A NYC fashion/art icon returns to her home country of St. Lucia to farm, create and build a life on her own terms

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Shala Monroque. Shala is a Saint-Lucian native who chased her big city dreams to NYC in the early 2000s. Shala was a verifiable “it-girl “of the art and fashion worlds -  glossing the pages of numerous magazines and street-style blogs. She was a creative director at Garage, an independent fashion magazine, and also worked as a consultant for Prada. Shala was by all accounts on top of the world, but in reality she battled burnout, depression, and an unshakeable homesickness.

In 2012, Shala returned to St. Lucia after her brother was in a near-fatal car accident, staying for a few months while he returned to health. However, by 2014 Shala didn’t want to be away from her family any longer, and made the decision to leave her sought after career in fashion to move back home to St. Lucia.

Since moving, she has established a small organic farm on her family’s land, taken up diving and photography, and has slowly found her way back into the fashion world on her own terms.

Shala’s determination, and commitment to herself and the natural world has allowed her to reimagine a future in fashion defined by balance, wellness, and ecological consciousness.

This is a story about following your intuition, prioritizing your well-being, and earth-centric thinking.

Read Shala's full feature on the Urban Exodus blog

Transcript

Shala Monroque: 0:00

So that was December, and I decided that I'm not going to start the year in New York. And I didn't know how I was going to do it. But whatever was in the way of my happiness, whether it was like a lease or a job, I would find a way out of it. And I packed my stuff and I packed everything and left within like three weeks.

Alissa Hessler: 0:25

Have you ever dreamed of making a radical shift? What does it take to build a more intentional life? What is gained from reconnecting with yourself with community and with the natural world? I'm Alissa Hessler. I've spent the last decade meeting with people all over the world who have made remarkable transitions in their lives. How do they do it? What did they sacrifice? What have they learned? Stepping away from convention isn't easy. But we all have the power to reclaim the things that we've lost, to slow down to change course, to create the life we want for ourselves and for future generations. The urban Exodus podcast shares, practical advice, and inspirational words to embolden and guide you on your own journey. These are the stories of those brave enough to venture down the road less traveled. This is the urban Exodus. Urban Exodus is community supported programming, please consider sponsoring an episode or making a contribution so we can keep these conversations going. The easiest way to contribute is to click the support button on the top of urban exodus.com. You can also become a member of the urban Exodus community to peruse our archives of hundreds of photos, stories and interviews of people who left city life or subscribe to Apple podcasts premium to have access to bonus episodes, or rapid fire interviews with guests in our new mini podcast. Ditch the city where I answer listeners questions and offer practical advice on a whole myriad of topics. If you have a question for an upcoming episode, that you'd like us to consider, please send us a DM on Instagram, or through our contact us page. Thank you for helping me continue to do this work. I couldn't do it without all of you. And if you haven't already, we would really love it if you'd leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or whatever service you listen on. And please recommend urban access to your friends. I'm excited to invite you to my conversation with Sharla moonrock Sharla is a st Lucian native who chased her big city dreams to New York in the early 2000s. Sharla was a verifiable It Girl of the art and fashion worlds. She glossed the pages of numerous magazines and street style blogs. She was the Creative Director at garage, an independent fashion magazine and also worked as a consultant for Prada. Shahla was by all accounts on top of the world, but in reality she battled burnout, depression and unshakable homesickness. In 2012, Shahla returned to St. Lucia after her brother was in a near fatal car accident. She stayed for a few months while he returned to health. In 2014. She realized she didn't want to be away from her family any longer, and she made the decision to leave her sought after career in fashion, to move back home to St. Lucia. When she returned, she established a small organic farm on her family's land. She's taken up diving and photography, and she slowly found her way back into the fashion industry, working on her own terms, along with the occasional Fashion Week appearances. Sharla is currently working with different designers on collections that are environmentally focused. Charlotte's determination and commitment to herself and the natural world has allowed her to reimagine a future and fashion defined by balance, wellness, and ecological consciousness. This is a story about following your intuition, prioritizing your well being and Earth centric thinking. I am absolutely thrilled to have Sharla mon rock on the podcast Sharla you led a very successful and busy life in New York City working in the fashion world. And you decided to return to your home country of St. Lucia and kind of change your life and really like living life on your own terms. And I'm really excited to have you on the podcast to share your story. And first off, I'd love that if you would just share a little bit of Have your early backstory, kind of where you grew up and the paths that you took that led you to New York and working in the fashion world.

