all those things. But we needed to take a pause, and I'm like, I still want to be able to connect with the community. Community's like, we understand you need to pause, but we would like something. And I'm like, I understand, I get it. I understand what year we're in right now. So I understand. Okay, it's the year of the succubus, protect your energy. So um, I was like, okay, what can we do where I'm not pulling from my energy because we're supposed to be resting? I was like, maybe I could do something virtual. So I started really doing the wellness things through just doing meditations on live on on Instagram. So I'm like, I need to just go back to like doing things on um online. So uh what I have coming up July 26th is um the pause and what I have coming up July 26th is pause to process. So pause to process will be a virtual experience where we'll get a chance to connect to ourselves, connect to each other in conversation, we'll get a chance to process. So when I say process, where does your mind go? What do you think when I say process? Like first word, think process, trauma, trauma, right. So I want people to know that you don't only have to process your trauma, we can also process what has what transformations have you experienced? If you're in a girl, if you're an adult, your transformation is that you grew up. How about we process that for a little bit, right? So when we take the time to process anything that has something to do with us, that's gonna transform us. So um, from the conversation to us taking a moment to reflect on what we're processing, and then we're allowing in the music, the meditation, the breath work, and the sound of voice therapy to allow our nervous system to calm and allow our mind to and our body to feel safe to take us to a space wherever we need to be to process that deeper. After that, after that, um, everybody feels light, everyone feels clear, everyone feels um like they can take the next step because you can take the next step. And I think we need to remember that. Like we don't have to keep carrying all the bags that was either given to us or we chose to pick up on the journey. And um, remembering that we can choose to pause and process, but this will be in a space where you will receive love, you'll be heard, you'll also be around community, and you'll also receive guidance and support in that. So um, that's what's happening July

Pause To Process Virtual Experience

SPEAKER_03 1:03:58

26th is gonna be virtual. Where? Um, it's gonna be on Zoom. How people can contact me for this. This is gonna be more so of an exclusive thing, meaning that I won't be doing heavy promotion online, but you can DM me. So if you are interested, please DM me. Um, you can DM me at Rock L Love, that's R-O-C-K-E-L-L-E-L-O-V-E, and let me know that you're interested. Reason why I want to keep this a little bit more exclusive and intimate because it is an intimate thing, right? It is an intimate thing, and I don't want to open it, you know, where it's so many people where people can't get a chance to connect because that's unfair, right? So that's what I have going on. I think one more thing. Oh, my hair studio stuff. Yeah, you might as well.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:39

You've got to talk about your hair.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:42

Oh, okay. We gotta do all each other thing. So I didn't have to be taking time.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:50

No, I'm annoyed because okay, so can I say this? And then when she talks about the two products, can I go to the bathroom? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, because I got nice. Okay. So um, gotta love it. Um, so what I have coming up when it comes to hair, so I've been doing hair for over 13 years, like I said earlier, and I paused. When I was doing hair before I paused, something that I was doing that I wasn't promoting was that I do hair spiritually. And I wasn't promoting that because I was nervous of judgment. And because I've moved through so many transformations in my own life, I don't carry that with me no more because I understand the power and the purpose that it serves to do to do scalp work and hair work spiritually because our hair is spiritual, yeah. It's connected to our crown, it's connected to the thing that covers us, it's connected to the thing that adorns us, but it's also our intensity. It's how we know our environment, it's how we know what's going on, right? So we tend to carry things in our hair. We all do. So um, I do different things from uh creating hair baths to help literally, literally, like being two people that do a lot of work in wellness. Um Especially for myself, doing a lot of work with energy all the time. I have to clear myself, right? We all need to be clearing ourselves. We get things that attach to us all the time, just like insects, right? So the uh the bath I created helps bring that back to center. Um we've both experienced it. Uh it was uh I'm smiling because I I'm big on integrity. If it don't work, I'm not gonna speak on it. Just like if the food don't taste good, I'm not gonna tell you it tastes good. So I'm very becoming really big on integrity, right? So um what I have coming up is basically my books are open. I'm taking people for hair play experiences, sensory, and um just you know, when you come sit in my chair, be ready to exhale, be ready to take a deep breath, look at some nature. Um, there's no TVs. They get their hair done though, they get their hair done,

Hair As Spiritual Practice And Healing

SPEAKER_03 1:06:47

they get their hair done, they get a scalp massage. I know you know how to do hair. I know she does. Oh, I cook. So if I have a cookie, yeah, I cook for them. Oh, hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:56

And the meal isn't like, oh, like no, the meal is what's going on, how's your blood pressure? Okay, this is what you need to eat. That's how she's very she's humble. She's humble.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:06

She's very humble, but she she's consultation and it's getting to know you and what they need.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:13

You don't just do the hair. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:15

And I'm happy in the outside have to. And that's what she does. I'm happy you just said it. Yes. I do not just do hair. Because that that does get on my nerve when I say that other people say that. I don't just do hair. It is an experience. It's experience. I help people build a relationship with their hair. I help people strengthen the relationship with their self by just being in the chair. Whether they're coming to my studio or they're flying me out to them. I've actually asked clients I've flown out to, like, hey, I wish you can come to my studio, you can get a full experience. I'm like, you are the full experience. So when people come to me, is is it's deeper than just like the hair looking good.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:47

