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Mareile Paley has been a leader and pioneer in the retreat world since 2010. Her speciality is in pilates, curating unique mind-body adventures that connect not only people and culture, but open a path to ourselves. She is now launching CALM, the Center for the Art of Life in Movement, a wellbeing center rooted in regenerative tourism with a focus on Pilates in Portugal. We spoke to her about her life, projects, and visions. Portugal / Germany @ourlifeinmovement https://www.calmportugal.com Q: Tell me a bit about your journey here? A: I'm originally from Germany, but I left when I was 19. First to travel then to study. I met my husband backpacking in Indonesia, then studied in New York, then lived all over the world: many years in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan. Nine years in Hong Kong, seven years in Turkey. 5 years ago I found my true ground here in Portugal and we live in Arrabida with Matthieu and our two boys who are 16 and 12. Q: That’s such a lovely journey! And how did you get into the work you are doing now? A: I am a graphic designer by training, but over the years the different careers I’ve had have morphed into each other. When I started in 2010 hosting my first pilates retreat in Bali there were not a lot of retreats out there. There were some yoga retreats with all their fuzzy talk on finding yourself - that wasn’t for me! Pilates is such an urban spor t, there was no soul-searching. But through the retreats and through learning from others (and finding my path within yoga after all), I eventually found that depth. I'm also maybe one of the few pilates teachers ever that I know that didn't come to pilates because I'm an ex dancer, or because I had an injury. I just found pilates in my gym and I was curious and I fell in love on my first class! Q: Speaking of body, mind and soul, whats your take on wellbeing? A: I would say that in the media and popularly it's become a buzz word. At the same time, it's also a reality, everybody's starting to realize that we actually need to be well. I think we've come over that cusp of wel l being just being for a few elite people that can afford it. I think it's something that is becoming and should become more accessible to everybody. I wish for it to become less exclusive and more natural state of being. Q: Absolutely resonate with this at Hermanas, we even have a wellbeing feature where we go into more details about the topic, and we’re through the community also trying to contribute to making wellbeing inclusive for all. So tell me a bit about CALM. A: I’ve always had a life in movement, so it seemed obvious, to call my project the Centre for the Art of Life in Movement. This seemed like a very long name for a Hotel, until I realized the acronym was C-A-L-M! Talk about serendipity. CALM is rooted in regenerative tourism and is driven by the land and its history dating back to medieval times. We will have, 4 suites, 9 eco-bungalows, 2 pilates studios, a natural pool, spa, and all set amidst an extensive food forest. We are right on the edge of the cute village of Palmela and part of our land is already in the Arrabida Nature Park, one of my favorite places for hiking, biking and being in nature. The water for our pool will come from our own clear spring water cave, then filtered and cleaned through a natural filtration process, using other plants, rocks and sand. Besides pilates, we will offer Restorative Getaways and Nature Immersions focusing on Earth Wisdom and how to reconnect to ourselves through nature. Q: Love this so much too, this is such an original offering in this world. A: Yes, I am also aware that the wellness world is very saturated. Unless you have someone you know or you get a great recommendation, it can be really confusing and overwhelming. I'm fully aware that I'm in that mix with with my retreats, and there is no way to single yourself out or discern yourself or to even offer something that sounds different or is different. Lately, there has been a commercialization of the whole well being industry, and I am personally starting to get to the point where I'm asking myself whether I want to continue to feed into that or not. Wi th this new project I am trying to be extremely intentional and visionary. I see CALM as part of a much larger ecosystem that we need to nurture and be aware of at every step on this journey. This goes from our lifestyle brand Calm Concepts into community building and doesn’t end with the running of a regenerative hospitality business. We need to start thinking in systems and how they each connect to and affect each other. Q: As a last question, we always ask our Hermanas what community means to you… A: To me, community, is like an extension of family. People that are connected, because they share the same values. Community to me needs to be real and honest. Where you can express what you mean without needing to put a filter on it. Where we can have uncomfortable conversation and dare to ask questions, challenge belief systems, laugh and cry together. Community is where you don’t need to be anyone else than yourself.

