Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wikay Up Daily with
Speaker 1: Me your Girl, Danielle Moody recording not So Live from
Speaker 1: our studios Podstream Studios in Times Square, Folks. I am
Speaker 1: so excited to bring you an incredible conversation that I
Speaker 1: had with the one and only Lucresha Braxton, who is
Speaker 1: the brilliant mind behind Soul Sister Plants. She is a
Speaker 1: digital strategist, a photographer, and somebody that is working to
Speaker 1: build community in the digital space and in real life
Speaker 1: through her account Soul Sister Plants. And what's extraordinary is
Speaker 1: that in this conversation, Lacresha and I talk about the
Speaker 1: way in which black creatives have been raw of their content,
Speaker 1: how the TikTok strike of Black creatives symbolizes the fact
Speaker 1: that we are tired, folks, are tired of giving their work,
Speaker 1: giving their content, only to have culture vultures come and
Speaker 1: take credit for it. And so we talk about what
Speaker 1: it means to you both create community while protecting your work.
Speaker 1: We talk about what it means to learn and grow
Speaker 1: through the act of caring for plants, what it means
Speaker 1: to build community right and break down the walls and
Speaker 1: the barriers that capitalism creates in order for people to
Speaker 1: connect with nature. Right, and so this conversation was one
Speaker 1: of my faves of the week. I hope that you
Speaker 1: enjoy it. Leave me some comments in the comment section.
Speaker 1: They're greatly appreciate it, all right, folks, I am so
Speaker 1: excited to welcome to wok a f daily for the
Speaker 1: very first time, hopefully not the last time. Lucresha Braxton,
Speaker 1: who is building a world she wants to live in.
Speaker 1: An award winning photographer, digital marketing and content strategists, and
Speaker 1: the creative and brilliant behind Soul System Plants on Instagram,
Speaker 1: which is a community of over twenty thousand plant love
Speaker 1: and folks like myself. I am included in that community. Lucresha,
Speaker 1: I just want to start off with talking about again,
Speaker 1: you know, community and there would desire to build community
Speaker 1: around the work and the talents that you have what
Speaker 1: created that for you. You are a photographer, you're in
Speaker 1: digital content and we know I mean just recently there
Speaker 1: were a whole bunch of black creatives that went on
Speaker 1: strike on TikTok for the for the fact that their
Speaker 1: content is being stolen and not recognized, and you know,
Speaker 1: the digital space started out as being called a democratic
Speaker 1: space right where everybody was going to have a platform
Speaker 1: and a voice, but then it didn't evolve that way,
Speaker 1: kind of like society. So I'm wondering about your initial
Speaker 1: journey into your work, what you and what you saw
Speaker 1: that made you say, you know what, I need to
Speaker 1: build community as well. Oh yeah, So I started solsis
Speaker 1: to Plants as a experiment. I was working a job
Speaker 1: where they were telling me because the industry that I
Speaker 1: was in, well, you don't understand this particular industry, and
Speaker 1: because I'm going to protect the guilty, I won't say
Speaker 1: what the industry is. I was like, what you know?
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, let me just show them
Speaker 1: how you build community digitally, because they were so busy
Speaker 1: with what We've got this great product and people should
Speaker 1: just want because we've got a great product, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's not how people deal with things online. So I
Speaker 1: started solsis to plants. Just pick something that I enjoy,
Speaker 1: which was plans, and said, well, let me show them. Well,
Speaker 1: here's how you can experiment with different things. You can
Speaker 1: do with posts. Well, if you do video, let's see
Speaker 1: how people engage with it. If we do just an image,
Speaker 1: Let's see what they do. How about an image and
Speaker 1: a video? And because I've been in digital for so long,
Speaker 1: I understand what happens when people lose engagement. Oh, it's
Speaker 1: probably changed. Okay, Well what happens if I ignore the
Speaker 1: algorithm and just do my own thing? And so I'm
Speaker 1: just building this thing showing them Well, look, here's what
Speaker 1: happened with this post, here's what happened with this one.