You are so much.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:48

It's so I'm I'm here to try I'm here to support in transformation. Because that's how I supported myself as a child. Yeah. Was through transformation through my hair, right? Because your hair is your crown, and how your crown is tilted is how you will walk.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:00

So dang, sister. I'm gonna say this. You know what word you kept saying through the entire episode when I was thinking about this and I'm on it with you because I this is something that I'm learning, it's very important. Community. Community is so important. And um, especially with the times that we're living in, the importance of emphasizing community and bringing people together to be around people that can support and help them, especially with what you all do are doing with the project. Community. And it made me, it made my heart happy as she kept saying it. And I don't know if you're paying attention, she kept saying community.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:33

I was like, yes, yes, yes. But um so the other projects we're working on, um, going back to community, um, working on a documentary in the 29203 area code at the Grow Farm.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:44

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:44

The Grow Farm um is a community um food forest.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:48

Um, and so if you want to learn how to grow your own food, you can go out there and take classes. If you want to take your kids out there to learn and grow, you can pick whatever you got, whatever you want to eat from out there for free. Um, and there's also a sensory garden out there so you can touch, feel, smell, taste, um, and listen to the different herbs and things of that nature. So it's family friendly. So working on that documentary. Um, and of course, I have the Wine About It series. I right this first one, this is the prelude. Pick it up and pick it up, pick it up. So the prelude um was written with me and Taylor Simon from Liberation is Lit. Yes, that is my girl. Um for the show. Yes, the prelude is specifically for black women. Um, because this was just an idea that I had, and I was like, well, I'm a black woman, so let me talk to let's talk to us first. But the vision is for all of South Carolina to contribute to the anthology series. Like I said, we all have a story of resilience, just like that Muscadon grape. Um, so I am looking to continue the official uh whine about it series. This will be more of a community event. Um, so think like instead of stand-up comedy, think stand-up storytelling and you're whining about. So that's what's that's what's coming. Um and again, like when you come to an art farm, when you come to an art farm event, I'll let you come on back in. Good. All right. So when you come to an art farm event, again, it's more than just music or dancing or sound baths. We have tools, resources to help you recenter and get back to yourself. So that's why we have um our CBD

Tools, Products, And Community Partnerships

SPEAKER_02 1:10:21

products with Omer Grown Farms. Uh we Raquel has Love Self Sanctuary, she has the soaps, the oils, hairsprays, things of that nature. Um, we also have gummies. So everything you need to help support your nervous system and regulating your nervous system, support you with communicating and connecting to community because it's a lot of social anxiety that a lot of people have. We have those tools and resources, journal prompts, and experiences to support that.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:48

Wow. I love tools. Yes, you need it.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:51

Tools. People are like doing the work. You need tools to work. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:56

You can't do the work without tools. Exactly. That's it. Because, you know.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:59

Man, y'all, we gotta do a part two. We do. Um, because it's like we could go a little further in this conversation, but I just have to say I really appreciate you all taking your time to break everything down, to be very thorough, and to explain, especially for our audience, this is gonna be very helpful. Yeah. The information is amazing. Thank you. Thank you for taking your time on the project. Yeah, man. Y'all are doing awesome thing. Really? I feel really you ready? I feel really special.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:25

Y'all came to talk to Lil Olus? Yeah, I mean, y'all came to talk to Lil' Us. I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:31

I'm an agriculture.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:32

Shout out to Kevin. I feel like it's Kevin in the house. It's Savannah. Shout out to Savannah.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:39

Yeah, man. Yay, this is awesome. Um, I know we're wrapping up. Um, before before we wrap up, I just want to make sure I shout out our awesome interns that are in here today. Io holding it down. Hey, Io, Savannah in the back. Savannah. And then there she is. She up on there, there she is. And then um, obviously Celeb Studios. Celeb Studios. Um, thank you, Celeb Studios. Uh Chef Jay, Miss Nate, thank you so much for allowing us to use your space without judgment, without without um not allowing us to do what we want to do the way we want to do it. They give us pretty good e expression freedom to do what we do. Um, they like what we do because they understand that our mission is pure. Um, and we I like we were saying in our before you all came in, we are not sullied by our sponsors. Our sponsors are really good to us. Yeah, they allow us to be able to do that. We have some good sponsors, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:33

And and honestly, they've been supporting us for a long time without any uh requirements for our production.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:42

So which is why you can come here and speak freely. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:47

You can say whatever you want. We don't care.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:48

Because our sponsors don't care. They don't. And that's that's awesome. It makes us feel free. Um, but I want to shout out to Maya, Skip, Mike, I'm DJing What? And our esteemed guest, Estrea.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:04

Hi y'all doing.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:05

Ms. Love.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:06

Hey everyone.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:07

We appreciate y'all so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us on the Hilltime Club Podcast. Until the next time, please tell somebody next to him that you love them and you appreciate them. You don't know when you'll be able to do that next. Man, we love y'all, man. Obviously, wrapping up season six, man. It's been a nice journey of going six years doing this for the love of the love. Literally, we're just doing it for the love of doing it. And we love our community. Um,

Final Thanks And How To Connect

SPEAKER_06 1:13:29

if anybody's interested in becoming a guest or wanting to be on the show, please reach out to us. Um, especially in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia. Uh, we'd love to speak with you. Uh, we can do it virtually, we can do it in person. We love to see people in person. So please, if you want to, we'll we'll come and find you. Um, but till next time, y'all. Peace.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:47

Get your rest. She's right.