PSYDEH is a non-profit organization that works with rural and Indigenous women from the Otomi-Tepehua region in Mexico. Empowering women socially and economically through personal and professional development, and helping them to understand their rights, PSYDEH is unconventional in bringing the history of feminism into all their program, and valuing the progress made against patriarchal oppression worldwide. We spoke to Hannah to get to know the organization a little more intimately. Q: Tell me a bit about you and your journey to PSYDEH? (Why do you work on these topics, how has your personal journey influenced you to do this?) A: During the pandemic, I started a mutual aid project with others in Mexico City to create a network of aid, support, and allies. Through that work, I was miraculously connected to PSYDEH and invited aboard. In college, I studied community & justice studies and documentary film. Feminism, community organizing, and storytelling have always been through lines in my life. Over the last 2.5 years with PSYDEH all of these threads have been woven together in entirely new ways. Q: What are the principles that PSYDEH stands for and why? A: PHDYDEH believes that it is necessary and urgent to build spaces that are constructed for women and by women. We don’t come from the ou tside with solutions but we co-create solutions through active feedback loops. Also, all of our programming is led by a mighty group of women from and based in the region where we work. This is critical to our success. We see storytelling, creativity, and innovation as essential tools to create sustainable impact. PSYDEH’s community-driven model prioritizes women's involvement to address rural Mexico's inequality. By using dynamic methodologies like Paolo Freire's education model and adrienne maree brown's emergent strategy, the organization empowers women in co-creating sustainable social and economic opportunities, fostering paradigm change and lasting impact. Q: I see you cover really a lot of areas from tech access to women empowerment, how does this comprehensive approach work? A: Our approach is comprehensive, it understands that gender inequality stems from systemic imbalances and so we tackle our work through a dynamic and multi disciplinary approach. We prioritize active listening, feedback loops, and adaptability, as opposed to being rigid, bloated bureaucratic systems that miss the mark and don’t effectively respond to real human needs, our team has become very nimble, collaborative, and creative in order to foster meaningful, sustainable impact that honors the contexts of the communities where we work. I truly learn so much and the work is always beautiful, challenging, and activating. Q: If you could describe your vision for PSYDEH in one word what would it be and why? A: Proceso. Our team always uses the expression "es un procesooooooo", dragged out as long as we have breath, to honor that our individual and collaborative visions are always a work in progress. There is no destination. We are humans and it is messy, beautiful, and non-linear. My vision is that PSYDEH continues to embrace our work as an ongoing, unfolding process towards increased alignment with our shared values - with justice, with love, with stewardship, with equality, with peace. This vision, centered on learning and growth, is one I hold for myself, for our team, for our women partners, for the communities where we work, for the country we share, and beyond.

Natasha Moutran, artist name Yuna Earth is Lebanese-English and is currently based in Portugal where she is creating & sharing her music, as well as helping women go deeper into their sovereignty and sexuality through movement & exploration. She is a musician, entrepreneur, wild woman & sacred sexuality facilitator. Portugal https://www.yuna.earth @yuna.earth Q: Tell us your story? A: The short version is that I began studying drama then ended up a musician, visionary & facilitator. The one constant throughout everything has been meditation, which I’ve been doing since I was about nine years old. But only at 25 I decided to do a yoga training. Towards the end of my six month training, my mum passed away very suddenly, and because of that grief and trauma, I understood the value of speaking through what I had been experiencing, to help others. So that's what I did. I facilitated full time. Teaching in London, around the world, from corporate meditation courses, to retreats. And then ended up in the sacred sexuality practitioners training and and here I am. Music has been a huge part of my life since my teens, and is now taking a bigger role once more. Q: Wow beautiful, and how did it feel to find this path? A: A reclaiming of my voice, my power, my sovereignty, and my wild woman. Q: That must have felt amazing. And why Hermanas? A: I was invited to a Hermanas women’s circle by a dear sister when I first moved to Ibiza. There was 30 women in the whatsapp group back then. I had just landed on the island and I was like “Oh, my, thank God. A a way of connecting with women and meeting friends and find out what's going on! yes!” I'm a nomad, I travel a lot and everywhere I go, the first thing I do months before even arriving to a place is join the Hermanas group just to get a sense of it. Q: What does community mean to you? A: Community is resonance between a group of people. There's an harmonious frequency that runs between people that create their own ecosystem. And everyone has their roles, there's this common thread of intention of communication of alignment and what they stand for. Being in collaboration and not comparison and competition is a really key one for me. The regeneration piece is really important for me at the moment in all aspects, actual regeneration in terms of our ecosystems and the way we run business and the way we work and are in community. Q. Beautiful, and what is important to you today? A: I feel that we've all become really good robots, so how do we reconnect? For me, it’s through reconnecting to the land. And the earth and people. My music is really seeding that message as well. And hopefully we can start to let go of a lot of the programming and messaging and conditioning most of us have kind of been exposed to. Q: Tell us a question you have been grappling with? A: I see liberation and freedom as wellness and well being. The question is how do we bring that into our life?

