Toi Smith helps business owners find the ease and flow required to create momentum that matters. One part strategist, one part project manager, Toi brings grounding, structure and form to ideas that are ready to fly. Whether she's setting up systems that you've needed since forever or helping you find your center, Toi is the go to advisor and manager for the most mindful entrepreneurs on the web. Toi lives in Denver, CO with her four boys where Black women are love and taking that seriously is the only way through.

In this episode we talk about:

How Toi got started in her business and how she shows upu as a mother and a business owner

Toi's journey through her twenties and how all of her experiences led her to where she is now

Showing up in small ways for yourself to help you make big shifts in your life

What radical self-responsibility means and how it can help ou acknowlege and move your story forward

Allowing yourself to feel the full measure of your emotions and hard days without making anything "bad" or "wrong"

How pleasure, sexual expression, and sensuality can be radically claimed for yourself even if it looks messy to others

Why Toi sees "empowerment culture" as a money maker because women have been devalued for so long and how she chooses to show up for herself

Toi shares her projects The Game Changers Fund, a radical new way of funding projects and busiensses created by Black Women, and Black Women Are Love, which re-imagines the way the culture views Black Women

For links to resources mentioned in the show notes checkout www.freeherspirit.com

Kim Crayton is a mystic mama, curious soul, and a work in progress. She lives in Seattle WA where she sits with trees, tends to various craft projects, and currently talks almost nonstop about the power of ancestral practices, herbs, and food.

In this episode we talk about:

Kim's childhood memories of creating and connecting to movement and learning to craft as she got older

How Kim rotates through her crafts and how she finds inspiration for her projects

How Kim finds and uses natural materials in her crafts and why she loves working with them

Observing nature and learning to appreciate all parts of the cycles of life, death, and rebirth

How Kim has connected to nature in simple ways since childhood

What got Kim to seek out her ancestors and how they stepped up to help her work with them

Why Kim created her oracle deck and the process of how it came about

You can find links to resources mentioned in the show at www.freeherspirit.com

Aja Barber is a fashion writer, consultant, and stylist living in London. Aja's work pertains to ethical fashion, privilege, race, inclusiveness, and feminism. 

Things we talk about in this episode:

How Aja's desire to fit in led her to fashion which led her to being a fashion consultant and stylist

Aja's love affair with London, how much we love public transportation, and Aja's recent trip to Japan

How living outside of the USA changes your perspective and why Aja chooses to describe herself as an immigrant

Why it's important to have uncomfortable conversations daily and how the word "ally" is a verb

Aja's experience in the fashion industry, the privilege found there, and the rise of fast fashion

How we have outsourced our problems to developing countries and what we can do to start making a change in our lives

Aja's fashion tips for people looking to be more ethical and sustainable in their wardrobe choices

Avoiding the "sustainability train" and being truly ethical in your purchases

How and why we can change fast fashion and how our choices as consumers make an impact

You can find resources mentioned in the show at www.freeherspirit.com.

Kat Howard earned a BA in Creative Writing and Art History from Brandeis University in 2006, and worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art until 2010. She then left the museum world to pursue MFAs in Poetry and Studio Art which she received from Mills College in 2013. Since graduating Kat has been working as an independent artist, teaching and exhibiting her art. She has been featured on DesignSponge, Houzz, Williams Sonoma, and Architectural Digest. Kat makes fiber art that addresses the history of the persecution of the female body, through which she interrogates her own identity as a survivor of physical and sexual violence. Kat lives and works in Kingston, NY.

