Tracy Cheri Jones: No Bullshit, From Trauma to Taxidermy

This episode is not light… but it’s important.

From being coached to lie to CPS at four years old to ending up on a psych ward as a teaching case, Tracy has survived more than most people can imagine, and somehow built a life full of love, art, and zero tolerance for bullshit.

Siobhan sits down with Tracy of Black Widow Bottles for a raw, unfiltered conversation about what it actually takes to rebuild your life when you were never given a safe place to start. They talk about childhood abuse, being failed by the system, running away and surviving on the streets, addiction, suicide attempts, and the long road back through therapy, medication, and doing the work.

But this isn’t just about survival, it’s about ownership, boundaries, and choosing a different path.

Tracy shares how she fought to rebuild her life, regain custody of her kids, and create meaning through her art, honoring life, grief, and memory through her work in wet taxidermy and pet memorials.

We also get into the complicated parts: grief that doesn’t resolve cleanly, losing her daughter to addiction, navigating family dynamics, and learning when to walk away from people who continue to cause harm.

If you’ve ever felt too broken, too far gone, or stuck in your past, this conversation is your reminder:

Healing is messy. It’s nonlinear. And it’s still possible.

🦆 Come sit with us in The Pond.