Marité Villanueva has been a lawyer, a mom, and a lover of nature for many years. She’s Mexican and believes that community is where you can be your most authentic self and everyone feels seen and respected regardless of the differences. As she’s now part of Hermanas leading HR and Culture, we talked about what good culture in a community like Hermanas looks like. Linkedin Mexico City, Mexico Q: Hi Marité, you became a mom at a very young age, and worked in law in Mexico for over 18 years now. How has this given shape to who you are today? A: Becoming a mom at 20 definitely gave shape to my identity today. I’m a very energetic girl, very much in my masculine. I’ve learned to be resilient, having to deal with a lot and working in a tough environment like Mexican law. But trying to grow from it, I’ve developed a very positive attitude. Q: You’ve worked in employment law and are now officially working as HR and culture within Hermanas. And what are the main characteristics of a healthy, forward-looking, and unconventional workplace for you? A: I'd say for starters, communication. I think this is something humans do so naturally, and surprisingly, we're so bad at it. Developing good communication within a work culture is very important. Messages that are respectful and clear are often well received. Also, good communication gives people clarity, safety, engagement and motivation. People know where they are and where they need to go, plus they feel that they belong because they can speak up and they know they are going to be heard. So, I really think that is the base of a really healthy culture and I'd say also, empathy. Sometimes, everything happens so quickly and we want results, we want everything to happen immediately and we’re no longer patient about anything. We don’t take a moment to understand where you are and others are at. This is important because you can lead and set goals, and you can be driven, but you can also lead from a place of “I see you” and “I feel you” and that’s when the magic happens. Q: Tell me how you were introduced to Hermanas? A: I first heard about Hermanas through foreign friends that live in Mexico City. And at first, it was like, “maybe it’s not for me, it looks like a community for foreigners.” But then someone asked for a lawyer. So, I became part of the community because they needed immigration advice. And that's how it all started, I became part of many of the groups, met a lot of incredible and resourceful people, found solutions to problems and truly became an active member of the community. Q: Perfect segway! Let’s talk about community. What does it mean to you? A: Actually,I'd have to say, for me, It's been hard to find my community throughout my life. Growing up and for many years, I didn't really find the place where I belonged, nor a place where I could really be myself. I’ve been tapping into that for many years, while learning how to be myself, to be more authentic. The more I’ve done that, the more of an outsider I felt. Now that I’ve been searching for this feminine energy and learning more about it, I’ve found that community is actually how we support each other from a very nurturing way. Like a true friendship, a true sisterhood, regardless of everything that makes us different. Q: and then you became an investor of Hermanas! How did that happen? A: While I was trying to tap into this feminine side of me, this journey, I saw this post in the groups about Hermanas looking for angel investors and it hadn’t crossed my mind at all, however when I saw the post, it clicked. I was going through a lot and I felt the need to do things differently moving forward and then I decided to become an official member of Hermanas. Because I believe that this platform actually works. Q: How so? A: Well, this feels like actual sisterhood. The sharing of resources, of ideas, of information from a nurturing place, I thought that it was not possible until I met Hermanas. So I'm very excited for the launch of our new community space. And for a private membership, I truly believe in this project with all my heart. Q: What else are you working on that you’d like to share with us? A: I’ve been in search of my true purpose for many years. I’m not entirely sure about what this purpose is, but I feel that things like Hermanas truly bring me closer to it. I want to be of service for the community and this is an excellent opportunity for me to do that. I'm starting a new brand of consulting and advice for companies regarding culture building and preventing labor risks related to employees but it's still in the making. Thank you so much Marité, we’re excited for your role within Hermanas and your path towards purpose together.