Unknown: 5:08

Okay, I grew up in St. Louis, I was born and raised in St. Lucia, my parents lived in the city, which was not much of a city was pretty rural as well. And my grandmother lived in the countryside where I am now, the times that I spent with her are the most memorable. So she was a widow. By the time I remember her growing up, and they had been subsistence farmers. So it was a different kind of existence then when my mother was a child, but she still always took us to the garden as children. So I grew up in a household with my grandmother and lots of cousins, and my grandmother had nine children. And the way it works is that everybody, so there was like an urban migration back then where everyone from the country would move to the city look for work. So that kind of life had sort of started disintegrating. By then, on holidays followed my aunts and uncles would send their kids down to my grandmother to take care of them, because that gave them a bit of a break. So there was just this house filled with children, we didn't have running water, we didn't even have an indoor toilet, then there was no television, the way the house was built is that we didn't really even have glass windows. So it was hurricane shutters. So at the end of the day, there will be my grandmother, and all these kids. And the way we entertain ourselves was through storytelling, and like little theater making plays, that that was kind of the life that we live pretty rural and simple. So that was kind of the foundation for me as a child. So I had that balance. But then I also grew up in the city, with television, at my parents and so like he man and a lot of the 60s, TV shows like Leave It to Beaver and Gilligan's Island and, and so there's a lot of American TV, and you kind of got a glimpse of a different life that was very enticing, I would say. So that was kind of what would have drawn me to want to move to America, I think it was on TV, it's presented, as you know, of a lie, like who wants to have mud on their shoes and play mountains and all of that. So I always said there was that a lot of there. But I think I have a very adventurous spirit. Now always, as a child wanted to travel the world, I used to have like a special tree. When I was growing up that I'd sit down every afternoon and watch the sunset into the ocean. I lived I mean, almost anywhere on St. Lucia, you could see the ocean. And I always remembered seeing the cargo ships coming in and going out on the afternoons. And I used to wonder where they came from and where they were going. So that kind of gave me an outlook of wondering what what the world had. So I think that was kind of where my fascination with travel came in. And I knew that if I stayed in St. Lucia, it would not be like an easy place to travel from. So then I moved to New York, as an immigrant really, without, without much.

Alissa Hessler: 8:25

So what were those early years like for you in New York kind of figuring out and like seeing, you know, you had this idea of what the United States was in your mind, but then actually being there? What was that contrast? Like for you?

Unknown: 8:41

Oh, my God, I remember the first time I came to New York was on vacation. I was 15. And I was so disappointed. Like, I remember the car driving across the bridge over into Manhattan. And it was so loud, and it stunk. And it was like what is everybody raving about? It's not the image that I had had in my mind. I remember the first picture I'd seen of Manhattan. I was in secondary school. And it was an aerial view of Manhattan. And it just seemed so complex to me. And then I remember coming out of the subway, the first time I took it might have been somewhere near the Empire State Building or something and just saw all these buildings rising up and it just feels so impenetrable. Like how do you navigate this? So I moved with my uncle. My uncle had lived in Queens for a while and my mother kind of saw my frustration inherent St. Lucia as a Well, I wasn't, I was a teenager still like, bouncing around. I'd been like a wedding coordinator here. Like, just not sure where you fit in. I was a bit depressed and she kind of felt like I needed to go out and explore and sent me over to my uncle. I thought I was just going to babysit, because that's what every Caribbean person does. And that didn't pan out So that dream was dashed pretty quickly. But then I had a friend from St. Lucia, who was a young photographer. And he kind of got me my first job at a daylight studio. So that was kind of like my first peek into the fashion world. Although it was more of a still life photography studio, there was a bit of fashion shoots happening. So that was kind of like a peek into what fashion was, but that didn't pay much. And I figured out early on that, you know, waiters, and waitresses made more money. So I'm like, I'm gonna be a waitress. Because I wasn't like, on the books, you know. So then I worked at one of the trendy restaurants in Manhattan. And that was like another glimpse, but when I first got to New York, it was really daunting. I remember thinking, like, on my first day to work taking a bus from Queens to from Rosedale queens in Long Island to Queens, and then to the city. That was like a two hour Trek and just looking at the city again, like, how do you navigate this. And I remember thinking, I need to like, like, I had this visual of myself with my back against the wall, just like you need like a year to kind of understand this. It felt daunting. Manhattan's a grid, like that's how I see it. That's how my brain sees it. And that made it easier to get around. Like, I always would just take the train and just, like, stop anywhere. And I spend a lot of times at Barnes and Nobles. I'm remembering this now, like sitting there and going through books. That was before there was Google, but you didn't have access. I could spend a lot of time in the photography section, just anything.

