the void: inside out
“everyone looks to an artist for something more than just the music, and
that message of being comfortable in my own skin is number one for me.”
- lizzo
"vivian pinn on mentorship, burnout, and how to take advantage of opportunities in your care" [via women's health mag]
"the growth of the female business owner" [via forbes]
"the effect 20 years of war had on women in rural afghanistan" [via npr]
Here are the things we are doing, reading, listening to or heard about
that we think can help you on your path—whatever that path may be!
this weekly newsletter has all the reco’s you need for a girl’s night in. who doesn’t love that? sign up here.
we love this episode of the goop podcast where venus williams shares what drives her in everyday life. tune in here.
These are the ladies we follow that, in short, make sh!t happen.
Don’t you want to fan girl with us?
photo: instagram/@leightonpope
@cocoandbreezy a.k.a twins corianna and brianna are known for their eyewear design, dj skills and fashion sense. they became known for their eyewear through the triple-lens iconic design they created for prince. #legendstatus and they are just getting started.
photo: instagram/@skovro_visuals
@doitforthebrand a.k.a courtney richardson, has a passion for black entertainment, fashion beauty and storytelling. courtney is a powerhouse creative director for droga5 following a successful stint at paper magazine. a multi-award winning creative visionary who was named one of the ‘top 150 dope women, doing dope things’ by the well.
Products that get the void seal of approval, at your service! and it’s not just us—our friends and family love them too!
p.s. all the companies featured in this section are women founded or women-led, duh!
partier
ig:@letspartier
@danielletulloand@alyssafiorentinoare best friends & partier co-founders.therecent bride and bridesmaid duo were onthehunt for bachelorette party merch we hadn’t seen on pinterest a million times before. spoiler: their search came up empty. then they realizedtheonly way to get a sweatsuit that perfectly fit their vibe was to design it themselves, & partier was born! we are obsessed with their fun custom designs that will bring your wedding celebration tothenext level.
the weekly mantras, horoscopes or astrological insights to help you attract what YOu what.
life is happening for you not to you! remember that!
“when you face a challenge, follow this magical 3-step process that
will turn those challenges into an asset for life”
- spiritual teacher, kay richae (@kayrichae)
1) look into the face of the challenge.
2) embrace it. (feel the feels of it)
3) address it directly by saying:
“what is life seeking to do through this challenge (name it) for the good of the entire planet?”
a weekly q&a featuring kick-a$$ women ranging from celebrities and ceos to the women
that are hustling every single day to make things happen for themselves and others.
it’s unapologetically jessamyn stanley: a q&a with yoga’s game changer
using the self-reflective and practice of yoga as her own personal mirror of self-inquiry, jessamyn continues to be at the forefront of social justice issues, questioning social norms and pushing boundaries about what is culturally and socially “accepted” and most importantly calling out duplicitous social norms that don’t serve everyone. you may know her from those kotex ads or perhaps her latest partnership with adidas, which is all about lifting up marginalized voices through their ‘watch us move’ campaign. well, however you know her, you know she speaks her mind and questions the status quo. this is jessamyn stanley.
jessamyn currently has a new book out entitled yoke: my yoga of self-acceptance, which is a collection of jessamy’s personal essays that explore her relationship with yoga focusing specifically on why we practice and not how. her book delves into aspects of cultural appropriation, racism and materialism in yoga practice in the western world and goes deeper to try to understand how to use yoga as a tool for self-love. her first book, every body yoga: let go of fear, get on the mat, love your body gives readers a detailed account of her personal journey coupled with her refreshingly honest point of view on her story. her podcast “dear jessamyn” is for people wanting to hear even more about relationship, sex and lifestyle advice to anyone “living and loving outside the box”. jessamyn knows that there is realness and authenticity in the struggle and that the struggle is often where people can connect.
the void: i think that’s the thing that was so surprising to us. that’s not what you expect out of something like yoga that is supposed to bring you peace and calmness.
jessamyn stanley: i think that the idea that yoga is a peaceful, calm and a meditative bliss is created by hallmark. we don’t really have a concept of what it actually means to get to a place of calm. the ways people describe the practice of yoga are with gentle words, but that doesn’t have anything to do with sensation, that just has to do with definitions that were created by the media.
yoga is really, really hard. it’s not even just physically hard. it’s mentally hard, it’s emotionally hard. and on top of that, speaking specifically as a larger-bodied person, you’re taught to think that there are so many things that you’re not supposed to do or are not capable of doing and when that’s the case, you have to push past that as well.
the void: going through the practice of accepting yourself, you don’t really realize that it’s a process. it’s not just about practicing it one time, but the second and the third and the fourth time…
jessamyn: and the fifth and the sixth and the seventh and the tenth and the fifteenth and the thirty sixth – it’s not just the first time. you are hitting on something really crucial here. my biggest piece of advice in practice would be consistency. consistency is what leads you to have a deeper understanding, because it’s not just going to magically happen after the first few times. i really can’t tell you how long it took for me to get to a place of really being able to sit with sensation and look inward at myself. i have no idea when that happened for me, to be honest. but i do think that when you stop needing that to happen, that’s when it comes. a lot of times we get so distracted by needing something, that we can’t just let it happen.
not only consistency, but allowing yourself to be really compassionate is critical in yoga, because we’re so very hard on ourselves. when we don’t allow space for compassion there’s no room for anything to foster. it’s like trying to grow plants in the middle of the desert. there’s no basis for it.
the void: do you think overcoming fear has contributed to your success? and how have you seen the internal change manifest itself in the external for you?
jessamyn: i don’t ever really think about the things that other people can see, that’s not going to be the entirety of my existence. it’s not really where my yoga practice shows up. the places that i really notice are in the ways that i interact with other human beings, my patience level, and my level of compassion, especially in situations that are troubling.
follow jessamyn stanley @mynameisjessamyn for pure unadulterated realness.
[original interview took place in 2019/updated 2021]
