Once upon a pre Asha : Eleven day, an email popped in my inbox from a Joy. Joy and her partner Lyall, who live in Australia, were travelling through Africa collecting inspiring stories and sharing them through their platform Sustainable Jungle and they invited me to do an interview with them for their new Podcast series.
Sustainable Jungle was created as a space to encourage positive change in the world; covering anything from travel to fashion to lifestyle - anything which inspires them and which they think may inspire their audience too (right up my alley!).
Coincidentally, they contacted me at a time when my previous brand Lalesso was closing its doors and Asha : Eleven was a mere embryo. I knew that I wanted to create this new brand with sustainability at the absolute forefront so I explained all this to Joy and Lyall and they were happy to re-angle the interview with this transitional phase in mind.
So, one seriously stormy winters day, by serendipitous chance we both happened to be in Betty's Bay and so we met to have a chat about my journey, ethical fashion, fast fashion, Fashion Revolution, what inspires and oh a whole load of things.
You know, sometimes you sit with someone and they make you feel so completely at ease; words flow, the energy between you flows and you are able to express your truest authentic thoughts, beliefs and self. Joy offered exactly that.
We recorded this Podcast in August 2018 with Asha : Eleven launching just two months later. With the whirlwind of the brand launching and all that followed, I actually completely forgot about it and so when Joy checked in not long ago and shared it with me, I had myself a listen!
Though cringing at plenty-a-dorkiness, I realised I felt like I was listening to myself but was somehow no longer in that same skin. I was so grateful to be taken a back there; to be pulled back into that skin and reminded of my journey, my values and, idorkiness aside, why I am doing what I am doing.
So thank you Joy and Lyall, for allowing me to check in with an earlier, super inspired self so that she can re-inspire present, work tread-mill run, post baby-brained hustle mama!
If you fancy yourself a listen too, check it out on their website here.