Alissa Hessler: 11:44

You got your start kind of working in photo studios. But what was it about fashion that really drew you in? I know that fashion can be really enticing. And there's so much creativity in fashion. It's very artistic. I wondered like what you initially were drawn to in that industry. And then you were really catapulted into fame, I would say. So I wondered what that feeling was like, it kind of

Unknown: 12:13

happened like that. It was really, it happened really quickly. I didn't go the traditional route. It wasn't at that point. It wasn't necessarily something that I was looking to do. I'd been like in the in the earliest stages of me being in New York, as a young black girl that was too short and too black, really, for modeling, which any young girl was skinny, you got to New York would have tried to do. So. I figured really early on. Like, that's not for me. But then I was dating my boyfriend at the time was traveling a lot had galleries all around the world. And so the fashion car kind of intersects with that. And then my friend Dasha Zhukova, but invited to edit pop magazine, and she kind of pulled a bunch of her friends to become editors. And we didn't really, we're kind of all on the same page. It's the only like clothes and we like to dress up. But then the industry was something else. It wasn't really part of our world. Se, so we kind of just dove in cold feet, just like went in without, it wasn't something that I was seeking at the time. And so I remember, well, and it's really because like pup was sort of a fashion slash art magazine. And so I think the publisher at the time, was interested in her perspective, and a group of people that she was around and we were all traveling. So it was just a different point of view. Me not really knowing about fashion about the fashion industry, it kind of just like, subscribe to news folder, fashion newspapers and magazines and decided to go to the shows just to teach myself that way. That was kind of how it happened. Really?

Alissa Hessler: 14:08

What did you love about it? And what was really hard about it? Because I think that, you know, from an outsider's perspective, I think there's a lot of glitz and glamour associated with fashion and with the art world. But I think like oftentimes, once you get into one of those industries, you start to see like, the harsher realities of those industries. And I'm wondering what your experience was like,

Unknown: 14:30

What I liked about it the most was exploring ideas, getting with a group of people and then discussing the things that you'd seen around art around the world, what was of the moment, and then kind of flushing that out creatively. When we first started and when we first started with garage, it was pretty independent. So we had that luxury at that time to have really an authentic voice because we were just expressing ourselves without the constraints of the industry. And then as it grew, and then you started getting more advertisers, then that kind of like clamps down on your voice, because you're not just because of the business and the politics of it. No, like, some designers don't want to be seen shot with others. And then that, just like these little things couldn't get in the way, creatively. For me, one of the things that was a little bit tricky is that I lived in New York and the team and office was in London. So like working from home is a bit of a challenge creatively not being inside of that office culture, it was good on the one hand, because I was out there, living and seeing what was going on and reporting in, but then working from home is a little bit tricky. Sometimes, jetlag travel, and between the tools between the art world and the fashion world, it kind of felt like Groundhog Day, a lot you you leave New York and get to London, or then to Venice, and it's the same people having the same conversations over and over and over again. That was hard for me. But else, I don't know, it was just kind of felt like there wasn't I once I understood it, and I understood it. And it didn't really stimulate me anymore, because it just felt like the same cycles being repeated over and over again,

Alissa Hessler: 16:25

once you like, are able to integrate and like really the behind the curtain of things that seemed so kind of amazing and glossy and glitzy on the outside. You're like, oh, oh, this is what it was.

Unknown: 16:40

Yeah. And then the lifestyle, as glamorous as it seems, didn't necessarily go with my consciousness, I think. And I don't think I was really aware of that. At the time, I knew I was uncomfortable. But I understand it now more than I live in a garden, like, just like now that I'm here, I go to bed really early, wake up really early. And that feels good. You go you go out and you're out every night and you have like one cocktail and two cocktails and you sit down at dinner and and you have a glass of wine and then another and dessert wine and then it adds up. And it's really kind of hard on your body. And I didn't grow up that way. Like we didn't really have that culture when I was growing up. So it's not really who I am. And then you wake up one day and you be like, who am I? Why am I going to these things that I don't enjoy? Like I don't necessarily enjoy the conversations and why should I continue?

