ELYSIAN Fall 2019 Wellness & Adventure Issue by readelysian

ELYSIAN Inspiring Women. Graceful Living.

EXCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL EXTRAORDINARY EGYPT

Imagine walking in the footsteps of the pharaohs, exploring

the remnants of ancient ruins while being led by the legendary archaeologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass. You will hear secrets never told before and spend time in the esteemed company of Dr. Mostafa Waziri, Egypt’s Head of Antiquities. You will be hosted by Mrs. Jehan Sadat, the former First Lady, in the residence of Egypt’s late president Anwar Sadat – an experience normally reserved for royalty and heads of state. Explore the vibrant cultural and culinary delights of Egypt and the Nile – and do it all in five-star style on The Royal Tour to Egypt. Book your tour today or learn more by visiting: archaeologicalpaths.com | 917.719.1974

Ar tistic blend of preser vation and modernization

117 Calhoun Street | C har les ton | South C arolina

hotelbellagrace.com

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; CHRISTIAN DIOR

ELYSIAN Volume 4 • Issue 3 • l’automne 2019

58 70

Holistic Heartspeak A mother & daughter’s journey inward. BY ALEXIA PAUL

There are few mononymous women in the world. Yet one statuesque fashion muse, legendary model, cosmetics entrepreneur and humanitarian stands heads above. BY CHRISTINE MORRISON

The healing Arts at Peaceful Mountain

FEATURES

Iman

The spa at Amangiri aims to reflect the healing traditions of the Navajo through the four elements of earth, wind, fire and water. BY JENNA REALMUTO

Inspiring Women Deborah Calmeyer page 96 Gila Guttmann page 102 Sheri Howell page 108 Martha Wiedemann page 114 INTERVIEWED BY KAREN FLOYD

“

Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?

Lost Beyond the Blue The adventurous life of Amelia Earhart. BY LAURIE BOGART WILES

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

EVERETT COLLECTION HISTORICAL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

”

— AMELIA EARHART

destination

DEPARTMENTS

12 travel

Adventure Women of the world. BY ANGELA CARAWAY-CARLTON

adventure health fitness 28

Adventure full of hot air. BY BAKER MAULTSBY

Post workout recovery. BY ANGIE COMER

32 fashion

Rêve En Vert. BY CHRISTINE MORRISON

beauty wellness

How to treat cellulite. BY AMY ZIMMER

44 graceful living

Identifying your false beliefs & how to shake them. BY MARY ROGERS McMASTER A fresh take on fall. BY RHONDA WILKINS

art culture philanthropy health médecine

120

Into the sea with Cristina Mittermeier. BY LATRIA GRAHAM Expanding the reach. BY C.S. BURKE

128

An Individualistic Approach to Weight loss. BY DR. KATHERINE BIRCHENOUGH

change creator 142 food dining expanding the circle Plant-based salvation. BY KAREN FRAGALA SMITH

Fresh off the grid. BY LATRIA GRAHAM

149

ELYSIAN—from the U.S. Women’s Open to Switzerland.

154

closing the circle

Cover model Cassi Sherbert & ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman Martha Wiedemann.

the cover

Cassi Sherbert of Charlotte, North Carolina was photographed by Donald Latham. Hair and makeup by Tiffany Brown.

the backstory

More on Cassi Sherbert and how ELYSIAN is empowering talent.

156

publisher

editor-in-chief

Karen Floyd

c h i e f o p e r at i n g o f f i c e r

Katherine O’Neill

chief business officer

Jaclynn Jarrett

e ly s i a n i m pa c t d i r e c t o r o f p h i l a n t h r o p y

Kelly Nichols

executive editor

Abby Deering

editorial director

Rita Allison

c r e at i v e d i r e c t o r

Carmen Thomas media director

Rob Springer

magazine design specialist

Ryan Stalvey

director of photography

Donald Latham Nancy Cooper

southeast advertising directors

Doug Mandel | Mandel Media Group Billy Leach | Mandel Media Group comptroller

Kristin Eastwood p r e s i d e n t o f d i g i ta l o p e r at i o n s

Taylor Brown

d i r e c t o r o f d i g i ta l c o n t e n t

Jenna Realmuto

a s s i s ta n t a r t d i r e c t o r

Tammy Owens

graceful living

Rhonda Wilkins inspiring women

Karen Floyd columnists

Katherine Birchenough, MD, Angie Comer, Mary Rogers McMaster, Amy Zimmer senior writers

Laurie Bogart Wiles, Angela Caraway Carlton, Latria Graham, contributing writers

C.S. Burke, Karen Fragala Smith, Baker Maultsby, Christine Morrison, Alexia Paul, Jenna Realmuto

copy editors

Diane High, Hadley Inabinet, Baker Maultsby, Phil Randall style director

Angie Woodard ta l e n t s c o u t / m o d e l i n g c o n s u lta n t

Robyn Shirley

production stylist

Tiffany Brown

s o c i a l m e d i a c o o r d i n at o r

Ruby Kubac

ELYSIAN Magazine is published four times per year by Palladian Publications LLC, 113 W. Main St., Spartanburg, SC 29306. For subscription information, call 888-329-9534; visit subscriptions@elysianservice.com; mailing address: Subscription Service, Elysian Magazine PO Box 2172, Williamsport, PA 17703 All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

The ELYSIAN team in action in New York City for a series of interviews and photoshoots. From top: Angie Woodard and Rob Springer test the lighting on location at The Dominic Hotel in Soho. • Director of Photography Donald Latham sets up his shot. • Assistant Videographer Elise Rimmer prepares for an Inspiring Woman interview. • Ruby Kubac, Social Media Manager, captures behind-the-scenes moments. Publisher and CEO Karen Floyd in frame as she conducts an interview for the Fall 2019 issue.

n at i o n a l a d v e r t i s i n g d i r e c t o r

Efficiency is in our DNA Founded and based in the heart of Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial district Blaney McMurtry is one of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier law firms. Recognized by the legal industry and ranked for our top level expertise in Business and Real Estate law in addition to Litigation & Advocacy. Blaney McMurtry represents a growing number of private and public American companies looking to establish and expand their Canadian business operations. Dan Giantsopoulos, Partner dgiantsopoulos@blaney.com | 416 593 2984 | Blaney.com

SECRET OF CHANGE IS TO “ THE FOCUS ALL OF YOUR ENERGY,

NOT ON FIGHTING THE OLD, BUT BUILDING THE NEW.

”

— SOCRATES

urposeful change is a cornerstone of ELYSIAN. In this issue, we focus on the distinct but complementary themes of wellness and adventure. Our aim is to empower our readers in pursuit of transformative experiences. These are, of course, individual and sometimes lonely pursuits. Change comes from within, and the road less traveled can yield the greatest return on our investments. Still, our deep desire for self-reflection as well as physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing can benefit from shared perspectives. To that end, we bring you stories of women who have taken unique avenues of exploration and sustainable health: a photographer whose work promotes underwater conservation worldwide, a female-led company specializing in adventure travel for women, Malaysian sisters who have charted a career as hot air balloon pilots, and more. I have found inspiration in each of these stories, and I hope you will, too.

Inspiring Women. (Anecdotal stories)

Through the personal and professional journeys of our Fall Inspiring Women, this issue’s anecdotal stories of adventure and wellness span the globe. From Africa to India, Israel to Switzerland, the United States and beyond, an international flair permeates these pages. Zimbabwe-born Deborah Calmeyer recalls her childhood spent adventuring in the African bush. Today, as CEO of world-renowned ROAR Africa, she creates oneof-a-kind luxury itineraries so that her clients may experience their own “African dream.” Gila Guttmann, a former systems analyst in the Israeli Army, discovered the hobby of playing duplicate bridge, which catapulted her into the international world of competitive bridge. Sheri Howell, former executive of MTV, whose clients have included Verizon, the Hard Rock Casinos & Hotels, Miley Cyrus and Walmart’s Miley+Max clothing line, speaks to the benefits of Medjet, a network of air ambulances and trained medical staff ready to transport its members who are hospitalized more than 150 miles from home. Finally, wellness expert and Ayurveda specialist Martha Wiedemann, known as one of the principal forces behind the wellness program at the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in Switzerland, advocates a healthy lifestyle to achieve inner peace and true beauty. We continue the tradition of connecting our cover model with one of the our Inspiring Women. Cassi Sherbet is an accomplished dancer and aspiring businesswoman who has plans to transform her love of the arts into an entrepreneurial venture. In this issue, Martha Wiedemann—a woman who has herself developed childhood passions into a successful international career—shares with Cassi the importance of self-confidence and the power of meditative practice as guiding forces that will help her focus on key career goals and decide her next steps in business.

Graceful Living. (Deliberate, spirited, bold)

Wellness is an all-encompassing state of being – and it can be achieved through not only health and fitness, but also our approach to beauty and fashion, our enthusiasm for travel and adventure, and our commitment to giving back. Stories of wellness come to life through the unique, women-driven narratives found in the pages of our Fall 2019 issue. We meet a mother and daughter who took a health journey to the Kerala region of India to become immersed in the healing practice Ayurveda. Yoga meets travel meets philanthropy in the story of Jordan Ashley and Souljourn Yoga. Artist Ulrike Arnold adds a unique dimension to a luxury retreat and resort in remote Utah. This issue also offers perspectives on healthy and environmentally friendly fashion and beauty products, giving our readers thoughtful and practical avenues to pursue wellness.

Philanthropy. (Creating legacy)

As Hilton Head Island prepares for its marquee event, The Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival, we salute the festival’s president and ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman, Carolyn Vanagel, who has ushered in a groundbreaking new addition to the line-up this year, Women Driving America. This 3-day program will celebrate the nation’s top female executives, designers, racers, and collectors of the motoring world. And as we gear up to recognize the women who drive the automotive industry, we also acknowledge the phenomenal rise in women-driven philanthropy. In these pages, we have highlighted the festival’s charitable foundation, Driving Young America, which supports students seeking an education to pursue a career in the automotive industry, as well as educational institutions that provide special opportunities for students entering this field. Fall is a season of change. May you take chances, seek adventure, overcome obstacles, and experience meaningful transformation.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Thank you for taking the journey.

Karen Floyd Publisher

EXPLORE THE VIRTUAL PAGES of ELYSIAN Experience ELYSIAN beyond the printed page through interactive augmented reality using your smartphone or tablet. Shop, watch videos, view galleries, visit websites and dive deeper into our pages than ever before. Look for the interactive symbol E on our pages, then follow the simple instructions below to begin your interactive journey. Experience ELYSIAN beyond the printed page through interactive augmented reality using your smartphone or tablet. Shop, watch videos, view galleries, visit websites and dive deeper into our pages than ever before. Look for the interactive symbol interactive journey.

on our pages, then follow the simple instructions below to begin your

SHOP & EXPLORE

Start Exploring in 3 Simple Steps:

1 2 3

Download the free Roar app for iphone or Android.

Open the app, hold phone in front of the page and tap the screen to scan. Interactive content will appear on your screen. Tap desired content to interact.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Adventure Women of the

World BY ANGELA CARAWAY-CARLTON

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THOMSON SAFARIS

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Safaris by vehicles offer opportunities to spot elephants, zebra, lions, and hippos in three Botswana game parks. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THOMSON SAFARIS

while

flipping through a travel magazine at her kitchen counter one morning, Mary Oves stumbled across a promotion for a horseback-riding trip in southern Iceland. It promised rides through picturesque valleys and unreal lava fields, with stops at hot springs and pools, along with a visit to a Viking farm—and most appealing, it was a female-only vacation hosted by a travel company called AdventureWomen. Oves needed an escape from her home in Ocean City, New Jersey. Her husband had passed away just eight months earlier after battling medical problems for years. Oves impulsively booked the tour, set for June 2018. “I was always passionate about travel, but we were limited on what we could do because of my husband’s health. For once in my life, nothing was stopping me,” says Oves, adding that her children were grown and out on their own. “I had to get out of my mind and go where no one knew me or what I’ve

WITH WOMENCENTRIC TRAVEL SKYROCKETING, ONE FEMALE-RUN, FEMALE-ONLY TRAVEL COMPANY IS OFFERING THE CHANCE FOR LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCES.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

been through and didn’t feel sorry for me.” Arriving in Iceland, the 53-year-old was joined by eight total strangers from all over the nation. “I loved the anonymity of it. When you travel, you don’t have to disclose anything about yourself, and for me, it was freedom,” Oves says. As the days passed, the women became confidantes. “We were a beautiful motley crew. Some whole, some broken. Women lacking self-actualization or fine-tuning it.” While the trip delivered on thrilling experiences—riding Icelandic horses through the wild terrain, viewing beautiful lagoons and waterfalls, and mingling with the people who call the area home—Oves says transformational moments spread throughout the group of women. “There was raucous laughter, cathartic breakdowns. We never descended to cattiness, mean comments or cliques. We formed a bond that was strong and true.” Most importantly, Oves began to deal with past hurts that haunted her. “I had lived in fear for a long time. Afraid of losing my husband, afraid for my boys to lose their dad,” she explains. One day during the trip, her horse started galloping so fast that Oves feared she would fall off and be killed. “I thought, ‘I’m going to orphan my kids,’” she recalls. “Finally, I just let go and gave up that fear. All of a sudden, I was just done being afraid. If I fell, I fell. For the rest of the trip, people practically didn’t recognize me because I became very quiet and calm.” That stillness followed Oves home, and now one year later, she says it’s even more pronounced. And the women she met during her time in Iceland? They stay in frequent touch, travel together and will gather again for a reunion trip with AdventureWomen in June 2020. “They were the people with me when I was reborn,” Oves says. “All the dysfunction of illness, death and grief, when I was buried in all that muck, they are the ones who coaxed me out of it. They are my sisters.”

Transformational Travel

Life-changing stories like Oves’ convinced Judi Wineland to purchase AdventureWomen in September 2016. The women-only travel company was founded by adventure pioneer Susan Eckert. She reached out to Wineland to buy the company when she was ready to retire. At first, Wineland declined; she and her husband already had their hands full running their award-winning safari company, Thomson Safaris, in Tanzania. It was her oldest daughter, Nicole, who saw the potential to grow the company into something even bigger and convinced her mother to take the leap. Now, Judi serves as the managing director, Nicole vets partners and designs the trips, and her youngest daughter Erica, a mountaineer and outdoor enthusiast, is the general manager. Since taking over, the trio of

women has grown the business from around 20 trips a year to 80, with 40 destinations. The trend in women-centric travel is growing, and Wineland says they’re inundated with ladies who want to discover new places and, ultimately, new things about themselves. “What we’re seeing is women who have the disposable income to do what they want. They’re thinking about themselves. Some of their husbands would rather go fishing or don’t want to travel internationally, but these women are not staying home.” What transpires is a trip filled with women from all walks of life—single, married, divorced, widowed—with the average age range of 40-70, along with the occasional 20-something who heard about the company from a podcast. Itineraries are limitless, from hiking and horseback riding in the Canadian Rockies to a private wildlife cruise in the Galapagos Islands to hiking the Portuguese Way on the Camino, all with a mix of adventure and rare experiences. “We play hard during the day, but we have a nice place to stay at night. The luxury is in the experience,” says Wineland. Trips range from seven to 14 days and usually have no more than 14 participants. While most travelers come alone, the company now also offers mother-daughter trips. “We get mothers who want to show their daughters what life is like outside of their normal world, and it’s just so much fun for them.”

Born for Adventure

Wineland’s love of travel was sparked in 1968, when she was 18-yearsold and a member of an all-girls band invited by the USO to perform for the military in Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam. “I had never been out of the country. I was a little suburban gal at Colorado State University, and I didn’t know that another world was out there,” she says. As travel inherently does, it forever changed her. “When I’m traveling, I always find myself re-evaluating who I am and questioning what my values are and why I’ve done the things I’ve done.” And, that’s just what she wants clients to take away from an AdventureWomen trip—she’s not just in the vacation business but in the transformation business. “When you put these women in a place that’s out of their comfort zone, perspectives shift, priorities shift, and they come home a different person,” she says. Wineland believes part of that dramatic shift comes from a cultural component attached to every trip. Often, travelers meet with other women in villages where they are one of three wives or have never left their village. A translator allows them to have important conversations to dig deep into

their vastly different cultures. “These are some of the most transformational moments. Our women realize that we are similar in so many ways and yet so different,” says Wineland. “When you’re somewhere like Tanzania and 20 massive elephants trumpet by you, you realize just how small you are. People leave and start protecting things they care about, even becoming conservationists or donors to the Maasai women in Tanzania to help them become entrepreneurs.” Another difference in her trips: An AdventureWomen ambassador comes along on each trip to offer support and encouragement when the travelers become tired or to help curb negativity that could easily spread among the group. “Sometimes they’ll offer a hug or an acknowledgment that it’s not a good day,” Wineland explains, “and often the other women will come to embrace that woman having a bad day. It’s so supportive.” She also kept an integral part of the travel program developed by founder Eckert: Most women are paired up with a roommate and then switch roommates when the group moves hotels or camps, so they get to know different people. Wineland added private rooms upon request, offering women the options to share or be alone. “Usually the women end up chatting until one in the morning.” It seems to be a formula for success. More than 60 percent of Wineland’s clients book another trip with AdventureWomen, and some women even take as many as four trips a year. “They may choose the destination because it’s a bucket list, but they don’t realize what will be in the bucket,” says Wineland. “The destination is just the beginning.” ■

Take in the view high above the clouds at 17,598 feet while sharing this outstanding accomplishment with your fellow trekkers after a hike to Mount Everest’s Base Camp in the majestic Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THOMSON SAFARIS

• Above: One can snorkel Baja’s blue lagoons, swim with sea lions and participate in an authentic Mexican cooking class while glamping and relaxing on Baja’s beaches in sunny Mexico. PHOTOGRAPH BY COLIN RUGGIERO

Mount Pelion West is located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is part of the Pelion Range and is situated within the Cradle MountainLake St. Clair National Park at the eastern most boundary of the Murchison River catchment. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THOMSON SAFARIS

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Adventure Awaits

For 2020, AdventureWomen has curated a lineup with several standout, far-flung destinations, and Judi Wineland offers a preview of what to expect: MOUNT KILIMANJARO. This trip is especially close to Wineland’s heart, as her entire family has climbed the highest mountain in Africa, and the company has a rare 98-percent summit rate. “Kilimanjaro is a non-stop trek up where you go through these different zones, the rain forest, the heath, the moorlands, the alpine desert … it’s just exhilarating,” she says. “A lot of women come on this trip thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll make it, maybe I won’t.’ But we really take our time. When the women summit, they can’t stop saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I did it!’ Sometimes, we don’t have faith in ourselves, but you’re supported by other like-minded women.”

TANZANIA. This 10-day trip is the special chance to embark on a safari where you’ll see majestic wildlife. You’ll also spend time with the Maasai women, who make their home in a settlement of traditional huts, to learn about their lives living in a remote village, often as one of multiple wives. “You’re in the Serengeti, the most incredible place with the largest biomass in the world. Elephants and lions walking past you, and you’re camping out in the wilderness,” says Wineland. “This is where life has been like this forever, and you feel insignificant and smaller than you imagine.”

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THOMSON SAFARIS

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

OMAN. AdventureWomen is the first women’s company to venture to this Middle Eastern country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. “The Middle East is so different from any other place in the world,” says Wineland. “There is this beautiful desert where we camp, and then suddenly we’re in an oasis where it’s green. Then, boom, you’re up in the mountains, and then you’re on the oceanfront—it takes your breath away. We’ll also meet Omani women entrepreneurs in a country that doesn’t necessarily celebrate women. You’re going to see something different, feel something different and ultimately be something different.”

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

BHUTAN. This is a cultural dream trip offering the chance to discover the secret world of tiny Bhutan, a Himalayan jewel hidden in the forests and clouds, where Bhutanese culture and ancient traditions thrive. “This is a really great hiking trip, where you’re trekking high Himalayan mountain passes for breathtaking views of verdant valleys. It’s a spiritual journey in that you’re in a Buddhist country,” says Wineland. “You’ll not only visit a monastery and one of Bhutan’s two oldest temples, but you’ll get the incredible chance to participate in a spiritual drum ceremony at the Pema Choeling Nunnery, a rare meeting with the women there.”

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THOMSON SAFARIS

BAJA. Wineland describes this sunny vacation as one of the most fun trips for women. “We have a camp out on this island, and it’s literally like glamping,” she says. “There are blue lagoons, snorkeling with sea lions and whale watching in Magdalena Bay. The women learn to surf, which makes them laugh, and then relax with wine under the stars at night. This is where women just downright have fun.” For more information, go to adventurewomen.com. Average prices range from $3,000$7,000 with the exception of Antarctica, which ranges from $17,000-$20,000.

Glamping on the shores of the cerulean Sea of Cortez on one of the islands most beautiful beaches. Featuring walkin safari-style tents, sun showers, and an on site chef at the luxurious Los Colibris Casitas resort. COURTESY LOS COLIBRIS CASITAS

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

We set the course. You set the pace. 6 and 12 night sailing adventures | all inclusive | 10 to 26 guests BRITISH VIRGINS | FRENCH WEST INDIES LEEWARD ISLANDS | WINDWARD ISLANDS 877.772.4549

islandwindjammers.com readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Early morning hot air balloon flight over the temples of Bagan.

RETO MEIER/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

• été 2019 • readelysian.com

Adventure full of hot air BY BAKER MAULTSBY

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

couple of flights in a hot air balloon, and Edgora McEwan “couldn’t think about anything else.” She had to become a pilot. “Flying a hot air balloon is like having your favorite coffee—you love it and can’t live without it,” McEwan said. She’s among a growing number of women taking up ballooning—for recreation or as a professional endeavor—around the globe. They’re drawn to the mix of scientific knowledge, careful preparation and technical expertise required to successfully pilot a balloon and to the opportunity to become pioneers in a sport historically dominated by men. And they’re of course drawn to the beautiful birds-eye views unique to the experience of traveling by balloon. McEwan became the first woman licensed as a balloon pilot in Dubai, where she describes flights at sunrise over the desert as “one of the experiences of a lifetime.”

THE FIRST FREE FLIGHT WAS LAUNCHED IN PARIS AND ATTRACTED A CROWD OF 100,000 THAT REPORTEDLY INCLUDED BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, WHO WAS SERVING AS UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Sisters Atiqah and Izzati Khairudin, renown as the organizers of MyBalloonFiesta, pilot balloons over the lush green fields and rainforests of Malaysia. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF AKA BALLOON

In Malaysia, sisters Atiqah and Izzati Khairudin, pilot balloons over lush green fields and rainforests. They have earned renown as the organizers of MyBalloonFiesta, an annual festival for balloon enthusiasts. Mother-and-daughter pair Lindsay Muir and Chloe Hallett are ballooning luminaries in Great Britain. Muir has placed in numerous World Air Sports Federation competitions since the 1990s and continues to work as a commercial balloonist. At age 17, daughter Chloe became Britain’s youngest female balloon pilot.

s we recall from grade school study of Greek mythology, traveling through the sky has captured the imagination of humans for millennia. Until the Wright Brothers came along, winged flight was confined to mythological storytelling (and, at that, was the stuff of tragedy). But by the 18th Century, other ideas about how people might be lifted into the air were coming into focus. It was the Enlightenment, and scientific understanding, along with practical experimentation, were advancing rapidly. Building on the discovery of hydrogen—an element lighter than air—a century earlier, French scientist and inventor Jacque Charles conceived the idea of capturing the gas within a bag that could then float above the ground. With brothers Anne-Jean and Nicolas-Louis Robert, who created a fabric to capture and contain the gas, Charles, in 1783, launched the first balloon using hydrogen. Meanwhile, the Montgolfier Brothers, Joseph-Michel and JacquesÉtienne, discovered that when air is heated, it could give an object lift. The idea of a hot air balloon was born. In the fall of 1783, following a period of design experimentation and improvement, the brothers put the first human beings into flight. Initial flights were tethered to the ground. The first free flight was launched in Paris and attracted a crowd of 100,000 that reportedly included Benjamin Franklin, who was serving as United States ambassador to France. Balloon flights were tremendous spectacles, and “balloonomania” swept France and England. One of the most popular up-and-coming balloonists was Jean-Pierre Blanchard. He recruited his wife, Sophie, to become part of his ballooning demonstrations. In 1805, Sophie Blanchard became the first female pilot. She quickly

became well-known for her skill and dramatic flair, which included shooting fireworks while in flight. Napoleon and King Louis XVIII were among her admirers. According to the Smithsonian, Napoleon had Blanchard work on plans for a balloon-based invasion of England—in theory, the world’s first air force. She ultimately determined that such a plan was not realistic. Blanchard was killed in a balloon accident in 1819. She continues to loom large in the history of ballooning and serves as an inspiration to modern-day women pilots. Air travel these days is routine and precise. Pilots can reliably land airplanes at specific locations, with near-perfect timing, just about anywhere on earth. Flying by plane is efficient and, for many, a necessity. Hot air ballooning is an altogether different experience. For one thing, it’s not the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Depending solely on wind currents, a balloon ride lacks precision, even when piloted by an expert. As a pilot, “you can only make the balloon up or down,” Atiqah

Khairudin explained. But it’s the uncertainty that appeals to Atiqah. Skilled balloonists learn wind patterns and the ways they change according to altitude. And they research landscapes and potential obstacles – the Khairudin sisters are careful to avoid airports and areas where power lines are prevalent. Still, “you can’t know exactly where you will go,” Atiqah said. And that’s part of the thrill—as is the tangible sense of being in the sky. “A balloon is not like any other type of aircraft. There’s no obstruction and no engine sound. It’s just the burner and nature.” Atiqah and Izzati grew up with ballooning. Their father was a pilot. He started MyBalloonFiesta in the 1990s. After he died unexpectedly in 2012, the sisters took the helm of both the festival and the company their father had founded, AKA Balloon. They earned their commercial licenses in 2015. During their peak season—roughly June through December—the sisters host flights three to four times a week. McEwan’s husband, Adam, is owner of Balloon Adventures Dubai. The company was a great resource as McEway pursued her license—but she still had to put in the work. She took her first solo flight in 2018. “After 16 flights with an instructor, I could fly the balloon on my own,” she said. “My solo flight was one of the best moments I have had. I felt very proud.” McEwan and the Khairudin sisters take their role as women balloon pilots seriously. They enjoy promoting the sport and hope to inspire other women to follow their lead. Atiqah and Izatti put on demonstrations for schoolchildren and hire college students as interns for the festival. Through Balloon Adventures Dubai, McEwan is connected to a community of women pilots who provide encouragement and support. She expects to see more young women enter the field, whether professionally or as amateur pilots. She has high hopes for one aspiring female balloonist in particular. “My daughter wants to become a pilot, too. I’m a very proud mother.” ■

Edgora McEwan, Dubai’s first female hot air balloon pilot oversees a desert flight, with her trained falcon Tesla. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BALLOON ADVENTURES DUBAI

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Hot air balloon flying over spectacular Cappadocia. MURATART/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Interested in a hot air balloon adventure in an exotic location? Consider a trip to Myanmar or Turkey.

Myanmar: Bagan, one of Asia’s historic gems, has become a top destination for ballooning and balloon tours. Seeing the city and surrounding region by balloon offers incredible views. Bagan was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, and thousands of Buddhist temples were constructed between the Eleventh and Thirteenth Centuries. The architectural beauty and historical significance of these religious sites are enough to make a tour-by-sky a moving experience. Add in a bird’s-eye look at daily life in the city as well as breathtaking landscapes, and a balloon ride over Bagan promises an unforgettable look at a unique part of the world. Two of the city’s most popular balloon tour companies are Balloons Over Bagan and Oriental Ballooning, both of which receive high marks from online reviewers. Turkey: The geography of Cappadocia, Turkey has been described as “surreal” and “otherwordly.” Volcanic rock, extraordinary formations created by erosion, ancient religious sites cut into the landscape— all make for perfect sightseeing via balloon. Indeed, Cappadocia is the site of roughly half of the world’s hot air balloon launches. Numerous companies offer tours varying in duration and cost. Whether taking a balloon tour in Turkey or Myanmar—or anywhere else in the world—a few words of advice: Be prepared for an early-morning launch. Dress with climate and altitude in mind but also heat from the flame. Be ready to stand for a long periods of time. Be flexible, as weather can affect launch times. Gear up for bonding with your fellow passengers—balloon baskets make for close company!