Speaker 1: Wasn't really paying the account a whole lot of attention.
Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden, I noticed, Oh, it's like
Speaker 1: five hundred people following the account and there's like four
Speaker 1: posts up. Didn't pay attention to it again for a
Speaker 1: few more months. Where did fifteen hundred people come from? Well?
Speaker 1: What would happen if I started paying the account attention
Speaker 1: and engaging with people not just going and liking their posts,
Speaker 1: but actually leaving and getting meaningful comments around what they
Speaker 1: were doing. And then, as the pandemic descended on us
Speaker 1: and everybody was locked down, people were really engaged on
Speaker 1: social media. They needed to interact with somebody. Well, what
Speaker 1: better way to do that than to go to live?
Speaker 1: So I went live and created a show called Hella plants,
Speaker 1: I have a ridiculous introduction, and out of respect for
Speaker 1: your ears, I will not do the introduction. But I
Speaker 1: created hell of Plants, and I talk with people who
Speaker 1: have Hella plants about hell of Plants and anything that
Speaker 1: comes up. It's an unscripted conversation, so we no one
Speaker 1: ever knows what we're going to talk about. And I
Speaker 1: am just one hundred and fifty nine thousand percent foolish.
Speaker 1: I also wanted to create a space, a safe space
Speaker 1: for black women. So when I started really paying the
Speaker 1: account attention, I made sure and I primarily follow black women.
Speaker 1: What I also primarily follow black women or people in
Speaker 1: the LGBTQIA plus community. And I wanted to give voice
Speaker 1: to people who felt like they were marginalized not listened to.
Speaker 1: And then I started really learning about what was going
Speaker 1: on in the plant industry, how people were taking advantage
Speaker 1: of black creator's content, and all of a sudden, You're
Speaker 1: seeing this video and I'm like, well, she did that video,
Speaker 1: she just did and so, and then also noticing people
Speaker 1: purchasing these rare you can't see me air quoting rare
Speaker 1: plants and selling them to people who just had their
Speaker 1: fifty sixty dollars, and they really saw him. Wanted that
Speaker 1: plant and a tie constellation, which is a monstera that
Speaker 1: looks like it's got something wrong with it, with white
Speaker 1: and green leaves. It's a beautiful I've seen that slant.
Speaker 1: It is stunning, stunning, but I refused to pay three
Speaker 1: to five hundred dollars. Now I'm going to refuse. And
Speaker 1: so you have people selling what is called a wet stick.
Speaker 1: It's basically a cutting from a branch with a node
Speaker 1: on it, which is this round bump, and selling that
Speaker 1: to people for two three hundred dollars in hopes, in
Speaker 1: hopes that you may get a plant from it, no guarantee,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, why are y'all buying that? I went
Speaker 1: on a whole rant for about an hour and called
Speaker 1: people out. I said, stop this, it's a plant number one,
Speaker 1: number two. Why are you allowing people to rip you off?
Speaker 1: There's no guarantee, I says, plants, so it's a possibility
Speaker 1: you could die if you get past. You don't know
Speaker 1: who you're gonna get it from, and you're wasting all
Speaker 1: of this money. But then I was calling out all
Speaker 1: the people in these exclusive groups, which were primarily white,
Speaker 1: where they were selling rare plants back and forth to
Speaker 1: each other, showing them off and oh, you wish you
Speaker 1: had this, And then we had cost of Farm come
Speaker 1: out with a whole bunch of tie constellations selling them
Speaker 1: for seventy eighty dollars at certain big box stores and
Speaker 1: changing the game. They can be completely change in the
Speaker 1: game with these rare plants that are out there. But
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure that community was built around
Speaker 1: people who felt like they weren't listening to So I
Speaker 1: would go and just talk to anyone that strikes my
Speaker 1: interests and invite them to come on Hell Plants, and
Speaker 1: we would just act straight food talking about plants. We've
Speaker 1: dragged all the astrological signs around plants, We've talked about
Speaker 1: some of any all and everything. But I felt it
Speaker 1: was really necessary to have community built around everyone should
Speaker 1: own a plant if they want to. Why do you
Speaker 1: think that there was sucked? I mean because it sounds
Speaker 1: to me like this upscale, black market type of exclusivity
Speaker 1: around something that isn't supposed to be about that right,
Speaker 1: Like there is not supposed to be some type of
Speaker 1: velvet rope weight list in order to start to love nature,
Speaker 1: connect with plants, connects growing, and just you know, why
Speaker 1: do you think that that? I mean, it happens in
Speaker 1: every industry, right, but why do you think that you
Speaker 1: started to see that within the plant community as you
Speaker 1: were building your own community? Like, what do you think
Speaker 1: started that? Is it? Just like I want to be seen?