Alissa Hessler: 17:36

Let's explore that because you made a big decision. And you decided that you were going to pick up and you were going to move back to St. Lucia, I wonder what the reaction was from your friends both in the fashion and art world and also your family back in St. Lucia,

Unknown: 17:54

I didn't really tell anyone when I was leaving. And it happened. It happened quickly. And it happened slowly. So for about two years, I suffered major depression because of it because I kind of slowly stopped answering to invite, and spending more time at home and having major anxiety because I could feel that I didn't want to live in the city anymore, that it wasn't healthy for me. But then I was also like at the peak of my career. So like the pulling of these two sides of myself is really, really hard. So by the end of it, I remember I had returned to New York from a trip back home. And I stayed in bed for like three days. And you can do that in New York because you can order anything and have it delivered to your doorstep. So breakfast, lunch, dinner medicine, whatever you needed. And I woke up on the third day and I that was just it for me and like why am I staying here? Like I don't want to, I don't think I can do this anymore. And I remember calling my mother and telling her so she was the first person I to like think I want to come home. And she was really good. With it. She was like, Well, you know, it's home. If you come home, then you're home. It's okay. If you really feel that way, then, you know, come back. And so I kind of felt like I had the permission from her. And it was quick. So that was December. And I decided that I'm not going to start the year in New York. And I didn't know how I was going to do it. But whatever was in the way of my happiness, whether it was like a lease or a job. I would find a way out of it. And I packed my stuff and I packed everything and left within like three weeks. Like I didn't tell anybody I told like my closest friends and I just left quietly and my friends here like I think still some of them don't understand it. What are you doing here especially like my day to day life here now like they don't get it? But then they do because they know me

Alissa Hessler: 20:00

Calling all small business owners? Are you looking to expand your customer base beyond the reach of your local community? Speak to our loyal audience of over 38,000 listeners by sponsoring an episode of the urban Exodus podcast. For more information, visit urban exodus.com/podcast. I mean, I think that it's so difficult to tap into your inner voice, especially when you're living in a city and there are just so many distractions and things imposed upon your time, your headspace your energy. What advice would you give to people who maybe what you're saying is really resonating with their experience right now, on ways to find that courage point to pull themselves out of a situation that isn't working for them anymore.

Unknown: 20:55

coverages is a big part of it. I remember having a conversation with my cousin here in St. Lucia, before I moved back, while I was really depressed, and she had suffered postpartum depression before as well. And she said to me, surely, you know, I've come to the conclusion in my life, that anything that stands in the way of my happiness, I'm going to cut it out. So if it's a boyfriend, a job, a city, a house, whatever it is, it gets cut out, if I want to sleep for 24 hours, and I sleep, I think you have to allow yourself the space to hear yourself. And I think for me, I was just kind of Resolute that nothing was going to get in the way of my happiness, I think for a long time to just prior to that, I kept hearing this voice, so you only have one life? One, you only have one shot, as far as we know, at least you have this one life, like what are you going to do with it? Are you happy? Are you going to be happy if you died, like five years down the road, and you didn't do what you wanted to do? So I think it's about honoring yourself and to be brave, to have courage, all of the answers are not going to come immediately. And that's okay. And slowing down is okay.

Alissa Hessler: 22:22

Yeah, I think it's interesting because society, and I mean, it's really driven by capitalism is like this. People are commodities. And our time is not our own. And you are seen as being good if you are kind of functioning like a machine would never stopping, never taking time never like allowing yourself agency over your own body and decisions. What was it like to transition back to rural life? What did that like kind of early, like, step back into St. Lucia feel like and what did you notice about yourself? And what did you learn from that experience?

Unknown: 23:00

I didn't necessarily, I didn't know what I was coming back to do per se. And I remember I'd always visit the countryside whenever I came home. And I remember visiting my cousin's, when they and then coming into the house somebody had was squatting there. And I was talking to him, he was a farmer. And there was this moment where I took a photograph of him and I just got the chills that I need to be here. I'm going to live here. And I remember driving back home to my mother and my chest hurts because I, I couldn't understand the transition at that point. Like, how am I going to do this, this is so crazy, but it wouldn't leave me alone. And then it kind of happened organically to I'd always wanted to repair the house. So it started with that, and I thought I was just going to paint it. And then it was kind of termite infested. So I knocked it down. And then I started spending more time here and then to build a house like a milled some trees from around. So it kind of just slowly happened. I didn't live here. At first I would drive I would commute back and forth. It wasn't so hard as well, because it's a small village and everyone's related, like everybody's related. And everybody knows you and knows your mother and your grandmother and your great grandmother and can tell you so many stories about yourself. So in many ways, it was good. It was like a homecoming, but it's also slow. So as a New Yorker, coming back here, I had to learn to slow down

Alissa Hessler: 24:27

a bit. I would love if you would describe your home, the land where you live, and the places that you go to to feel inspired and reinvigorated there.