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

& & THERE ARE THINGS YOU CAN’T CONTROL. TAKE A DEEP BREATH, AND LET IT GO

FOR BETTER HEALTH

Hit the Slopes or some, winter is a time of snuggling up by the fire, indulging in hot cocoa and hibernating until spring. While that can be enjoyable, you’re far more likely to find me on the slopes! Snow skiing is my favorite sport, and I love it so much that my entire wedding was planned around a week of skiing in beautiful Aspen, Colorado, with my entire family and close friends. In addition to being a thrill, skiing is a pastime loaded with health benefits. Whether you’re eager to burn calories, build up your leg muscles or just get rid of anxiety, skiing might be the sport you’re searching for. Improved Cardiovascular Fitness Sure, gravity is helping if you’re skiing downhill, but your heart will still be getting a killer workout! As you ski, your heart rate increases. The higher your Acupuncture is a form heart rate, the more oxygen your body of alternative medicine needs - and the more calories you burn and a key component in the process. Skiing is an aerobic sport, of traditional Chinese medicine in whichwhich thin means that you’ll be keeping your needles are inserted into rate elevated for much of the time heart the body. This female you’re on the slopes. model shows sequentially Keep in mind that if you’re skiing at numbered points high and meridians, which altitude, you’ll be taxing your heart and your cardiovascular system a little represent target locations for the needle points. BJOERN WYLEZICH/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

• été 2019 • readelysian.com

more than normal. At high elevation, your heart has to work harder to deliver plenty of oxygen to the muscles that need it most. To enjoy the heart-healthy benefits of skiing without struggling with altitude sickness, try to get to your favorite ski destination a day or two ahead of time. That allows you to acclimate to the elevation before you strap on your skis. Focus on the Core In order to keep an upright posture when you’re skiing, you have to rely on your core an incredible amount. For balance, you’ll use your obliques as well as your abdominals. Although everyone expects to have sore legs the day after hitting the slopes, don’t be surprised if you can also feel it in your core. A few runs down a challenging slope is a lot more fun than doing hundreds of crunches, that’s for sure! Muscles of the Lower Body Whether you’re heading for the bunny slopes or the black diamonds, skiing is a great workout for all the muscles of the lower body. Your glutes serve as the powerhouse, helping to stabilize you as you remain in the squat position for

extended periods of time. Skiing is also going to help shape and build your quads and your hamstrings. Even the muscles in your feet and ankles get a workout when you’re skiing. Mental Health Benefits of Skiing Although the physical benefits of skiing are nothing to scoff at, it’s the psychological benefits that many skiers love most. Strap on your skis to enjoy a boost of endorphins and adrenaline - a combination of feel-good chemicals that can keep you smiling for days to come. Plus, since skiing is an outdoor sport, skiers get the added benefit of Vitamin D. A dose of sunshine is proven to boost mood and stave off conditions like depression. Just one more reason to head for the snow-capped mountains. While I love skiing for so many reasons, there’s no denying the health benefits of the sport. Although there’s something magical about cuddling up by the fireplace with a mug of cocoa, I promise the drink is a little sweeter in a lodge after a long day of skiing. ■ Wishing you love, health & happiness! Angie

Post Workout Recovery

Muscle Fibers Rebuild

BY ANGIE COMER

hat happens after you leave the gym is just as important as what happens inside the gym. To see results from your workouts, you must optimize what you do afterwards. Recovery plays a huge role in building healthy, lean muscle mass. Muscle growth takes place after you leave the gym. Although muscle recovery may vary from person to person, there are some definitive processes that occur in the human body after an intense workout.

It’s a common misconception that when you work out and lift weights, you are building muscle; it is actually just the opposite. During an intense workout, muscles suffer microtears and are broken down. It is during recovery that muscle fibers rebuild, becoming leaner and stronger.

Ways to Aid Muscle Recovery

To ensure that you are getting the most from your workouts and to facilitate optimal recovery, boost your post-workout recovery by eating a healthy protein-rich diet, maintaining regular sleeping patterns, staying hydrated and stretching. There are also a few unconventional ways to aid in repairing and strengthening your tight, achy muscles.

Experience Acupuncture and Cupping

Over the years, cupping has been an extremely effective therapy to speed post-workout recovery, giving many athletes relief from sore muscles. There are many types, but one of the most common is dry cupping, which consists of plastic or glass cups placed on specific areas of the body, typically the back. Cupping speeds up muscle recovery by increasing blood circulation, lymphatic circulation and eliminating inflammation. As a result, most athletes will experience reduced stiffness, primarily because of a drastic increase in blood circulation. Athletes who receive acupuncture along with cupping may find that it improves the

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. People get it for many purposes, including help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation and well-being, and as a type of deep-tissue massage. ASIA IMAGES GROUP/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

effectiveness and enhances the benefits of cupping by releasing fascia and trigger points in the muscles, tendons and ligaments. In conjunction, muscles and connective tissue can lengthen and relax, resulting in better range of motion and performance.

utilizes myofascial release, a technique referring to the application of focused manual pressure with applied stretch to the connective tissue surrounding the muscle.

Schedule Routine Massage

When you exercise, some of the proteins in your muscles are broken down and depleted. Getting adequate amounts of protein before and after your workout allows your body to repair these proteins and build new muscle tissue. A high-quality protein powder is an easy and convenient addition to your diet. Effective workout smoothies can be a very tasty way to eliminate inflammation and help repair muscle fibers. An effective workout recovery smoothie may include pineapple, high-quality protein powder, avocado, spinach, banana, coconut milk and turmeric. The combination of these ingredients promotes optimal muscle recovery while helping you to feel your best. ■

Whether you work out or not, it is beneficial to get a routine massage. An intense workout may cause muscle fatigue and soreness. A recovery massage will restore some pliability and may soothe the pain and soreness of muscles. Bodywork and massages also help to remove toxins, work out the knots and stimulate blood circulation, contributing to optimal muscle recovery. For a more fitness-specific massage, research a massage therapist that

YOUR BODY HOLDS DEEP WISDOM. TRUST IN IT. LEARN FROM IT. NOURISH IT. WATCH YOUR LIFE TRANSFORM AND BE HEALTHY.

Get Your Protein

– Bella Bleue

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com STUDIO 72/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

For a simple yet stunning statement, wear the Soko Triple Charm Necklace. This code link design is handcrafted in brass by artisans in Kenya and features distinctive bar-andloop chain link details that sit on the collar.

â&#x20AC;˘ lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;automne 2019 â&#x20AC;˘ readelysian.com

SUSTAINABILITY IS HAVING MORE THAN A MOMENT. FOR CORA HILTS, CO-FOUNDER OF RÊVE EN VERT—ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZED SUSTAINABLE FASHION BRANDS, THAT HAS ALSO TAPPED INTO ACCESSORIES, HOME AND BEAUTY—THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR SUSTAINABLE GOODS MEANS HER AMBITIONS ARE COMING TO FRUITION.

Rêve En Vert BY CHRISTINE MORRISON

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

êve En Vert, which means “dream in green,” is more than a brand name and e-commerce sustainable luxury platform—it is a vision. While interning for Stella McCartney, the pioneer of sustainable fashion, “the wheels [started] turning about business being a force of good rather than just an industry constantly selling to us,” Cora Hilts, co-founder and CEO of Rêve En Vert said. “It made me start to question other brands who weren’t paying attention to the world around them. That curiosity is what really got me on track to start Rêve En Vert.” Following her graduate degree in environmental policy from London’s King’s College, Hilts considered starting an NGO, but her values and interests—coupled with a friendship with co-founder Natasha Tucker, who was being schooled in sustainable food at an organic farm in Bermuda—led to sustainable fashion. Together, they sought out high-end brands, mandating that designs be produced ethically and sustainably without sacrificing luxury or beauty. With financial support and a tech team in place to sell their highly curated collections, they strove to become the destination for sustainable style. The brand identity and chic website are steeped in sophistication and luxury—none of the crunchy vibe associated with many earth-friendly brands—and its products rival those in Harrods or Barneys. Vogue has said, “Each item is handpicked and lovely, and the fact that it’s sustainable is just a bonus.” Rêve En Vert’s success led to new product lines, including accessories (bags, jewelry, sunglasses, shoes and knits), home (bed, bath and kitchen) and beauty. “I want us to remain a company with a real soul and real dedication to the cause,” Hilts says. “I think that even as we grow, I want us to remain small in the way I run the company, as I think that’s the only way you can ever really stay on top of sustainability.” Further commitment to merge luxury goods with sustainable practices included the founders themselves designing apparel to meet customers’ requests for work and evening pieces. Their in-house fashion capsule, REV, consists of luxury essentials that can transcend seasons and trends while also transitioning from day to night. Expanding into new categories for the home, such as furniture, cleaning and baby products, is in the company’s future. With the evolution of offerings shifting toward a curated lifestyle rather than fashion alone, the brand honed its identity by replacing

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

the word “sustainability” with “honest luxury.” Lest anyone feel this is simply wordsmithing, the founders take their mission to heart: “We feel that sustainability, for all its positive connotations, has now lost its truest meaning through over misuse. We have formed our own definition of what this means to us and have done so in establishing a core belief system. This governs everything that we do.”

orking with inspiring designers committed to making beautiful fashion without negative environmental or social impacts, Rêve En Vert encountered very few competitors initially. Hilts views the recent increase in sustainable luxury as a positive. “It’s quite good as it keeps me on my toes and constantly reminds me Rêve En Vert needs to be a pioneer. As the CEO, I always need to be thinking of innovative ways to stay at the forefront.” At its best, the sustainable fashion industry represents an important intersection of commerce and positive impact: “I see money as a means to give back and provide meaningful change,” Hilts said. “In making good revenue, we are able to [contribute to] building an educated community and give to charities who are helping people and the planet.” Reinvesting in Rêve En Vert’s designers, particularly smaller designers with limited capital, is also one of the company’s core tenets. As Hilts noted, “Profits won’t be going to huge marketing campaigns or top models; it will be put into meaningful businesses that support our overall mission statement and organizations that reflect our values.” Her disdain is for what is known as “fast fashion”—hasty and wasteful production. According to a Pulse of the Fashion Industry report, fashion generates four percent—92 million tons—of the world’s waste each year, much of which comes from off-cuts during the production process. The fashion industry, despite all its beauty, is among the world’s most polluting industries. Also, unfair labor practices abound. Offering seasonless fashion pieces—t-shirts and active-wear among them—beauty products that can be replenished after use, along with timeless and elegant pieces that have longevity, all reinforce Rêve En Vert’s ethos: long-lasting fashion you can feel good about. Having customers who travel and live in varied climates is highly advantageous, as it enables Rêve En Vert to sell products year-round rather than by season. And only after it’s all been sold will it be restocked. This is a stark contrast to the 52-week cycle (yes, new product once a week) that is the norm of fast fashion companies.

The romantic, airy, sweeping silk Odyssey Dress by Perfect Nomad features a deep swooping back and front ties and translates beautifully from beach to the city. Top: The Perfect Nomad Casablanca Striped Dress, made from 100% organic cotton, is expertly crafted by artisans in India and hand printed in multi coloured stripe, featuring long sleeves and a belted waist to temper the slightly loose fit. This kaftan is a perfect example of bold modern Middle Eastern charm.

“. . . I SEE MONEY AS A MEANS TO GIVE BACK AND PROVIDE MEANINGFUL CHANGE. IN MAKING GOOD REVENUE, WE ARE ABLE TO [CONTRIBUTE TO] BUILDING AN EDUCATED COMMUNITY AND GIVE TO CHARITIES WHO ARE HELPING PEOPLE AND THE PLANET.”

Earrings, rings, necklaces and bangles represent just a sampling of the uniquely handcrafted accessories that can be found at Rêve En Vert.

Despite overcoming the unglamorous stigma previously associated with sustainable/eco-friendly fashion, Hilts admits price continues to be an obstacle. “It’s quite a barrier that things do cost more [when] produced sustainably. But the reality of the situation is that we have become so used to paying so little for things. I believe we have a skewed idea of what things should actually cost. It’s a lot easier to skimp on really ethical production and cut corners to bring down costs. You see a lot of big designers or conscious collections tending to do this.” Hilts adds, “There is a lot of intimacy to being honest . . . we’re running a retail site where we can stand up and answer any questions about any of the items we sell or promote with the certainty that they have been made with the utmost respect for people and planet.” The passion behind Rêve En Vert goes well beyond retail, or sales for that matter, to efforts that “engage people and explain why this move towards sustainability and truly conscious consumption is so important.” The site features “Rev Talk,” an editorial forum that aims to start new dialogues and encourage new thinking. Recent thoughtprovoking topics include how to move toward zero waste; navigating travel while limiting your carbon footprint; how to ditch fast fashion; and inspiration for a sustainable wedding registry. There are also offline events to generate ideas and raise awareness. While educational, these mirror the sophistication of the Rêve En Vert website, whether it’s a long-term pop-up in a swank London beauty salon or, most recently, hosting a sustainable pop-up in the Hôtel Les Roches Rouges—Côte d’Azur. With Paris having announced its plan to become the sustainable capital of fashion by 2024 (to coincide with hosting the Olympics) and the ongoing commitment of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to sustainability through a resource hub, the industry has begun to see the light. Change is imperative. Rêve En Vert will be at the forefront. Reflecting on her personal journey, Hilts said, “I think the greatest gift of getting older is this idea that you begin to really consider the wider implications of things rather than just what is affecting you on a day-to-day basis. That objectivity in life and work has been my greatest gift in managing Rêve En Vert. When things get really tough, I can remind myself I am running the business for a greater purpose . . . and it continues to motivate me!” ■

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

how to Treat cellulite

BY AMY ZIMMER

y now, it is common knowledge that you do not have to be overweight to have cellulite. According to the scientific community at least 90 percent of women have cellulite, though some dermatologists would argue that it is closer to 100 percent. In a world that craves perfection down to the smallest detail, cellulite seems to be one issue that challenges women of all ages and sizes. While the causes of cellulite are not well understood, there are a number of proven factors: • Excess fatty tissue • Natural aging of the skin • Genetics • Hormonal factors

Unfortunately, there is not a magic eraser, but there are treatments to reduce cellulite and smooth what is often referred to as “orange-peel skin.” From manual treatments dating back to the 1930s to modern-day space suits taking over Europe, there are treatments for all budgets and severities. Professional treatments generally require more than one session, so it is a good idea to find what works for you and make it a part of your yearly beauty regimen. Regardless of which treatment you choose, consistency and a healthy lifestyle will keep the dimples in the distance. Let’s start by reviewing a few medical treatments for cellulite.

Lymphatic Drainage Massage

One way to combat cellulite is a lymphatic drainage massage (MLD), a gentle way to encourage the movement of lymph fluids throughout the body. The method was first performed by French massage therapists and naturopaths Emil and Estrid Vodder in 1936 after four years of studying the lymph vessel system. The light, rhythmic hand movements they developed stimulate lymph flow and fluid movement, which help to remove waste and toxins from body tissue. It has been used over the years to treat patients suffering from lymphedema, fibromyalgia and other conditions.

STARAS/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM • printemps 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Anti-cellulite procedure of LPG massage is used to aid in body weight loss. UFABIZPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Pressotherapy

Remember I mentioned space suits? Well, that’s pressotherapy. Pressotherapy involves being bundled into a computer-controlled compression system that envelopes your torso and limbs (hence, the “space suit”). The treatment involves alternating air compression and decompression to promote lymphatic drainage. This is one of my favorite treatments after long flights. Once inside the suit, I can simply relax and enjoy the compression. It helps to release toxins and water buildup, and I feel revived, thinner and less achy. Plus, the appearance of my skin is smoother.

Endermologie

Endermologie uses a lipomassage machine that applies pressure, suction, heat and sometimes laser light to tighten the skin and improve its tone. Entirely nonsurgical, endermologie is performed on hundreds of thousands of patients each day and boasts visible results without any worry about side effects. Not only does it result in cellulite reduction, it also reduces fat and increases firmness. Surgical procedures are also available if you believe you are a candidate for a more aggressive treatment. If going to a clinic or doctor’s office isn’t for you, here are a few tips you can try from home.

Diet

By eating a healthy diet, you can reduce cellulite. For starters, you’ll want to avoid excess sugar and sodium, because sugar expands your fat cells, and sodium causes fluid retention. These two effects will only make your cellulite appear worse. Doctors recommend consuming less than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day and avoiding sodium-rich foods (more than 200mg). Find a safe and natural alternative to sugar such as stevia, xylitol, erythritol or date sugar. Your body will reward you for making the switch.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Camouflage

If you’re looking for a quick fix for your cellulite, many women use self-tanner or get a spray tan. While they don’t actually treat the condition, these strategies can temporarily camouflage your skin and make it appear smoother.

Shapewear

Shapewear can be another temporary solution for your cellulite. It compresses the body and reduces the appearance of wrinkles and dimples. Some companies even claim that their specialty weaves can prevent and treat cellulite. Believe me—thin bicycle shorts are perfect under just about any garment and create a much smoother appearance.

Hydrotherapy at Home

After you have taken your normal shower, change the setting to cold. Then, starting at your feet, let the cold water flow all over—moving from the feet upwards to the torso. Bathing in cold water is said to help improve detoxification and blood circulation. This can be a little more challenging in the winter months, but practice makes perfect.

Body Wraps & Preparation H

Whether homemade or professional, body wraps can help to improve the appearance of cellulite. A combination of minerals and herbs not only absorbs toxins and reduces swelling, but it stimulates fat cells as well. As odd as it sounds, a common household treatment is Preparation H. Said to be used by Miss USA contestants to firm up their thighs, the medicated ointment temporarily constricts muscles and tightens skin—but the effect lasts no more than 24 hours. No matter how you choose to combat your cellulite, remember that you’re not alone! ■

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Identifying Your False Beliefs & How to Shake Them

BY MARY ROGERS McMASTER

false belief is an idea that you live by, and it doesn’t help you at all. In fact, it most likely causes you a tremendous amount of stress. We often form these false beliefs as a survival tactic when we are very young. We are looking for connection and acceptance constantly, seeking clues for behavior from the adults in the room. Children are very clear about what they want—love and acceptance. This is where false beliefs begin. While you developed your sense of self as a child, the adults around you were offering rules to live by that you either accepted or rejected. Whatever was the shortest route to love, you took. If you were very joyful as a child but your mother was not, you found ways to hide your joy to gain her love. If you were a very sad child but your father was constantly laughing, you found ways hide your sadness so that he accepted you. We are a reaction to the adults around us, and, whatever the scenario, you formed a structure around their beliefs. By the time you were three years old, you had a pretty solid sense of survival rules. Now you’re 47, and you have no idea why things have to be so intense all the time. You chalk it up to being “just a thing you do.” I’m here to tell you: it doesn’t have to be this way. Earlier this year, I was faced with my own false belief. I realized in a moment of stress that my false belief was dictating my actions and deteriorating my mental state. To give some color to my childhood “rules,” let’s look briefly at my perception of it: I was born into a political family, equipped with spotlights and a stage. I quickly learned to adapt to adult conversation, and the stakes always felt high. I was acutely aware while growing up that my actions would reflect on my father, so I thought, “I’d better be perfect.” Acting became an avenue for safe expression, and I began pursuing this career path at the age of six. I created a life with an additional stage—and, once again, the stakes were always high. Everywhere I looked, the belief rang clear: things must be intense in order to be important.

IMYANIS/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Cut to last year: I’m back in New York City with my fiancé, and on this particular Sunday, I carved out a few hours to buy a gown at Macy’s on 34th Street for an upcoming celebration. The journey requires a subway ride with a bunch of strangers for the better part of an hour, and then the train spits you out right next to the mall. New York City is known for being an aggressive place to live, but for the most part, people leave you alone. The smartphone has also created a very nice human shield, so it has become shocking if someone speaks to you. In the train station, it’s the same rules. Everyone has headphones in, everyone avoids eye contact—you are essentially in a cubicle by yourself. For me and my brain, however, this scene was rife with opportunity for danger; it was time to make a story out of it.

Things must be intense in order to be important. As I stepped on to the train platform to wait for the Q, my mind started buzzing. You know this feeling—it’s the sensation that immediately follows the calming thought, “Everything is fine.” It is the preverbal voice that busts through the doors of your conscience to let you know there’s something you forgot to worry about. Suddenly, my false belief began to rule my thoughts.

Things must be intense in order to be important. I began to imagine terrible scenarios so that I could prepare for them: What if someone pushes me onto the track? What if I see Kelly and she’s rude to me and we argue? What if I create a dangerous scenario accidentally? My brain is buzzing, and I am feeling stress mounting and mounting. Stress is a clue to the core issue. When you begin to feel stress, you imagine obstacles that separate yourself from the moment you are currently in. As long as you are pushing away from the present moment, you are creating a narrative for stress and disconnection from yourself. When you disconnect, you push that bar of personal success further and further away. You are creating a game of cat-and-mouse out of your own happiness, letting your false belief lead you down this dark road. Sound familiar? We’ve all bought in to the cycle of stress, and our fear is driving.

Things must be intense in order to be important. The train still hasn’t come, no one has spoken a word to me in the station, and I am sweating in my own mental personal hell. By the time my list of terrible-things-that-could-go-wrong-right-now reaches 10 or 12, I start to sense that this stress is unfounded. I look around to see that people are calm, and there is no obvious disaster. It was then that I entertained the idea that this stress had no basis in reality–-but just to make sure, I asked myself three questions: 1. Am I safe? Yes. 2. Did I just do something wrong? No. 3. Did something bad just happen? No. When you ask yourself these questions in a highly stressful moment, selfinduced or otherwise, you cut to the truth and throw yourself back into the present. The present moment is where the gold is; the present moment is where the truth is. Most of our stress comes from our imagination. I answered these questions and slowly began to shake off the fog. As it turns out, I was just going to the mall. As it turns out, I was just another person on the train platform with nothing exciting or interesting happening, and that’s okay. I was simply running an errand. That was it. The train arrived. The doors opened. I stepped in and went about my uneventful trip to Macy’s.

It was then I realized the power of this false belief, so I decided to flip it. “Things must be intense in order to be important,” became, “Things don’t have to be intense in order to be important.” Eventually, it became, “I am valuable even if things are not intense.” It always comes back to you. Our fear tied to action always stems from a false belief that we must be a certain way to be loved. The truth is, you are worthy of love by virtue of being you. We invite stress into our lives because we still think we have to behave a certain way to gain love and acceptance. When we allow false beliefs to lead us, we get what we think we deserve—stress. There is still a part of us that believes we have to behave a certain way to be loved, and our false beliefs can feel like protection. I get it! I’ve used my need for intensity as a shield of armor for years. I used it to present a tough exterior so that no one could get too close; if no one could get too close, no one could hurt me. But, if no one could hurt me, no one could love me. See where I’m going with this? Your false belief has kept you from reaching your full potential, and here’s the good news—you can turn it around. If you want to release stress and invite peace into your life, take a gentle look at what drives you. Thank your parents for doing their best and move forward with peace and ease; this is not a rear-facing exercise whatsoever.

Notice your habits and follow the fear. Notice the things that you say all the time, the things that tie you up in knots. Notice the patterns of stress in your life. Is there something that occurs often? Patterns of stress reveal false beliefs, and as patterns continue, they are self-perpetuating until there is interruption.

The flip of our false belief is that interruption. When you’ve identified one of your false beliefs, put it into a single phrase and work to flip it so that you can start to invite peace and ease into your life. Notice how your posture changes when you see this false belief written out—how big it felt before and how small it looks now. Feel free to laugh with joy or cry with exhaustion. You are a powerful person. The first step to undoing our knots is realizing where they come from. Be gentle with yourself, follow the fear and flip that false belief. You don’t need it any more. You’re wonderful without it. Some examples of “the flip” from clients past: “I don’t want to call him back because he’s not going to like what I have to say.” False Belief: I will not be received well. Instead: I will be received well. “I just don’t have time to stop what I am doing for that.” False Belief: I am only valuable if I am moving and busy. Instead: I am valuable when I am still. “The only way it is going to get done is if I do it myself.” False Belief: I can’t trust anyone but myself. Instead: I value others and their input. ■

ABOUT MARY ROGERS McMASTER Mary Rogers is a holistic wellness coach with over twenty years of acting experience. Her work in personal wellness spans many forms including chakra work, energy healing, Alexander technique, leadership training, executive coaching, fitness, dance, talk therapy, and emotional release. She is based in New York City.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

a Fresh

take on fall

xecutive Editor of Graceful Living, Rhonda Wilkins, shares her favorite recommendations for improving wellbeing, from a sojourn to a unique beach getaway in Malaysia, home to one of the world’s most luxurious wellness centers, to items for the mind, body and soul that will help you create a peaceful retreat and healthier living space within your very own home.

Luxury in the Rainforest

BY RHONDA WILKINS

This beachside retreat, nestled amidst the lush rainforest on Malaysia’s Langkawi Island, has been designed to blend seamlessly into its surroundings. Made of timber from elephant-felled trees, The Datai Langkawi is guided by a sustainable ethos built literally into its core. This thoughtful approach extends to the resort’s Spa and Wellbeing program, which embraces the ever-expanding healing found in the rainforest with its age-old traditions and philosophies of the Malay culture known as Ramuan.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

SHOP & EXPLORE

The Datai Langkawi

3. Alo Performance Attire

Calm App

The Healing Power of OM

While I always advocate for finding time every day to unplug, to put away the smartphones and devices, there is an exception to the rule: the award-winning Calm app featuring meditation techniques for stress reduction and sleep is an example of smartphone-based technology that can actually improve focus and relaxation. I have found it to be the perfect antidote for anxiety and life’s hectic moments.

Odacité All-Embracing Serum (Watermelon + Hibiscus)

From Studio To Street

I absolutely adore Alo for all yoga wear and accessories. Their clothing is wear-tested by yogis for best fit, but doubles perfectly as everyday, casual activewear.

Art of Folding handwoven 100% cotton yoga blanket by Priti

Tools for an Enlightened Life

These expertly hand-woven, 100% cotton blankets make the perfect gift. Designed for yoga practice, they are also beautiful enough to use as a throw blankets. PRITI founder, Joanna Feldheim, went on a quest to India to source materials from talented weavers devoted to manufacturing eco-sustainable textiles. The company supports India’s farmers who are in a GMO pesticide crisis and actively supports the emerging fairly traded and organic cotton trade, with all blankets woven under the Global Organic Textile Standard.

Clean Skin

Skin is the largest organ of the body—it is imperative we take care of it! I absolutely recommend Odacité’s All-Embracing Watermelon and Hibiscus Serum. Not only is this lightweight and silky formula packed with antioxidants and natural mild acids, promoting a fresh, radiant complexion, and anti-aging powerhouse vitamins A, B, and E, it is infused with the protective crystal energy of Amethyst, known for its ability to calm mind and body, rid negative energy and instill inner peace.

Grapefruit Coconut Scrub Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 cup granulated sugar 6 to 8 drops of grapefruit essential oil Zest from 1 grapefruit Instructions:

First, soften the coconut oil by placing the jar (make sure the lid is on tight) in a sink or large bowl filled with hot water. Then, in a large bowl mix together the coconut oil, sugar, and essential oil until well combined. Zest 1 grapefruit to the mixture and stir again until well combined. Et voilà!

Executive Editor of Graceful Living, Rhonda Wilkins, is a former Senior Executive at Balmar Printing & Graphics in the Washington D.C Metro area and the wife of the late former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, C. Howard Wilkins Jr. Rhonda brings a wealth of knowledge in the fields of style, design, entertaining, travel and healthy living. Rhonda currently splits her time between Palm Beach, Florida and Europe.

SHOP & EXPLORE

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

PICTORIAL PRESS LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

“

Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but, they also get more notoriety when they crash.

LOST BEYOND the BLUE

”

By Laurie Bogart Wiles

—AMELIA EARHART

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

N JULY 2, 1937, AT 10 A.M., Lockheed Electra 10-E Special, serial number 1055, U.S. civil certification registration NR16020, took off from Lae Airfield in Papua New Guinea, 1,468 miles north of Australia. Called the “Flying Laboratory,” this aircraft was the most technologically advanced and costly of its day. Originally designed as a passenger plane; this one-of-a-kind aircraft was specially designed to fly as far and as long as possible before refueling. To that end, the passenger seats were removed, and two 118-gallon tanks were installed forward of the Main Beam, three 149-gallon tanks and one 70- gallon tank behind the Main Beam. The auxiliary tanks enabled the Electra to fly 2,565-miles nonstop to its destination: a tiny, remote atoll called Howland Island, approximately 1,700 nautical miles south/southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. Every instrument, every reading, every projection had to be exact because the real difficulty was not only finding Howland in the vast Pacific, but seeing it. This would be the second to last, longest and most dangerous leg of the historic second attempt by Amelia Earhart, the most famous female aviator in history, to circumnavigate the earth as close to the Equator as possible. The roar of the engines drowned out the buzz of excitement that emanated from a group of awestruck natives that mingled among a few British officials on the edge of the airfield to watch the heavily laden aircraft lift off before the dirt runway dropped into the Huon Gulf. No one—not even Earhart nor her sole crew member, navigator Fred Noonan—realized that fate had just dealt them the hand that would play out in tragedy. The antenna mast attached to the rear belly of the aircraft snapped off when the tail whipped back as Amelia swung the plane sharply onto the runway. Grainy footage shows the antenna hit the ground as Amelia revved the engines for a fast takeoff down the short airstrip. Without its main receiving antenna, the Lockheed Electra 10-E Special was now unable to receive radio transmissions. Earhart and Noonan were doomed to fly in silence over the vast Pacific—into oblivion. WHO WAS THIS WOMAN WHOSE FATE REMAINS CLOAKED IN MYSTERY? Amelia Mary “Millie” Earhart was born in Achison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. She was the eldest child of Amelia “Amy” Otis and Edwin Stanton Earhart, a mediocre lawyer with an alcohol problem that would eventually destroy his family. Her sister and only sibling, Grace Muriel “Pidge” Earhart, was three years younger. Her parents’ separated when she was twelve. Soon after, Millie and Pidge were separated from both parents. The girls remained in Atchison to live with their wealthy maternal

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

grandparents, Alfred and Amelia Harres Otis, while Amy followed Edwin to find work, in an attempt to save the marriage. In 1915, after graduating from Hyde Park School, Amelia’s grandparents sent her to Ogontz School, an elite finishing school in Philadelphia, from which she graduated in 1917. Women from good families were to marry well and have children, but Amelia wanted more for herself. From an early age, she kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of strong, independent women. Her dream was to attend Bryn Mawr, then Vassar, and become a doctor. But her plans changed abruptly while visiting her sister, who was attending St.