Founded by Nicole Gulotta, Nomadic Thread Society began to pivot as an organization, as passion for style and design turned ever more towards social good through entrepreneurship. She began to work more actively in support and development of other creative, sustainable, independent businesses – from artisans, to entrepreneurs, to established, mission driven brands. Q: What are topics do you cover within NTS? A: Independent entrepreneurialism, women's leadership, cultural preservation through heritage craft, slow design, circular product development, fair trade, four pillars of sustainability, SDG's. Q: Tell us a bit about you and your journey A: My studies in art history at NYU and general fooling around in the New York City creative scene of the 90’s planted a deep aesthetic appreciation and set me on a curious, humanistic trajectory early on. Twenty five years as a NYC-based fashion and wardrobe stylist followed; an independent, creative, business person was formed. My tree-hugging nature drew me into the deep end of the world’s heritage hand-made sector in 2009, when I founded Nomadic Thread Society. I gravitated towards conscious design and business practices from the start, digging into working with heritage textiles in developing communities around the world. Support of artisanship, fair trade, and sustainability became the company ethos. Working from the heart, my business concept coincided with the emerging redirection of global fashion. These days I apply my cultural curiosity, activist nature, and independent business chops to slow design and business development, along with consulting and mentoring in the conscious design and culture spaces. I have an anthropological angle on creativity, opportunity, and enterprise. What do people seek, want, make, do, wear? How do they express themselves? What materials are available? How is the work done? And the most pressing question, can this all be done responsibly? Q: What are the principles that Nomadic Thread Society stands for and why? A: The topics I listed above are exactly the principles my work is centered around. In addition, my core belief that "doing one's own thing" is a recipe for self knowledge, love, and satisfaction is a driving force. Q: Tell me about any “success” stories, do you have a particular story to share that is special somehow? A: I'm not sure I'd qualify this as a success story, more a delightful expression of divine kismet! I moved to Menorca from Mallorca in March of this year because it was calling me. After rooting in Mallorca for the preceding year, it was actually a bit difficult to transition here. One day, the curtain in my room fell down and the repair people were somehow a hotel director and manager that day - they became interested in my sustainability education program as we chatted, with me in my pj's. They wanted to meet again and discuss working together! In the next room, there were a couple of Danish elders, textile artists, and keepers of ancient flax growing and weaving knowledge at their museum in Denmark, so lovely. They invited me to visit their place, with the idea to create a workshop. I looked at the stars with the astrology loving staff, befriended the slow-food chefs, ran into a few people I knew from the island - all this in just two days. That's what I call a quirky bit of kismet, beautifully paving my path. Q: Wow, the universe speaking marvels there! If you could describe your vision for your business in one word what would it be? A: Sustain.