Unknown: 24:39

So I live in a small rainforest village. It's kind of really in the interior of St. Lucia very lush, it's pretty much a huge food forest, because everybody here was farming and farming for miles before and planted so many tree crops. It's quiet it's very quiet and paces slowed down more than it kind of feels like a bit in some ways, like 30 years ago, compared to the rest of St. Lucia. At night, like by seven 8pm. Everyone's indoor for the most part indoors for the most part. And it's quite a lot of like animal activity at night like the sounds of crickets and birds in the morning. Like you really feel like, like you live in a jungle really. And it's very communal, because everybody is related, then we really share the space and what we have very quiet again, I will see. So I wake up really early. Now I feel like I'm in a bit of a transition. But for the most part, I've been like, clearing the land and planting and most of it myself. I think that was just my own catharsis like clearing the land and cleared the land and planted it learning so much more about myself. And I really enjoyed this like, I felt really happy. Here. I felt a joy to wake up and go into the garden because it helped me think to the low then you sleep really well to I don't know, I guess you can attest to that. Because your your I think farmers sleep the best because you're so tired, your body so tired. That's like one difference, I think because in New York, I'd always need to take like Tylenol PM to calm down like I would just be buzzing at night. Yeah, and I haven't touched any pills. Since I've been here. One of the big differences. I noticed when I first came back, I remember thinking there were no children here. Because when I was growing up, there was so many children outside like we were we would torture everybody fees will be at the standby playing outside playing cricket. There's just children everywhere. And I came back. I can't see any children. I'm like, where are they are there no children here. One day, I was driving really early in the morning. And there they were like walking to school, but then I wouldn't see them in the afternoon. And then I realized that technology had taken over. They weren't outside anymore, everybody was in on their phones. So that's one big difference about life here. It's kind of sad. There's some like my neighbors here, the children outside for the most part. So that's like a little glimpse of how life used to be for me, but most of them are indoors.

Alissa Hessler: 27:29

That's so sad that technology is just like spreading everywhere and really cutting off the wonder of childhood and the connection to nature, right? Because I think that is such a big part of you clearing the lands and planting the land. For me the talk thing from like corporate world to a little piece of land and cultivating that land. It was so healing. I just didn't realize just how much it was healing me, but I had to do it and what are you able to grow there?

Unknown: 28:03

I've kind of given up on vegetables for the moment, mainly because of the terrain. Like it's so steep. Like it's really really steep as crazy when I look at what I've done the past videos, it feels a little bit like Insanity. My body's feeling it. So now I'm focused more on on the tree crops and just maintaining that because I mean, it's it rains here a lot. Everything grows back really quickly. So I'm always kind of Majan managing it, but so I have breadfruit trees, coconuts mangles, a lot of citrus papayas. Yeah, squash, like lots of fruit like a lot of tropical fruits, Sarles times, just any fruit tree that I can find in planting and really neutering at the moment. I had this vision that the moment you stepped onto the property, there should just be like wherever your hands could reach, it should be editable. So for that reason, I didn't even plant flowers for a long time. It was just food everywhere and herbs. The other nice thing too about the herbs because I don't like I'm doing this organically. I get a lot of herbs that are growing back naturally it's kind of lost in most places because spraying just kills him out.

Alissa Hessler: 29:17

You described before really struggling with the physical symptoms of stress and depression while living in New York City. So I wonder how you have seen you know your mental and physical and spiritual health change since relocating back there.

Unknown: 29:34

I think a lot more mental clarity, a reconnecting with who you are, you know, when you take away like, even just for example, sleeping pills with Tylenol PM, for example. That just clears your breathing first of all, and then you get back on a on a get back on the circadian rhythm. So I think that's healthier. Life is slower, which I think it's meant to be not at that speed that that, like capitalist society propagates. No more natural way of being I don't feel a need to party as much or go out because I'm so fulfill with the garden. Maybe. Sometimes I wonder if unhealthy Lee so because most of the time I don't really even feel a need for, for company, because I'm happy with the plants. Just you're more calm? No, I think just looking at trees and hearing the sounds of birds, and when really is what we're meant to be around for our spirits. Yeah, and I feel like I'm, I'm doing something good. And leaving plants behind, you know, I'm doing something good for the earth. So I feel better about myself in that regard compared to consuming, consuming, consuming and leaving waste on the planet. So that's, I think that that feels better for my soul.

Alissa Hessler: 31:10

Absolutely. My previous job before I moved here was selling and marketing cell phones. And it was so not aligned with my values. And I just felt like if I did good at my job, the repercussions of that were people trading in their cell phones faster. And I wondered, you know, now having this time to kind of reflect on the fashion industry, I know you've dipped your toes back in. But I wondered like, how should this industry and also consumers kind of start changing and evolving their thinking, to really be mindful of their own consumption, and what they're creating, to put out into the world for people to consume?