Amelia Earhart and husband George Putnam, American publisher, author and explorer. UNKNOWN/TEKNISKA MUSEET

• Opposite top: An unidentified image of Earhart, circa 1930s. Opposite bottom: Kimonoclad Earhart being served in a Japanese tearoom. Rumors claimed Earhart had survived a forced landing in the Pacific in 1937 and eight years of captivity in Japan. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY HERITAGE AUCTIONS/HA.COM

• Below: Earhart during a visit to Hawaii in 1934. COURTESY PACIFIC AVIATION MUSEUM

Margaret’s College in Toronto, Canada. The United States finally entered World War I. The Spanish Influenza pandemic was a global plague, likewise taking millions of lives. Together, almost 200 million people died. Aware of the dire need for nurses at Spadina Military Hospital, Amelia volunteered. In 1919, Amelia was prepared to pursue her goal to study medicine and enrolled at Columbia University in New York, but she left after her first year to move to California to support her parents in another attempt at reconciliation. She was 22 when she attended an air show and, for the first time, saw a plane

fly. It was the golden age of daredevil flying. Crowds of people flocked to watch stunt pilots risk their lives, defying gravity in their “devil machines,” flying upside-down, doing loops and spins, plunging nose-first before averting the ground seemingly by inches, while scantily clad women walked along the wings and men of derring-do hung from them. Amelia was smitten. It was the “Roaring Twenties,” arguably the most pivotal decade of change for women in modern times. On August 26, 1920, female empowerment took its first giant leap forward when the 19th Amendment was passed granting women the right to vote. The Age of Independence for women had begun— and it took off with a bang. There were new fashions, new ideas. The number of working women outside of the home increased by 35 percent between 1920 and 1930. Mary Pickford, the brightest star in the early days of the Silver Screen, co-founded United Artists with her then-husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Edith Wharton became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Humorist Dorothy Parker was embraced as the first female member of the celebrated Algonquin Round Table. “The Mother of American modernism,” artist Georgia O’Keeffe, redefined fine art. Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League. Singers Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne were female trailblazers of “The Harlem Renaissance,” a celebration of African-American culture. Also called the “Jazz Age,” it was that rebellious, sexually liberated time when hemlines rose and morals fell, women bobbed their hair, smoked cigarettes in public and drove cars! Men slicked-back their hair and wore double-breasted blazers, grey flannels and “dirty” bucks just like international playboy, the Duke of Windsor. The Great Gatsby, debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald, became the Bible of his generation. Prohibition spawned the biggest business of all, the Mafia, which monopolized bootlegging and the illegal distribution of alcoholic beverages. More than 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone poured gin into the wee hours. Dirty cops lined their pockets with ‘tokens of appreciation’ for turning a blind eye. Carefree women called “flappers” danced the Charleston, the Black

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

The female aviator Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic receives cheers from the crowd after touching down in Londonderry, Ireland, May 21, 1932. © KEYSTONE PICTURES USA/ZUMAPRESS.COM)

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Bottom, the Shimmy and the Turkey Trot with booze-fueled abandon. And, yes—divorce had become oh-so-much easier. None of this would have been possible just twenty years before. The Twenties were the coming of age of America. And it would be Amelia Earhart’s coming of age, as well. ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1921, AMELIA’S FATHER SURPRISED HER with a gift of a five-minute ride in a biplane. “As soon as I left the ground,” she later recounted, “I knew I myself had to fly.” Determined, she took a number of part-time jobs to earn money for lessons. Her first instructor was female pioneer aviatrix Anita “Neta” Snook, and soon Amelia was living, breathing and dreaming about nothing but flying. She cut her luxuriant long hair and slept in her new leather flight jacket to give it the crumpled effect of a more seasoned flyer. In the summer of 1921, she purchased her first plane—a yellow, secondhand Kinner Airster biplane she affectionately called “The Canary.” On October 22, 1922, Amelia achieved a world altitude record when she flew The Canary to 14,000 feet—the first of numerous altitude, distance and speed records she would set over the next 15 years, including an altitude record of 18,000 feet in an autogiro. One of the original feminists, she wanted to prove a woman was just as good as any man in the air, later maintaining, “I’ve had practical experience and know the discrimination against women in various forms of industry. A pilot’s a pilot. I hope that such equality could be carried out in other fields so that men and women may achieve equally in any endeavor they set out.” In 1923, Amelia became engaged to a chemical engineer named Sam Chapman, but the engagement was short-lived after Amelia declined to wear an engagement ring. In 1924, the money inherited from Amelia’s maternal grandmother had run out and with it, any chance her parents had of saving their marriage. Unable to make a living at flying, Amelia sold her beloved plane and drove across country with her divorced mother to start a new life in Boston. She wanted to continue her medical studies at Columbia University, but money for tuition was simply not there. Living with her mother in a modest house in Medford, Massachusetts, she became a teacher, then a social worker. Finances improved, and in 1927, Amelia was able to return to flying. She became a member of the Boston Chapter of the American Aeronautical Society, a regional sales representative for Kinner airplanes, wrote articles on aviation and became the sixteenth woman to be issued a pilot’s license by the world aeronautics governing body, the Federation Aeronautique.

The stylish Earhart, right, also had a tremendous influence over the fashions of her time and beyond, designed under her own label “Amelia Earhart,” which included apparel as well as luggage, as seen here in this magazine advertisement from the 1960s. THE ADVERTISING ARCHIVES / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

ON MAY 21, 1927, A 25-YEAR-OLD PILOT NAMED CHARLES LINDBERGH flew 3,600 miles in the first successful transatlantic flight to Paris, France. Flying solo, the courageous journey took Lindbergh 331/2-hours in his single-engine Ryan monoplane, the “Spirit of St. Louis.” That one feat would make the world a smaller place—and Amelia Earhart’s prospects greater. Not only was this the first time the Atlantic Ocean was successfully crossed by air, but Lindbergh singlehandedly introduced air travel. Now, the sky, quite literally, was the limit. Two months later, New York publisher George P. Putnam published Lindbergh’s autobiography, WE. It sold over 650,000 copies the first year, was translated into every major language and resulted in a highly lucrative promotional tour of 82 cities. Putnam transformed the quiet, former barnstormer and U.S. Air Mail pilot into a national hero. According to contemporaries, Putnam was a “skilled conjuror with a knack for showmanship” and could “pull a best-seller out of his hat.” Soon after Lindbergh’s exploit, Putnam was in a meeting with Hilton Howell Railey, a Massachusetts businessman and U.S. Marine veteran. “Pull your chair over,” Railey whispered to Putnam, according to an article by Keith O’Brien, published August 1, 2018, in Globe Magazine. Railey had heard that two aviators in Boston were secretly preparing to fly a woman across the Atlantic. Putnam wasn’t the first person to figure out that the next big thing after Lindbergh would be for a woman flyer to cross the Atlantic. The publicity alone would be a gold mine! Putnam urged Railey to find the two men—and find them fast. “By midnight,” O’Brien wrote, “he had found his two airmen at the Copley Plaza Hotel: a mechanic named Lou Gordon and a pilot named Wilmer “Bill” Stultz. Railey plied Stultz with Scotch—the pilot’s weakness—to get the answers he needed and then reported the news back to Putnam. A secret female flight was, indeed, in the works. There was just one hitch in the plan. The woman who had commissioned the flight, the wealthy Amy Guest, had backed out. Her family didn’t want her flying across the ocean.” Socialite Amy Phipps

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Guest was the daughter of Pittsburgh steel magnate Henry Phipps Jr., Andrew Carnegie’s partner in the Carnegie Steel Company. She was also an amateur flyer and wanted to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, if only as a passenger. However, her family protested that it was too dangerous. Six women flyers had already lost their lives in the attempt. According to Sally Putnam Chapman, granddaughter of George and Dorothy Putnam, in Whistled Like a Bird, her 1997 biography of her grandparents’ and Amelia Earhart’s complex relationship, “George had heard quite by accident that a wealthy socialite from Pittsburgh, Mrs. Frederick Guest, was searching for a suitable candidate to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a plane.” A meeting was arranged in which Amy told Putnam she would sponsor the flight if he could find a well-educated, wellbred, attractive, ladylike aviatrix—“the right sort of girl”—willing to go on the momentous journey. The search was on. Railey put the word out among his U.S. Navy and Marine Corps friends. “Call Denison House,” a retired Navy man told him, “and ask for Amelia Earhart” [IBID,O’Brien, Globe.] Railey arranged for Earhart to meet Putnam at his office in New York on April 25. Their first meeting did not go well. Putnam kept her waiting outside his office for an hour. When she was finally ushered into his office, she was “as sore as a wet hen,” Putnam later recalled. “I just didn’t like him,” Earhart said of their first meeting, “He was rude, abrupt and took one phone call after another, but by the end of the meeting, I recognized his tremendous power of accomplishments and immediately respected his judgment.” Putnam came out of their meeting with a different take. He confided his feelings to his wife, Dorothy. “George was infatuated with Amelia and spoke freely to his wife about the young woman’s intelligence and friendly manner. He also noted her graceful hands, her gray eyes and quick laughter, describing the aviatrix as someone Dorothy would enjoy knowing,” according to Sally Putnam Chapman. Though several other women flyers were considered, the choice could only be the quietly composed woman who bore such a startling resemblance to Charles Lindbergh—so close, in fact, that when Railey first reported to Putnam, he referred to Amelia as “Lady Lindy.” And that’s exactly how Putnam would introduce her to the world press. ON JUNE 17, 1928, “LADY LINDY” took off with pilot Wilmer “Bill” Stultz and mechanic Louis E. “Slim” Gordon from Trespassey Harbor, Newfoundland. Guest had leased and christened “The Friendship.” Twentyhours, 40-minutes later, “The Friendship” landed in Burry Point, Wales. Stultz had flown the entire way, prompting Amelia to privately confide, “I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes. Maybe someday I’ll try it alone.” She sidestepped the question the press asked her about her role in the flight: “Adventure is worthwhile in itself,” she demurred. On July 6, New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker gave Amelia, Bill Stultz and Slim Gordon a hero’s welcome with a ticker tape parade along Broadway. From that day to this, Amelia Earhart would be heralded as the most famous female flyer the world has ever known. Immediately after the parade, Amelia moved into the Putnam’s home in Rye, New York, where she would stay until she completed writing 20 Hrs., 40 Min., an autobiographical account of her great adventure. Putnam was constantly coming up with new ideas to cash in on Amelia’s fame. Among her many endorsements was Amelia Earhart Luggage, manufactured by Orenstein Trunk Company. Made in linen and leather with silk lining, the line was considered an innovation in stylish travel. Dorothy and Amelia were thrown together, though not by choice, and became friends at first, sharing a love of travel and adventure and in time, the love of the same man. But inevitable strain surfaced. At the end of August, Amelia and Putnam put Dorothy on a train for a month-long trip to California. During Dorothy’s absence, George and Amelia fell in love. Dorothy had been having an affair with her son’s tutor. One afternoon, during a barbeque party the Putnams were hosting, Dorothy packed her bags and left, as one guest recalled, while Putnam was “gaily spearing hot dogs for a shy young aviatrix named Amelia Earhart.” Dorothy filed for divorce. Talk of matrimonial plans ran rampant through the press. Amelia’s demure, evasive response was, “You can never tell. If I was sure of the man, I might get married tomorrow.” But she wasn’t sure of the man. She confided in a letter to a

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

friend, “I am still unsold on marriage. I may not ever be able to see it except as a cage until I am unfit to work or fly or be active.” Clearly, the pressure on Amelia was intense as Putnam minutely crafted her image: He told her to keep her lips closed when she smiled to conceal the gap between her two front teeth. FINALLY, ON FEBRUARY 6, 1931, Putnam telephoned his mother to tell her that he and Amelia were driving to Noank to be married the following day by Judge Anderson. There would be no guests, just Putnam’s mother Frances and two witnesses. There would be no flowers, not even a wedding ring. However, just before the ceremony, Earhart handed Putnam a two-page letter she had typed out on his mother’s grey household stationary: “I cannot guarantee to endure at all times the confinements of even an attractive cage. I must exact a full promise, and this is that you will let me go in a year if we find no happiness together.” Putnam agreed. The letter “was brutal in its frankness but beautiful in its honesty,” he would later say. Then, just moments before the civil ceremony began, Amelia had the word “obey” struck from the marriage vows. Five-minutes later, George Putnam and Amelia Earhart were legally bound together as husband and wife. Ten days later, on February 17, 1931, the news finally broke. Headlines blared, “Aviation Pioneer Amelia Earhart married George P. Putnam in Noank, Conn.” Now that she was a married woman, Amelia was even more scrupulous about protecting her privacy and her name. On June 28, 1932, she wrote to Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, from her home in Rye, N.Y.: “May I make a request of the Times through you? Despite the mild expression of my wishes, and those of G.P.P., I am constantly referred to as ‘Mrs. Putnam’ when the Times mentions me in its columns. I admit I have no principle to uphold in asking that I be called by my professional name in print. However, it is for many reasons more convenient for both of us to be simply ‘Amelia Earhart.’ After all (here may be a principle) I believe flyers should be permitted the same privileges as writers or actresses.” The marriage resembled a business, rather than a conjugal partnership; but as a business, it was extremely successful. Putnam continued to devote himself to licensing and promoting “the goals his wife set for herself as an aviator” and together, as a team, fashioned Amelia Earhart into one of the most lucrative, iconic marketing brands of the day. But it was Amelia’s line of smartly tailored, feminine and functional women’s clothing that gave her the most pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. “The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune,” she said. Amelia had sewn her own clothing as a girl. The practical flying suit she designed for herself early in her career became the accepted uniform of women aviators. Her sleek, trim style was so universally admired that it netted her a regular column in Cosmopolitan magazine, where she was an advocate for the independent, free-thinking woman. In February 1933, the Putnams invited Amelia’s favorite designer, Elsa Schiaparelli, to lunch to discuss a line of “functional clothing for active living.” Amelia Earhart Fashions was born in the Putnams’ suite at New York’s Hotel Seymour, where a workspace was set aside for her with a sewing machine, dressmaker’s mannequin made to her proportions and a professional seamstress to turn her concept into reality. “I hate ruffles, and at the price I

could pay, that was all I could buy. So, I decided to design clothes.” Sales were encouraging at first. When she was not giving lectures, Amelia worked on her collection. Putnam encouraged the press to drop by and interview his wife. Her goal, Amelia would say, was to produce well-made, washable, affordable clothing that was “something characteristic of aviation, a parachute cord or tie or belt, a ball-bearing belt buckle, wing bolts and nuts for buttons.” Her trench coat design was redolent of her early flying clothes. A Harris tweed coat had a zip-in and washable lining, and raincoats were made in “parachute” silk with buttons shaped like propellers. But the clothing line couldn’t maintain the excitement with which it was first met. The Great Depression was in full force, and while $16.75 seems like a reasonable price for a pair of slacks today, it was the equivalent of $300 back then. Women did not have that kind of money to buy clothes— indeed, the majority of Americans had barely enough money to spend on food for their children. Even in December 1934, when the Fashion Designers of America voted Amelia one of the ten best-dressed women in America, the widespread publicity was not enough to sustain Amelia Earhart Fashion, and the collection did not see a second season. ON MAY 20, 1932, AT 7:12 P.M. AMELIA TOOK OFF IN HER FIRE ENGINE RED, single-engine Lockheed Model 5B Vega, with a wingspan of 41-feet, from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland for her solo transatlantic flight. If successful, Amelia would be the first woman and second person to succeed. Newsreel footage of her climbing into the cockpit had to be re-shot because she turned away from her husband when he went to kiss her. On the retake, she allowed Putnam to kiss her briefly on the cheek.

Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), checking equipment on her airplane. Ca. 1937. EVERETT HISTORICAL/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Trouble struck almost immediately. Thick ice formed on the wings forcing her to fly low in fog. The altimeter failed, the plane’s manifold cracked, the fuel tank leaked, and the exhaust manifold was damaged. With no recourse but to visually search for land, she caught sight of a cow pasture in Culmore, Northern Ireland. “Where am I?” she asked the farmer who approached the plane. “Why, you’re in Gallegher’s pasture!” he replied. Though some ways away from her planned destination of London, England, Amelia Earhart had nonetheless completed her goal. On May 21, 1932, 15 hours, 39 minutes after her departure, Amelia Earhart became the first woman aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic—exactly five years to the day after Lindbergh’s inaugural flight—a distance of 1,754 nautical miles (2,109 statute miles.) Even such a victory was not enough for Amelia. She continued to seek fresh opportunities and break records, flying from Hawaii to California, Mexico City to New York, setting the coast-to-coast speed record. Then, in 1936, she announced that she would attempt a 27,000 mile air journey that no man or woman had ever accomplished: “I hope to fly from Oakland to Honolulu, then Howland Island to the northern tip of Australia, up through Singapore, Calcutta across India . . . then across Africa to Dakar. From Dakar, I cross the south Atlantic across to Panama, through Mexico, and back to the starting point.” HER LONG AND GRUELING UNDERTAKING had begun almost a year earlier, on July 24, 1936, when Amelia took delivery of what ultimately would be her flying coffin. She had worked closely with the U. S. federal government to promote commercial air travel to Hawaii. Her navigator Fred Noonan was considered one of the most proficient experts in naval and aerial navigation. On the morning of March 17, 1937, the plane took off from Burbank, California for Luke Field (NAS Ford Island), Honolulu, Hawaii. It was not a smooth flight; weather conditions were poor, and Paul Nantz, who was sharing the pilot duties with Amelia, made a hard landing. The flight to Honolulu took 15-hours and 47-minutes. Three days later, on the morning of March 20 with Amelia at the helm, the heavily laden aircraft attempted to take off when purportedly a tire was blown. Amelia lost control of the aircraft, which spun on the runway and crashed. On May 20, Earhart set out once more, this time flying west to east, now judged safer due to changing global weather patterns. But something else beside the weather patterns had changed their plans. Harry Manning backed out, leaving Amelia, Noonan and Nantz to fly to Miami. Once there, Nantz decided not to go on, claiming “contract disputes,” leaving Noonan as Amelia’s sole crew member. The official reason given for his departure was that the plane was too heavy. With Amelia at the helm, it stood to reason that Nantz, a second pilot, was dispensable while Noonan, the only remaining navigator, was not. Another last-minute change that would ultimately prove fatal was Amelia’s decision to leave in Miami a low-frequency Morse code radio, which meant she could only communicate on high-frequency radio. Despite their experience in the sky, Amelia and Noonan were considered to have only average radio skills. Now the crew was

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

down to one pilot, one navigator and one radio device. The second leg of the flight, over South America, went without incident, but as they began to cross the Atlantic for Africa, trouble brewed. Noonan directed Amelia to turn south; she disagreed and turned north. Noonan was right, and they were forced to land in the wrong city. They crossed Africa in six stops to the eastern border of India where, on June 17, monsoons hit southeast Asia and hit hard—so hard that driving rain peeled the paint off the plane. They landed in Java, experiencing a six-day delay due to weather and equipment repairs. From there, they flew to Australia and on June 29, landed in Lea, Papua New Guinea. They were just two stops away from their return to Oakland, California —the first, on Howland Island for refueling and the second, in Honolulu. They were finally on their way home, having completed more than three-quarters of their journey. “The whole width of the world has passed behind us except this broad ocean,” Earhart said upon landing in Lae. “I shall be glad when we have the hazards of its navigation behind us.” On July 1, however, Earhart telegrammed from Lae that they would hold one day due to “personal unfitness” of the crew. Landing on Howland Island would not be easy under any circumstance. The atoll was a mere 6,500 feet long, 1,600 feet wide and at most, 20 feet above sea level. If dense cloud cover hung over the island, it would be difficult to spot until they were almost upon it. Finally, at 10 the morning of July 2, with a full load of gas, the Lockheed Electra took off for the 2,556 mile flight to Howland Island, where the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Itasca was waiting to help with navigation and communication. The forecast relayed from the Itasca was not good: dangerous local rain squalls about 300 miles east of Lae and scattered Amelia Earhart standing in front of the Lockheed Electra in which she disappeared on July 29, 1937. EVERETT HISTORICAL/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

heavy showers for the remainder of the route period with winds east southeast about twenty-five knots to Ontario, then east to northeast about 30-knots to Howland.” The overriding question is, how far off course could sustained winds of roughly 30 to 40 miles per hour push the aircraft? If the crosswinds took them 15-degrees in an easterly direction, could that have steered them off-course by as much as 300 miles? And, with four extra, full fuel tanks, if they continued on that course, how far could they have overshot Howland? Could that have put them in open waters between Palmyra and Johnston Atolls? At this point, Amelia’s flight instruments were not keeping accurate time, the radio direction finder had ceased to function, and the Itasca, which was waiting off Howland to guide Earhart and Noonan to a landing, was unsuccessfully broadcasting to them on the low-frequency equipment Amelia had left in Miami. What’s more, the Electra left Lae 50 gallons under fuel capacity. As dawn broke on the morning of June 2, the Itasca received a message from Amelia approximately 500 miles from Howland. At this juncture, they had been flying 17 hours, without functional equipment. There was no communication from Amelia for what seemed an eternity when finally, the Itasca heard her say, “We must be on you but cannot see you.” The Itasca disgorged thick, black smoke from its smokestacks hoping Amelia and Noonan would catch sight as the ship’s radio operator continued to signal their coordinates. Thirtythree minutes after her previous transmission, Earhart acknowledged they still could not locate the Itasca’s signal. It was now 8:45 a.m. Earhart and Noonan had been flying 20 hours and 14 minutes and were dangerously low on fuel. “Itasca,” she radioed the ship, “we are on the level position. We are now running north and south.” It would be the last message the Itasca would ever receive. At 10:15 a.m, an hour and a half since her final message, the Itasca reported Earhart and Noonan missing and radioed the Pacific Fleet in Honolulu to send all available assistance. News spread like wildfire, and the world held its breath as the Itasca scanned the waters for the rest of that day

and all night waiting for help to arrive. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the Coast Guard and Navy to spare no expense. If Amelia managed to land the plane on water, it would have floated for hours or even days. The plane was equipped with an inflatable raft. If she and Noonan had landed on any one of the uninhabited islands in the Pacific, they could survive on their emergency supplies. The Gilbert Islands, which lie 400 miles west of Howland, were scouted by air, but there was no sign of a wreckage, or engine oil or debris on the ocean surface. As time passed, the odds of a rescue, and all hope, grew dimmer. Sixtysix aircraft and nine ships had been authorized by President Roosevelt in the most extensive search for missing persons at sea in history, 250,000 square miles at a cost of $4 million. With not one clue, the search officially ended July 18, and the U.S. Navy ships turned home for Honolulu, their flags flying at half-mast. THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE CREW OF THE FLYING LABORATORY REMAINS A MYSTERY TO THIS DAY. Many continue to believe Earhart and Noonan were stranded on a remote, uninhabited island—quite possibly, Nikumaroro—and perished. If they crashed outside of the reef, they would have been torn by the sharp coral and prey to the multitude of tiger sharks that has seethed in those waters. And what of other speculations? That Amelia survived and assumed a new identity to start a life away from the limelight and an unloving husband? Perhaps Amelia had not fully recovered from a serious bout of dysentery and still was not fit to fly. . . or that Amelia was on a top-secret spy mission to the Marshall Islands, authorized by President Roosevelt. Was she captured by Japanese troops . . . ? And most far-fetched of all, that Amelia was sympathetic to the Japanese, purposely crashed her plane and became the voice of Tokyo Rose. Impossible. The fact is that these were dangerous times. Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, coveted the Flying Laboratory, convinced the aircraft was a top-

secret United States spy plane equipped with the most modern technology and that Amelia and Noonan may indeed have been on a top secret mission to fly over Japanese controlled waters and scout military island strongholds. Of the numerous small islands and atolls in that part of the Pacific, a number were already populated by Japanese troops. It is more than likely Amelia’s plane was being monitored by the Japanese from the highfrequency radio signals emitted from the Flying Laboratory and that her precise location was known at all times. This would qualify the conspiracy theory that—Amelia and Noonan were rescued, captured and imprisoned by the Japanese for years on Saipan and executed in retribution when it became clear Japan had lost World War II. This theory is evidenced by witnesses who attest to guarding, feeding and doing the laundry of “two American prisoners, a man and a woman.” Furthermore, two natives on the Marshall Islands purported to have seen a Japanese war ship come into harbor with a silver twin-engine airplane with a damaged wing suspended above deck. Indeed, there is photographic evidence that shows Amelia and Noonan at a dock with an aircraft that conforms to the Flying Laboratory. And what of the cryptic White House telephone transcript dated just three days after the disappearance of Earhart’s plane that suggests foul play—a transcript that was “misfiled” and mysteriously lost for 55 years? WHO WAS THIS FEARLESS, COURAGEOUS WOMAN WITH BROAD SMILE, WAVY BLONDE BOB AND SAD, UNSMILING EYES? WHO, INDEED? Alas, the world will never know. “I have a feeling there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this is it,” she had told reporters when she embarked upon her final quest. “As far as I know, I’ve only got one obsession—a small and probably typically feminine horror of growing old—so I won’t feel completely cheated if I fail to come back.” ■

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Holistic Heartspeak: A Mother & Daughter’s Journey Inward by Alexia Paul

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

How Princess Grace of Monaco Ruled the World By Laurie Bogart Wiles

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CGH EARTH AYURVEDA

at first glance, Kalari Kovilakom lacks the typical hallmarks of a hospital. It’s serene, not spotless; it’s steeped in tradition rather than technology. Yet, despite its spa-like atmosphere, those who go there seek much more than a vacation. Located in the verdant tropics of Kerala, a region in southern India, this 200-year-old Vengunad palace is suffused with ritual, discipline and a fierce devotion to the practice of Ayurveda. “Ayur” (life) and “veda” (knowledge) are Sanskrit words that, together, describe an ancient holistic healing practice of herbal, dietary and lifestyle practices. At its core are the natural world and a rejection of the chemicals on which modern Western medicine has become so dependent.

And while “holistic” is a wellness catchall these days, Ayurveda originated some 3,000 years ago and may just be the definitive therapy to integrate mind, body and soul. In 2016, Martha Wiedemann and her daughter, Rebecca, were seeking a retreat where they could experience Panchakarma—an intense, 21-day Ayurveda-based purification process that removes bodily toxins that can cause disease. Martha’s parents, who are Indian, were long committed to Ayurvedic principles, so she was raised with an awareness of the practice. Rebecca was curious about the practice due to some minor digestive issues and a desire to clear out any impurities that had built up in her system. For Martha,

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

associate director and wellness advisor at Badrutt’s Palace, a luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps, the experience was meant to be purely professional research. There are more than 2,000 Ayurvedic hospitals in India, and they chose Kalari Kovilakom due to its results-oriented reputation as well as its commitment to organic medicine and cuisine. At first, “I was actually embarrassed to go,” says Rebecca, “because I thought, ‘I’m going to be the youngest person and the healthiest person there.’”

alari Kovilakom is nestled against the Western Ghats, a misty range of mountains in the remote Palakkad district. After the long journey from Switzerland, all Martha wanted was a shower. But a small cut on her ankle that had been a mere annoyance before she’d left home had bloomed into a painful infection in her leg. When Dr. Manoj Namboodiri requested their initial

Kalari Kovilakom, a 200-year-old palace once a part of the old Vengunad Kingdom, now features 18 modern suites and 12 treatment rooms. The wellness resort is the last surviving aspect of the old Vengunad Kingdom, and its grounds and architecture are said to complement the healing process. Treatment is focused on rejuvenation and self-reflection. Daily meditation is seen as key to strengthening the mind and one’s sense of inner peace. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CGH EARTH AYURVEDA

consultation be immediate, she agreed despite being travel-worn. As the doctor examined the infection, Martha’s breath became shallow with panic. She had always eschewed antibiotics, given the implications they have for one’s overall system, but now she wondered if she’d been foolish to avoid them. “He wasn’t alarmed, but I was,” she recalls. Dr. Namboodiri calmly advised a treatment of herbal formulas to clear the infection. “I was humbled. This was supposed to be research, but I ended up being a patient.” Rebecca’s initial consultation was also disquieting. Though she had often experienced minor bloating after meals, she’d simply lived with the discomfort, assuming it was nothing serious. So when the doctor announced that her digestive issues were in fact chronic, Rebecca recalls, “I was really shocked. I didn’t think it was so serious.” Still, feeling she was in good hands, “I let go and trusted the process, and I put my health in his hands. I wanted to give myself to this

treatment and see if I can heal.” Both women were quickly grasping that Panchakarma was going to require a giving over of control, a trust in their caregivers and a willingness to be physically and emotionally vulnerable. The holistic treatment would demand holistic surrender.

n order to prepare the body to expel built-up toxins, patients engaging in Panchakarma must first go through a process called Poorvakarma, which loosens internal contaminants by ingesting medicated ghee, or clarified butter, for anywhere from one to five days. The medicine dissolves the toxins and helps to move them along toward elimination. Ingesting their daily ghee—which Rebecca describes as “absolutely vile”— was a challenge. Each morning, they would watch quietly as the doctors engaged in a solemn ritual, praying over

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Staff members remain incredibly attentive and in-tune with your healing process throughout your entire stay. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CGH EARTH AYURVEDA

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

spiritual calling, something that mother and daughter felt acutely. Silently, lovingly, the female attendants washed, massaged and dressed them in a pure expression of the Indian greeting namaskaram: “The light within me sees and recognizes the light within you.” The mundane becomes sacred, which distinguishes Ayurveda from other wellness practices: each individual is at once separate, yet a part of the oneness of creation. By now, Martha’s leg infection had cleared after being treated topically and internally with herbal formulas made on site. But something else was happening on an emotional level that Martha—a successful businesswoman accustomed to control and high expectations of both herself and others—didn’t expect. “I didn’t know I had all these shells I had actually built on my surface,” she says. “Once they started to shatter and break away, there was a day when I just broke down and cried and cried. A door opened, and the floods just came out.” It was the first time she’d wept in more than 25 years.

