WEBVTT - Cultivating Community Under Capitalism 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:15.000 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wikay Up Daily with 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.040 Me your Girl, Danielle Moody recording not So Live from 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:24.239 our studios Podstream Studios in Times Square, Folks. I am 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:28.920 so excited to bring you an incredible conversation that I 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.720 had with the one and only Lucresha Braxton, who is 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:38.400 the brilliant mind behind Soul Sister Plants. She is a 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.600 digital strategist, a photographer, and somebody that is working to 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.680 build community in the digital space and in real life 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:52.240 through her account Soul Sister Plants. And what's extraordinary is 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:56.080 that in this conversation, Lacresha and I talk about the 0:00:56.120 --> 0:01:01.240 way in which black creatives have been raw of their content, 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:07.240 how the TikTok strike of Black creatives symbolizes the fact 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:11.240 that we are tired, folks, are tired of giving their work, 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:15.280 giving their content, only to have culture vultures come and 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.280 take credit for it. And so we talk about what 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:24.039 it means to you both create community while protecting your work. 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.920 We talk about what it means to learn and grow 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.760 through the act of caring for plants, what it means 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:35.840 to build community right and break down the walls and 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:40.160 the barriers that capitalism creates in order for people to 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:45.440 connect with nature. Right, and so this conversation was one 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.000 of my faves of the week. I hope that you 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.520 enjoy it. Leave me some comments in the comment section. 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:58.320 They're greatly appreciate it, all right, folks, I am so 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.200 excited to welcome to wok a f daily for the 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.920 very first time, hopefully not the last time. Lucresha Braxton, 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.120 who is building a world she wants to live in. 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.160 An award winning photographer, digital marketing and content strategists, and 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:17.440 the creative and brilliant behind Soul System Plants on Instagram, 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.359 which is a community of over twenty thousand plant love 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:26.000 and folks like myself. I am included in that community. Lucresha, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.560 I just want to start off with talking about again, 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:34.320 you know, community and there would desire to build community 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.800 around the work and the talents that you have what 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.000 created that for you. You are a photographer, you're in 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:45.760 digital content and we know I mean just recently there 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.040 were a whole bunch of black creatives that went on 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:52.200 strike on TikTok for the for the fact that their 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:56.440 content is being stolen and not recognized, and you know, 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:01.080 the digital space started out as being called a democratic 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.000 space right where everybody was going to have a platform 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.480 and a voice, but then it didn't evolve that way, 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:12.800 kind of like society. So I'm wondering about your initial 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.280 journey into your work, what you and what you saw 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.560 that made you say, you know what, I need to 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:23.400 build community as well. Oh yeah, So I started solsis 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.960 to Plants as a experiment. I was working a job 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.400 where they were telling me because the industry that I 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.920 was in, well, you don't understand this particular industry, and 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.600 because I'm going to protect the guilty, I won't say 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:40.200 what the industry is. I was like, what you know? 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.640 And I was like, okay, let me just show them 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.720 how you build community digitally, because they were so busy 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.520 with what We've got this great product and people should 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:53.640 just want because we've got a great product, and I'm like, 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.760 that's not how people deal with things online. So I 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.920 started solsis to plants. Just pick something that I enjoy, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.160 which was plans, and said, well, let me show them. Well, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.240 here's how you can experiment with different things. You can 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.400 do with posts. Well, if you do video, let's see 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.080 how people engage with it. If we do just an image, 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.600 Let's see what they do. How about an image and 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:17.039 a video? And because I've been in digital for so long, 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.240 I understand what happens when people lose engagement. Oh, it's 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.240 probably changed. Okay, Well what happens if I ignore the 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.200 algorithm and just do my own thing? And so I'm 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.800 just building this thing showing them Well, look, here's what 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:33.760 happened with this post, here's what happened with this one. 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:36.440 Wasn't really paying the account a whole lot of attention. 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:40.279 Then all of a sudden, I noticed, Oh, it's like 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.640 five hundred people following the account and there's like four 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.400 posts up. Didn't pay attention to it again for a 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:50.200 few more months. Where did fifteen hundred people come from? Well? 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.000 What would happen if I started paying the account attention 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.200 and engaging with people not just going and liking their posts, 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.760 but actually leaving and getting meaningful comments around what they 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.960 were doing. And then, as the pandemic descended on us 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:10.400 and everybody was locked down, people were really engaged on 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.680 social media. They needed to interact with somebody. Well, what 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:14.400 better way to do that than to go to live? 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:18.000 So I went live and created a show called Hella plants, 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.800 I have a ridiculous introduction, and out of respect for 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.800 your ears, I will not do the introduction. But I 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.719 created hell of Plants, and I talk with people who 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:32.000 have Hella plants about hell of Plants and anything that 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.680 comes up. It's an unscripted conversation, so we no one 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:37.960 ever knows what we're going to talk about. And I 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.240 am just one hundred and fifty nine thousand percent foolish. 