Unknown: 31:58

The thinking around it needs to be is, is it necessary, what you're producing, I think we should be at the stage where we're thinking of necessity, there's, there's really, so much that gets produced, especially in fashion, when increasingly you have more seasons, for clothes that you don't need. I mean, it's part of a wider culture. So I'll segue a bit, I took this raw food class with RS law farm. And, you know, he was saying that the his students always asked, you know, but it's so much more expensive to eat that this way to eat like, like a live beyond a live raw food diet. And his response to that was that you know, I want to live in a luxurious body, that doesn't, it's worth it, whatever it costs to put in my body, and that we have everything backwards, it's food, clothing, and shelter, the thing that you're supposed to spend the most money on is your food, they will spend like 1000s of dollars on a shoe, or on a dress or an elitist sneaker, and then build a huge, ridiculous house that requires you to spend so much money, and then pay the least amount of food which we end up paying back on the back end anyway. Where later down the road, you have cancer, you have some rare disease that was caused by your diet early on. So you end up paying it anyway through through medical bills. So I think is about re prioritizing. Why are we producing things? And are they made in a good way? Like, are the people manufacturing them being treated? Well, I think I can, I don't like to use the word consuming because I don't want to propagate that ideology. But I think the customer does have a lot of power in that. I think I think it starts with us, what are we going to spend on? Like, I think we need to be more aware and active in the choices that we make, in where we spend our money. Like, how is it made? Is it made in a good way? Why are we purchasing it? I think the culture on the whole needs to change yet still fashion really needs to look, look itself deeply in the mirror and acknowledge the amount of waste that it produces. And also just the culture on the whole like, what is this about? Why do we need new clothes every two months? I think there's a huge responsibility. Huge, huge, huge responsibility because it fashion is a language that speaks to everybody worldwide. Like it communicates there's no language barrier. Like there's no verbal language barrier. You see it and you understand and it and it can affect To Your ways of consuming and viewing the world. So it has a very big responsibility. And I think it has the power to look at itself and redress it and change what the culture is. I see that says that it's trying, but I feel like it could do so much better, especially post pandemic, it feels like there's a lot of posturing going on. Still.

Alissa Hessler: 35:25

I just wanted to give an enormous thank you to all of you who have made contributions to offset the production costs of this podcast, it means so much to me that you find enough meaning and value to pledge your support to keep this going. If you haven't had a chance to contribute, we've made it really easy for you. Just click the support button on the top of urban Exodus website, you can also get access to bonus episodes, rapid fire interviews, and our new mini podcast, ditch the city by signing up for our apple podcasts premium. Or you can become a member of the urban Exodus online community where you can access hundreds of photos, stories, interviews, tutorials, videos and more. Find out more by visiting the membership page on urban exodus.com. I mean, the posturing and the greenwashing of the industry and calling things sustainable, but then just like peeking by picking a little bit over the fence, and you're like, nice, see if you can still hear me here. And I mean, fashion is like the second largest kind of polluter next to oil and gas. And as someone that that's living in an island nation that has grown up in an island nation, I wondered like what effects of climate change you are noticing in your community, and just any words that you had for people on, I don't want to shame anyone in their consumption habits or things. But I do think that we've reached a point in our society where like we consume to fill that hole that we have lost, which is the reconnection with Earth.

Unknown: 37:07

For me here, I don't really see it, we have hurricanes, I would say again, going back to the pollution, if you have clogged rivers, and dirty oceans, your fishes eating steak, and we're eating that, then that's a big problem. And that's going to be a huge problem really, really soon. So I think that I think we need to change our social climate. Here. I don't, to be honest, I don't see it's not much different than when I was growing up, per se, in terms of the weather. But the pollution is a problem, which I think contributes to climate change on a whole.

Alissa Hessler: 37:50

Absolutely, I mean, just the the plastics in the ocean and the plastics that go into the food chain. And I remember reading that supposedly, every human basically eats like a credit cards worth of plastic in a week. Now, we're just like, so wild to even think. But it's everywhere, and we can't escape it. I appreciate that, you know, you are a very deeply creative and artistic person and a big thinker as well. And so I wondered like how your creative expression now manifests. Because I know that you've kind of dipped your toe back into creating art and, and working with companies that you really believe in to kind of maybe even solve some of these problems, but also just to make beautiful things. So I'd love for you to talk a little bit about that.