M the warm, herb-infused concoction. The first day, they accepted the small shot of ghee warily, yet respectfully: “We didn’t want to let them down.” Each morning the dosage increased until, on day five, Rebecca’s body was so saturated she could hold in the warm butter concoction no longer and had to hurriedly run out of morning yoga. Some patients’ fingernails tinged yellow as the ghee took hold. It was a sign that the treatment was working. During that first week, they became accustomed to the stillness and asceticism of their environment. Patients are encouraged to eat silently, not facing each other so as to inspire conscious consumption. Each meal is customized for the individual according to his or her medical needs, and much of the allorganic fare is grown on the sprawling rural property. Caffeine, alcohol and meat are prohibited. Activity is limited to

quiet walks around the serene grounds, meditation and yoga. The quiet and introspection require a shedding of identity. All patients’ personal items are put away; they are provided with identical white cotton garments and flip-flops. Even personal toiletries are banned. “All of your choices are made for you,” Rebecca recalls. “It was really hard to surrender that way.” Instead of the internet, there was birdsong; rather than worldly distractions, the heat and smells and very air of the jungle stimulated an inward focus. Both women were struck by the extraordinary level of care they received from the staff. Beyond the fact that there were approximately 80 staff members for just 18 suites, “We were blanketed and inundated with love,” says Martha. Ayurveda as a way of life is pervasive in this part of India, so the people who choose to work at Kalari Kovilakom do so as a

Traditional, holistic treatments, like their rejuvenation massage (above) or dhara therapy (right), are administered by highly trained specialists. Opposite: Following the tradition of the Vengunad kings who once inhabited the structure, Kathakali dance and Carnatic music programs make up a part of the daily ritual at Kalari Kovilakom.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CGH EARTH AYURVEDA

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

artha and Rebecca had a running joke about an imaginary honeymoon couple who had mistakenly booked a suite at Kalari Kovilakom, thinking it would be a romantic spa vacation. “Let’s just say it’s not the most . . . sexy kind of holiday,” says Rebecca. The second stage of treatment, Pradhanakarma, involves induced

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

“

No matter how much it gets abused, the body can restore balance. The first rule is to stop interfering with nature.

”

— DEEPAK CHOPRA

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Dhara therapy, or the dripping of warm, medicated oils over the forehead, is perhaps the most well-known Ayurveda treatment. It is said to treat headaches, mental stress, insomnia and more. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CGH EARTH AYURVEDA

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

vomiting, purgation, nasal medication and/or medicated enemas—depending on the patient’s needs. The women reprised this story of the unwitting honeymooners trapped in an Indian detox hospital over and over as each day they experienced different medicines and therapies to encourage elimination. Emerging from this stage of treatment, Rebecca laughed, “Actually, we realized the moral is that if you can get through Panchakarma together, you can survive anything.” Together, Martha and Rebecca not only got through it, but they also began to see each other in a new light as their facades and habitual roles fell away. Always close as mother and daughter, Rebecca didn’t expect that at this point in their lives anything between them would—or should—change. But the Ayurvedic experience, supported by love and care, demands physical and emotional vulnerability; it breaks you down to your essence. For two women solidly grounded in 21st century life with all of its noise and hustle and ever-

shifting roles and responsibilities, the silence and exposure were eye-opening and life-changing. “It strips you of what you’ve created for yourself,” says Martha. “I didn’t expect that. We were seeing ourselves for our true selves.” In their suite, the Malayali women spelled out “Martha” and “Rebecca” in flower petals on the fresh white bed linens. Lying in the soft light coming through the sheer curtains, the two breathed deeply, bonded in a way people become after a shared transformative experience. “I stopped looking at Rebecca as my daughter or as my anything,” Martha recalls. “I just started to look at Rebecca as Rebecca. I valued this experience in the sense that I could see her vulnerability as a person, and I was so glad for her to see my vulnerability as a person.” Rebecca, too, began to see their relationship as more fluid and rich. “When I needed her to be my mom, she was my mom; when I needed her to be my friend, she could be a friend; when I needed her to be a sister, she could be a

sister. I didn’t know a relationship could grow on so many levels. I thought you’d just have that one role, and that would be your place in someone’s life.” This new knowledge allowed for deep, mutual admiration to grow between the women, an excitement that they still had so much to learn from one another. During the final week of Panchakarma, the treatments and food are offered in the spirit of rejuvenation. Daily yoga, meditation and Pranayama exercise are key to strengthening the body and mind. And, while it would have been easy once returning home to fall back into old patterns, both mother and daughter wanted to cherish their newfound consciousness. Before the experience, says Martha, “Little things would bother me. I thought the way to manage my life was to have these expectations that everything would have to be done a certain way. I now sometimes pause and think, ‘I used to get angry about this.’ I was inflammatory.” Ongoing care from the staff at Kalari Kovilakom continued over email, and

Martha and her daughter, Rebecca, snap a photo with the staff at Kalari Kovilakom. They are dressed in the traditional white garments of the resort.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

they practiced new ways of consciously consuming stimuli of any sort—food, noise, news, even other people’s emotions. There was a learning curve for loved ones back in Switzerland who witnessed their dramatic change in lifestyle. “I think they may have thought, ‘Oh she’s having a little crisis,’” Rebecca laughs. “Someone goes to India and thinks they’re going to ‘find themselves.’” But as her friends and family saw her commitment to her new way of life, they began to support and admire it. “I think they were quite shocked that it wasn’t something that was just a phase,” she says. Now, she has friends calling her and asking for the retreat’s contact information.

The

gift of Panchakarma is a deep inner knowledge that allows the divine within you to speak and be heard. The message Martha and Rebecca brought home is this: we are all wonderful creations—each unique, yet connected in our oneness. This knowledge allows a practice of self-love that vanquishes the judgment and divisions that are so pervasive in modern life. Even now, more than three years later, the two continue to follow the dietary practices, meditation, breathing techniques and overall sense of balance they learned at Kalari Kovilakom. They remain conscious about what they take in and how the noise of modern life has the potential to drown out their hardwon inner peace. “Ask yourself how much of who you are is a result of influence, or is it coming from your creation,” Martha advises. “Find your true being by reducing the outside stimulus in your life. Don’t be so afraid of silence.” Who can argue that life in 2019 is indeed noisy, full of distraction and turmoil? Could it be that a 3,000-yearold healing philosophy contains the answers so many of us seek? According to Martha and Rebecca, the answer is decidedly yes. Because whatever term you use for that ephemeral thing you feel you lack—wellness, peace, happiness—it’s already within you. There’s no place like home because you are already there. ■

Each and every meal served at Kalari Kovilakom is personally crafted for the patient with all organic ingredients, taking into account their medical needs. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CGH EARTH AYURVEDA

IMA There are few mononymous women in the world. Yet one statuesque fashion muse, legendary model, cosmetics entrepreneur and humanitarian stands heads above.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

n iso orr eM tin ris Ch by

AN J. VESPA / CONTRIBUTOR — GETTY IMAGES

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

orn Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid, Iman— whose name translates from Arabic as “Faith”— was anointed this traditionally masculine moniker by her mother and grandfather, who wanted her to know she could do anything— and be anything—she envisioned for herself. In a 2014 interview with the Guardian, Iman said, “She always said to me that there is nothing that the boys can do – because I had two brothers – that you can’t do, if not better.” A proud Somalian, Iman had a privileged childhood with a diplomat father and gynecologist mother, both of whom (like many in the country) valued education. Yet, her formative years were not without crisis. While in boarding

The Somali-American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur, mononymously known as Iman, on location in Loyangalani for a 1985 Play Boy shoot on the southeastern coast of Lake Turkana in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MIRELLA RICCIARDI

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

school in Egypt, apart from her family residing in Saudi Arabia where her father was ambassador, the 1969 coup in Somalia arose. She reunited with her family, but they were forced to flee to Kenya with just the clothes on their backs. “Overnight my life changed from a diplomatic daughter to a refugee, and my father could not fend for us,” Iman told the Guardian. “The only time I’ve ever seen my father cry is when he couldn’t pay for us to finish our education . . . The NGOs [non-government organizations] looked after us. They found me a hostel, a job, a university.” It was there, while strutting toward a political science degree at the University of Nairobi, that she was discovered by famed photographer

“

and Africophile Peter Beard. Iman had a parttime job with the Ministry of Tourism, thanks to her ability to speak five languages, but she lacked funds for future semesters. When Beard offered to pay her for photographs, she requested $8,000, which was the exact price of tuition the following year. Her mother’s mantra—“always know your worth”—echoed in her head. The offer was accepted. Despite becoming an overnight success upon arrival in the U.S., it took months of persuassion by Beard and being signed by Wilhelmina modeling agency for Iman to leave Somalia for good. On her third day in America, in 1976, Iman

landed a shoot for Vogue. Having never worn makeup (or heels for that matter), the shoot was fraught with firsts, including an infamous episode of the makeup artist asking if she’d brought her own foundation. Because black models infrequently graced the magazine’s pages, he was without suitable shades and attempted to blend several to find a complementary color. When Iman saw the images, she felt her skin tone appeared “greige.” “From the second that picture came out,” she told an interviewer in 2011, “I would find products suitable to my skin. If I am going to stay in this business—or even make it in this business—I have to be my own brand.”

Ever studious by nature, Iman immediately launched into learning “the art of foundation” before founding IMAN Cosmetics in 1994. Having retired from 14 years of modeling, she was dedicated to her business. “If I needed it and couldn’t find it in the marketplace, surely there are others who need it and can’t find it because it doesn’t exist,” she told Black Enterprise magazine. Instant success—$20 million in domestic sales—reinforced the value of her undertaking. IMAN Cosmetics expanded to the United Kingdom, Canada and France, selling an additional $10 million just three years later. Since that time, the brand has expanded to Brazil, Africa and the Caribbean.

My given name was Zahra, which is the ‘flower of the desert.’ I don’t look anything like the flower of the desert. My name was changed by my grandfather to Iman, which means ‘have faith.’ And it meant to have faith that a daughter would come.

”

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

ut, Iman held her ground from the start, ignoring retailers who told her that black women don’t buy liquid foundation. IMAN Cosmetics has become much more than a makeup brand— it serves as the premier cosmetics and skincare collection designed for all “Women with Skin of Color,” as the branding states. From primer to lipstick, IMAN Costmetics offers the most variety of makeup for black women. Iman has stayed consistently at the helm; even today, she thrives on going to the office several days each week. Her cosmetics business evolved from its original QVC and JC Penney distribution to an ambitious partnership with Proctor & Gamble in 2004. Iman was driven to reach the mass market while also fulfilling the void of African-American

and multicultural makeup. She also longed to partner with like-minded visionaries. Iman set about to create a line of cosmetics and skincare products that would meet black women’s needs. Her cutting-edge concept included SPF factor, generally overlooked by major brands that failed to recognize the need for sun protection among black women. Expansion to the mass market was particularly challenging, despite IMAN Cosmetic’s proven track record. Stores displaced the brand from the cosmetics department into an “ethnic section,” often in the back of the store. Fueled by her fury, Iman became an outspoken advocate, standing up for the women she felt are “marginalized in the beauty aisle.” Speaking to Women’s Wear Daily

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

in 2012, she reminded Walgreens and Target, among others, that “ethnic beauty can’t be confined to part of a cosmetics wall that changes infrequently, nor confined to a handful of doors in urban areas.” Her business continues to excel despite increased competition. In 2005, Iman capitalized on her cosmetics expertise, authoring the first beauty and make-up book to address the spectrum of skin tones and ethnicities. “The Beauty of Color: The Ultimate Beauty Guide for Skin of Color” represented her company’s vision. “When I started in beauty, the general market usually talked about the girl next door, which meant blonde hair, blue eyes,” she said in a 2006 interview. “But the neighborhoods have

American artist, photographer, diarist and writer, Peter Beard, known for his photographs of Africa, African animals and the journals that often integrate his photographs is shown here capturing images of Iman that would help to earn him notoriety as a fashion icon. The stark arid environment of Kenya gives an extra dimension to these wonderful images taken by internationally renowned photographer and author Mirella Ricciardi. While we know of Iman as an innovative trailblazer, she was once just a girl seeking direction. Despite having lost her job (she was “no good” at it said the owner, Dorian) at a travel agency in Nairobi, it was during a visit to the office that she was discovered by the owner’s sister—famed photographer Mirella Ricciardi. “I could not take my eyes off her,” declares Mirella. Initially Mirella left post-lunch, “but realized I could not just walk away from such beauty, so I drove around the block and returned.” While Iman was surprised by the request to photograph her, Mirella tells of Iman’s nonchalant agreement, “Yes, why not.” Just a few years earlier, Mirella’s photography tome Vanishing Africa—showcasing the tribal life and customs of the people of Africa— was published and met with critical success. Admittedly not a fashion photographer, Mirella took the very first photographs of Iman the following day, in Peter Beard’s camp on the outskirts of town. While this is contrary to popular myth—and Peter Beard’s legacy—Mirella knows that being the first to photograph was an unforgettable encounter both she and Iman will never forget. “She was simply the most beautiful girl I had ever seen . . . tall and slim in a simple shy elegant way and still surprised at the attention.” When Peter saw Iman walking in Nairobi the following day, and learned she had been photographed by Mirella already, he was desperate to do the same. He offered to shoot alongside Mirella, but Mirella declined. “Peter took the most glamorous New York style photographs that launched her into the dizzy world of the international fashion arena, and she became the most famous African model of all time,” Mirella muses. But it’s Iman’s humanitarian work that comes as no surprise to the woman who discovered her: “She is a force to be reckoned with.” While they “live in diverse worlds” and are no longer in touch—with the exception of Iman sending love to Mirella through media—Iman and Mirella will always cherish their unforgettable history. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY MIRELLA RICCIARDI

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

English singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie with wife Iman at a movie premiere. KEYSTONE PRESS / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

changed now. I wanted to celebrate the new generation of women with skin of color that has now become the norm.”

hile Iman is proud of her legacy as a cosmetics entrepreneur, it is her humanitarian work that is most inspirational. “I’ve always believed in a life of service,” she said in a 2013 interview with Look TV. “Being a Somali and a Muslim, charity was part and parcel of how you lived. It’s not just about you.” After her 1992 honeymoon with David Bowie, Iman returned to Somalia for the first time. With a BBC crew in tow, she filmed shocking footage—poverty, hunger and an infinite number of orphans—“to give pain a face.” In addition to the BBC footage, Iman penned an essay for Vogue detailing the horrors. Accompanied by images of her standing alongside children in Baidoa (a city in south-central Somalia where she vacationed as a child and reconnected with her Uncle Ibrahim), she concluded the piece by listing places seeking donations. Despite the fact that efforts had nearly stalled by that time, her dedication was unwavering. “I always say charity begins at home, so don’t think [it has to be] something very far away from where you are; it could be something happening in your back yard,” she told Look TV. To this day, Iman continues to focus on the suffering in Somalia in her role as ambassador for the charity Save The Children. Iman encountered another watershed moment while pregnant with her daughter— she read a New York Times article about women in South Africa transmitting AIDS through breastfeeding. Given both the maternal and financial need to breastfeed in third world countries, she was heartbroken and felt compelled to help immediately. She stepped up as Global Ambassador for “Keep a Child Alive.” “They are like the punk rock of charities,” she said in the Look TV video. “They are small, they are effective charity is small and effective,” providing healthcare, housing and other support to HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Africa and India. Iman’s more recent passion has been supporting Dr. Hawa Abdi, who has been called “Equal parts Mother Teresa and Rambo.” As the leader of one of Somalia’s first NGOs, Dr. Hawa Abdi created Hope Village, which has provided free food, healthcare, education, skills training and hope to more than 100,000 people. Iman’s participation with this 2012 Nobel Peace Prize winner – who also provides health care, training

for nurses and midwives, and education for women and children – is instrumental in saving lives of malnourished children and working to end sexual and gender-based violence. Bringing an end to domestic violence closer to home has been on Iman’s agenda as well. In 1998, she created the “Misdemeanor Lipstick” with fellow philanthropist Missy (aka Misdemeanor) Elliott to fund “Break the Cycle,” a prevention and intervention organization for young people to build healthy relationships and create a culture without abuse. In 2011, Iman was awarded the BET Service Award for her “Raise Hope for Congo Campaign.” The effort was an enormous undertaking, educating activists and the public about the conflict in eastern Congo and the effects of sexual violence as a weapon of war used against Congolese women and girls. Women’s rights have been pivotal to Iman, particularly championing diversity and equality in her profession, which she has called “a very racist business.” “Some casting agents had the audacity to say, ‘We’re not seeing black models this season.’ As if black is a trend,” she told Harper’s BAAZAR in 2018. To raise awareness of this injustice, Iman— joined by her best friend of 40 years, former model agent Bethann Hardison, and model Naomi Campbell—created a campaign in 2013. Coining themselves “The Diversity Coalition,” they engaged the press and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to demand a change on the runways and in campaigns. Iman specifically boycotts buying from any designer who does not use black models. “We should celebrate and highlight the people who actually step it up,” she said.

Today, approaching 65, Iman continues to be an outspoken visionary who has made an indelible impact on those in need while also giving women of color a voice and deserved equality. As she mourns the loss of her beloved husband of 24 years—her delicate “David” necklace, designed by Hedi Slimane, worn as a tribute—it’s not likely she will slow down as she strives for a better world. “I get my stubborn character from my country’s shape,” she told Marie Claire in 2016. “Somalia is situated in the Horn of Africa at the easternmost projection of the continent. I relate to the world in much the same way as Somalia relates to the rest of Africa—I am African, but I also stick out a bit.” ■

a self-described workaholic, Iman has also expanded her brand into the fashion world. In 2007, she was approached by famed HSN executive Mindy Grossman to design a line of apparel. In traditional Iman style, she had an alternative idea—exotic, embroidered and one-size-fits-all caftans to mimic those she had in Egypt. Due to its instant success, Iman’s Global Chic Collection expanded and now offers apparel, accessories and beauty. She is a top seller on the network. Throughout her career, Iman explored film projects and has appeared as a host on multiple fashion television series, from Project Runway in Canada to The Fashion Show: The Ultimate Collection. She was named CFDA’s Fashion Icon in 2010.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Somali high fashion model Iman at the 2017 annual Glamour Women of the Year Awards ceremony held in Brooklyn’s Kings Theater on Flatbush Ave. A KATZ/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Eliminating the “things you love

is not wellness. Wellness feeds your soul andthe “Eliminating makes you things you love feelwellness. good. is not ” Wellness feeds your soul and makes you feel good.

The former supermodel Iman at the launch of her line of cosmetics adapted to all skin colors, in a lounge of the Hotel Costes, she is wearing a black evening dress designed by Thierry Mugler. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALVARO CANOVAS / PARIS MATCH VIA GETTY IMAGES

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

”

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

The Healing Arts at

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Woman of the World

Peaceful Mountain With women-centric travel skyrocketing, one female-run, female-only travel company is offering the chance for lifechanging experiences. By Angela Caraway-Carlton

by Jenna Realmuto

The hypnotic, outsized landscapes of the American Southwest offer both inspired exploration and serenity. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF AMAN

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

I nside Amangiri, isolation is transformed into unique luxury. Nestled in the curve of a cliff in southern Utah’s desert mountains, this 600-acre, ultramodern resort’s concrete structure is subtly painted in earth tones to appear mirage-like—emerging from the rock face itself. Here, one finds a rare harmonious balance between nature and extravagance, introspection and exploration. A full 45-minute drive from the nearest town, Amangiri lies in the

heart of the Grand Circle, a Mecca of national parks and monuments spread out across some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country. The resort is part of Aman Resorts International, a hotel group featuring luxury accommodations in exotic locations around the world, from Cambodia to India to Greece. And Utah. Utah is home to some of America’s most stunning landscapes and significant geologicial and cultural sites—all of which come in to focus at Amangiri, brought to life in 2009 by developer Christoph Henkel and a team of internationally acclaimed architects. Together, they have integrated Navajo culture and history into an unforgettable experience emphasizing both adventure and rejuvenation. The “things to do” list at Amangiri is truly one-of-a-kind. Guests enjoy massage, yoga and other wellness amenities as well as top-notch Southwest cuisine paired with memorable desert views. Outside the resort, visitors take

Spacious, with clean lines and natural materials, the suites reflect the luminous qualities of the surrounding Utah desert. Accommodation design features include white stone floors, concrete walls, natural timbers and fittings in blackened steel. Each suite has an outdoor lounge and fireplace with expansive desert views, while some feature a private pool or roof terrace. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF AMAN

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

early-morning balloon rides or challenging climbing expeditions of awe-inspiring rock formations. Nearby, Lake Powell is a great spot for kayaking and offers beautiful views of the surrounding landscape. Guided tours present a look into the culture and history of the Navajo.

nother unique sightseeing opportunity: watching an internationally acclaimed and self-proclaimed “earth artist” at work. From August to October, German artist Ulrike Arnold resides at the resort and creates unique paintings with the natural materials the surrounding terrain has to offer. Developer Henkel knew Arnold’s work and, as she put it, “imagined my artwork” as he was developing the concept of Amangiri. She began working in the area several months before the resort opened. She spends much of her time at Broken Arrow Cave, which she describes as a “truly

Spanning 600 acres in Canyon Point, Utah, Amangiri is situated in the heart of the Grand Circle, the highest concentration of national parks and monuments in the country. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF AMAN

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

magical place.” Amangiri guests visit the site as she works, though “most of the time I create in peace.” Arnold is a traditional artist in the sense that she uses paint brushes and canvases—but that’s about all that makes her work normal. She uses only transparent glue and natural materials, creating works that seem to breath with the energy of the earth itself. Dirt, mud, wind, rain, rocks—all of these things add to her arsenal of tools. “Just watching the red earth mixed in my hands has an element of surprise for those who come and watch,” Arnold says, “and it raises the understanding that color comes from our earth and

that the cavemen and cavewomen used it for their first creations.” Amangiri was a perfect spot to create, said Arnold, who described Utah as “one of my favorite places on earth.” Arnold has bounced from place to place, all over the globe, visiting each continent and countless countries to create masterpieces with the unique materials of each region. The path that led her to this life, as she describes

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

it, is a series of coincidences. From the moment that a 21-year-old Arnold stepped into prehistoric caves in France and Spain in the early 1970s, she was hooked on the idea of all-natural artwork. Viewing the extraordinary cave paintings from 20,000 years ago had a major impact on her. “It was something of a revelation or better: I

felt a true impact that forced me to collect these Earth samples and to use them in my studio,” she says. She soon realized that painting onsite, en plein air, outside in the elements, was a much more impactful, spiritual experience. She often camps alone in remote locations, taking only her supplies. Of one solo trip into the Australian desert, Arnold says, “I was totally alone there: no car, no phone, just dry food, water for two weeks, a tent, canvases, paint brushes and bowls to mix the paint, a hammer and a strong will to overcome fear and create. At night, I would make a fire, dancing around and singing for hours. It was the most profound, empowering experience. I felt like a tiny element in our universe.”

Earth art by Ulrike Arnold adorns the hotel dining room, where the cuisine is inspired by the American Southwest and made primarily from locally sourced ingredients, with dishes served on traditional hot stones. The dining room features an open kitchen and tables that look out through floor-to-ceiling windows over the everchanging colors of the Utah desert. PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF AMAN

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Amangiri blends into countless untouched square miles of red rock country. In the last remnant of the truly wild West, this ‘mountain of peace’ is cradled within a staggering landscape of canyons, mesas, mountains, gorges, rapids and desert, with traces of human life dating back more than 10,000 years. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF AMAN

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

the decades since, Arnold’s travels have taken her seemingly everywhere, from Easter Island, where she watched indigenous ritual dances and painted on special tree bark called Mahute, to Senegal where the West African coastline of Popenguine inspired her work. In Yucatan, Mexico, she painted near the largest meteorite site in the world, created 65 million years ago and theorized to have possibly caused

the extinction of dinosaurs. Using earth colors from each side of the holy mountain Arunachalla in India, she created a round painting. When asked where the wind will take her next, she says, “Maybe China could be my next destination; it’s a plan that still needs to mature.” How Arnold landed in Utah and came upon Broken Arrow Cave is also one of her life’s great “coincidences.”

She was approached by an investor and the owner of Aman Resorts, who were familiar with her work and had a vision of displaying her art at their newest venture: Amangiri. She arrived in 2009, five months before the resort opened. Then she found Broken Arrow Cave. She says, “I looked around for a place to paint, and I found this huge cave. I saw it from the distance and decided to do my painting there. Later, I discovered that inside this cave, there are amazing petroglyphs. This is another one of those coincidences where I have been working in close proximity to ancient rock art.” Amangiri guests are encouraged to travel to Broken Arrow Cave, to explore the ancient petroglyphs, observe Arnold’s artwork and even witness the artist herself at work. Returning to the hotel, guests can enjoy the spa, the pool or the beautifully framed desert views from their suite. For the adventurous, they offer hiking, rockclimbing and hot air balloon rides. ■

Outside Broken Arrow Cave near ancient petroglyphs, Ulrike Arnold gathers natural earth materials to paint with. Each palette is unique to its location. Above: An earthpainting from the artist’s Broken Arrow Cave series. Opposite: Ulrike Arnold at White Pocket, a hard-to-reach area of sandstone inside Vermilion Cliffs National Monument near the Arizona/Utah border. PHOTOGRAPHS BY VICTOR VAN KEUREN

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

A bird’s-eye view of one of Ulrike Arnold’s plein air studios. PHOTOGRAPH BY VICTOR VAN KEUREN

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

W INSPIRING WOMEN Our Inspiring Women have been selected because each has carved out a unique path through life that is recognized by others as exceptional. You will see a commonality in the interviews. These remarkable women have achieved greatness by following their internal compasses while facing the circumstances they are dealt in life. None had a road map.

I N T E R V I E W S B Y K A R E N F L OY D For video interviews, visit elysianwomen.com

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

DEBORAH CALMEYER

Born: Harare, Zimbabwe Resides: New York, New York; Cape Town, South Africa

Founder & CEO of ROAR Africa; Wildlife Conservationist; South African Representative at the BRIC Economic Forum 2014; Winner of the 2014 We Are Africa award; Speaker at the “Women: The Power to Change the World” conference in Beijing.

SHERI HOWELL

GILA GUTTMANN

Born: Tel Aviv, Israel Resides: Boca Raton, Florida

Former Israeli soldier; General Electric systems analyst and technology educator at a time when women were rare in the field; Hebrew teacher; Accomplished bridge player & qualifier in the 13th World Series Championship.

SHOP & EXPLORE

Born: Ypsilanti, Michigan Resides: Birmingham, Alabama; New York, New York

Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Medjet; Former MTV Executive; Brand Strategy & Consumer Marketing Expert; Worked with big name clients, such as Sports Illustrated, Walmart & Sony.

MARTHA WIEDEMANN Born: Singapore Resides: Saint Moritz, Switzerland

Ayurveda expert; General Manager of the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland; Leader of the multimillion-dollar expansion of the Badrutt’s Palace Wellness Center to incorporate Ayurveda and Feng Shui.

Deborah Calmeyer spent her formative years in Zimbabwe, torn by the Rhodesian Bush War, an experience that deeply affects her to this day. In 2005, Deborah’s love for Africa and her desire to share its beauty with the world led her to found ROAR Africa, a luxury travel company that offers ultra-lux, fully guided safaris across East and Southern Africa. Deborah remains dedicated to wildlife conservation, improving Africa’s economy through tourism and uplifting women through education and job creation.

Deborah Calmeyer

Founder & CEO of ROAR Africa, Conservationist & Women’s Activist

How many generations of your family have lived in South Africa?

Eleven generations. My mother’s ancestor, Daniel Hugo, came to Cape Town in 1685 from Champagne in France.

Where were you born, and how long did you live there?

I was born in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, although it was Rhodesia at the time. I attended Bishopslea, an all-girls school run by Anglican nuns. It was just sort of normal, going to chapel every day and singing hymns . . . a very English school system. I left Zimbabwe at 15, but I finished school in South Africa.

As the eldest of four, tell me about your other three siblings.

Next in line is my sister; we are very close. We went to the same school, grew up in the same sort of world. My brother and other sister are from my dad’s second marriage. I am very close to my brother. He lives in Johannesburg and has three young children. Neither the sister that I am closest with nor I had any children.