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:43.960 I also wanted to create a space, a safe space 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.159 for black women. So when I started really paying the 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:52.200 account attention, I made sure and I primarily follow black women. 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:56.200 What I also primarily follow black women or people in 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:00.680 the LGBTQIA plus community. And I wanted to give voice 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.040 to people who felt like they were marginalized not listened to. 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.240 And then I started really learning about what was going 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.839 on in the plant industry, how people were taking advantage 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:15.159 of black creator's content, and all of a sudden, You're 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:19.679 seeing this video and I'm like, well, she did that video, 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.960 she just did and so, and then also noticing people 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.320 purchasing these rare you can't see me air quoting rare 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:33.719 plants and selling them to people who just had their 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.240 fifty sixty dollars, and they really saw him. Wanted that 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.400 plant and a tie constellation, which is a monstera that 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.360 looks like it's got something wrong with it, with white 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:48.080 and green leaves. It's a beautiful I've seen that slant. 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.640 It is stunning, stunning, but I refused to pay three 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.520 to five hundred dollars. Now I'm going to refuse. And 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.520 so you have people selling what is called a wet stick. 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:02.040 It's basically a cutting from a branch with a node 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:05.000 on it, which is this round bump, and selling that 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.920 to people for two three hundred dollars in hopes, in 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.360 hopes that you may get a plant from it, no guarantee, 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.360 and I'm like, why are y'all buying that? I went 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.800 on a whole rant for about an hour and called 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:23.520 people out. I said, stop this, it's a plant number one, 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.240 number two. Why are you allowing people to rip you off? 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.440 There's no guarantee, I says, plants, so it's a possibility 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.080 you could die if you get past. You don't know 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.080 who you're gonna get it from, and you're wasting all 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.120 of this money. But then I was calling out all 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.960 the people in these exclusive groups, which were primarily white, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.240 where they were selling rare plants back and forth to 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.520 each other, showing them off and oh, you wish you 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.440 had this, And then we had cost of Farm come 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.680 out with a whole bunch of tie constellations selling them 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.720 for seventy eighty dollars at certain big box stores and 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.440 changing the game. They can be completely change in the 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.320 game with these rare plants that are out there. But 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.800 I wanted to make sure that community was built around 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.200 people who felt like they weren't listening to So I 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.560 would go and just talk to anyone that strikes my 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.560 interests and invite them to come on Hell Plants, and 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.600 we would just act straight food talking about plants. We've 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:22.360 dragged all the astrological signs around plants, We've talked about 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.760 some of any all and everything. But I felt it 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:29.240 was really necessary to have community built around everyone should 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.760 own a plant if they want to. Why do you 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.880 think that there was sucked? I mean because it sounds 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:41.720 to me like this upscale, black market type of exclusivity 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:47.520 around something that isn't supposed to be about that right, 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:50.160 Like there is not supposed to be some type of 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:55.040 velvet rope weight list in order to start to love nature, 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.800 connect with plants, connects growing, and just you know, why 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.240 do you think that that? I mean, it happens in 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.320 every industry, right, but why do you think that you 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:09.120 started to see that within the plant community as you 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.040 were building your own community? Like, what do you think 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.800 started that? Is it? Just like I want to be seen? 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.800 So it's it's driven by social media, It's driven by 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:25.440 the clicks. Capitalism. It all goes back to capitalism. If 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.920 somebody can make some money and they can find a sucker, 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.080 they'll do it. And if you allow yourself to be 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.000 sucked in because you want to jump on what's trendy, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.959 then you'll get sucked in. You've got people who have 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:44.160 dropped hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars on plants. It's 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.520 because they don't really know how to care of it. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:49.800 You're buying plants that are tropical, and I tell most 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:54.640 people that most plants came from some brainforests, some tropical location. 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.920 And you bring it into your conditioned air home and 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.800 you set it up. You're taking pictures for the Graham. 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:05.679 You can get it because everybody wants to be liked. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:10.560 And you've now seen two, three, four hundred dollars die, 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.960 You're not going to ever recoup that money. And this 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.600 gate keeping is what I call it in the plant community. 