Unknown: 38:39

Again, I think it's more also about slowing down and having time to think for the luxury to think and to take your time to think slowly. Just being in a garden you get like a million in one ideas. And I think that helps you process thoughts differently, slowly solitarily for me anyway, most of the time, so that that would definitely inform anything that I do know. I also know that anything that I take part in creatively has to be meaningful. So slowly, like dipping my toe back in. For example, one of the brands that I'm working with is called femme mon which is Haitian Creole for mountain woman and she's a Haitian designer based in Turkey. I love how she runs a studio it's an actually filled with a woman they get paid a little bit more than what the average salary is. They sit down it's very communal and and she has like a deep respect for the people who work for I know how things are made like a lot of her designs are repeated. It's not like thrown away. Like you can get something that you got like two years ago if you wanted it in another color. It's me to order it's not like made and shipped out and then like dumped if it's not so Old. So I like the ethos of her company. And it's also inspired a lot by the garden. So that's someone that I would definitely be drawn to work with. We're working on a project now. So that that's interesting. I think a lot of the times if I'm stuck in an idea or looking for inspiration, and I'll go into the garden, even if it's just weeding, because then it helps me to clear my mind. And then so that would also inform the designs as well. So the, the pieces that we're working on for the moment is called Radical blossoms. And it's more about plants that, that plant medicine really, and how like a plant can affect your mind in a really big way. So it's just thinking about that. So I think the garden really informs and the Earth really informs a lot of whatever I would put out right now. So even like the piece I did, for Chloe, that short video we did for Instagram, it really is still the same message about taking care of Europe and living in tandem with it. So I think this also one of the ways I think that fashion can just start rethinking and sending out that message is to, you know, support creatives who are on that path already.

Alissa Hessler: 41:16

I think that one thing that people are always worried about, if they're like working in, you know, one industry, and then they decide to leave and start a new, but maybe there were parts of it that they loved. How did you go about, like, you know, kind of planting the seeds or like reestablishing the bridges to the elements that you loved and kind of starting to dip your toe back into the work so that you were doing it on your own terms.

Unknown: 41:43

Early on, I got this idea that I wanted to garden in the morning, and then be creative in the night, I thought nine in the night, like in the afternoon. So because then you you work in the morning, and then the sun gets tired. And then you just finding that balance. That was the idea that hasn't quite worked out that way because I think I spend more time in the garden. And so I'd have time to sit down like after you know, you're tired, and you're just sitting in repose and thinking about it. I was off of Instagram for a few years, which was nice. And then when I got back on again, I guess I'd started posting glimpses of my life here. So I think it came back to me, I wasn't good necessarily. Like, looking to do it, I guess there's that itch to to connect creatively back with the world. And so like the designer from Chloe at the time reached out, just personally, because she was connecting as well. Like, I want to build up that life. Like it's so hectic, like being a designer. And so we would communicate a bit back and forth about that, like things she'd see me posting in the garden. So that was an inspiration for her. And then then I walked the show, so I would do it, I was still kind of like I think there was a moment where it's like, I've never had to travel, I don't want to see a plane, especially when I got back here, I don't want to have jet lag, I don't want to go anywhere, I'm fine here, a little bit closed off to the woods, I think to be able to say no, is good. And that's okay to turn down things and and to do it in your own time. I think that's kind of the luxury that garden offers you. I hope that that you can have that balance. It's it's about having a balance. I think that's what we need right now in the world is is the garden kind of informing our decisions. And when I say the garden, I really mean the Earth really that first we have to take care of the earth and then the earth will tell us what to do and how to do it. When we go back into the world.

Alissa Hessler: 43:48

It's really about like listening to your gut, or whatever it is that voice is. And it usually starts by just getting outside and not being so focused maybe on like your inner monologues per se but just realizing that this, this is where you are because devices things have just clouded that for us. Like there is no immediacy in the now. That's beautiful. I wondered how your definition of success maybe has changed now over the course of your career and making this move back.

Unknown: 44:22

I'm going to quote him I think I read it somewhere online. I think it was claimed that Bob Dylan said it and I'm going to paraphrase that the man who wakes up when he wants and goes to bed when he wants it in between those What he wants is the successful man to be on your own time. And I think we talk about time a lot here, like slowing down and doing things on your own time. Because I think we're not all wired the same way. And what society requires of us is to be on the same clock all at once and could lead to a lot of mental illness, I think because we're not meant to, to do the same things. We're not all born to do the same things. And if you can find your groove within a groove of nature, I think that would be what success is. To me, that would be like a successful person to be brave enough to let nature dictate your time.

Alissa Hessler: 45:24

I wondered if you could kind of transport yourself to the early days of your career to your kind of first first couple of years in New York? What advice do you wish you would have told yourself?