How old were you when your parents separated?

I was two, so I don’t remember my parents ever being together. I spent the years from two to five with my dad’s mom, which is the reason she was such a prominent part of my life. I do not remember too much of my mom in those years. I do remember my dad being on the farm, the Zimbabwe Bush War and that kind of thing. The Rhodesian Bush War was a geopolitical uprising. How did that affect you? It left me with very unsettled nerves. My husband always says that if I am sleeping, an ant can walk into the room, and I’ll wake up. I am high-strung naturally, but that experience impacted my sleep patterns forever. There was a time when if the house alarm went off at night, I had to grab my sister out of bed. We would have to leopard crawl across the floor into my dad’s room where he would be on an Agric alert system calling in with a rifle at his side saying, “We’re still alive. We’re fine.” That could happen several times a night and, consequently, is why I think I’m a very light sleeper today.

How old were you when the uprising occurred?

I was five, and it ended when I was seven. Our schoolteacher broke

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

the news to the classroom. I still remember her, to this day, walking past the windows, her face so red with fear, and all of us waiting to hear. We knew who we were supposed to want to be the president, but instead, it was Mugabe. It was a fearful announcement that came to seven-yearold little girls. Of course, we didn’t understand what it meant, other than it was important, and it wasn’t the answer we wanted.

What precipitated the civil war, and what brought some unity to that country?

I was quite young and just remember tidbits of conversations. I’ve put this picture together as best I can. Zimbabwe—Rhodesia was a British Colony. It was time for it to be taken back by the African people who had settled there originally. What was driving the war was land and ownership by the whites who were the minority. That precipitated the war. When Mugabe came into power, he was much better, I think, than anybody expected. He is a very educated man and continued on a very, very good path in bringing everybody together. There wasn’t apartheid in Zimbabwe the way there was in South Africa. We didn’t have the racial hatred between black and white. There was no segregation. You had a very educated majority. The school systems in Zimbabwe were all British, and everyone’s English was fantastic. It was the breadbasket of Africa, highly productive from an agricultural standpoint. You didn’t have that undercurrent that to this day, unfortunately, you experience in South Africa. I think that’s why the unity was much easier, and the transition was much more peaceful until recent times.

You have been to Zimbabwe during the civil unrest in the last decade?

Oh, yes. We go a lot. Because the poor people of Zimbabwe cannot rely on the government, they primarily depend on tourism. It’s really the only industry that is in production. We take our guests to places like Victoria Falls, safe National Parks and lodges that are secure for travel. I do all I can to support Zimbabwe and tourism. I would do anything for the people there. I have a huge fondness and love for the people, wildlife, the settings and the landscapes. If I can take people there safely, then that’s absolutely what I want to do.

At fifteen years of age, you left Zimbabwe?

Yes, I went back to South Africa, where both of my parents are

readelysian.com â&#x20AC;˘ printemps 2019 â&#x20AC;˘

from, to an English area called Natal. It’s called KwaZulu-Natal today, and Durban, I guess, is the biggest city that people would know of or recognize. So, we went there. My mom and dad actually went a year apart. I finished school in a place called Pietermaritzburg.

What precipitated both of your parents move from Zimbabwe?

My dad was a big agricultural farmer in Zimbabwe, and farming became really difficult. He had a huge Friesian Holstein stud, and things just started to fall apart, from the mechanics of farming to the reliability of systems. He couldn’t farm at the high production level that he used to. So, it was time for him to move on. Meanwhile, my mom remarried somebody who owned a private charter airplane company. When he sold that company to the Red Cross, they essentially retired and moved back to South Africa next to my mom’s parents along the coast. They retired and played a lot of golf.

by people wanting to go to South Africa.” They would show me their itineraries, and I would offer my opinion. Having been an animal scientist himself, I said, “Why don’t you get your guiding license and start taking some people around. I can send you a couple of trips a year, I’m sure.” At the time, I was thinking four or five. He was delighted and enthused, so we got going, and our first year we just did four little trips with families. They took a chance very thankfully, and that’s where we started.

Why did your parents move to Zimbabwe originally?

My grandparents ran all of Harry Oppenheimer’s farms and agricultural production in Zimbabwe. My grandfather worked for Harry for 50 years. My dad actually went to school in Cape Town. He would travel down on the train as a little boy and go to a school there that all the men in our family had attended. However, it was really my grandparents that were based in Zimbabwe on a farm. My mom and dad met at University, and Dad took her to Zimbabwe.

How long ago was that? That was 13 years ago.

When is the best time to go on a safari?

Seasons there are always the reverse. When you’re having winter, we’re having summer. That’s the general guideline, though we don’t have the four distinct seasons like you have here in New York. We have about 300 days of summer and maybe a little bit of cooler temperatures in July and August. The weather might not be ideal in July and August in Cape Town because it has a Mediterranean climate. That’s the only outlier. As far as safari goes, you can really go anytime. There are times that are cooler, and the hot months are October and November. But the rest of the year, you can go and see great things and be very comfortable.

How did you develop the programmatic portions of your Safari?

You know, it’s been a great blessing that I didn’t know what I was doing because I had to make decisions that weren’t in line with what was

The Rhodesian Bush War was a geopolitical uprising. How did that affect you? Where did your husband and you meet?

We met at work in Johannesburg. He was the managing director of a tech company where I worked as a salesperson. From there, we moved to New York City.

What was the impetus for that move?

You’re going to laugh, but I’ll tell you—watching too many episodes of Friends. When you sit in Africa, you look out at the world, and you always want to be something more because you feel you are at the bottom of the world. I thought life in New York was what I saw on Friends. It was a very humbling experience and far from what really was here. I kept saying, “We have to go, we’ve got to go, I want to go.” I mean, I was 24.

How much time alone do you need daily?

I don’t like my own company. I think it comes from being moved between parents as a little girl and never ever feeling secure and safe. My husband’s the first person who ever made me feel safe, and I knew I wanted to marry him in the first three weeks. I could trust him. And so, I hate being alone. I’m scared of it.

How did the idea for ROAR Africa come to you?

We eventually got our green cards and moved on to other companies. For a brief stint (all of three weeks), we moved back to South Africa. I suddenly realized everybody was married and most had children. I thought, “I am too young; let’s go back to New York.” So, we came back to New York. My dad was visiting, and he was struggling and didn’t have much money or a job in South Africa. As a white male at 65, he was last on the list of people to hire. We were brainstorming ideas for something we could do together, and I said, “I’m always getting asked questions

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

normal for the industry. I did another job for six years as I was starting ROAR Africa. I pieced together the trips based on what the guests told me. I would meet with them in person. I would find out what worked on other trips, what they loved, what they didn’t like, what they were nervous of, what was beautiful to them. I tried to use my knowledge and just instinctively decided how to do this, when to do it, what order to do it in and how to make it as cost effective as possible. Everything was word of mouth. I didn’t have any money invested in a company. I didn’t have a budget for marketing or PR. The guests would come to me, I would build the experience, and then my dad would take over. He would meet the guests on arrival, and they would be with him throughout. And that’s how we started. Most people who plan and provide tours and safaris don’t live between two continents like I do. They hand the guest over to what we call in the industry, a ground operator, who delivers the trip. Our guests get to stay with one company all the way through, which provides the quality and consistency we offer. It was one of the smartest things we could ever do. It is a big differentiator and the fact that my team is all African is as well. We cover all of Southern Africa and a little bit of East Africa. Most of my team, our operations team, is located in South Africa, but then we have people in the 13 countries that we serve. Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda would be our East Africa component. We are in all of Sub-Saharan countries from Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Zambia. Finally, my team covers Indian Ocean islands, Mauritius, Madagascar and the Seychelles.

Of all of the wonderful adventures that you put together, is there one that is a crème de la crème?

There always is something that one can build which includes your very top end properties. You put in private aviation, private

Deborah joined ELYSIAN Publisher Karen Floyd for this Inspiring Woman interview in New York City.

There was a time when if the house alarm went off at night, I had to grab my sister out of bed. We would have to leopard crawl across the floor into my dad’s room where he would be on an Agric alert system calling in with a rifle at his side saying, “We’re still alive. We’re fine.” That could happen several times a night and, consequently, is why I think I’m a very light sleeper today. guiding, and there is a lot of choice. You have only to look at some of the world’s best hotels to see that about 25 percent of them are in Africa to know there is a huge selection. I would say the crème de la crème is Botswana, South Africa and the Seychelles. Those are top destinations for the absolute top level of hospitality.

When you meet with a client, how do you decide?

I ask them what is their objective, what do they want to do, how do they want to feel, what mode of transport and what their budget is because we generally only do four-and-a-half to five star trips. But even within that range, the budget can vary drastically. You can stay somewhere great for $700.00 a night versus $3,500 a night per person. A lot depends on the length of the trip, how much money they want to spend and their specific travel DNA. It is different for every person. I often ask the client to define what luxury means to them. If you come from New York, luxury might be space, no noise or buildings and beautiful landscapes. Somebody else might be drawn to hotel

amenities, a spa, Wi-Fi, Michelin Star restaurants. It is interesting to actually explore that with people who often don’t know that themselves.

You recently held a Women’s Empowerment, ROAR and Restore safari. Can you tell me about that experience?

That has been the highlight of my career so far. America has taught me all about gender equity and that it’s not equal in the workplace. America leads the world in so many ways with its more balanced corporate boards, even though I know we think not. If you look at the safari industry, it is about 50 years behind in comparison to the U.S. The idea of this trip was to highlight women, African women, who are now doing jobs that have traditionally been male dominated. I am fed up with the Crocodile Dundee white, male safari guide always being the glam safari experience because that’s the picture that everyone conjures up. I’ve even had clients ask, “Are we safe with a woman guide?” I’d rather be with a female any day. We’re a little bit more precautious in the bush. So, the idea was to try to highlight these women by giving them a platform

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

to come center stage. We also brought in a group of global travelers, international women of consequence, who have achieved amazing things in their lives. We had 24 in attendance with five speakers from different countries, Kenya, Congo, India, New York, to share what they had done and their huge accomplishments. It was really extraordinary to take them and show them the Girls College of Tourism. It was a deep, behind-the-scenes, intimate thing to see. Typically, they are only going to the front of the beautiful lodge where there might be some females working. You don’t normally get to know where the women come from, what they’ve struggled with and what they’ve accomplished. Through the philanthropic work of another South African woman, there is a tracking academy (with a few men who came from completely destitute backgrounds), a herding academy . . . all are largely females. They might have, if they were lucky, had a job as a housekeeper, but now they are being trained to work in five-star lodges and hotels around Southern Africa and East Africa. It is just a beautiful program to see this incredible philanthropy at work changing not only that person’s life but also changing the lives of their family and their community. It speaks to giving hope and is the inspiration for so much more. These women are overcoming not only western social barriers in terms of gender but tribal barriers. Most of the men in Africa leave their villages to work in the cities. So, the women are left behind as subsistence farmers with goats, cattle, pigs and sheep to graze. No one’s ever taught them that bad grazing habits affect climate change, while with proper grazing, water is absorbed by the land or funneled into the right place. It is just extraordinary that this philanthropist in South Africa has recognized this. There are about 30,000-woman herders in South Africa alone. This is a “train the trainer” program for these women to now learn how to effectively herd their animals on the land which feeds into a holistic view of tourism at the end of the day.

How intense was the nine-day trip?

We try to roar, and we try to restore with very nice accommodations with lots of wellness components to it. I think there is something very special that happens to you when you’re in the wild, a reconnection of DNA that is preprogrammed into all of us, a sort of wholeness that we feel. We really wanted to make time for people to be out there with the animals, enjoying the landscape, and the sky, and speaking to some of the conservationists that work

100

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

every day in this area. The trip was mainly in three areas. We started in Cape Town, and then went to an area called Crawford, where these programs were, and then to the Oppenheimer’s property in the Karoo called Swallow. There, guests got to see lions, cheetahs and all sorts of different animals and have a true safari experience. Many had not been on safari before.

What did the guests/participants have in common?

These women are all activists; they are all out there fighting for causes that they really believe in. This was something they were fascinated by and wanted to be part of. The travel was interesting and exotic and comfortable, but it was an expensive trip. You could have done that travel without some of these elements, but these women are curious and wanted to make an impact, and they really did.

Will you do this again?

Yes. Absolutely. If it takes me until the day I die to drive this conversation and ensure that at least 50 percent of the employees on these properties are women, then that’s what I am here to do. I saw the reward and how much it meant to the women that were working at the lodges; even our pilots were female. It was so incredible because they had never been on the front lines and usually were relegated to housekeeping and reservations. They were not used to hosting and being in front of the guests and listening to the speakers. That was not normal. So many of the women that worked at the lodge came to me and thanked me for making them important. It chokes me up every time I say this because I didn’t know it was going to mean this much so fast. And so, absolutely, I need to take more strong American women leaders to Africa to help me do this because I can’t do it on my own.

So, how would a person engage with you?

They would just call us, email us or go to our website. I would welcome anybody interested.

How large is your organization?

We are small, 25 full-time people: twenty women and five males, as well as a couple of freelancers.

When a person calls you and says, “I have this budget, I want this experience,” what happens next?

Assuming that we can meet those requirements, I would do everything I can to meet in person. That’s really important. I’ll get on a plane and fly to Bermuda or wherever the client is to meet with them, particularly if it’s a family adventure. Otherwise, we can do a call on Skype or over the phone and try to really understand as much as possible. We will build our first draft much like an architect. We never are going to get it right the first time. So, we do a few reiterations until it looks like the dream that person is picturing. After we define the experience, we invest a huge amount of time and money vetting the properties and partners on the ground, which is the advantage of living between the two places. Having a team on the ground is critical because these places change, the chef changes, the owner changes, the guides change. And so, it’s important to me, as an African, that people experience my home the way I would. I’m not just selling a destination. It’s my home, and I’m very proud of it. A lot of the South Africans that work in this industry are very proud too. It’s important to be sure of the products we’re putting on the table, so then my team is able to pick and make those decisions and design trips now. Some trips, like the woman’s empowerment, are ideas that I generally create.

How many safaris do you currently run a year?

We have over 200 booked this year. I’d prefer that to be 100150, higher grade trips with fewer people. It’s the same amount of work for two people or 20 people. I am up and down about four to five times a year, a month to six weeks in each place. It just depends on what’s going on.

What brings you the most joy, today?

Today, the most joy I have is when I go on safari with clients who’ve never been before, and I can see it bring them to tears

in a way that I often forget in my day-to-day job. I realize it is important for people to have the emotional weight that a safari brings with it because, without that, we can’t care about saving our wildlife. The more people I can see go through that, the more I know we’re having an effect, and that’s very important to me. Every time an animal goes extinct, whether we know it or not, we lose something in our psyche. We live with all of this around us, and we forget how important nature is, the role that animals play in our lives. We’ve only got 20,000 lions left in the world. Look how many people are rushing to see The Lion King. Imagine if we didn’t have that real lion.

What’s your greatest accomplishment?

Honestly, I think this women’s trip. I really do because it’s got legs, and its reach is so significant. It hasn’t even started, but I can see what it can do, and the lives that it can change.

What does it mean to pay it forward?

Well, I think everything that you do comes back to you in some way or another. I feel better when I’m doing things for other people. I took care of my sister my whole life. She was epileptic. I didn’t mention that earlier but being an adult at five and taking care of somebody was very much part of my growing up. The people traveling with me, I’m taking care of some of the most precious times of their lives. Does that come back to me? It doesn’t have to come back to me in any way other than people telling me that was the best trip of their lives.

What is your purpose?

I think to try to be the best person that I can in the world that I’ve created, making the most of the opportunities I’ve been lucky enough to have from education and exposure. I’ve met some extraordinary people in New York. This business has brought me so many opportunities, and I want to do the best I can in terms of changing women’s lives and saving wildlife in Africa. That’s my purpose. ■

ROAR Africa founder Deborah Calmeyer takes a stroll alongside the native wildlife of Jamala Madikwe, Royal Safari Lodge, which is located in the Madikwe Game Reserve.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

101

102

• hiver 2018 • readelysian.com

At the age of 18, Gila Guttman was drafted into the Israeli army, where she was selected to study technology. Just three years later, she and her new husband moved to the United States so that he could study orthopedics. There, she found a calling in selling computers and instructing others on use of GE technology, a skill that was rare for women at the time.

Gila Guttmann

Israeli Army Veteran, Computer Analyst & Noted Bridge Player

Where were you born?

jobs, which is helpful because when you finish the army, you are more focused than when you go straight to university. You have a skill or profession, so you can earn some money while you go to school.

I was born in Palestine.

Which is now? Israel.

Your education is varied, with a stint in the Israeli army. How did those experiences prepare you for your success in bridge?

In Israel, you go to elementary school until the eighth grade. Then you are tested. If your test scores indicate you are not university bound, you are sent to a trade school. There are private high schools, but I attended a government supported high school, which was very competitive. If you get into the government supported high school, you are required to major in defined subjects. My major was science because I intended to go to medical school. There were 30 boys and five girls in my class. When I finished high school, I was drafted into the army where I was tested in math and English. I was selected for technology, or at the time, computers. While I was in the army, I was married and postponed my studies.

You were drafted into the Israeli army?

Everybody had to go to the army unless girls would say they were religious. Then they would be excused from serving. All my friends went to the army.

What year was that? In 1961, I was drafted.

Those were tough years in Israel.

After that, when did you resume your studies?

I worked to support my husband, who was a medical resident at the time. When my daughter was six years old, I went back to school. At that point, I decided to study accounting because I realized that most computer people didn’t understand accounting, and accountants didn’t understand technology. I thought I would be a consultant for companies who wanted to computerize. I was a very good student because I was motivated. Most of the students that were in class with me were there because they finished high school. It was good that I waited to go back to school because I certainly wouldn’t have studied that hard if I had entered the university right after high school. When I graduated, I wanted to go to work. My husband really wasn’t thrilled with the idea because, at that point, he was established. He was taking time off, and he wanted me to be available for him. He didn’t want me to say, “I have to work.” So, I started playing bridge instead.

What did your father and mother do?

My mother was an opera singer, but it was more like a hobby. She performed, but it wasn’t like a job. My dad had a factory for polishing diamonds. He was a member of the Syndicate in London and was one of the first people to start the diamond industry in Israel. It has become a very big thing in Israel.

Did he spend a good amount of time in London?

You first went to basic training, which is really quite tough. The conditions are very unpleasant. They try to make a soldier out of you; then the army decides what to do with you. I was selected to become a systems analyst, and my oldest sister was trained as an air traffic controller in airports. My youngest sister was a secretary. She learned to type and to take shorthand. We were assigned different

Yes, he had to go to London frequently. My dad was a very good bridge player. He used to go to a bridge club, but he didn’t play tournaments; he played bridge for money. People tell me they are really the best bridge players in the world. They can win or lose a lot of money.

Did you ever think about being a money bridge player? No.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

103

Why?

I don’t know. I just like the competition. I like to compare my results with other people’s results.

Do you play duplicate bridge? Yes.

So, you were about 30 years old when you started playing bridge. Did you play competitive bridge?

No, I started with some friends. We took lessons and tried to play together.

Did you have an aptitude from the beginning? Yes.

You advanced quickly?

Well, not right away. One of my goals was to play with somebody who was better than me. People in the bridge world are very snobbish. They don’t accept newcomers very quickly. I remember one time my husband hired someone, a famous bridge player, to play with me because it was my wish to play with somebody better.

Did you beat him? No. No, I played with him.

You played duplicate with him. How did that go? It went very exciting. It was an experience for me.

about your children. It is just a zone. My dad always said, “Women cannot be good bridge players because they don’t concentrate. They think about what they are going to cook for dinner and what they are going to wear tomorrow,” but I don’t. When I play bridge, I don’t even hear what’s going on around me.

You are a noted bridge player, covered in The New York Times. How many people do you know that are written up in The New York Times?

Bridge is a wonderful hobby. It has added a lot to me personally. Besides, I’m a competitive person.

What was the best hand you ever played in bridge, and how do you know it? There have been many goods hands.

You have to pick one. There must have been one that has a little edge. Which hand and why?

I don’t know how to pick one. But I know I was playing once in a charity game. The game was actually a benefit for Parkinson’s disease because one of the very famous bridge players had Parkinson’s. Every year, they choose a charity, and he was the star. Many, many bridge luminaries came to this game, and I was playing against a world champion. His bid made it very difficult to enter the bidding. He made a preemptive bid, and I just made a bid. I got a very good score against him, and it gave me a lot of satisfaction. It’s like a friend of mine who plays piano. Somebody said to him, “That was really good.” He said, “Yes, I love Mozart.” The man replied, “But that wasn’t Mozart.” To which my friend responded, “Ah, well, I wanted to know who gives me the compliment.” He was vetting whether the man complimenting him knew anything about music. Sometimes you do very well against people that don’t really know what they’re doing. So, it’s like taking candy away from children.

You knew you could be great?

Well, that is the one thing about bridge. I’m not great, and there are many people much greater than me, but it’s very challenging. You can play it on many levels and enjoy it, but there’s always more.

But you’re at the highest competitive level?

There are many people much better than me. Bridge is very big here in Florida because there are a lot of retired people compared to other places. I have many different partners that I play with and enjoy. One of my favorite partners is Linda Winston. She’s a Canadian champion. She represents Canada in international competitions. The reason I enjoy very much playing with her is because she is very calm. Some people get very hyper and excited. Nobody’s perfect, and sometimes you make mistakes. With Linda, it’s very peaceful. I have to say that, during this past year, bridge really saved me. You go there, and for a few hours, you concentrate on cards. You don’t think about your husband. You don’t think

And the moral of the story is?

It gives you more satisfaction when you do well against somebody who’s really good.

Do you think that is the secret to living well? Keeping your brain and your mind occupied?

Absolutely. It is very, very important to be able to focus on things and keep sharp. I see people my age that have no interests, and to me, they seem old.

Gila Guttmann admires her bouquet on her wedding day, January 1st, 1963. The wedding took place in Tel Aviv at the Beit H’rofeh (house of doctors). Gila often joked that Gad could never forget their anniversary because it was such an easy date to remember. Opposite: Gila and husband, Gad, on their 28th wedding anniversary.

Were there years when you said to yourself, “I could have been a doctor?”

104

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

You do not seem old to me.

I don’t feel old. That is the whole thing. When I look in the mirror, I feel old. But, in my head, I think I’m still young.

So, tell me about the first time you saw your husband.

People asked my husband how long we had known each other. He said he knew me before I was born, which is true because our parents were friends. Gad’s father was my dentist, and I was friends with his sister, who is a year older than me. She always rubbed it

in. She would ask me what I was doing in math. I said, “Adding and subtracting,” and she would respond, “I’m multiplying and dividing.” I remember when my brother was being Bar Mitzvahed. I was ten years old. My sister was older, so she sat with the adults, but my mother made a table for all the children and told me I was in charge. I told everybody where to sit and what to do. I was very proud. His sister came in and said, “Your brother’s having his Bar Mitzvah. My brother’s a pilot.” At the time, in Israel, a pilot was like an astronaut. I was ten. He was twenty.

So, your husband was ten years your senior?

Ten and a half years. I remember that very day when he came in with his wings. It was devastating for me. During the years, I remember seeing him when he would come and visit while he was in Europe studying medicine. I met him once when I was 16, and he came to Israel on a visit when I was in the Army. His intention was to return to the U.S. for his residency. Instead, he fell in love with me, changed his plans and decided to stay in Israel. I was a little nervous at the time because I knew it was a big commitment for him. I wasn’t quite sure that I was ready to get married.

How old were you?

I was 18 when we started dating, but he convinced me.

How old were you when you were married? Nineteen.

So you then left the army?

Yes, you are released from the Army when you are married.

Your husband was quite renowned being an air force pilot in Israel during such turmoil and tumult in the region.

Prior to his group of pilots, all the pilots in Israel were foreign trained from World War II. Ezer Weizman, who was eventually the president of Israel, was his wing commander.

And Yitzhak Rabin?

He was there in the very beginning. Sharon went to the same elementary school with him. The kids always got a kick out of it. He told them that he used to ride a donkey to school. They lived in the country because the cities were being bombed. There was no fuel, so his father bought him a donkey, and he rode it to school.

And his father was the local dentist?

His father studied medicine and then specialized in dentistry. He was an M.D. and a dentist.

Yes, but you have to understand I loved my husband very much. I never regretted marrying him, and it’s very difficult to raise children when both parents are totally occupied . . . So, once I made that decision, I always felt a commitment. I made a decision to marry Gad. I was okay with that decision. I made a commitment to have children, and I was okay with that decision. Everything else was secondary. readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

105

This famous pilot came home for a visit from medical school; you re-connect and fall in love. Did you know you would marry him? No, certainly not.

He really was the pursuer? Yes.

He just wore you down?

Yes, and he talked me out of going to medical school.

Do you regret that?

No, because once I decided to marry him, we couldn’t both be so occupied. Whenever there was a problem with the children, they called me. He was not to be disturbed. We had our first child, our son, when I was 20.

If your daughter said to you, “Mom, I want to go to medical school,” and her husband said, “I’d rather you not because there’s only room for one of us.” What would you tell her?

teach Hebrew, which they accepted. I would leave twice a week early and teach. So, I worked in the bank while I taught Hebrew and finished my degree in teaching. A few years later, I left to work with General Electric. I remember when I went for my entry, I had to talk to human resources, and I had to fill out a form. They asked about my army experience, and I said I was a sergeant in the army. My friends, who I worked with later, told me they expected somebody completely different when they heard I had been in the army. At that time, there were very few women in America in the military. I worked for GE until Gad finished his residency and took a job in Washington.

Well, what did you do for GE?

I was a systems analyst and worked on computers. I was a representative and worked with the salesmen. When they wanted to sell a computer, I had to demonstrate what our computers could do. I would make a benchmark and when a client bought a computer, I would teach their people about our computer.

I would tell her to go to medical school. But, you have to make peace with yourself.

How many other women were doing what you were doing?

Were there years when you said to yourself, “I could have been a doctor?”

The other women that were there, were doing what?

Yes, but you have to understand I loved my husband very much. I never regretted marrying him, and it’s very difficult to raise children when both parents are totally occupied. When our daughter was born, it was important for me to be home for a while because I never had the luxury to be home with our son. I had to work. Nobody put a gun to my head and told me to have another child. So, once I made that decision, I always felt a commitment. I made a decision to marry Gad. I was okay with that decision. I made a commitment to have children, and I was okay with that decision. Everything else was secondary.

How many years were you in Israel?

We were married in ‘63, and then we came to the U.S. towards the end of ‘64. He wanted to do orthopedics, and he decided to apply in the United States. He was accepted in Philadelphia. At the time, we thought it was a temporary thing. The way medicine works in Israel is very different from here. You are either employed by the hospital, or you see patients in the clinic and refer them to the hospital when they need surgery. After they have surgery, they come back to you. In order to be a surgeon, you have to be employed by the hospital, and they don’t give steady jobs to anybody who’s not head of a department. It is like a pyramid with only one at the top. Whereas in the United States, there can be a lot of surgeons in the hospital. We went to Israel, and he wasn’t offered a job but was promised that if he would come, they would figure out something. Nobody would commit to anything. At some point, they offered him to be head of a department. By then, the kids were in high school, and in Israel, you have to do a matriculation exam. You don’t just finish high school. You have to be tested, and the test is on the Bible, Hebrew literature and grammar. I didn’t think it would be fair to take our children into that situation. So, we stayed in the United States.

What was your first work experience in the United States?

My first experience actually was teaching Hebrew because I couldn’t get a job in computers right away. I signed up with an employment agency, and meanwhile, I started teaching Hebrew. When I started teaching Hebrew, they told me that I had to get a teaching certificate. So, I also went to school to get a teaching degree. While I was doing that, I received a call for a job in a bank in their computer department. I had a commitment to

106

I was the only woman. They were secretaries.

Can you share with me the last part of the beautiful journey with your husband?

When it first started happening, I didn’t want to believe it. He forgot little things. I remember we went to see a neurologist, and at that time, he told me that my husband had Alzheimer’s. He said, “You don’t see it so much now, but in a few months, you’ll see a big difference.” That was maybe six years ago. I didn’t see a big difference at first. I was very depressed when he told me this. I went for a second opinion, and the doctor said to me, “You can’t really tell until you’re doing an autopsy if it’s Alzheimer’s or not.” When I asked the first doctor, “How do you know?” He replied, “This is my profession. It’s my specialty. That’s how I know.” But, there wasn’t a big difference. He was very functional. About three years ago, maybe two and a half years ago, he told me he forgot how to get home. He was in the car, but he knew that the GPS had the home address. So, he put it in, and he got home. The next week I sold his car. I was afraid to let him drive. It was a hard decision to take his car away because he loved taking classes at FAU. They have curriculum called lifelong learning, and he really enjoyed taking classes in music and philosophy. I hired a driver to take him. It was a very gradual thing. We used to joke about it because I think humor helps you live through many situations. He would forget things, but he remembered a lot of things. Sometimes I would forget things, and he would remember them. But slowly, slowly he stopped reading. He couldn’t really concentrate. He enjoyed watching TV, but I don’t know how much of it he really was getting. We would go to a movie, and when we came out, he would ask me questions that made me realized he didn’t really get it. It was very frustrating for him because he knew, at that point, what was happening to him. I went to a neurologist here, and he did testing and said that he didn’t have Alzheimer’s. His memory loss, or whatever, was renal failure. In other words, when the kidneys don’t work well, there are poisons in the body, and that was what was causing his confusion. I don’t know if it matters what caused it, but I kind of hoped that, once we started dialysis, it would stabilize. If it was renal connected, it wouldn’t progress, but it did progress.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Gila Guttmann sits down for a candid interview with ELYSIAN Publisher Karen Floyd, at Gila’s home in Boca Raton, Florida.

