#129 Lydia Willoughby of Sassafras Mercantile

Lydia Willoughby, Founder & General Manager of Sassafras Mercantile comes from a family of pine tree farmers and geologists in South Carolina. As shopkeep and general manager Lydia (she) has always been drawn to plant life and soil. With her Moon in the 12th House, and Sun in the 8th House, Lydia’s work revolves around exchange and nurturance in integrating the unknown and the mysterious into accessible platforms for transformation and resolution built on systems of care. Lydia offers tarot readings from a queer, trauma-informed perspective that engages the cycle of life, death, and rebirth through the collective human experience. She studied herbalism with Dina Falconi, and studied tarot in person with Lindsay Mack and Audrey Gilbert. Lydia completed a permaculture design certification course with Sowing Solutions in Shelburne Falls, MA. 

Sassafras Mercantile was founded with an interest in connecting community knowledge to personal liberation, and convening a beautiful, inclusive, queer, feminist, anti-racist space that asks questions with curiosity and answers with a full heart and a little bit of magic in the City of Kingston, NY.

Today we chatted about Lydia’s background and relationship to land and trees, how she got into the work she does today which is very multifaceted but also naturally connected and aligned. She shares a new project at Sassafras, the monthly wellness subscription box, how Tarot fits into her life and how she offers it to others, and a whole lot more. Stay tuned for more cool community collaboration and offerings from Lydia and her crew!

Today we heard music by Shana Falana including “Right Now is All We Know” from her most recent album, Darkest Light.

Today’s show was engineered Manuel Blas from radiokingston.org

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

Leave me a voicemail with your thoughts or a few words about who has what you want and why! (845) 481-3429

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT

http://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcast

ITUNES | SPOTIFY | STITCHER

ITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-want-what-she-has/id1451648361?mt=2

SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/77pmJwS2q9vTywz7Uhiyff?si=G2eYCjLjT3KltgdfA6XXCA

STITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/she-wants/i-want-what-she-has?refid=stpr’

Follow:

INSTAGRAM * https://www.instagram.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast/

FACEBOOK * https://www.facebook.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast

TWITTER * https://twitter.com/wantwhatshehas

#98 “Artists and Activists” Helene Richman + Judith “Zelda” Miller

My first guest today is Helene Richman, a mom, wife, artist and creative force behind @brandhelene (Twitter, Facebook) who’s been working with a group of girl entrepreneurs, the Start Up Squad, at the Hodge Center in Kingston, NY. She’s been helping them learn about and build a business. I got to hang out with the girls a few weeks ago and talk about how to create their own radio show. After some prep and a little training, they all got to interview one another. I play some snippets of their interviews during today’s show as well as talk about what the girls have done in the program. After meeting with several entrepreneurs in the area the girls settled in on t-shirts for their business which they will debut at @madeinkingstonny this Thursday! Helene also shares about her corporate business experience and how she’s transferring that in to more service oriented roles. This year she organized the Hudson Valley Design Collective, (Facebook) focusing on upcycling used tectiles in an effort to help shift the waste in the clothing business. The Collective will also be at Made in Kingston along with Helene’s other endeavor with BlocArt, selling upcycled wood made by living wage workers in South Africa. No wonder this lady has another cold!

Next up is Zelda aka Judith Z. Miller @artistsoulspeaks an artist, actor, aspiring shaman and healer who’s talking about her work-in-progress solo show, Que Será, Será: A Life’s Journey of Sexual Orientation & Gender Expression. This multi-media show chronicles the joys and challenges of navigating non-binary Queerness from childhood in the 1950’s to adulthood. Zelda will be performing a work-in-progress production of the show on December 7 @ 8:30 pm & December 8 @ 3 pm at the @lgbtqcenter here in Kingston. Zelda shares about how she got into theater, some of the more powerful experiences she’s had like performing pieces in a women’s prison in Virginia, or a short piece that helped her heal her younger self who was forced to wear dresses against her wishes. Zelda is a gifted, open-hearted, magical and mystical being who has stories to share that are guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and most definitely think! If you can’t get to her live performance, Radio Kingston will be live streaming the Sunday show from their Facebook page which you can view any time ->->-> Check it out!!!

Today’s show was engineered by Maddy Bogner of Radio Kingston, http://www.radiokingston.org.

We heard music from our fave, Shana Falana, http://www.shanafalana.com/

Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org

Leave me a voicemail with your thoughts or a few words about who has what you want and why! (845)481-3429

** Please: SUBSCRIBE to the pod and leave a REVIEW wherever you are listening, it helps other users FIND IT 🙂

http://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcast

ITUNES | SPOTIFY | STITCHER

ITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-want-what-she-has/id1451648361?mt=2

SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/show/77pmJwS2q9vTywz7Uhiyff?si=G2eYCjLjT3KltgdfA6XXCA

STITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/she-wants/i-want-what-she-has?refid=stpr’

Follow:

INSTAGRAM * https://www.instagram.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast/

FACEBOOK * https://www.facebook.com/iwantwhatshehaspodcast

TWITTER * https://twitter.com/wantwhatshehas

Â