Hermanas investor Jennifer Lujan has been working in social impact since the beginning of her career. Being a Latina, a mom, and a burner have all impacted how she sees community, education and the role of psychedelics as well as other plants as agents of healing. We talked to her about her many life projects as well as her connection with Hermanas. United States Linkedin https://www.eaze.com/momentum Q: What’s your story Jennifer? A: I am originally from El Paso, Texas, which is predominantly Hispanic. First one to go to college in my family. I took many different career paths, but I would say all of them have the common theme of social impact, whether working for nonprofits or working in politics, or doing a lot of advocacy work, to then doing impact work in the corporate world. Q: When was the moment, throughout your career when you were like, okay, I want to keep working in impact-driven initiatives but now with plant medicine? A: Probably back in the 2013 / 2014. I was already in San Francisco and you heard a lot about psychedelics then. I’ve always had this strong connection with the land and the earth and plants, so these conversations around plants and psychedelics resonated with me, always. But it was when I actually walked into a cannabis facility that I could feel this energy of so many plants and then I saw how much all of these plants have healed many patients, specifically cancer patients, or people who are dealing with so much pain. Seeing them get off their pain medication and spend their last days or months of their lives with their families in way less pain, opened a new door to me. Q: This is when Weed for Good was born? A: Yes, I started to travel the world and meet with other practitioners who offered different modalities of different plant medicines. Different alternatives to the standard western practices for healing. I then found a deep passion for these healing modalities, specifically, plant medicines and so I pivoted my social impact career into cannabis where I started to work directly with patients. The mission with Weed for Good was to create opportunities and access for patients who are terminally ill, specifically hospital patients to receive access to cannabis, which could be used in replacement of opiates. And I saw how this transformed so many people who were in that terminally ill stage that it took me into a deeper level of knowing and seeing the power of not only cannabis, but psychedelics and plant medicines. Q: You then pivoted to focus on social equity in cannabis. Can you tell me more about that? A: As cannabis moved into the legal realm for adult use, the industry recognized that we need to correct the harms from the impact of the War on Drugs. I started a philanthropic arm for a company called Eaze, one of US’ largest cannabis delivery companies. Fast forward, I created an accelerator, which focuses on social equity and providing access. Q: Tell me more about this… A: Momentum [the name of the accelerator] is an accelerator for underrepresented entrepreneurs in the cannabis space, so BIPOC, Women, LGBTQIA and it gives them opportunities in the space by entering capital, pairing them with investors and mentors, and giving them very strategic partnerships either with investors or with retailers and dispensaries. Q: Oh wow, and now psychedelics on top of that? A: Yes, now we’re getting into the realm of psychedelics. Trying to give indigenous voices a space in the industry. Q: It sounds like you’ve always been connected with the land and indigenous voices. And now you are a steward of a 12-acre property that you share with a wide community. How did you get there and what’s the purpose of that place? A: Right before covid hit, I had my son Mateo and at that time, a lot of things were closed off and that’s when we moved outside the city, just outside of San Francisco, in a place called Bolinas. Like many people, we had this huge desire to get a piece of land and live in community and grow our own food. This was a big shift towards building community and also of understanding the importance of it, while also reconnecting with nature. Those two things became really important. Q: What happens there? A: We are creating an education centre for all ages. We have a forest preschool that we run, so it's an outdoor learning for two and three year olds. And we have started to have different workshops, retreats and after school programming that's centred around regenerative principles and gives access to nature. The community didn’t have a preschool, so some parents came together and created a forest school on the land. It is all outdoor learning and allows the children to discover the magic of the natural world. About 90% of the time, even rain or shine, these children are outside and everything they learn is centred around nature. Q: What does community mean to you? A: I think community for me is creating an environment and an ecosystem that allows you to feel supported by others, to feel like you belong. Belonging is probably you know, the first real word that comes to mind. Community for me has meant so many different things. It's my family… my blood family, my chosen family. Q: I also wanted to ask you what led you to invest in Hermanas? A: Putting my investor hat on: I was impressed that there was already an MVP. There was already this product, you already had your audience you already had people who are invested into it, and your customer acquisition is one of the hardest things that people spend so much money on. I really trusted Dragana, who had built a strong community of women over years, to build and scale something bigger and more impactful. I really also admired how Hermanas tries to keep it focused from the female perspective, have only female investors kind of just as the foundation of Hermanas. I think Hermanas is very mission driven, which I appreciate. I invest in people and it felt right.