How many years was he on dialysis?

About three. In the end, he didn’t know my name. I mean he was always friendly and happy to see me and always said he loved me. I asked him, “What’s my name?” He could not remember. He was always good-natured about it, but he didn’t know the kids names. But, he was always happy to see everybody.

He had a peaceful end?

Yes. We were all there with him. I was so happy we were there. You know, every night when we left hospice, I was afraid that I’d get a phone call in the middle of the night. I was just happy we were there because he was lying there not opening his eyes, and all of a sudden, he opened his eyes wide, and he looked at us, and I think he recognized us.

This past year has been a rough year. How do you move forward when you’ve had the earth shake from under your feet?

Concentrate on the positive things. I try to erase the last few months, and I try to think of all the wonderful experiences that we’ve had together. There are a lot.

How do you stay focused on the positive?

It’s Jewish custom to sit Shiva. The Rabbi was here every night to have a prayer. He said something, which I found very comforting. He said, “You know, at some point, God promises Abraham that his descendants will be numerous like the stars in the sky.” He says, “There is something interesting about stars in the sky. That some stars are dead, but their light still comes to us many years later.” He said, “We can think of Gad as a dead star that still shines his light on us. It influences the lives of his grandchildren and his children, of course.” For me, that’s a very comforting thought.

What life lesson can you share today with your children and their children?

I would want them to know that sometimes things happen in life, which, at the time, seem terrible to you, and it seems that you can’t recover from. But sometimes, in the end, it turns out for the best and ends up being a good experience. It made you stronger, and you learned from it. ■

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

107

108

• hiver 2018 • readelysian.com

Sheri Howell began her long and diverse career with a 15-year stint at MTV, where she helped to build the platform into the international brand that it is today. Then, she spent a decade building branded content with such notable clients as Sports Illustrated, Walmart and Sony, working with pop icons like the Black Eyed Peas and Miley Cyrus. Sheri has now found her passion in a company called Medjet, an air medical transport company that provides international travel security. The work, she says, is far from boring: “On a daily basis, I watch the company help people at their worst and scariest moments, which has been incredibly rewarding.”

Sheri Howell

Former MTV Executive, Brand Expert & Marketing Executive at Medjet

Your father had an interesting career, which resulted in many family moves. Why? My father was a captain in the Coast Guard, a career officer. He was the Dean of Engineering at the Coast Guard Academy, which is probably the most difficult academy to get into. He was brilliant. He had a master’s in engineering and a master’s in business. He taught at the Academy and designed new ships. While the ships were being built, we lived in Washington, D.C. We also lived in Seattle a lot because he was a captain of the giant Polar-class icebreakers. So, we moved around every four years.

Are your parents still living?

My mother is. She has more energy than I do. Jan’s like the ENERGIZER Bunny. My father is not living; it has been three years. He had Alzheimer’s for quite some time, though.

Where do you live?

The company that I’m working with now is in Alabama, so I live most of the time in Birmingham. My son goes to school here in New York, so I bounce between the two.

Your career has been equally diverse and mercuric. What was your first job out of college? MTV for fifteen years.

How did the position evolve?

When I was a junior in college at the University of Washington, Hunter College, here in New York, had the equivalent to a junior year abroad. Rather than going to Paris or Europe, you came to

New York. They set students up with all the classes in their major, and they provided internships. I was 16-years-old and living on the Coast Guard Academy campus where my dad was Dean of Engineering when MTV launched. My best friend’s dad was the assistant superintendent of the Academy. We found MTV the day that it launched. That night my dad finally called over to my friend’s home and asked, “Is my daughter over there? Can you send her home? It’s three o’clock in the morning.” We were fixated because there were videos all day, and they had not stopped yet. We decided that we wanted to work there. My friend found the Hunter College program, and he went the first year. Then I applied with one of my friends from University of Washington and landed an internship there. When I graduated, there was a job opening for an assistant in the talent relations department. My friend, who was already working there, told the woman who was hiring the assistant that I was graduating. The woman said, “We loved Sheri. She was the greatest intern ever.” So, they held the job open for me until I could graduate. I had switched majors to English short story and poetry writing. I would write all night, and FedEx my assignments back to college because I arranged to leave before I technically graduated. I started out as an assistant to Roberta Cruger. I loved her.

From assistant to?

Vice President of Music and Talent. It was a great job. We would look at all the music videos that came in every week and then pick the videos that would be played. At that time, MTV actually played a lot of music and was incredibly powerful.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

109

Who was the CEO?

Tom Freston, but they seemed to change regimes every four years. There would be pink slips flying, but somehow, I survived. You just do your job and keep your head down. I think the day that I started as an assistant I had already started eyeing the next role. I asked, “What is the next level up? What do they do all day?” I began to learn their jobs and would offer to help them, so by the time they were promoted, I would have already been doing part of that job. It put you in the front of the line.

Did someone teach you that? No. It is an intuitive thing.

During the fifteen years, did your father ever change his mind about MTV’s sustainability?

Yes. When they came to visit me at work for the first time, I think he saw the scope and how big MTV actually was. MTV had five floors at 1515 Broadway at the time. I think he was finally impressed.

How would your father tell you that he was proud of you?

Ooh. He didn’t a lot. He was not a man of many words, but you just knew.

Did he meet your fiancé?

He did. I always call it my bad version of The Notebook story. My fiancé is actually my first boyfriend ever. He was a cadet at the Coast Guard Academy at the time that my dad was the Dean of Engineering. My mom has known him since he was probably 20.

Your version of The Notebook has interesting twists and turns. How did you reconnect with your first love many years later?

Through the years, my fiancé stayed in touch with my family, and we remained friends with occasional contact. At the Academy, we lived up on the hill, and so my parents were well-known.

Did you always love him? Yes, I think so.

110

Did you ever let yourself talk about that?

No, it’s funny because we are very different people. He broke my heart when I was 18, and I was just so angry. I went off to live my life, first to college, and then I moved to New York and later worked at MTV. He graduated top of his class, went to Navy flight school and flew jets into hurricanes. He was in the military for twenty years and then became a pilot for FedEx. We are very different.

Is he like your father? Yes.

Quiet?

No, he’s very outgoing.

You both married other people in between?

Yes. He married and had three kids. I was married and had one son.

How did the circle complete?

This is where the bad version of The Notebook comes in. He had long been divorced and had a health issue but didn’t know how to talk to people about it. He called and told me the situation. I said, “First of all, until you have a plan of action, you shouldn’t mention it to anybody who might be upset by it. You’re a can-do kind of a guy, the guy that gets things done. The first question will be, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ You have to be able to answer that question.” Long story short, my mom wrote him a note after I told her what was going on when he was in the hospital. He read her note and decided that he would go visit her as soon as he was well enough. I think he knew that I was going home for her birthday. He piled himself into the car and showed up two days early. He apologized for breaking my heart when I was 18 and told her that he still really loved me and was going to get me back. My mom laughed at him and said, “You both are so different now. There’s no way.”

So, you ended up in Birmingham, Alabama via L.A. and New York City? Yes.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

In between MTV and Birmingham, in your current position, what did you do? I was in the music department for a long time at MTV. The brand shifted while I was there into a lot of non-music programming. That was my introduction into marketing and brand renovations and all that I do now. I experienced my first lesson in marketing through these executive retreats. So, when I finally left MTV, I didn’t want to go into the music business. I saw where that was going. I partnered with a friend who was running Albert Watson’s company. He had come from Foote, Cone & Belding and the Levi’s accounts, and we started working on projects together. We worked with The Black Eyed Peas a lot. We also helped the online department of Sports Illustrated create branded content to super serve their advertisers. We worked in branded content for a good ten years.

When did you get your Emmy?

will.i.am wanted to support Barack Obama for president, and he came up with this “Yes We Can” video. So, we helped him create that. A lot of his friends and celebrities were involved.

What was your role?

Executive producer. He conceptualized it, and my partner, Mike Jurkovac, was the other executive producer. Jesse Dylan was involved in it, and Sarah Pantera helped book all the talent. It was a big team effort to help him. We had done so much with him, so many different campaigns.

You spent 15 years at MTV and then ten years doing branded content. What did you do next?

I have always done marketing. Whether it’s brands meet bands and content, that’s still marketing. You’re trying to get to what I would call “brand truths.” Artists are brands. A lot of people don’t understand what the brand truth of an artist is or what the brand truth of the partner is. I always call it getting people to play nicely in a sandbox. It’s finding the intersection where the artist and partner can peacefully coexist. We did that a lot. Marketing has really been my entire career.

What was the most creative initiative that you ever worked on?

Probably a project called Nomad: Two Worlds, which took me to Australia. That project was created by Russell James, a photographer. At the time, the production company was doing all of Victoria’s Secrets’ commercials. We were interested in signing Russell as a director and learned the way to his heart was this project. It was a photographic project about the clash of ancient civilizations with the modern world. It’s told in three stories: Innocence, Inhibition and Discovery. He wanted to make a film out of it. I introduced him to a friend who did an art exhibition with the Australian Consulate every year, and we ended up launching it as a collaborative art collection. will.i.am executive produced this remix of the prime minister’s apology speech to the indigenous people of Australia, and Hugh Jackman hosted it. Donna Karan, Anna Wintour, news channels, everyone engaged and turned it into this huge collaborative thing. Russell’s photography with indigenous art told the story of the emotion and the intent behind the photograph as well as its inception and discovery. We started touring, and he brought in a CEO who turned it into an incubator for things other than just art. There was a fragrance line, Raw Spirit, that came out of it. There was a nonprofit foundation that came out of it. The

Today, Sheri Howell has found her passion with Medjet, an air medical transport company that provides international travel security. It’s a far cry from the early days of her career when she worked for MTV (opposite page).

foundation is supporting the Nomad: Two Worlds’ people that are on tour right now with Hugh Jackman and his Broadway show. So, that was a great experience. Just taking this really beautiful collection of photography and watching that evolve was amazing.

What in the world happened? Now, Birmingham Alabama and a company called Medjet?

What in the world happened? I was living in Los Angeles but spending a lot of time in the Birmingham area for personal reasons. As long as I was down south (I was really looking in Atlanta), I wondered what kind of companies were in Birmingham, and I stumbled across this company called Medjet. When I started reading about it, I was incredibly angry that I hadn’t been a member for the last 20 years of my life. I travel all the time and had just returned from Bogota, Colombia and Mexico City, traveling by myself. I picked up the phone, called the CMO and told him I was spending a lot of time down in Birmingham and sent him my resume. I told him I thought that they might have a marketing problem because I should have been a member for the last 20 years along with every single person that I know. I told him that I wanted to help them. In my resume, he saw the work I had done with Intel, Walmart, Miley Cyrus and MTV, and he asked me, “Why are you here? What are you doing here? Don’t tell me on the phone. Meet

112

me for lunch.” They probably thought I was on the run . . . an embezzler or something. Medjet is my new obsession. I love it when you really like a product that you would actually own. I do have it now, and I cannot tell you how nice it is. My son goes to school here in New York, and I’m in Alabama. If something happened here to him, Medjet would make sure that he got home to me. Medjet is air medical transport and travel security. It sounds incredibly boring, but it’s not. On a daily basis, I watch the company help people at their worst and scariest moments, which has been incredibly rewarding, and it’s a small company. I love renovating brands, and I have had a lot of freedom. With Sports Illustrated, and we did a lot of work with Hard Rock. Nomad was created from scratch. We worked with Miley Cyrus and Walmart when she was in the television show Hannah Montana. Everybody was positioning her as Hannah Montana, but she was a grown-up. So, we created a nonprofit partnership for her called Get Ur Good On, and everything washed through that. Russell did her photographs, and for a year everything took on a much more mature and beautiful aesthetic. Every charity that she did, she “got her good on” whether it was with Make-A-Wish or some other cause. Everything was consistent for a year. With Medjet, it’s been great because they trust my judgment. It has been reinvigorating. The marketing, re-branding the website development and their marketing collaterals . . . everything is brand new.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Q A

Can you share with our young readers a piece of advice? It can be anything.

For many young people, they only have a vague idea of what they want to do. If you want help trying to figure out what the opportunities are, then that’s a very specific question and a very specific ask . . . People in general don’t know how to ask for help. A broad range “can you help me” doesn’t help you figure anything out. If you need help, do all the work first and then figure out what is the actionable thing that the person can do for you. Otherwise, it’s just too broad, and you may be disappointed. If a person finds himself or herself in harm’s way, is it too late at that point to engage with Medjet?

That’s a wrap for Publisher Karen Floyd and the ELYSIAN production crew in New York City as they record the finishing questions from ELYSIAN’s Inspiring Woman interview with Sheri Howell.

You must enroll prior to travel. We also always recommend travel insurance, or making sure your medical expenses are covered by your business. In the case of corporations, we elevate that care to the individual and get them back to their own hospital. Travel insurance (or your corporate coverage, or your platinum credit card) typically leaves you in an acceptable facility somewhere, unless it’s “medically necessary” to get you home. We go one step beyond. We don’t care if a facility is acceptable or not. If you want to go home, that’s what we do. We take you to your home hospital. All those other coverages are like the cake . . . we’re like the icing.

There’s a medical component, and then there’s a security component?

Right. There’s one level of membership called MedjetAssist, which is the medical transport, and then there’s the elevated level, MedjetHorizon, which is all the transport benefits, but also includes the ten security and crisis response services layered on top.

Why is Medjet timely?

Security. For the first time, this year, security is people’s number one concern when travelling. I believe it was Business Travel News’ poll that first showed that the number one concern of travelers is safety and security. Now, people are uncertain even places where they used to feel safe.

Where do you see yourself five years from now, physically?

Wow. I ask myself that question all the time. I love it there in Alabama. We have a house on a lake and four rescue dogs. I really enjoy my work at Medjet. My fiancé is retired now, so there is talk about travel trailers and road trips. I think he gets a little bit frustrated that I’m still working. Hopefully, five years from now, I will be doing a lot of consultation, still working with Medjet, but spending a lot of time in a travel trailer cruising around the United States, hiking in Moab and visiting friends.

Do you see your fiancé moving to New York City? He is not a city person.

Did you ever expect real love? Absolutely, positively not.

But you are 100 percent sure? Yes.

Can you share with our young readers a piece of advice? It can be anything.

Wow. I give out so much advice, but it’s always very specific. There is a young woman who grew up with my son. Her mother is the CEO of a company. This young lady wanted to get into the music business. When she was going to Sarah Lawrence, I helped her get various internships. She graduated, and I’ve been helping her find a job. It was easy to help her because she didn’t present me with a broad “ask.” She came to me with a clear idea of what she wanted. If you want help, you have to have pre-thought everything. For many young people, they only have a vague idea of what they want to do. If you want help trying to figure out what the opportunities are, then that’s a very specific question and a very specific ask that I can help you with. With Ruby, it was great because she did all of the work. She would call me with an actionable request, like when she had submitted the application and had gotten the phone interview, and she just needed somebody to kick it over the edge. I would say if you need help, ask for very specific help like, ‘Could you call this person for me?’ or ‘Do you know somebody at this place?’ People in general don’t know how to ask for help. A broad range “can you help me” doesn’t help you figure anything out. If you need help, do all the work first and then figure out what is the actionable thing that the person can do for you. Otherwise, it’s just too broad, and you may be disappointed. ■

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

113

After growing up in Australia, Martha Wiedemann found herself wondering about her true identity. Wanting to feel a connection to her native India, she took up the practice of Ayurveda. She would later use her knowledge of the ancient, holistic system to inform and improve the wellness facilities at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland, a multimillion-dollar expansion designed with Ayurvedic principles in mind.

Martha Wiedemann

Associate Director and Wellness Advisor of Badrutt’s Palace Hotel & Ayurvedic Expert

How did your parents become followers of Ayurveda long before it was a recognizable practice?

My parents come from Kerala where most of the text for Ayurveda has been preserved. It is still practiced there in its traditional form. Though Ayurveda is widespread in India, most of the Ayurvedic schools are in Kerala, and it is very much a part of the general population’s daily lifestyle. My parents left India, moved to Singapore and preserved that culture that was native to their wellbeing. They raised us with the Ayurvedic principles. Early on, we went to see a Vaidya, which is an Ayurvedic doctor. I never took medication that was chemical in composition. The only medication we were given was always herbal. In Ayurveda, your constitution dictates your nutrition. It was very rigid as I was growing up, and I didn’t understand why. By contrast, Singapore was very multicultural, so Ayurveda was understood and accepted. At 14, I moved to Australia. I felt quite odd living according to the Ayurvedic principles. I would monitor the time of the year so I could determine what my sister and I could or could not eat. It was very much about constitution and very strict. What are you and your sister’s Prakriti? I am Vata-Pitta. My sister is actually more Pitta. At this point in our lives, we are showing traits of Vata Vikriti. In Ayurveda, what are Prakriti and Vikriti? Prakriti is your original state, and that stays with you. Vikriti fluctuates with the changes in environment and lifestyle and goes up and down. So, Vikriti is often referred to as the disease state, the notat-ease, not-at-equilibrium state. You could be a Pitta constitution and have a high Vata state. It sometimes is hard to detect when in diagnosis.

There is a portion of your being that’s static, and a portion of your being that is malleable. As a wellness expert, are the more malleable components to your being sleep and nutrition? Lifestyle and spirituality, actually.

114

How does one define their Prakriti and Vikriti?

It is very difficult to teach somebody how to correctly determine their constitution and what is out of balance in their Vikriti state. If you get that wrong and have an incorrect assessment of your wellbeing, you are not optimized. So, you really should have a consultation with an Ayurvedic expert through questionnaires, etcetera. In Ayurveda, we never treat your correct state. So, it’s not always important to look at that. What is important is to know where are you out of balance. For example, if somebody is not sleeping well or having digestive issues, having a very irregular lifestyle or is very temperamental, we need to understand why.

What about the online assessments/diagnosis?

Some questions are ambiguous and may solicit generic responses or answers. But accuracy in answering those questions and going over those questions with an expert is quite important. You really need accuracy.

Where do you find an Ayurvedic expert?

You have to look for credentials, and it is important to get a referral. There are very good Ayurvedic practitioners, institutes, clinics and wellness centers. Deepak Chopra is in California and really put Ayurveda on the map. He has brought the subject great awareness. We met him 18 years ago when we were managing the Montreux Palace Hotel. It was a delight.

You were born in Singapore, and at 14, you moved to Australia. Tell me about yourself—the period of your life where you lost who you were.

I was confused about my identity. I was often asked, “Where do you come from?” And I thought, “Where do I come from?” I felt very Indian because of the way I was raised. Yet, I didn’t feel very connected to India. I couldn’t say that I really was Indian because I couldn’t speak Hindi. I speak my language from Kerala, which is Malayalam. I felt my soul was connected to India, but I, I didn’t know where I came from. I was searching. I loved growing up in Australia. I loved the

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • hiver 2018 •

115

nature, and I loved being part of that country, and I wanted to be immersed in it. I wanted to be Australian, but I thought, “I’m not Australian.” I was really lost. I think sometimes, to find yourself, you have to know what it’s like to be really, really lost. I discovered that I was many things, and I didn’t need to be just one. I could bring together all of these different facets of my life and my story to become who I really am. I was very grateful for that because I was no longer bound to a culture, and I could choose what I wanted to be. Ayurveda was still the foundation of my life-style, and so, I thought, if I learn Ayurveda, maybe I’ll learn more about who I am. I went to learn and study, and I realized this is something great. I need to actually bring it into my work. Ayurveda became my career. It became what I do. I was in health and beauty, and I never really felt that beauty was something topical. It is health and then beauty.

lotions and potions. I used to play with them. I wanted to put creams on my mother’s skin, but she just said, “Oh, no, no, you go off and do something else.” But I wanted lotions and potions, and my hands were calling me. I needed to work with my hands. Then doors started to open, and I found myself learning about skincare. I studied how to look after my skin. It was always about how I could take care of me, and then it became how I could take care of other people. I found that actually I needed to maintain my skin from the outside, and my nutrition from the inside. So, I became a nutritionist. I studied alternative therapies. I was always studying something whether it was reflexology or massage therapies. It was just this exciting world, and I could use my hands. I was delighted because that became my language. It is where I felt the happiest, actually.

You were interested in skin products and skin wellness. Take us down that path. As a teenager, I had acne. They troubled me, so I covered them up and could not get rid of them.

And I was fascinated by your individual practice. You wake up, meditate, practice yoga, and you self-massage?

And look at you now with this absolute flawless skin . . . radiating incredible beauty inside and out. Thank you. I loved, as a child, the idea of products in jars,

116

• été 2019 • readelysian.com

Yes. I think for me this routine is the key to self-love. It is my space with the silence, often with a beautiful view, so that I can connect with nature. I like the whole idea of awakening my body and promoting circulation. Afterwards, I get oils, and I will do what I’ve learned in massage on other people; stimulate

Yes, yoga’s a big part of my lifestyle. However, meditation is becoming a stronger part because I think that mind, body and spirit is more my focus. Meditation takes me to a much greater level. With yoga, the asanas are great, but without meditation, it’s still a limited exercise.

What are three cornerstones to living well?

This includes meditation? Oh, no, meditation is about 45 minutes.

You spend about two hours daily? Yes. I’m sometimes unreachable before ten o’clock.

What are three cornerstones to living well?

First, is self-love, self-respect and appreciating your creation. Then it is being connected to nature because we are nature, and we cannot separate ourselves from that. This world gives us everything. Finally, I think that contribution is a big thing, that it’s part of being alive. So, if I just did the same things each day, I wouldn’t feel that state of aliveness. I do believe we’re energy forces more than anything else. So, what did I create with my energy force today? What did I contribute, and how do I want to make a difference? I’ve been very lucky, and I’m aware that it’s not enough just to exist. I want to live, and that means making a difference, generating something, something great.

my lymphatic system and work my muscles. I start with my feet, and then I work upwards. I massage my face, my scalp. I do everything. I think this is the way to know the state of your body, and it’s the way to actually remove stagnation, which, I believe, is the cause of a lot of disease states. So, it promotes circulation. It activates the lymphatic system, and you look after yourself. You actually feel like this is my body. This is the thing that takes me through the whole day. I respect it, and I care for it. I do not expect someone else to know my body better than me. I want to know me. So, I think self-massage is part of knowing yourself, respecting yourself and caring for yourself. This makes you feel the self-love, which I think is important. 30, 40 minutes. Sounds like a lot of time.

During meditation, is your objective to still a mind or to fill a mind?

My form of meditation is to put a focus on what I want. Every meditation will include something about the planet, because I love nature. I want wellness for the planet. That’s a big desire of mine. And then self-love and being the best version of myself so I will be ready for the unknown. It is where I put my focus. Some people are able to actually clear their mind. For me, it is about focusing on something. Sometimes it is about eliminating stress. I know that I have to focus on peace, so that I am able to connect with it and not focus on disturbance. I worry about people. I worry about things. So, if I’m worrying about someone’s health, I’ll put my focus on their wellness rather than their illness. It is about putting my focus on where I want to generate my energy.

Martha Wiedemann, right, and her daughter Rebecca.

How long does that practice take?

And yoga is a big part of your practice as well?

Your two children. You have a boy and a girl? Yes.

Do they practice Ayurveda?

My daughter does but not my son. I never sold it to my kids because I felt it was imposed on me. I never wanted to do that. I think if you love it, you’ll embrace it. They watch how I live, and they do come to me very often and ask my advice. Maybe they think that I’m a little too alternative. My son certainly giggles at me. My daughter is very close to wellness. We do a lot together. We travel to India and do panchakarma cleansing. We go to meditation retreats. There isn’t a day that goes by without us focusing on a new piece of information out there that we can explore, that can help achieve wellness, because wellness is so important. You know, if it’s Chinese medicine or whichever school of thought it’s coming from, there’s something great to explore.

Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine that at one point in your life you would be living here in Switzerland married to a principal at Badrutt’s Palace and lauded globally for your insight and enlightenment in the wellness arena?

They say be careful what you wish for, right? I can tell you that this is very, very true. At ten years old, I was in a big bookstore, and I opened a book about Badrutt’s Palace Hotel. Imagine, a little girl in Singapore, who had never seen snow or castles or anything in Europe. I saw this picture of this hotel, and I read that people actually met in the hall and drank tea together. I thought, “Wow, what’s that?” And the snow. And, you know, I disappeared into this book. It was magical. You are an amazing person because you write about things. Women are reading all of this and magical things also happen from the things you write. I told my husband before we

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

117

First, is self-love, self-respect and appreciating your creation. Then it is being connected to nature because we are nature, and we cannot separate ourselves from that. This world gives us everything. Finally, I think that contribution is a big thing. I think that’s part of being alive. So, if I just did the same things each day, I wouldn’t feel that state of aliveness. I do believe we’re energy forces more than anything else. So, what did I create with my energy force today? What did I contribute, and how do I want to make a difference? I’ve been very lucky, and I’m aware that it’s not enough just to exist. I want to live, and that means making a difference, generating something, something great. were married about the book I had read about Badrutt’s Palace as a child. He was quite surprised as he had not been there and really did not know that much about it.

Hans your husband was raised in Switzerland? He is from Basel.

He then moved to Australia and worked in the food and beverage business where you met? Tell me about the budding relationship in Australia.

He opened up the European world for me, and I was fascinated. The whole culture was interesting to me, and he was fascinated by my culture. We were both in the service industry and always understood how important that was. I learned so much from him because the hotel business is all about people and service. I bettered my profession just from learning from him. He had a very natural quality when he interacted with people. There were some fundamental key methods that he used. He was very attentive, and he explored cultures, food and wines. I didn’t know anything about that role. It was all a delight for me. I entered this world, and we became friends. We respected each other. I think that was a good foundation for love. I didn’t feel that I’d met somebody who was flippant. He was definitely deep.

How long was the courtship before marriage? A couple of years.

And did your parents like him?

My parents liked him even though they wanted me to be married to an Indian because of the Indian culture. I grew up in Australia, and my parents were always frightened about what I might do. And then he came home, and brought flowers to my mom. He was very respectful of them.

Two years after meeting, you and Hans were married. Where did you go from there?

I always worked. I always had a little practice, and it was never far from his hotel establishment. I felt I was the side support for Hans and was immersed in the hotel business because he became general manager very fast. He opened the first University Hotel in the Gold Coast in Queensland. We traveled a lot. We went to China where he opened a hotel for the foreign ministry. We lived there for two years in ‘91, ‘92. For me, there were beauty salons, health clubs, chiropractors and physiotherapists, but there was no spa or wellness industry. It was very divided. So, I was learning bits and pieces from different areas and figuring out how all the pieces might come together to treat one person.

118

Do you think that Deepak Chopra was the genesis for a kind of universal acceptance of the idea that Ayurveda and wellness was not just skin or chiropractic? Definitely, because Deepak Chopra brought awareness to Ayurveda and made people understand that it wasn’t a cultural idea, that it was a wellness idea, and that it could be applied to anybody’s life. You didn’t have to be Indian, and you could take part of it, or everything that came under that one word. It was yoga, meditation and nutrition. Everything. So, Ayurveda just means life’s knowledge. He made people feel at ease in that world. Effectively, we could look for natural ways to treat our body, and prevention was a key component. He talked a lot about not having to wait to be ill to do something about wellness. You could maintain your health. You could maintain your life. You could enjoy life. It wasn’t about longevity. It was a quality of life. Yes, I think we all owe it to him for bringing that awareness to us. You and Hans then spent 20 years traveling Australia and China, and then, you came to Switzerland 24 years ago, in 1995, to Le Montreux Palace Hotel. Then, in 2004, he took the helm of the Badrutt’s Palace. What are your roles today? Hans retired from managing the Badrutt’s Palace two years ago. He is a delegate of the board now. It is a small board responsible for directing the continuity of our unique product. Richard Leuenberger was introduced as managing director. I started to take on new responsibilities as associate director of Badrutt’s Palace in addition to my role as wellness advisor. I was a bit scared because Hans was a tough act to follow.

Under your tutelage their multi, multi-million-dollar wellness center was built.

