Collaborative Alchemy

Yusef Seevers is back for a second time on the Collaborative Alchemy Podcast! Yusef is an actor, musician, dancer, choreographer, and creative entrepreneur. Our first conversation in December of 2020 was about radical self-love, Black joy, and the healing power of meditation. In this episode, we talk about the importance of foregrounding pleasure as a means of befriending our more difficult emotions. We talk about the why and how of creative process as a way to develop a personal vocabulary our experience of grief. Yusef also asks some big questions about how to normalize emotional intelligence training and somatic practice for kids. Join us for this enlivening conversation as we discuss grief, parental loss, and what happens when our sense of balance is rocked.

Our conversation happened in August of 2022.

In this episode, I talk with actor, writer, and producer Dom Magwili. An early childhood love of comics and swashbucklers led Dom towards a career as an actor and playwright. Even today, comics continue to inform Dom’s work. He has just published a sprawling epic sci-fi fantasy novel called Legends from the First Hemisphere: The Infernal Promise. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss Asian-American representation on stage and screen, Dom’s disciplined writing process, and why it’s important for Asian-American youth to know their history.

In this wide-ranging conversation, I talk with playwright Thelma Virata de Castro about drawing on the wisdom of her ancestors as part of her creative practice. We also touch on the dynamic evolution of language, what blessings (or curses) we’re passing on to our children, and what we’re collectively forgetting. Thelma shares her thoughts about losing (and learning) our native languages and the quiet power of the Southern California Filipinx community. Join us as we discuss what it means for artists to be legitimized by institutional approval and what it might look like when we embody our own definitions of worthiness.

In this episode, I talk with multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and professional disruptor, Kelcey Anyá about what it means to be a catalyst for change within dominant cultural structures. We also discuss how our capacity for creative risk seems to grow in equal measure to our self-knowledge. Listen in as Kelcey shares her thoughts on representation in arts-education, womanism, the power of telling your own story, and why it’s a revolutionary act to show up, get loud, and sing your own praises in a society that has historically rendered you silent.

In this episode, I talk with leadership coach and facilitator Marla Teyolia about spiritual mentorship, reclaiming our power, and why liberation is an inside job. We also talk about bridging indigenous practices with modern leadership development by centering ancestral wisdom. Marla shares about her transformational experiences with a curandera and using embodied traditional folk healing modalities to address the needs of her clients. Her question: How do we discover what needs healing within us? (Hint: The medicine is in your story.)

In this episode, I talk with collage artist and muralist Evangeline Stott about her creative process, collaboration, the inherent intelligence of the body, and the call of the open road. We also touch on maternal loss, the importance of rest, and how robust creative inquiry can lead to a profound sense of belonging. Listen in as we discuss what it means to live at the intersections of grief, joy, disability, and true freedom.

In this episode, I talk with facilitator and coach Myriam Loeschen about releasing perfectionism, the beauty in the cracks, and the healing power of silence. We also talk about how Myriam weaves her creative passion for cooking and nourishing food into a powerful framework for working with clients and groups. Listen in as we discuss what it means to be wounded, worthy and honoring a life in process.

In this episode, I talk with multi-hyphenate artist and entrepreneur Torie Wiggins about creative wellness and the joys of solo performance. We also talk about why the arts industry must stop trading on the trauma of its artists as a means for creating consumable stories. Listen in as we discuss our dreams about stories of Black joy, a culture of mutual care, and a thriving future beyond the cumulative pain of the pandemic.

“When I direct plays, I often ask whose story is this? When I write, I ask whose story is this? Who gets to tell whose story? This question permeates our industry. When it comes to identity, bodies, race, ethnicities, diversity, it always goes back to the question of who gets to tell whose story. Doing solo performance was a way that I could tell my story my way. And it's probably to date the only time I've ever felt complete autonomy over my experience as a woman, as a Black woman, as an actor, as a storyteller, as a creator, is when I take that space on stage.” — Torie Wiggins

Our conversation happened in October of 2021.

In this episode, I talk with playwright and educator Jacqueline Goldfinger about the how and why of effective storytelling, adapting works for the stage, and the beauty of how the arts influence culture. We share our excitement and hope for the new and emergent generation of storytellers, who are offering nuanced and elegant solutions to some of our most pressing social justice issues. This is a wide-ranging conversation that addresses the intricacies of our mutual use of the she/they pronoun, the work of Madeleine L'Engle, tips for writing great characters, and how parenting has shaped our creative work.

“It's the hearts and mind stage that I'm interested in with storytelling, because I think that if we could just see each other as people with needs and concerns, that's when you can most effectively change someone's mind or even change yourself to be better.” — Jacqueline Goldfinger

In this episode, I talk with honey beekeeper, bee colony preservationist, horticulturalist, and jewelry designer Sue Hulsmann about the magic of bees, the dynamics of living in creative community, and what it really means to be Queen.