Speaker 1: So it's it's driven by social media, It's driven by
Speaker 1: the clicks. Capitalism. It all goes back to capitalism. If
Speaker 1: somebody can make some money and they can find a sucker,
Speaker 1: they'll do it. And if you allow yourself to be
Speaker 1: sucked in because you want to jump on what's trendy,
Speaker 1: then you'll get sucked in. You've got people who have
Speaker 1: dropped hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars on plants. It's
Speaker 1: because they don't really know how to care of it.
Speaker 1: You're buying plants that are tropical, and I tell most
Speaker 1: people that most plants came from some brainforests, some tropical location.
Speaker 1: And you bring it into your conditioned air home and
Speaker 1: you set it up. You're taking pictures for the Graham.
Speaker 1: You can get it because everybody wants to be liked.
Speaker 1: And you've now seen two, three, four hundred dollars die,
Speaker 1: You're not going to ever recoup that money. And this
Speaker 1: gate keeping is what I call it in the plant community.
Speaker 1: It's just gatekeeping of who's allowed to be cool. Well,
Speaker 1: well we're the cool ones because well only we own
Speaker 1: this particular planner. I'm the cool ones. So I started
Speaker 1: hosting plant swaps locally and I felt, and I still feel,
Speaker 1: I have a plant period. I have some what's considered
Speaker 1: rare plants. I'm just sitting there and watching those plants
Speaker 1: grow and at some point I will Someone sent me
Speaker 1: she was so kind to do this. I have been asked,
Speaker 1: oh what plant would you want to? Oh, pink princess philodendron,
Speaker 1: which is a plant that has green, beautiful, stunning plants,
Speaker 1: stunning plant and it's A woman sent me a DM
Speaker 1: and said, I will to send you a clipping. How
Speaker 1: much do you want for it? She said, no, I
Speaker 1: just want to send you the clipping, and she sends
Speaker 1: me this node on it and the leaf was still
Speaker 1: on it. But I could tell the leaf had been
Speaker 1: stressed in travel because it came in the water. And
Speaker 1: that leaf I put it in some I let it
Speaker 1: propagating some water. Then I put it in some dirty
Speaker 1: It did nothing for six and a half months, nothing, nothing,
Speaker 1: didn't I just didn't do anything. And then one day
Speaker 1: I see this leaf pop up, a little bit of
Speaker 1: pink on it and a little bit of green. I
Speaker 1: was completely underwhelmed. Now it's got about five leaves on it,
Speaker 1: but it's it's slow growing. It I look at so
Speaker 1: slow growing. I will just say, I have one in
Speaker 1: my bedroom window that I bought, like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe eight months ago, and I had, you know, I
Speaker 1: have like a range of you know, of plants, and
Speaker 1: this one. I was just like, oh, it's pink pink lady,
Speaker 1: this is what I call her. Yes, And I was
Speaker 1: just like, why are your sisters growing at a faster
Speaker 1: rate than What the hell is wrong with you? And
Speaker 1: I'm like, do you do we need to talk, like
Speaker 1: are we troubled? Are we going through like our adolescence?