Yes, it was 2009 actually. At the time, the Badrutt’s Palace was doing a lot of renovation. One of the areas they needed to look at was the spa facility. We decided that we were going to do a good market research on our existing clients and find out what they were looking for rather than what we thought the product needed. They were looking for wellness. To come to Engadin is a big decision. To come to the Badrutt’s Palace, you decide to have that experience. We didn’t want to give them a feeling that they had gone to a place that didn’t identify with the product. So, we didn’t want to have an Asiatic spa. We tried to create something that still had the architecture and touches of The Palace all the way through, so that it would feel a part of The Palace. It would always remind you where you were. And the Engadin up there is so magnificent. It’s already a destination of wellness in the pristine mountains, the clean air and the clean water. All we had to do was put in a lot of windows to bring the view and that whole image of the Engadin in. We decided to keep it simple and use natural elements of which the

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

whole Palace is built, such as the local granite and the local wood. They have a lot of etchings in the Engadin region. So, we brought that in too. We studied the region and The Palace and the clientele, and we knew that a lot of families stayed with us. So, we wanted to cater for young kids and teenagers. For us, stimulation is wellness. It was not about creating a spa for a business hotel where people need to switch off. It is a very stimulating wellness center with a lot of sports, activity and brightness. The experience is energizing. I used a few elements in there too from my studies of Ayurveda where we have what we call Vastu Shastra, which is the equivalent of Feng Shui. I designed the center according to the energy flow, but I kept the Engadin style. I thought that was very important because buildings are happy when they’re connected to their destination. I did want to take into account energy flow. So, you will see that, within the treatment center, there’s a garden where you can open the doors and have fresh air. We don’t have a lot of recycled air or use artificial lighting. It’s all natural light. We don’t want people to look at clocks and watches to know what time of the day it is. They can feel it from the sunlight. Those are subtle aspects of getting people to switch off and not feel like they have to check where they are or what time of the day it is but to connect their body to nature. The treatment center’s certainly that. Water, fire, air, earth, all of these elements are present.

Can you give me a two-minute history on The Palace?

Badrutt’s Palace is a building that has its own energy. I think it speaks to everyone. And everyone who comes there leaves something of themselves there too. People come there and have so much fun. Even now, when the hotel is closed and everything’s packed away, furniture’s put away, you can walk through the hall and just feel this energy of joy and laughter and pleasure. It is a hundred and twenty-three years old. Caspar Badrutt built the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel. A little tower actually

existed. It was under construction, and somebody wanted to sell it, and he bought it from an auction. He then built this whole amazing palace around that. I think the tower might have inspired him. It is the second oldest hotel in St. Moritz. The Kulm Hotel which is actually the oldest, was owned by Casper’s father, Johannes Badrutt. The father and son became competitors, but The Palace has a very strategic position. It has this amazing view of the Alps and this wonderful lake where everything happens. It is built in the style of this castle, and fits the mountain so well. It is a landmark in St. Moritz today.

Were there any instrumental women?

Yes. Helen Badrutt, who was the wife of Caspar’s son Hans, took leadership of the hotel in 1953 upon her husband’s death. When she passed in 1960, her son Hansjurg and his wife, Aniko Badrutt, carried on this leadership. Both Helen and Aniko Badrutt were close and contributed much to what remains in the Palace today.

When you were a young girl, was there anyone, other than your parents, who influenced you? I love the story of Mahatma Gandhi.

If you could ask God one question, what would it be?

Why am I here? I want to connect to what I have to do here and what I should do here. I’m always looking for deeper answers to that because I know I’m here for big things.

Do you have anger or fear?

I used to be a very angry person. I definitely had turmoil within me. Fear, no. I shed a lot of that. I feel I’ve come to a point where I’m quite courageous now. I’m so happy to walk into the unknown. Love it actually.

Where will you be 20 years from now?

If the universe wants me here, I’ll definitely be here. I will be doing great things like sharing wellness and ways to be well. It’s not as hard as people think. It’s not that everyone has to give up something to get well. It’s really about connecting to that divine within you, the light within you. From there, wellness can emerge. I want to share that with people. I know I found it for myself. Where will I be 20 years from now? I’ll be enjoying my family. I will be at The Palace.

What do you want to be remembered for? That I brought wellness to people’s lives.

If you had one wish, what would that be?

I know it sounds so cliché. I really want people to love each other without any stigma behind the word love. Even self-love is misunderstood. I think love, that is my wish. I want us to love the planet, and love every living force, and respect it. Love and respect.

What advice would you give a young woman, like Cassi Sherbert, our cover model?

Pay attention to the light within you. Not all the answers are outside of you. Trust yourself. Don’t be scared. If you have a fear, find a way to release it. Don’t accumulate all your troubles. Be free of them. Very important, I think. Live light. I wish someone had told me that when I was a young, but I learned it, and I think it’s valuable. ■

Martha while visiting the Presidential Palace Delhi in India. “I have always admired Gandhi’s unrelenting efforts to unite the divide within India. He also addressed the many issues of inequality women in India were subjected to. To quote him - ‘To call women the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to women.’”

120

• été 2019 • readelysian.com

Into the Sea with Cristina Mittermeier BY LATRIA GRAHAM

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

121

ETHIOPIA, 2007 “Ethiopia is a big country with a mesmerizing diversity of landscapes and habitats. It’s forests are so rich, they contain 219 million metric tons of carbon in living forest biomass, which of course is better kept as living forests than released to the atmosphere by deforestation. One of the most fascinating places in Ethiopia is the Valley of Awash, where I photographed this girl from the Afar tribe. Her people are semi nomadic cattle and camel herders. Fiercely independent and frankly a little scary but she was nothing but beautiful and enigmatic.“

is midmorning in the Galapagos Islands, and Cristina Mittermeier’s underwater world is full of life. A school of jack fish swim past her, mouths open, and the seasoned underwater explorer and National Geographic photographer gives chase, knowing the reflection of light off of their bodies will make a beautiful photo. Later, a gam of hammerhead sharks comes by, and she spends all of her energy snapping and swimming, hoping she is capturing the agility and grace of the life swirling past her. Lost in her work, she forgets about her buoyancy and the current. When she looks up from her camera’s viewfinder, she is alone. Her partner, Paul Nicklen, and the other divemaster she started this dive session with are obscured from her view, the murky white water challenging her vision. “It was like swimming through milk,” she explains. With 30 years of diving experience, she completes her work and makes preparations to surface so that she can wait for the rest of her team. A shark swims up beside her, curious about this other being in the water, and starts circling her position. After seeing and swimming with sharks for decades, she knows there is little to fear and believes her inquisitive friend to be the least of her worries. “It was just one of those silky sharks,” she says in a matterof-fact tone, as if she were describing an ordinary goldfish instead of a 420 pound creature of the sea. When he initially approaches, she is excited, searching for the best way to capture the way his fins glint in the light. Eventually, she scares him away with her camera rig. Undeterred, he returns with another shark, and soon, there are three of them swimming around Cristina. The photos she took from that session give the viewer the impression of being lost in the ocean. “I’m in the middle of a school of sharks, and I say to myself, ‘What am I doing?’ I’m just a kid from Mexico.” Cristina chuckles. Mittermeier is telling this story from the safety of her home in British Columbia. She and Paul returned from the Galapagos two days ago, and in a week’s time, they will be off on another adventure, surveying and capturing the underwater ecosystems off

122

the coast of Mexico. Cristina and her partner Paul are advocates for the ocean, which is why they founded SeaLegacy in 2015. The nonprofit’s mission brings her back to why she picked up a camera in the first place—to show people at home, who may never get in the water, the wonders of the ocean and what the world stands to lose due to climate change, overfishing and industrialization. “It’s very difficult these days to go to a dive site where everything surprises you,” Mittermeier says. “More and more, where I’m spending time, in places like the Bahamas and Mexico, the reefs are gone, and all the big fish have been taken out. The sharks have been finned, and it feels to those of us who have spent enough time in the oceans, that they are dying.” The pair believe that protecting our waterways can only happen if we can see it, understand it and empathize with it. Their message is perfect for social media—Instagram allows them to present eye-catching photos, and each post comes with a message or factoid about how readers can help conserve the oceans. “SeaLegacy is an invitation to people who may be working in an office in a city like Atlanta or New York and who aren’t divers and will never enjoy the same adventures you and I have—it’s an invitation to adventure through digital storytelling,” Mittermeier says. “We want people to come with us and get the thrill of being part of this journey. It’s an invitation to participate in citizen action because our voices individually are not very powerful, but we all know that when we join together, they can be immensely powerful. We dream to build a global movement that gives agency to people to be ocean heroes, who advocate for the ocean with us, and we’ve done several campaigns that prove the point. When you have thousands of people join together to demand or to protest, politicians have to listen, and corporations have to listen.” The team posts calls to action when major legislation and other decisions are being made that will directly affect the health of the sea and the communities that rely on it. “Science was not the best tool to communicate this to a larger audience because it really doesn’t speak to regular people,”

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

INDIA, 2016 Too many boats to catch too few fish. A Tamil woman sets a handful of small fish to dry in the midday Indian sun. The majority of this small catch will go to make chicken feed; a sad ending for the foundation of life in the ocean.

ONLY 10 PACKAGES AVAILABLE BOOK BY OCTOBER 7 Two Guests per Package

Experience a Stay Unlike Any Other. October 16-18, 2019

Sip and savor your way through the opulent Gilded Age on Florida’s Historic Coast with private INSIDER experiences, curated tours, multi-course dinners, unique wine tastings and more. Relax and recharge at The Collector, St. Augustine’s premier luxury inn and gardens, rated one of the 10 Best Hotels in America. To learn more or to book your stay, visit HistoricCoastCulture.com.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

123

Cristina Mittermeier photographing an American Crocodile in Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen. This crocodile is one of the many predators that inhabit Cuba’s mangrove forests. His nonaggressive behavior and the prevalence of these predators in this area is an indication of a healthy and abundant ecosystem. In North, Central and South America, they are considered at-risk because of hunting and habitat destruction. They are known to eat almost anything that moves, but here, in the Gardens of the Queen, their food supply—fish, crabs, turtles, snakes and small mammals— is abundant. They are safe to contribute to a complex and preserved ecosystem thanks to collaborative efforts of government, scientists and business.

124

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

125

she explains, and Mittermeier should know. She has edited or coauthored more than 20 books. “If you don’t have a scientific background, it’s hard to read scientific papers. Visual communication is a better way of inviting a larger audience into this very important conversation. That’s why I picked up a camera.” With 1.6 million followers, it seems SeaLegacy’s message is catching on. Mittermeier likes working through the nonprofit because her work has more permanence. As a photographer for National Geographic Magazine, she might spend two years working on a story, and the topic would only be in the public eye for a month—the time the publication was on newsstands. Out of sight and out of mind, Nicklen and Mittermeier thought. They produce work of a similar quality with SeaLegacy, but there is no end date—the internet is, at least in some ways, infinite, so it keeps the conversation going. For the SeaLegacy team, the goal is to build a global movement of people who are engaged in ocean conservation. The way for people to participate is by joining the movement and becoming “members of the tide”—these people give the nonprofit a small contribution every month to be part of the adventure. “My intention is to point my camera at the place where the ocean meets the land, where people live,” Mittermeier says. “One billion people live on the edge of the sea, and they are some of the poorest people on the planet. I want to show viewers what it looks like for them when we talk about sea level rise, when we talk about fish being depleted, when we talk about women disempowered to participate equally in fishing.” SeaLegacy isn’t Mittermeier’s first endeavor of this nature. In 2005, she founded the International League of Conservation Photographers, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that encourages collaboration between nature photographers, conservation partners and the media to explore how visual media can best contribute to impactful science communications and positive conservation outcomes all around the globe.

126

“It wasn’t always easy, or fun, to balance the demands of parenting with trying to build a career as a photographer. Here we are in the jungles of Brazil some 20 years ago. While they endure boredom, mosquitoes and hunger, I am pursuing a photograph of an endangered monkey, that sadly, never came together. Such great kids!”

hen things seem grim, what inspires her to keep going is the courage of her subjects. “I’ve met extraordinary people that are willing, in the most courageous and dignified way, to stand up for the things they believe in. You hear the stories of people who have undergone horrendous things and had to sacrifice, and I really have to ask myself, ‘How much am I sacrificing?’ I’ve never been arrested, and I’ve never been in the middle of a protest, but I know people who have. What they’re willing to lose . . . the fact that they’re willing to put it all on the line to make a difference sticks with me.” Mittemeier is also encouraged by the sisterhood she has with women around the world. “I feel like women carry the burden of environmental disaster—we’re the ones left at home with the children, with crap coming out of the tap, you know? There’s this growing sisterhood around the planet of women wanting to take the reins of the future of the planet, and I think we deserve that chance. We’re going to do it together.” She sees the work indigenous communities are doing in British Columbia as a perfect example of conservation efforts. “We happen to have some of the most robust indigenous communities I’ve ever visited. A lot of them never really signed agreements with the Canadian government, so they’re still free tribes.” Mittermeier often shies away from showing the people of those communities in their regalia, but there is a reason for that: “One of the things that I love about photographing indigenous people is that I love photographing them as they are today, not as we imagine to be, covered in feathers or head paint. I don’t think what we wear necessarily defines who we are, and a lot of indigenous people are very true to their culture, their language, their traditions and the ways of some of their elders. “They look just like you and me,” she insists. “They go to university, they work in banks, you know? I like that dichotomy, that narrative, but when it comes to the relationship that they have with the ocean, because people among them have been well educated, they’re lawyers . . . they are incredible advocates for their own rights.” Since she was a young girl, Mittermeier knew that she wanted to work in nature. Born in Mexico City, for the first 10 years of

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

“

I’ve met extraordinary people that are willing in the most courageous and dignified way to stand up for the things they believe in. You hear the stories of people who have undergone horrendous things and had to sacrifice and I really have to ask myself ‘How much am I sacrificing?’ her life her interactions with the outdoors were limited. That changed when her family relocated to Cuernavaca, the capital of the Mexican state of Morelos. She marvels at how much the place has changed since she was a child: “When I was young, it was very quaint, but it’s now very big.” Back then, the area was more rural, and she had the chance to interact with cows and donkeys. “I think that we are all born with an innate love for nature, and society and our parents kill it in so many of us—our parents teach us to be afraid of animals and ‘icked out.’ I was lucky because my parents didn’t. I was allowed to get dirty and play with animals, so I think I was one of the lucky people who didn’t have that love of nature squashed.” Fascinated by Jacques Cousteau’s portrayal of the underwater world in his films, she attended the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, where she earned her undergraduate degree in marine biology. Her work as a marine biologist forced her to witness the carnage happening beneath the waves. Whales were dying with stomachs full of plastic. Sharks would be harvested for their fins and then thrown back into the ocean, and without the ability to swim, they would drown. Statistics and studies weren’t getting the world’s

”

attention, so she picked up a camera. “My sense of storytelling is hugely inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—in particular by the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech,” she says. “I think about the planet I want to live in, and I want to leave it for my children. Dr. King took us on this journey of what can happen if we work hard and come together and get to this place and achieve this grandiose dream ...right now, we’re in the pits, and we have to balance the realities and the hopes. I think it works for people, and that’s the kind of storytelling that I have embraced.” Mittermeier admits that there are moments when things don’t go according to plan, and she and her team have to adjust. “I think it goes with the nature of being a photographer, that 99 percent of what you do is fail,” she says with a laugh. “It’s so difficult for animals to show up, for the light to be right, for the equipment to be working properly. So much of the time things aren’t working well.” Her recent trip to the Galapagos had another moment like that, but this time it didn’t involve sharks. “On my day off, I went diving with my cameras. I said to Paul, ‘Where are my strobes, my underwater lights?’ We forgot them. Initially, I was pissed that I didn’t have all my equipment, but I thought, ‘Ok, I’ll see what I can do with this.’ I think that I made one of the most beautiful photographs I’ve ever made of a turtle swimming through a school of fish just by forcing myself to kind of embrace this adverse moment and turn it into something positive. That’s just attitude, right?” These little moments of wonder keep her in the water, her lens trained on signs of hope. Her latest book, Amaze, includes a series called “The Water’s Edge,” which documents this need for balance: the give-and-take between humans and the ocean, the moments of awe that pepper the predictability of life. “My main goal is for all of humanity to understand that we are all ocean creatures, whether we know how to swim or not.” ■

“Ta’Kaiya Blaney, a singer, songwriter, drummer and speaker for her people, the Tla’amin First Nation of British Columbia, encapsulates my three greatest passions: the natural world, indigenous rights and empowerment of women.” Opposite bottom: Amaze, Cristina’s monumental book is as much an inspiration for sustainable living as a staggering collection of nature photography.

Souljourn Yoga founder, Jordan Ashley, and her team bonding with a local tribe on the Tibetan Plateau in May 2018. A key goal of Souljourn is to empower women through donating, volunteering, and connecting with other cultures.

128

• été 2019 • readelysian.com

Expanding Reach

ordan Ashley does not have a return ticket. It’s July, and the Souljourn Yoga founder is in Rwanda for the second time in a little over a year. Between trips, she’s spent time in Peru, Morocco and Cambodia. “Wi-Fi is spotty here and all that movie stuff,” she warns me as we begin our video chat. Behind her, a mosquito net hangs from the ceiling of a pretty, well-kept wooden bungalow. Golden light shines from an unseen source onto the log-cabin-style beams. “We had no reception out in the national park the last two nights,” she adds. “And there are hippos outside.” Ashley’s nomadic existence in 2019 as well as the time she plans to spend in Rwanda—both are owed to her pioneering work with Souljourn Yoga. The non-profit organization, launched in 2016, hosts retreats in developing regions of the world with the mission of promoting female

SOULJOURN YOGA’S QUEST TO TAKE WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT GLOBAL

BY C.S. BURKE

empowerment and educational opportunities for girls. Working through community organizations on the ground, Ashley connects participants with girls in her retreat destinations. They practice yoga together and engage in art projects. A portion of the retreat “tuition” is designated to supporting partner non-profits. In three years Souljourn has hosted 14 retreats. Some of the locations, such as Peru, have been repeats, and Ashley partners with the same local people for the sake of continuity and to build strong, life-long relationships In Rwanda, her partner organizations support schools, provide scholarships and offer classes, all aimed at women and girls. “I always try to highlight what the country has to offer,” she says. “I want a good balance—it should be educational, informative and about seva, which means service—but also fun and relaxing and adventurous for the people who come with us. So, for instance, we went to Rwanda’s Kigali Genocide Memorial, but we also spent those two nights on safari in Akagera National Park. We did classes and teacher training with local women, to pass on the skill set for teaching yoga, so they can do it at home with their friends and family.” Ashley’s journey began in Los Angeles, where yoga was integrated into her upbringing from an early age. “After my parents divorced,” she says, “it was something that my mom and I did a lot together.” At 18, she moved to New York to study journalism at the New School, and she continued to do yoga often in order to stay grounded and feel connected to her past. But she says she never really resonated with what, by then, had become the world of contemporary, mainstream yoga as we now know it, with all its glamour, sexuality and social media tie-ins, where fitness and modeling sometimes appear to be almost the same thing. At one of the studios, however, she noticed a postcard about a retreat to India and decided to spend her winter break there. It was a life-changing trip. “Not to sound trite or cliché, but it really opened me up,” she says. “There is culture shock, especially growing up in the West, in the U.S.” The stark contrast, the blunt reminder of the resources so many take

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

129

for granted proved pivotal. “Not even in terms of it being spiritual,” she is quick to add. “I’m skeptical of that guru mentality. It made me grateful to have been born under the circumstances I was . . . it’s this term, ‘lottery of life.’” Trip after trip followed that first one, beginning with Cambodia for the first time, then Tibet. Immersion in the culture and history of the non-Western world became paramount for her, especially with regard to women’s disempowerment. Ashley is quick to thank her teachers. They were instrumental in helping her forge the relationships and local partnerships that today form her contacts for all of Souljourn Yoga’s retreats. There are always, as she puts it, people “on the ground” who run organizations that share her vision, wherever Souljourn goes.

omewhere in the midst of all that, she graduated from New School with a degree in journalism, completed the 200 hours of training required to become a yoga teacher and then escaped an abusive relationship that made her fear for her safety in New York. To get away, she spent time in Cambodia, Nepal and Thailand, working for local newspapers and learning about NGOs. It was a challenging—and often lonely—experience. “I was really just shut down,” she continues, “and uncomfortable in my own skin.” Eventually, in 2012, she returned to New York and yoga. She completed additional training, began to teach and continued to do so all the way up through 2019 until moving to London. It was during this time of growth and discipline that Souljourn Yoga was born. “I had this moment—really an amalgamation of moments— of coming back to New York from being abroad and realizing that what has been so mind-opening and heart-opening for me is travel. People in New York didn’t seem to care what was

130

happening outside themselves. They said that they did, but there wasn’t any action behind it.” Ashely says she began to attend yoga retreats herself and found the disconnect she perceived to be troubling: the trips seemed more about social media and had a protected, almost resort-like vibe. Despite taking place in less-developed countries, there was little of the cultural or social immersion she had experienced on her own, something she felt would benefit participants, host organizations and local communities. She doesn’t even like the word “retreat” anymore. It reminds her of hiding.

Souljourn participants and students of EFA (Education for All) connecting in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Above: Founder Jordan Ashley and Souljourn Teacher/ Retreat Leader, Lisa Bermudez, in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco on the Mystical Morocco Retreat.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Each yoga session is conducted in a tranquil place, where ones surroundings make the experience that much more spiritual. Pictured here: the yoga shala at Norden Camp from ‘A Tribe Called Tibet Retreat’ on the Tibetan Plateau in May 2018. Below: Souljourn Yoga retreats always include meals and often provide cooking classes or food tours, where participants are fully immersed in a culture of a country through their traditional cuisine. Pictured below: Local Rwandan food from Souljourn’s Rwanda Yoga Adventure in 2018.

“We haven’t quite come up with a better word for what we do,” she admits. “But I decided I wanted to have a charity—a 501(c)(3), as opposed to a company, to set the mood for what we do. We visit, and we learn.” Students traveling with Souljourn, Ashley says, are going to have their own experiences and all will be challenged in different ways. But for her, the travel touches a deep place of peace—which explains why she doesn’t currently have a return ticket from Rwanda. “My mother says I’m at my best when I travel,” she notes. “When I’m not focused on . . . what I think I should be worried about. It’s hard to come back to life in a city. That’s when I really have to be focused on self-care, which can be a bit of a woo-woo word. But the juxtaposition of cosmopolitan life and living in a village . . . you have to acclimate to the different rhythms. But in order to keep going and expanding the reach of Souljourn, I have to give myself a break, permission to be sad and moody for a few days.” Souljourn’s teachers are volunteers. Participants pay fees starting around $1,850, depending on the location of the retreat, which includes accommodation (usually for 8 nights/9 days), meals, classes, and activities—from volunteering with local women and organizations, to food tours, to visits to cultural landmarks, world heritage sites and national parks— as well as a tax-deductible donation. Students are responsible for their own airfare. Trips planned for 2020 include Sri Lanka, Cambodia, South Africa, Tibet and more. There is a phrase on the Souljourn website about the “need for experiences that give perspective to the self through selflessness.” When I ask Ashley if that means seeing oneself more clearly, in both a personal and global context, she is quick to explain her vision of it. “It’s amazing how much of a façade we all wear in our dayto-day lives, the labels we put on ourselves,” she says. “When you spend time with the young women in these countries, like Rwanda, none of that matters, not even how you got to the moment you share with them. You’re completely disarmed. You take off your shoes and jump rope, and it’s not even some big action, it’s not a monumental thing. It’s about how we spend time with one another.” ■

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

131

An Individualistic Approach to Weight loss

BY DR. KATHERINE BIRCHENOUGH

o one would argue that a healthy weight is a key component of wellness. Not only does your blood pressure normalize, but you feel better and look better, which helps with psychological wellness. If you’ve ever struggled with your weight, you’ve probably tried many diets over the years in an effort to shed pounds and improve your health. The problem is that for most of us, the weight seems to come back once we start relaxing a little bit. This is characteristic of fad diets, which advocate unrealistic, non-sustainable rules for short-term rapid weight loss. They are easy to spot once you know what to look for. They lure us in because they speak to our need for control when we feel that things are out of control. Ultimately, these diets can damage your metabolism, making it even harder to lose weight the next time you put it back on. Here’s what you need to know: There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to real, sustainable weight loss. You can’t follow your trainer’s diet and expect to get the same results, because your trainer’s metabolic needs are likely very different than yours. What’s the underlying cause of gaining extra pounds? Is it really that you eat too much and exercise too little? Or is there something more going on, such as inflammation, sluggish liver function due to toxin overload, hormonal imbalance or food sensitivities? The magic truly happens when you accept that you are an individual, and there may be more to the story. Sustainable, permanent normalization of weight requires metabolic repair. As we age, we become subject to a variety of things that impair normal metabolic function. Hormones change. We develop fatty liver due to a poor diet. Thyroid problems occur. We become insulin resistant. Our fat burning becomes inefficient. Stress raises our cortisol levels. Our sleep quality decreases. As a result of not feeling well, we become less active. We may feel worse and worse—to the point that our motivation suffers and we feel overwhelmed. Believe me, I’ve been there!

132

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

IAROSLAV NELIUBOV/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

readelysian.com • été 2019 •

133

Simply reducing calories and increasing activity may work for some, but the majority of us will need a multifaceted approach. A modern, individualized weight loss program includes comprehensive lab testing for: • • • • • •

Genetic factors Hormones Inflammation Blood sugar regulation Nutritional status Body composition

Your weight loss program should also take into account your: • • • • •

Work responsibilities Social obligations Environmental exposures Stress levels Sleep quality

Body composition analysis using modern technology can also give you an idea of your basal metabolic rate so that you can accurately predict your calorie needs. At my practice, we use all of this information to create a personalized plan that may include an elimination diet, anti-inflammatory foods, intermittent fasting if metabolically appropriate, supplements for detoxification, nutritional repletion, adrenal support and thyroid or hormone nutraceutical support. I also use prescription and compounded medications as needed for blood sugar control, low thyroid, hormone replacement, appetite suppression and metabolic support. We also make recommendations for appropriate exercise. You may be healthy enough to do high intensity intervals, or you might need to increase your physical activity in a safe and strategic way. If you’ve got a high amount of visceral (belly) fat, you may need to reduce the intensity and focus on a more restorative mode for a period of time in order to lower cortisol. And finally, ongoing support and accountability from an expert team is essential for success. Through our testing, training and combined years of clinical experience, doctors certified in functional medicine, such as myself, understand that complex conditions require an individualized approach, and we provide you a roadmap back to health and wellness. If you are tired of yo-yo diet cycles and gimmicks, I encourage you to seek a more comprehensive and lasting approach. You deserve it! ■

MAK3T/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

ABOUT DR. BIRCHENOUGH Katherine Birchenough was the fourth MD in the state of South Carolina to be certified through the Institute for Functional Medicine. A South Carolina native, Dr. Birchenough is a University of South Carolina School of Medicine graduate, board-certified in pediatrics and emergency medicine, and has recently devoted herself full-time to her wellness practice. Dr. Birchenough practiced traditional medicine for more than 12 years, diagnosing and treating diseases but not really getting to the root cause. Over the years, she watched as unhealthy environments and poor lifestyle choices affected the health of her peers and her patients—at one point even herself—and knew that something had to give. She realized the pursuit of health, beyond just the absence of disease, is a specialty in and of itself but wasn’t available to traditional medical students. This realization brought her to a new career path in functional medicine and has fueled her passion to treat the patient, not just the symptoms.

134

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

A curiosity for learning, a passion for automotive

Driving Young America has a simple mission: Support education, inspiration and creativity of youth who have an interest in the design, performance, restoration safety and historical significance of the automobile. To give go to: www.hhiconcours.com/charity.html

Chelsea Williams is a nationally recognized plant-based media contributor and wellness blogger based in Los Angeles, California. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TAMERA DARDEN

136

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Plant-Based Salvation BY KAREN FRAGALA SMITH

FOR CHELSEA WILLIAMS, THE ROAD TO WELLNESS BEGAN WITH ILLNESS

helsea Williams is a firm believer in the adage, “Your curses are your blessings.” After all, her journey to becoming a nationally recognized guru for plant-based/clean beauty living began when she was searching for natural remedies for her own health crisis. Williams was a freshman at Radford University in Virginia when she began experiencing bouts of depression and periods of extreme fatigue. She had always been energetic and athletic growing up and was attending college on a basketball scholarship. But despite her rigorous workout regimen, it was becoming difficult for her to control her weight for the first time in her life. Worse, she was having frightening heart palpitations and felt as if her eyes were bulging out of her skull. Chelsea knew something was wrong, and she suspected it had to do with her thyroid. The thyroid is a moth-shaped gland in the neck that secretes hormones which control metabolism and are necessary for the proper function of every cell in the body. By the age of 18, Chelsea knew a lot about the gland because she had spent the prior seven years taking medication to slow down its overactivity. The prevailing wisdom, at the time, among endocrinologists, was that an overactive thyroid should be slowed down with radioactive iodine treatments and regulated as needed with medication. For a while, this method worked. Chelsea took her thyroid meds and ate a standard American diet and felt fine. But after seven years on medication, she was beginning to lose faith in a chemical-focused approach to chronic illness. She was determined to find some other options. Initially, when she began researching different food systems, Williams found many wellness acolytes to be elitist and intimidating. But an indigenous food activist from Oklahoma named Chef Ahki got her attention. “Chef Ahki was one of the first women I saw on YouTube who I could relate to,” says Williams as she recalls the early days of her holistic journey. Ahki is a vegan chef and cookbook author who has become well-known in recent years as the resident chef on the Wendy Williams Show. “For a lot of people, a healthier lifestyle means cutting out certain foods,” says Williams. “But for me, the first step was just to add more vegetables into my diet.” Incremental lifestyle changes yielded noticeable results for Williams. “As I added vegetables and reduced my intake of chicken and beef, I began to feel more energetic, and my heart palpitations subsided,” she recalls. Her handbook for personal transformation was Sacred Woman by Queen Afua, a tome by the renowned health pioneer that advocates natural living and alternative spirituality.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

137

The more Williams learned about natural living, the better she felt and the more compelled she was to share what she had been learning. But not everyone caught on right away. In fact, her aversion to red meat raised red flags when it came to her mom and dad. Williams is an only child, and both of her parents spent their careers in the military. They aren’t what you might classify as touchy-feely folks. “My parents have always been supportive of me, but when I started telling them about my shift to a plant-based diet, their initial response was, ‘You already have health issues. Why would you try to adopt this extreme diet?’”