In this episode we talk about:

Kat's journey through different art forms to finding book and fiber arts

How Kat explores the experiences of women and the themes of myth and history in her work through a neutral color palette and texture

Kat's process and preparation that she engages in whenever she creates a new piece

Breaking the rules, trusting your gut, and learning to take risks

Trying things out even if it's weird and trusting that you have something to say

How to find your medium and what to do when you find yourself in "medium envy"

Overcoming perfectionism and how Kat immerses herself in research and writing practices before she creates a piece

For links to Kat's work and resources mentioned in the episode check out www.freeherspirit.com

Erin Clark is from Canada but is at home everywhere. HSe has been living in Spain for the last three years where she became the world champion in wheelchair parapole and learned to paraglide. She recently wrote the first draft of her upcoming memoir while living in the desert of Namibia for 6 weeks. She has self published her own lifestyle and adventure magazine called Sex Icon Magazine and also self published a digital memoir called Love All The Way. She has been published by other people too and all that information is available on her website www.howtobeasexicon.com

In this episode we talk about:

Erin's passion for writing and the importance of having control of your own story

Bossing the Narrative and Erin's journey towards creating the lifeshe dreamed of even when others said she couldn't because of being born disabled

Exploring risk taking and the influences that have shaped Erin's life in her upcoming memoir

How Erin became a sex icon by breaking out of the constraints and forced intimacies from other people's expectations about disabilities

What sexuality and sensuality really mean (it's about pleasure and claiming our bodies, our lives, and our intimacies)

How Erin's entire life is a performance because people area always watching her but she still enjoys being able to express herself

What got Erin into pole dancing and how she became a wheelchair parapole dance champion (also changing the system from "inspirational" to accessible with her coach Selima)

Trust is built on the back of risk and how to learn to trust yourself (hint: take risks, pay attention)

Why Erin loves travel so much and doing things just because you love them

Bonus Material! how we process questions, how Erin makes decisions about her travels, and how adaptation can be empowering and using your intuition muscle

Follow Erin on Instagram and go to www.freeherspirit.com for show notes and pictures.

Sarah M. Chappell is an intuitive counselor and herbalist based in Asheville, NC. She supports folks with mental health and addiction challenges to unravel their stories, shift their fears, and heal themselves. 

In this episode we talk about:

- Sarah's journey from working in corporate NYC to being an entrepreneur who works with tarot and healing in Appalachia

- Sarah's podcast "So You Wanna Be a Witch for soul centered entrepreneurs and the people who love them (to Sarah business is a form of witchcraft) and her history with tarot and the occult

- the archetype of The Fool and having a learner's mindset

- Sarah's method for how to approach your tarot practice when you are in anxiety and overwhelm (seriously, sign up for her class)

- How we approach our cards/tarot practice and building trust

- Understanding mental health, how our bodies work, and what triggers depression as a way to practice self-care

- How sharing and creating connection helps both others and ourselves

- How to handle problematic or triggering tarot cards by asking is this useful? and finding things we can control and take action on

- Choosing a deck and how to work with decks while holding paradox and following your own intuition

Further show notes and resources on freeherspirit.com

Christi Johnson is a textile artist and teacher with a lifetime of experience making magic with fibers. She calls the Catskills New York her home where she creates mystical garments blending elements of botanical dyes with handcrafted stitches. The resulting textile talismans honor the body, its boundaries, its extensions, and its relations to the world and the cosmos around us. 

In this episode we talk about: 

 - Christi's journey from working in the fashion industry in NYC and LA to working as a textile artist in the Catskills

 - The importance of creativity as play and for fun, not just for followers and profit

 - Exploring the sensory input of our hands and the significance of working with your hands

 - Christi's process for making art: from grounding and exploration to "reading the ingredients"

 - Natural dyes and how they change and interact with a fabric and letting go of expectations to see what happens

 - What drew Christi to embroidery and how she uses this art form to create talismans that evoke deeper responses with symbols than with words

freeherspirit.com

How is our mental health impacted by creativity? Host Christine Petty explores how to use a simple, daily practice of Create, Connect, Share, Move, Nourish to cultivate your creative life, stay aware of your mental health, and practice self-care. For Creatives with a capital C as well as anyone who wants to connect with themselves in creative, nourishing ways.

In this week's interview I'm talking with Elinor Predota about her journey, her ancestral practices and ancestral altar, the practice of storytelling, and creative magic.

Part 2 of an interview with Lara Vesta about runes, creativity, ritual and community building, finding your spiritual path, and the meaning of the word Weird.