It's in our essence to support and highlight initiatives that are inspiring and refreshing. Within our new Ecosystem, we are interconnecting conscious brands, projects, and businesses with our global community, enabling mutually beneficial relationships. We're calling for like-minded business owners to become Founding Partners of Hermanas. If your brand stands for equality, human well-being, conscious innovation and environmental care, or inspires through art & culture we would love to partner with you.

Abril grew up being a nomad and studying Ayurveda in Chile and then in India. Her life and the impact motherhood had on her, allowed her to go back to her native Mexico and start a project close to her heart: Faciales Ancestrales, inspired by Ayurvedic philosophy and blended with Mexican herbalism and plant medicine. Wellness, Wellbeing & Beauty Mexico Website Q: So, Abril, Ayurveda is a huge part of your work and path. How did you get there? I’ve always tried to be spiritual. However, life led me to study international business, which took me on a very different path. Work allowed me to travel to many different places around the world where I was able to see things from a different point of view. I was exposed to different cultures and I loved learning about them. I moved to Chile for work and, once there, I got really sick. I was bloated all the time and every type of food would be a burden on my stomach. And a friend told me that there was a big Ayurvedic community from India in Chile and suggested I get an intake which basically changed my life. Q: How so? A: Well, it was so impactful because all of a sudden I was asked about my emotional health and how it felt to have moved countries and where my roots were. I started making the connection between emotions and your health overall. So, I felt empowered to take control over my health through my habits and emotional awareness. That was really my path towards healing. Q: And what happened next? A: I got obsessed with this type of healing. With the connection to the earth and how to use what is available out there to feel better. I took on all the courses I could find: from making your own face oils, to how to harvest your own food. I felt truly alive. After that, I knew that I wanted to do something else with my life. I left for India for work and there I learned that one of the main principles of Ayurveda was to see someone’s health through their skin. Meaning that the skin will tell you absolutely everything about someone’s emotional, physical, and spiritual health. I then went deep into how the skin works. I took a million courses to learn from the Ayurvedic, to the western, scientific way of looking at the skin. Q: Is this when Faciales Ancestrales was born? A: Yes! I went back to Mexico to ground and root in my own country. I came back with a child and my Chilean husband and met a French girl with whom I felt that I could start this Ayurvedic skincare line rooted in ancestral techniques. From there, I wanted to teach people how to apply the oils and ended up learning how to treat the body through the face, how to use acupressure and the principles of acupuncture to treat my patients. So, the creation of the oils went hand in hand with the start of the facials. Q: Amazing. I understand that you are now applying Mexican herbalism to your ancestral oil making. How is that process going and why did you decide to add Mexican ancestral medicines to your craft? A: I reflected on the fact that these ingredients were coming from the other side of the planet and then also, during the pandemic, I learned that Mexico had plants, herbs and spices that were very similar and were used to heal the same issues. So, I went and studied herbalism at the university of Chapingo. Now, I’m starting to introduce Mexican herbs and local plant medicine to my oils. There’s so much knowledge around herbal medicine in Mexico, it’s really powerful to be able to apply the same healing practices using local plants. Q: What do you envision for Faciales Ancestrales? A: I feel that in this world and especially in Mexico, there’s this notion that you have to suffer to reach an ideal beauty. I feel that it’s rather counterproductive to approach health and beauty in that way. What I want to achieve with Faciales Ancestrales is to allow people to go back to their roots, to empower themselves, and to understand an alternative and more grassroots path towards healing. I also offer a natural face-lifting, to provide an alternative to botox or any type of synthetic filling. I want to inspire Mexican women (and men) to adopt better and more wholesome beauty habits. Q: Finally, what has Hermanas meant for you and your project? A: Well, when I came back to Mexico after many years living abroad, I was afraid of starting again from zero. I wasn’t even in the groups but women started coming into my center saying they got recommended in this group called Hermanas, and then I knew that there was something special about this community. I felt that I didn’t have to go to the world, but that the world was coming to me and then I learned about the community. It’s been such a nurturing space. The project has blossomed there. So, I’m happy to be a partner of Hermanas and elevate the community from within.