“BUT FOR ME, THE FIRST STEP WAS JUST TO ADD MORE VEGETABLES INTO MY DIET.” INCREMENTAL LIFESTYLE CHANGES YIELDED NOTICEABLE RESULTS FOR WILLIAMS. “AS I ADDED VEGETABLES AND REDUCED MY INTAKE OF CHICKEN AND BEEF, I BEGAN TO FEEL MORE ENERGETIC AND MY HEART PALPITATIONS SUBSIDED,”

138

Organic foods often have more beneficial nutrients, such as antioxidants, than their conventionally-grown counterparts and people with allergies to foods, chemicals, or preservatives often find their symptoms lessen or go away when they eat only organic foods. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TAMERA DARDEN

But over time, as they saw her health improve, they saw the promise of a “forks over knives” approach to eating. The initial skepticism of Williams’ parents taught her an important lesson that has become her guiding principle in wellness: “No one is going to know your body as well as you. Do what works for you. It’s not about following fads or trying to compete with what other people are doing on social media.” Williams was so inspired by her journey that she decided to pursue a master’s degree in public health (with a focus on nutrition) at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. After graduation, she spent several years working as a wellness consultant for various public health organizations while building her following as a health blogger and wellness consultant. From the beginning, Williams designed her website (thatschelsea.com) and Instagram posts (@thatschelsea) to serve as a friendly, accessible entry point for anyone who wants to learn more about how to improve their diet and lifestyle. “I want people to be more informed about the choices they have with no judgment and no guilt,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be a big, expensive production. Start with a 20-minute walk after dinner. Swap out your standard household cleaners with non-toxic formulas. The industry is moving toward these eco-luxe products, but there are plenty of affordable options. Make your own body scrubs. Take the time to learn about new ingredients and cook for yourself.” Williams’ affinity for farm-fresh vegetables garnered her first

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

The road to success begins with uncompromising drive

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

139

television appearance when a producer on WJLA News Channel 8 in Florida saw a post on her Instagram when she was in the state visiting family, and he invited her to share her recipes on the news. She has since been on television eight times in various cities along the Eastern Seaboard. Last year, Williams broke free from the 9-to-5 routine to focus full-time on her platform and her corporate consultancy, which includes planning experiential events for companies such as Popsugar. “Entrepreneurship has stretched me in a way that I never imagined. It’s all about faith,” says Williams, who identifies herself as a Christian and takes time every day to read the Bible. “When you think about it, wellness is faith-based because nothing happens instantly. If you’re someone who wants to feel better, you have to believe that making changes in your lifestyle will yield results over time, as long as you persevere.” On the other hand, the life of an entrepreneur can be stressful. Very stressful. “It’s all on you to make things happen, so you have to be focused and disciplined,” she says. “But without my health, I have nothing to stand on, so that’s always got to be a priority.” Williams recently relocated to Los Angeles, so she could live in a place where wellness is part of the lifestyle. She usually starts the day at six, rising with the sun. A hot cup of reishi tea fortified with lion’s mane powder helps her feel energized and focused. Her first meal of the day is usually a smoothie, juice or a smoothie bowl laden with fresh fruit. From 7:30 in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon, she works from her home office, interfacing with clients, answering emails, planning projects and writing blog posts. Her afternoon meal is typically cooked quinoa with lots of veggies. She dedicates the afternoons to exercise, which could mean a trip to the gym or a hike with friends. Her evenings are decidedly lighthearted. After a warm shower, she spends time on the phone with friends and family or watching a bit of television. Her last meal of the day is usually by 6 or 7 p.m., so she has time to digest before bed at around 10. Buddha bowls are her favorite. At age 32, Williams is the happiest and healthiest that she has ever been. When she first began her journey to better health, she felt very lonely. She didn’t know how to connect with other young women in the Washington, DC, area who were also interested in holistic nutrition. This yearning for a wellness tribe drove Williams to create Sacred DC, a series of gatherings for Washington women that focused on clean beauty, mindfulness, self-awareness and plant-based living. Williams plans to form a similar group once she becomes more established in Los Angeles and assesses the needs that people have in her new community. As an African-American woman, Williams feels particularly compelled to share what she has learned about self-care so that she can inspire others the way Queen Afua and Chef Ahki inspired her. “There is a gap of knowledge for a lot of black women on how to care for themselves for optimum health,” she says. “And there is also a lack of information out there on how to enter into the public health sphere as a health communicator. So I hope that my health journey and career path can serve as a blueprint for others.” ■

140

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and finding success in managing her condition through a plant-based, nontoxic lifestyle, Chelsea started her platform in an effort to help teach others how they can live a healthier lifestyle, as well as become more knowledgeable, healthconscious consumers. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TAMERA DARDEN

BLUE MAJIK SMOOTHIE BOWL

Smoothie bowls are one of my favorite meals to make for breakfast! I usually start my day with fresh fruit, so why not make it fun and filling? In this smoothie bowl, I used E3 Live’s Blue Majik Powder, a high-quality, raw vegan spirulina powder that is rich in B12. Yes, it’s naturally blue! Because I do not consume meat or dairy, I love to include this in my diet to help keep my energy levels high. It’s essentially flavorless, so feel free to add this to chia pudding, tonics, smoothies, and more. INGREDIENTS (SERVES 1) BASE 1 gram or 2 scoops of E3 Live Blue Majik Powder 1 organic frozen banana 8 oz organic coconut water – feel free to adjust as needed to get things moving in your blender! A few chunks of organic coconut meat. Young or mature will work just fine. 2 organic pitted dates TOPPINGS 1/4 cup organic hemp hearts A few chunks of organic coconut meat 1/4 cup organic blackberries and blueberries mixed – fresh or frozen! Dusting of E3 Live Blue Majik Powder for decoration Add frozen banana, coconut water, dates, and 2 scoops of blue majik to your high-speed blender. Blend until thick and creamy. Pour the mixture into your bowl. Top your bowl with hemp hearts, blackberries, blueberries, coconut chunks, and a dusting of Blue Majik. Enjoy!

COZY BUDDHA BOWL

Buddha bowls have always been one of my favorite meals. They are super easy to create and a great way to ensure you are eating a variety of vegetables. For this cozy buddha bowl I toasted some quinoa with dulse (a great way to add a salty, savory flavor to your dishes without using salt!) for my base. Then I added kale, tomato, avocado, roasted chickpeas, roasted carrots, green onion, crispy shiitake mushrooms, and micogreens. I finished off my bowl by swirling avocado cilantro and tamarind date sauces on top. This bowl is so filling and packed with protein! My number one tip for making the perfect buddha bowl is to only use ingredients that YOU enjoy! If you see an ingredient below that you don’t like, swap it out for something else. There is no perfect formula! Get creative and make it your own. INGREDIENTS 4 oz cooked organic quinoa toasted with dulse 2 organic tomatoes, chopped 1/2 cup organic raw kale, chopped 1/2 cup organic shiitake mushrooms, roasted 1 cup organic sprouted chickpeas, roasted Handful of organic carrots, roasted 1/4 cup organic green onion, chopped 1/2 organic avocado Organic microgreens to taste SAUCE Surinder’s Kitchen – Tamarind Date Chutney + Cilantro Avocado Salsa I love these dressings! They set almost any dish all the way off! Enjoy!

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

141

egan McDuffie and Michael van Vliet did something most people only dream of. Tired of their desk jobs and relegating their love of the outdoors to short weekend trips, the couple decided to quit their jobs, sell most of their belongings and travel North America in their dark green 2001 Ford Focus hatchback. Eventually, they grew tired of traditional camping foods like hotdogs and hamburgers. They wanted to cook rich interesting meals like the ones they made back home, but modified for a camping lifestyle. The result of that endeavor is their blog and culinary resource called “Fresh Off The Grid.” “We think about how to cook with two burners and not have a lot of dishes” Michael explains. “At the time, we didn’t have refrigeration, we didn’t have a cooler or anything, so we had to use a lot of shelf stable ingredients, which is also helpful for people that are traveling, so it was a lot of criteria. We wanted these recipes to work and be healthy and to be things we would not get bored of.” Michael and Megan met in 2012 at CicLAvia, a Los-Angeles based street event. The two had mutual friends in their dodgeball league and the group met up to take advantage of the car-free streets. “It was a pretty epic day,” Megan says. The pair cruised the avenues with their crew,

142 142

• hiver 2018 • readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Megan & Michael Take to the Road

BY LATRIA GRAHAM

143 143

readelysian.com • hiver 2018 • readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

eventually taking in an outdoor music festival. “The thing that really connected us was talking about how much we wanted to travel. Megan had just done a long hike through the Sierras, and I was doing motorcycle trips around Southern California. We both wanted to get out more and do some slow traveling,” Michael adds. Slow travel is about taking the time to stop, explore and begin to know a location. “It’s about really digging into a place,” Megan says. The pair wanted to be out there, finding the hidden spots, learning more about one another while pushing themselves to enjoy new adventures. Over the course of a year, they started saving money and squirreling away the things they would need for a yearlong road trip. They decided to use Michael’s car. “Our thought was that sometimes the best adventure vehicle is the one you already own,” Megan says. In the summer of 2015, they left Southern California. As they made their way across the country, they started posting content of their adventures--beautifully curated shots with breathtaking backdrops. Their videos and photos gained a following on social media, and they started collaborating with like-minded brands to show that getting outdoors didn’t have to consist of rehydrating freeze-dried meals. Megan and Michael also make sure to clarify that while they do have lots of fun crisscrossing the country, “Fresh Off The Grid” is work. The duties of recipe development are equally shared, but because Megan pursued photography before they hit the road, she takes most of the photos and does the behind-the-scenes tech for the site. Michael, who went to film school, handles the videos and copywriting. “There’s a lot of small business stuff that is sort of ‘all hands on deck,’ but that comes with the territory,” Michael says. While their arrangement might seem glamorous on Instagram, Megan and Michael are also willing to talk about their failures. “One [example] that I can think of right away because it was such a ridiculous event is the lentil story,” Megan laughs. The snafu took place on their year-long road trip, and because autumn was upon them, they decided to try a recipe for red lentil and pumpkin curry soup. “Red lentils are such a great protein source,” she adds. “We were tinkering with this recipe, and we thought that we had it done, so we drove from Missoula, Montana up into the Lolo National Forest-- probably an hour-and-a-half drive. We found this really beautiful campground that was by a natural hot spring, and we were like ‘Awesome! Let’s make this recipe,’ and we’ll shoot it for the blog.” Soon after they started cooking, it was apparent something wasn’t right. “The lentils are hard, and we’ve been cooking them for forty-five minutes,” Michael explains, “which is much longer than red lentils need to cook. The light is going down, and we have no other food for the night. We now sort of suspect it’s because they got coated with coconut milk, and the fat inhibited the ability to expand.” “We didn’t know that at the time,” Megan interjects. “We literally dumped everything from the pot into a trash can, got back in the car, drove back to Missoula, got a hotel room and ordered Kentucky Fried Chicken or something,” she says. By the end of the story, the pair are laughing so hard they have to take a few moments to catch their breath. “Adventuring is putting yourself in a position where something could go wrong,” Michael says.

An impromptu camping trip to the Oregon coast offered the Fresh Off the Grid team the chance to incorporate some local shellfish into this one-skillet seafood campfire paella recipe. Top: Megan prepares a Fresh Off the Grid recipe using a dutch oven.

144

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

“IT’S ABOUT REALLY DIGGING INTO A PLACE,” MEGAN SAYS. THE PAIR WANTED TO BE OUT THERE, FINDING THE HIDDEN SPOTS, LEARNING MORE ABOUT ONE ANOTHER WHILE PUSHING THEMSELVES TO ENJOY NEW ADVENTURES.

“I think it’s the introduction of stakes. When you go backpacking or on a big long bike trip, you’re putting yourself in a position where you’re leaving yourself open. It feels like there’s something more interesting happening that elevates the experience.” Megan agrees. “We talk about the fact that meals just taste better when you make them outside. I’m sure there’s an element of the fact that things went right. When it goes well, there’s nothing better.”

year on the road can take a toll, and they had the added pressure of turning “Fresh Off The Grid” into a viable business. “We know that not everything in life goes smoothly, and that’s not a reason to completely retreat or give up on something that you’re feeling passionate about or something that you care about,” Megan says. “We did have to reset after that particular meal, but I think that is just part of the whole experience of either long term travel, starting a business or just daily life. We weren’t ready to throw in the towel because of one bad meal.” Besides—there were so many other moments that made the trip worth it. Michael’s favorite moment of that trip happened up in Washington state. “We did this hike to the top of Winchester Mountain, and there is a fire lookout tower on it. You’re able to stay there overnight if no one else is there—sort of first come, first served thing. We hiked up this mountain not really anticipating that we would be able to stay up there because it was a weekend, and we just knew there would be someone else up there. We got to the top, and you can see Mt. Baker, and there were snow-capped mountains all around. No one else was up there, and we were able to stay. That night, we made a really great DIY ramen recipe adapted for backpacking that turned out really great. We got to watch the sun go down, and I remember the weather being totally perfect.” Megan’s favorite moment is different: “We were camped just north of Vancouver in British Columbia,” Megan says. “There’s an area called the Sunshine Coast, right before the Desolation Sound, and we were the only people there. It was a cliffside campground, and you look over the sound, and there’s Vancouver Island in the distance. This was a spot we just kind of happened

Campstyle mise en place. Top: Creative one-pot pasta dishes, such as this pesto pasta with cherry tomatoes, zucchini, pesto, pine nuts, and bacon, are a delicious staple within the Fresh Off the Grid repertoire.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

145

upon, and it ended up being our favorite campground in Canada. It was really spectacular, and there was a perfectly placed picnic table right on the cliffside where we got to cook our meal.” Believe it or not, they don’t remember what they cooked for dinner that night near Vancouver, but they will always remember the way that the experience made them feel, and they used that momentum to power through the rest of their trip. Once their year-long road trip was over, they decided to settle in one of the little towns they fell in love with: Bend, Oregon. They retooled their approach to their work and upgraded their adventure vehicle— they now travel in a camper van, but the premise that started “Fresh Off The Grid” remains the same. In February of this year, they hit the road again full-time. The couple believes that with a few tips on preparation and organization, creating great tasting meals while camping doesn’t have to be a source of stress. Some of their tips come from trial and error. “We realized the reason it was so hard to pack the kitchen was because there are so many little gadgets. Our biggest struggle when we’re going camping is we will forget the spatula or something, Megan says with a laugh. “We just started buying a second spatula to keep with our camping gear. That did make it a lot easier as we started building our camping box, so that we always felt like we had what we needed. We have big bins and boxes that we store everything in, so the tent and sleeping bags are together, and the camp kitchen is one space and our seating another. Making sure things get stored together in one section of the house helped us—you can just grab your camp boxes and go.” Michael believes that trying a recipe at home to make sure that it works and tastes the way you expect it to is a great way to get comfortable with camp cooking before taking to the road. “Fear creeps in when you’re trying something new. You can take away some of that stress by making that one pot pasta recipe you’re interested in and taking it for your weekday work lunch. The familiarity with the recipe takes the pressure off when you’re trying to feed your family at 7 o’clock on a camping trip. You would never try a new recipe for the first time when you’re hosting a dinner party.” Worried about not having enough food? Even though the two create meal plans in order to avoid food waste and disorganization, they always pack lots of snacks, just in case. The couple also has some tips for spending time in close quarters with another person. “We live and work in close quarters; we have naturally taken on different responsibilities when we’re camping,” Megan says. “Michael is the fire guy, and I don’t micromanage it. I let him do that, and he enjoys poking at it and shuffling logs around so that it’s perfect. I think sometimes you just need space in what you’re doing too. Being in a new environment can be stressful, and sometimes you just need to go grab a book and sit on a picnic bench and read for fifteen minutes or write in your journal.” Even though they have traveled across the country off and on for several years now, Megan and Michael still have places they want to go. “We just went RVing in Iceland,” Megan says. “What’s interesting about that trip is that it’s been on our list for years, and we finally got to go. It was awesome, and we’re so glad we did it, but it also made us sort of realize how much we do want to continue exploring in the US and North America.” There are still so many places they want to go. “Upper Alaska would be cool,” Michael muses, “and the eastern side of Canada would be great as well. There are a couple of spots we would like to do more fully, but one area of the country that we would like to see is the Great Lakes region more in depth. We have missed the South entirely—we made two attempts to get there, but due to scheduling, it didn’t work out.” They aren’t sure where their itinerary will take them next, but one thing is apparent—these two show no signs of slowing down, and “Fresh Off The Grid” will be their way of documenting it all. ■

Megan and Michael enjoy a campfire “no-oven, no-flip” vegetable frittata. Top: Dutch oven bratwursts—an upscale twist to a campsite classic.

146

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

ELEGANT LADIES’ OUTDOOR APPAREL shopmckennaquinn.com

info@ shopmckennaquinn.com

147

American Made

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

Staying focused on the road ahead

148

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

ELYSIAN IN SWITZERLAND

This past June, ELYSIAN embarked upon an international adventure, heading to Switzerland for a week devoted to recognizing women in the arts and connecting women in leadership roles internationally. Beginning on Saturday, June 8th, the ELYSIAN team joined Ambassador Ed McMullen at the US Ambassador’s Residence in Bern, Switzerland to co-host the Women Entrepreneur Cross-Cultural Roundtable, bringing together the ELYSIAN Circle of Inspiring Women with Swiss female thought leaders, businesswomen, entrepreneurs and parliamentarians. The women seated at the table represented various fields and industries: publishing and media, business, law, diplomacy, software development, horticulture and plant sciences, pharmaceutical science, hospitality and wellness. The cross-cultural exchange and open dialogue among the women set the stage for ongoing partnership opportunities between Swiss and US female-led interests and planted seeds for a peer-to-peer network for women’s resourcing, mentoring, and collaboration. Clockwise from top right: The participants gathered for the roundtable discussion, led by ELYSIAN publisher, Karen Floyd. • The ELYSIAN team is greeted by Ambassador Ed McMullen as they arrive at the ambassador’s residence in Bern, Switzerland. • ELYSIAN cover model and aspiring political strategist, Rachel Castellani; Hannah Shepard, ELYSIAN Arts Editor; Angie Woodard, ELYSIAN Style Director. • Deanna Banaszak, entrepreneur and software firm CEO; Tammy Kovar, Founder & CEO of Biological Tree Services; and Chitra Narayanan, strategic advisor and five-time Ambassador of India. • ELYSIAN Publisher, Karen Floyd, with Swiss lawyer and parliamentarian, Christa Markwalder, and Dr. Desiree Baron, Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Bern. • Canadian lawyer, Dena Givari, and Dr. Meriam Kabbaj, COO and Co-Founder of Versantis AG, arrive at the event. • Hannah Shepard, ELYSIAN Arts Editor.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

149

Chitra Narayanan, global leader and five-time Ambassador of India, currently serving as strategic advisor for international business, shared these thoughts: “I was very impressed with the cross-representation of professional ladies who have achieved a great deal in diverse fields. The common thread connecting these women was a sincere commitment to the improvement of society at the grassroots level—each in her own particular way.” Later in the week, ELYSIAN invited our Circle of Inspiring Women to Art Basel 2019 for a VIP viewing of the renowned art fair. Our executive editor led a tour focused on the female artists and female-led galleries highlighted in ELYSIAN’s Summer 2019 issue, including Turner Prize-winner Lubaina Himid, Galerie Lelong & Co., Hauser & Wirth, Hollybush Gardens, and Kate Werble Gallery. Clockwise from top left: ELYSIAN visited Art Basel for a first-look, private viewing of the international art fair. • Barbara Martinuzzi with Claudia Knie, hospitality expert, restaurateur and designer behind Himmapan Lodge, part of the family-owned Circus Knie and Himmapan elephant park. • Guests chatted over wine and canapés. • The Martinuzzi Interiors team.• Jaclynn Jarrett, ELYSIAN Chief Business Officer, and Susanna Auf Der Maur-Quinn, Partner at Kaufmann Rüedi Rechtsanwälte. • ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman and certified arborist & biologist, Tammy Kovar, with ELYSIAN Style Director, Angie Woodard. • An aerial view of Barbara Martinuzzi’s spectacular home. • Acclaimed interior designer and host of the ELYSIAN x Sotheby’s International Realty Zürich soiree, Barbara Martinuzzi with Zürich-based strategic advisor, Chitra Narayanan, and ELYSIAN’s Style Director, Angie Woodard.

150

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

For Hannah Shepard, ELYSIAN’s new Arts Editor, the experience was impactful. “I was elated to finally see the physical works of artists I had only ever studied. In particular, Renaissance Echoes by Olafur Eliasson was breathtaking and solidified my understanding of his ability to use light and space as materials. Beyond the work, it was a thrill to explore the never-ending halls alongside crowds of admirers, some of which were a sight to see in their own right.” To close out the week, ELYSIAN partnered with Sotheby’s International Realty Zürich for an intimate summer soirée, marking the launch of ELYSIAN’s international licensing effort. The event was hosted at the private residence of award-winning interior designer and upcoming ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman, Barbara Martinuzzi. Martinuzzi’s state-of-the-art home, a modern masterpiece with sweeping views over Lake Zürich, and the majestic Swiss Alps in the distance, was the perfect setting for an evening filled with lively conversation—a fitting culmination to ELYSIAN’s week-long events in Switzerland which brought together female business leaders, diplomats, and creatives for peer-topeer connection and partnerships. ■

Clockwise from top right: Guest gathered on the rooftop terrace of Martinuzzi’s home overlooking Lake Zürich. • ELYSIAN Publisher Karen Floyd with Barbara Martinuzzi and the team from Sotheby’s International Realty Zurich. • Billy Leach, ELYSIAN account director, with Franco Knie of the famed Circus Knie in Switzerland. • Call Me Margot was revealed as the cover model for the Summer 2019 issue. • Sotheby’s International Realty Zürich. • ELYSIAN cover models Lily Webster and Rachel Castellani.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

151

ELYSIAN ON THE GREEN ELYSIAN hosted a cocktail mixer in partnership with Blaney McMurtry LLP at the chic, 1920’s glam-inspired Spectator Hotel in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina, to mark the beginning of the 74th U.S. Women’s Open Championship and to honor ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman and World Golf Hall of Fame member, Beth Daniel. At this multi-generational fête recognizing the achievements women continue to make in the golfing world, we revealed our cover model for the Spring 2019 Golf & Style Issue, Lucy Li, a rising golf superstar. Following the reception, a private coach brought guests to board a luxury yacht for a sunset cruise of the Charleston Harbor where the celebration continued with dinner, dancing, and signature-themed Tito’s™ cocktails. ■

152

Clockwise from top right: Dan Giantsopoulos, Partner at Blaney McMurtry LLP with ELYSIAN Chief Operating Officer, Katherine O’Neill. • All aboard the Carolina Girl. • Fall 2019 cover model Cassi Sherbert and guest. • Raising a glass to the leading women of golf. • ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman and guest of honor, Beth Daniel, demonstrates her golf swing with Amy Zimmer. • John Payne of Handsome Properties; Laura Reed, Founder & Designer of Margerite & Motte; Ray Berrouët of King Charles Inn. • The Spectator provided an elegant, Charleston-themed spread for guests. • Dena Givari, Associate at Blaney McMurtry LLP with ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman, Gloria Taggart. • Ed Saxon, Adelaide Hegel, Mike Caston. • ELYSIAN Publisher, Karen Floyd, with the First Lady of South Carolina, Peggy McMaster, holistic wellness coach and ELYSIAN columnist, Mary Rogers McMaster, and her husband Sam Herskovitz.

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

Steering careers in a positive direction

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

153

154

â&#x20AC;˘ printemps 2019 â&#x20AC;˘ readelysian.com

OPEN YOUR HEART.

the 1960s they called it “The Generation Gap”—that disconnect, a lack of understanding one age has for another. Within the ELYSIAN family we seek to bring together women of all ages, encouraging conversations that will promote understanding and respect for the ideas and values of each generation. The Inspiring Women featured within the pages of ELYSIAN have achieved success by hard work and, often times taking the the road less traveled. Their insights can help younger women navigate their chosen paths and give them the courage to try new things and look beyond their experience—to empower them. To this end, we introduced Inspiring Woman Martha Wiedemann and our cover model, Cassi Sherbert, whose story as a young girl in some ways echoes Martha’s. Several months ago, they met in New York with our publisher, Karen Floyd, for a conversation. Cassi is an accomplished and disciplined dancer who has trained from a young age to gain confidence and poise. Martha, too, traces her success to childhood. At the age of 14, Martha was living in Australia and though she loved the country and its citizens, she found herself searching to identify with her Indian roots. Her family’s lifestyle was based on Ayurveda, a traditional Indian form of holistic medicine. While she had always been drawn to “lotions and potions” in jars, struggles with teenage acne caused her to question and to think seriously about skin care. As an adult, she has taken her Ayurveda practice and applied her years of learning about skin care to helping others. Martha’s years of health care practice have earned her international respect and opened up a variety of exciting avenues to promote holistic health: among her career highlights, Martha directed the renovation of the spa and wellness facilities at the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Cassi has a keen interest in skincare. For any performer, looking one’s best is important. For Cassi, it was also a matter of building confidence. Though she had a natural beauty that was evident to the casual observer, she had not learned to take proper care of skin—and it made a difference. “It wasn’t until I started using makeup and taking better care of my skin that I was able to feel beautiful inside and out,” she says. Now, Cassi hopes to one day launch her own cosmetics company. She was inspired by Martha—and by the idea of helping other women become more confident, helping them find their inner and outer beauty. Martha and Cassi also talked about the practice of meditation. “It allows you to block out the rest of the world, to look inside yourself and focus on something you would like to improve about yourself,” Martha said. “The way you practice meditation,” she explained, “is first to decide what you want out of meditation. They say meditation is to quiet the mind. Well, it is—but it is also opening your heart and making the one thing you want the loudest goal.” She told Cassi, “Your goal is your part; that is private. If you sit there quietly you will hear your heartbeat, and you make that the strongest voice within you and you’ll get there.” Cassi says there are still times when she lacks self-confidence. Her focus is to work on finding her inner beauty and letting it shine without makeup. Martha’s advice: “Find out what you love about yourself, and build on those things—your skills, abilities, and the way you are as a human being. To recognize your inner beauty you have to love yourself. Beauty is really just being the best version of yourself.” ■

Cover model and dancer Cassi Sherbert with ELYSIAN Inspiring Woman and wellness expert Martha Wiedemann.

readelysian.com • l’automne 2019 •

155

assi started dancing at the age of two at a dance studio in Charlotte, North Carolina. She recalls that it was “just something to do—something for fun.” She turned out to be a natural, and by age five was asked to join the competition team—rare to be asked so young. She started competing with tap, lyrical, and jazz, and by eight-years-old, had performed her first solo. After nearly a decade of achievements in the world of competition dance, Cassi shifted her focus to ballet. She was born for ballet. A natural in point shoes, Cassi is hyper-mobile and, more importantly, she discovered she has the innate ability to tell a story through movement. “Ballet requires the ability to show emotion—it’s a very dry type of dance,” she says. “With jazz, lyrical, or contemporary, it’s very easy for a dancer to get the story across. But with ballet you have to be born with the talent to tell a story. That was something I was always good at.” At age 12, her ballet teacher and mentor, Lisa DiPaolo, encouraged Cassi to audition for two ballet company summer intensives: The American Ballet Theater and Nutmeg. Both are world-renowned programs, and at her age, it was a long shot for Cassi to get into either. She was accepted into both. “Having a teacher who really believed in me played a big part in my dance career. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it weren’t for Lisa.” Around the same time, while training at The Charlotte Ballet, Cassi received a call from the prestigious South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities. They recruited her to come in a year early to join their high school program. She continued to earn opportunities to further her study during summers away from school—including at the acclaimed Hubbard Street in Chicago and the Boston Ballet. All of it took a good deal of sacrifice. Unlike most kids, Cassi couldn’t hang out with school friends in the afternoons. But she cherishes the life lessons dance has provided. “Dance has taught me the importance of being part of a team. And it taught me to trust other people.” Cassi’s rigorous training also instilled good habits for overall wellbeing. “Dance taught me a lot about my health, my body, and what I need to do to stay healthy.” Ultimately, dance has given Cassi an appreciation of the arts in ways that impact every aspect of her life and worldview. “Dance taught me how important art is to the world—art touches everything around us,” she told ELYSIAN. “I’m always thinking of ways to incorporate dance and the arts into my day-to-day life.” ■

156

• l’automne 2019 • readelysian.com

NEIMAN MARCUS PRECIOUS JEWELS SALONS 800-937-9146

ELIZABETH LOCKE JEWELS 968 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK CITY 212-744-7878 More info: (540) 837-3088 or www.elizabethlockejewels.com