Unknown: 45:36

Thank you see no more? Turned down things more that I didn't have to do at all? That, that we I wouldn't have been so burnt out? I think,

Alissa Hessler: 45:46

yeah, it's very powerful to be able to start to put up boundaries for things and be okay, with, I think there's like a frenetic energy. When you live in a city where you just you want any opportunity that comes your way you just say yes to it. And that can just like completely tire you out to a point of just wanting to completely retreat from it. What legacy Do you want to leave behind? What do you want to build there, I kind of leave behind for the earth.

Unknown: 46:20

I think I started on it by planting trees that reproduce itself and to, I think, also, I hope that that young girls particularly could see what I've done and know that it's okay to do it meaning with with the garden here, I hope to be able to turn part of it into a meditation park and a place where people can come and reflect and be proud to be farmers to grow food, I hope that I can be an inspiration for that.

Alissa Hessler: 46:56

The process of slowing down, when we talk about slowing down, I think a lot of that for people from who maybe haven't experienced it, a lot is lost in translation or assumptions are made. I know that slowing down actually requires a lot of work. And I would love for you to talk to us about like, you know, what the physical demands of your life are now and how it's different than maybe the work or the busyness that you felt in the city.

Unknown: 47:26

Oh, like my body. I'm just so tired now, actually. And it's funny because being tired in a city like being burnt out, you don't have the will even to do anything. But I'm just physically exhausted. But I keep going anyway, because I have a drive to do it. And it because it's so rewarding. Yes. It's that aspect of what you're talking about in terms of going down and being close to nature. Yeah, thing. I never have to go to the gym ever in my life again, which I never liked. But it's a good thing. Yeah, I don't find that hard work. I think the reverse is true. Or I think one of the issues too, I have with my life being so slow. And and my most of my friends working normal jobs is that they, we don't really get the time to connect like usually they have one day off. And that's to do errands. So even if they have a date free, it's really hard to connect with with the rest of the world who's not slowed down. I don't know if you experienced that too at all. And that's just me with the outside world in the village where we all connect, like, like everyone's kind of on on this slow, slow time. Well, it's

Alissa Hessler: 48:44

beautiful that you're creating something that's kind of the bridge between the two, because I think that the only way that industries are going to change and shift is to have people that were maybe parts of those industries, reflect on the things that need changing, and work to fix them and create a new. And I think that creative people are oftentimes exploited and put into these like boxes to create things. And there's so much value to creative thinking and to artistic thinking and creativity. And I'm just really excited to see what the future holds for you. And I'm just really happy that you listened to that voice and you kind of released yourself from that life.

Unknown: 49:33

I have never regretted it. I never looked back. I left and like I didn't even want to see pictures of Manhattan for like two years. I couldn't even watch it. Yes, I never looked back. In fact, I left like some stuff in storage when I first moved because I thought well maybe you know, just in case I decide to move back and after like three months I'm like nope, that's it. I'm going and shipped everything out. Have, yes, I'm happy here. It's it's I think if just sometimes connecting with the creative world, it can feel like a desert here to creatively. So I think I think there are wastelands here and over on the other side, and I think if we can find a bridge to share, you know, bring the creativity here, but also get the inspiration here and then bring some of that talent over onto the other side. So I don't think it's, it's about throwing one way completely. Or either way, like don't throw away the garden and don't throw away the city. But I think we need to find balance, which I just think that things are just a little bit out of balance, maybe a lot out of balance right now.

Alissa Hessler: 50:48

Sharla it has been just an absolute pleasure to connect with you. Thank you for sharing so much wisdom with everyone. And yeah, I'm just excited to see what you continue to build and cultivate there.

Unknown: 51:01

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Alissa Hessler: 51:05

Thank you, Shala for joining us on the show. Some of my key takeaways from this episode, it takes a lot of courage to tune into yourself, and realize that where you are isn't where you want to be anymore. This is especially true when you've reached a level of success that others strive for. But it can be extremely liberating to make a radical change, we only have one life to live. So live it in a way that feels right. Second, tending and cultivating land is incredibly therapeutic, tuning back into the natural world and reconnecting with its rhythms improves your overall health and well being in profound ways. And lastly, even though the pace of fashion continues to speed up, we have the ability as consumers to reject that model and slow it down. Shop secondhand support small brands who don't pollute and who pay living wages, we actually have a tremendous amount of power to change the way that fashion brands function. So be very mindful of where you spend your money, and how much you consume. Hi, friends, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the urban Exodus podcast. This is a listener supported program that is only made possible through your continued support. And if you haven't already, we would really love it if you'd leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or whatever service you listen on. And please recommend urban access to your friends. An enormous thank you to my incredible producer Simone Leon, and my amazing editor Johnny Sol, and my music man Benjamin birtherism. And thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Alissa Hessler and this is the urban Exodus