A friend was telling me recently about a sermon she had heard. The idea was that the only thing that could cast out darkness, is illumination and when there is darkness present, turn on the light and it disappears. Today I would like to bring some illumination to some of my own darkness, and by so doing, hope that I can cast it out as well. I met Elise McRoberts, The Hashinista, after getting a frantic text from a show organizer that they needed me to jump in and moderate a panel at the last minute. I hustled my chunky ass over there and showed up for duty. The panel was right up my alley-Extraction Masters for goodness’ sake. Every person on the panel was either a personal friend or someone I am very familiar with from the socials. Of course I was the only moderator who could do them justice and of course I would save the day and of course you don’t need to tell me how much you appreciate me . . . wait what? Don’t worry about it, Elise will moderate. Inert record scratch here. So, even though I smiled and shook her hand and wished her well. There was no light in my heart. I was salty and put out and petty and generally self-absorbed and small.
I sat down and watched the panel and it was really hard to stay salty. I did my best, after all, Elise is a model and that helps keep the fires of jealousy and judgment stoked up. But I listened and I really liked what I heard. It was wonderful to be in the audience looking up at Jess from Chemchix, Murphy, Propane Jane and my man Marcus from Nature’s lab. Watching the panel was my first opportunity to hear the Dank Dutchess speak live, and I was there for all of it. Elise was absolutely the best possible moderator for that panel. I had all these feelings about it, still kind of swampy and dark in there. So, instead of closing in around the darkness, I threw open the windows for some illumination. I invited her on the podcast, not because I knew she was going to be an amazing guest, but because I want to feed the light in me, not the swamp pit. If this interview hadn’t gotten me out of my own ego and into relationship, I would have had to go to her house and wash her feet or something. It is a good for us both that this conversation was illuminating and powerful. There is no shadow of darkness in me around Elise anymore. Spending time with Elise in this interview didn’t make me feel anything but so happy to be connected with her. Whatever levels of my own imposter syndrome, body shame and general intimidation as a woman by women . . . her light outshined all of that for me. As I continue to grow and mature, I want to expose these places of ookiness in my heart to the light of truth so that I can better serve my family and my community. And as I do it, I want to be surrounded by positive and strong people to encourage me by their work and their example to level myself up another notch every day. Elise is in my circle now and what a gift that is. The next time things don’t go according to my plans, I want to be excited about the disruption and ready to receive the good things in store for me that would never have happened if I hadn’t gotten out of the way. Enough about me . . . maybe even too much about me. Get ready for a great conversation with a powerful brand builder in our space. She is smart, dynamic, creative and her portfolio of clients reads a bit like listing the top shelf brands from each category of the dispensary. I say this a lot, but I mean it on all the levels today. Enjoy this conversation with the amazing Hashinista as much as I did.