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.199 It's just gatekeeping of who's allowed to be cool. Well, 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.960 well we're the cool ones because well only we own 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:28.520 this particular planner. I'm the cool ones. So I started 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:34.040 hosting plant swaps locally and I felt, and I still feel, 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:40.920 I have a plant period. I have some what's considered 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:44.040 rare plants. I'm just sitting there and watching those plants 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.600 grow and at some point I will Someone sent me 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.320 she was so kind to do this. I have been asked, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.360 oh what plant would you want to? Oh, pink princess philodendron, 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:58.920 which is a plant that has green, beautiful, stunning plants, 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.560 stunning plant and it's A woman sent me a DM 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.160 and said, I will to send you a clipping. How 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.000 much do you want for it? She said, no, I 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.280 just want to send you the clipping, and she sends 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.640 me this node on it and the leaf was still 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:14.040 on it. But I could tell the leaf had been 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.880 stressed in travel because it came in the water. And 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.880 that leaf I put it in some I let it 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.520 propagating some water. Then I put it in some dirty 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.720 It did nothing for six and a half months, nothing, nothing, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.600 didn't I just didn't do anything. And then one day 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.720 I see this leaf pop up, a little bit of 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:36.880 pink on it and a little bit of green. I 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.920 was completely underwhelmed. Now it's got about five leaves on it, 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.840 but it's it's slow growing. It I look at so 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:47.080 slow growing. I will just say, I have one in 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.719 my bedroom window that I bought, like, I don't know, 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.440 maybe eight months ago, and I had, you know, I 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.520 have like a range of you know, of plants, and 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:58.760 this one. I was just like, oh, it's pink pink lady, 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:00.800 this is what I call her. Yes, And I was 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.240 just like, why are your sisters growing at a faster 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:06.200 rate than What the hell is wrong with you? And 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.840 I'm like, do you do we need to talk, like 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.000 are we troubled? Are we going through like our adolescence? 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.319 What is happening? Yes? Yes, And just recently just started 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.960 poking out like two two nodes that are like growing, 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.120 that are growing out, but they grow out, I swear 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:24.720 to God, like half a half a millimeter a week. 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:29.199 See just doing nothing. So I'll sit there and I mean, 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:31.280 just shocking me because I have to straightforward. When I 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.400 see a new leaf on a plant, I'm like, girl, 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.480 is that I do you? Oh? I see you? Oh 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.559 we showing out? Now? Are we showing? Look at it? 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:41.480 Did you tell your sisters? Look at me? Look at 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.120 look at me? About to pop this leaf out? That 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.920 three months? But I'm gonna be fine when I pop out. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.480 I can't stand that damn plant, just just sitting there 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.559 with her five little leaves and then she just popped 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.679 out a new one, and I'm sitting there just just searching, Like, so, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.440 how much pink are you going on? You? I said 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.280 him deeply on ndwhelmed. I'm deeply underwhelmed. But I was 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.560 never gonna pay three hundred dollars for you. But there 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:08.600 are people paying for a full size, paying three to 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:10.880 five dollars for this plant. In fact, somebody tried to 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.640 sell me one and I was like, oh, how much 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.560 is the plant? Oh? Three hundred dollars. It's like, bitch, 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.680 you can keep that. No, are you out of your mind? 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.160 Are you out of your mind? And so I tell people, no, 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:27.440 make you some connections. This is what community is all about. 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.080 To take a clipping off of a plant and give 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.000 it to somebody. Give it to somebody. In fact, I 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:34.480 tell people all the time, why don't you give it? 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.160 Today is a great day for you to give a 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.559 black woman a plant. Buy a black woman a plant, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.240 show her some appreciation since we're out here saving the 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.360 world from themselves. Buy a plant. And at the same 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:51.239 time I tell people also forth an effort to include 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.679 people in things instead of it being this whole exclusive thing, 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.240 which is why I host these plant swaps. Plants will 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.240 pop up that I have never seen before at a 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.160 plant swap with somebody like, oh, I've got like six 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.160 of these at my house. I have three hundred plants. 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.800 I just collect stuff. I'm purging my collection and they 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.480 bring fifty plants to a plant swap. And what I've 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.880 found and what's so interesting, because I've had enough of 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.040 them now I had easily about ten of them over 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.360 the past year and a half, is the black people 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:26.680 will ask, oh, it's free, yeah, just take it. Why 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:28.880 do I have a plant to give? I said, you 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.400 don't have to. It's not just come and share a plant. 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.160 Take a plant. It's just take a plant. Otherwise they 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.080 come home with me, take a plant. And it's just 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.680 seen people who don't have the means black and white, 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.000 brown doesn't make a difference. It's just saying, oh, I 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:45.440 would have never thought I would have been able to 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.280 get a piece of this. Oh, this is great. And 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:52.920 then also for them building community off of that, realizing 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:54.680 that some of these some piece people don't even know 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.120 who your neighbors are. But if I put a plant 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.800 swap together, here come people. Oh you live down the street. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.640 Didn't even know that, And people are making friends at 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.760 a plant swap. So I realized that plants could bring 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:11.080 people together. It could also just help to foster quality 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.160 community that it makes people feel connected and if you 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.440 feel like you're introverted, you can still talk about a plant. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.760 That is it for today's Woke app Daily Podcast. To 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.000 hear more from today's show, support me on Patreon at 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:31.400 patreon dot com Slash Woke AF Power to the people 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.640 and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:35.640 woke as fuck.