Speaker 1: What is happening? Yes? Yes, And just recently just started
Speaker 1: poking out like two two nodes that are like growing,
Speaker 1: that are growing out, but they grow out, I swear
Speaker 1: to God, like half a half a millimeter a week.
Speaker 1: See just doing nothing. So I'll sit there and I mean,
Speaker 1: just shocking me because I have to straightforward. When I
Speaker 1: see a new leaf on a plant, I'm like, girl,
Speaker 1: is that I do you? Oh? I see you? Oh
Speaker 1: we showing out? Now? Are we showing? Look at it?
Speaker 1: Did you tell your sisters? Look at me? Look at
Speaker 1: look at me? About to pop this leaf out? That
Speaker 1: three months? But I'm gonna be fine when I pop out.
Speaker 1: I can't stand that damn plant, just just sitting there
Speaker 1: with her five little leaves and then she just popped
Speaker 1: out a new one, and I'm sitting there just just searching, Like, so,
Speaker 1: how much pink are you going on? You? I said
Speaker 1: him deeply on ndwhelmed. I'm deeply underwhelmed. But I was
Speaker 1: never gonna pay three hundred dollars for you. But there
Speaker 1: are people paying for a full size, paying three to
Speaker 1: five dollars for this plant. In fact, somebody tried to
Speaker 1: sell me one and I was like, oh, how much
Speaker 1: is the plant? Oh? Three hundred dollars. It's like, bitch,
Speaker 1: you can keep that. No, are you out of your mind?
Speaker 1: Are you out of your mind? And so I tell people, no,
Speaker 1: make you some connections. This is what community is all about.
Speaker 1: To take a clipping off of a plant and give
Speaker 1: it to somebody. Give it to somebody. In fact, I
Speaker 1: tell people all the time, why don't you give it?
Speaker 1: Today is a great day for you to give a
Speaker 1: black woman a plant. Buy a black woman a plant,
Speaker 1: show her some appreciation since we're out here saving the
Speaker 1: world from themselves. Buy a plant. And at the same
Speaker 1: time I tell people also forth an effort to include
Speaker 1: people in things instead of it being this whole exclusive thing,
Speaker 1: which is why I host these plant swaps. Plants will
Speaker 1: pop up that I have never seen before at a
Speaker 1: plant swap with somebody like, oh, I've got like six
Speaker 1: of these at my house. I have three hundred plants.
Speaker 1: I just collect stuff. I'm purging my collection and they
Speaker 1: bring fifty plants to a plant swap. And what I've
Speaker 1: found and what's so interesting, because I've had enough of
Speaker 1: them now I had easily about ten of them over
Speaker 1: the past year and a half, is the black people
Speaker 1: will ask, oh, it's free, yeah, just take it. Why
Speaker 1: do I have a plant to give? I said, you
Speaker 1: don't have to. It's not just come and share a plant.
Speaker 1: Take a plant. It's just take a plant. Otherwise they
Speaker 1: come home with me, take a plant. And it's just
Speaker 1: seen people who don't have the means black and white,
Speaker 1: brown doesn't make a difference. It's just saying, oh, I
Speaker 1: would have never thought I would have been able to
Speaker 1: get a piece of this. Oh, this is great. And
Speaker 1: then also for them building community off of that, realizing
Speaker 1: that some of these some piece people don't even know
Speaker 1: who your neighbors are. But if I put a plant
Speaker 1: swap together, here come people. Oh you live down the street.
Speaker 1: Didn't even know that, And people are making friends at
Speaker 1: a plant swap. So I realized that plants could bring
Speaker 1: people together. It could also just help to foster quality
Speaker 1: community that it makes people feel connected and if you
Speaker 1: feel like you're introverted, you can still talk about a plant.
Speaker 1: That is it for today's Woke app Daily Podcast. To
Speaker 1: hear more from today's show, support me on Patreon at
Speaker 1: patreon dot com Slash Woke AF Power to the people
Speaker 1: and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay
Speaker 1: woke as fuck.