Listen to the curated audio version of this podcast, which weaves the main conversations and reflection prompts together on Spotify here, or Apple Podcasts here, or Acast here.

“The plants are so wise. They are our ancestors, they've been here, and they're sacred. That humility and that continuous wonder, and being in a kinship relationship with them—of like, let me listen. Let me listen to what they have to say.” - Antonia Estela Pérez

Welcome to the opening episode of REBIRTH, a limited podcast series produced by advaya, a platform for transformative education. I am your host, Tammy Gan, and this four-part series is produced in partnership with Stella McCartney Beauty, a conscious alternative to luxury skincare.

This episode features Antonia Estela Pérez: a Chilean-American clinical herbalist, gardener, educator, community organizer, co-founder, and artist born and raised in New York City. The arrival of spring brings with it more abundant opportunities to deepen our intimacies with our more-than-human, plant kin. Embedding ourselves in and re-learning plant stories are key to collective healing—and liberation: this is deep decolonial and abolition work. In this conversation, we uncover how it is we can seed these medicinal, intimate, regenerative relationships, exploring personal and practical ways to reconnect.