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Life and Work with La Nita Nash

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Today we’d like to introduce you to La Nita Nash.

Thanks for sharing your story with us La Nita. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in San Diego, California. After a somewhat normal and yet challenging youth, I found myself in Juvenile Hall, behind a year in school and headed down a pathway I really did not want to travel. After a week in Juvenile Hall, something inside of me said STAND UP and I remembered I was not defined by my past. Within three months of being released, I was back in school and enrolled in college the next year. This pivotal time of my life has empowered my ability to overcome any obstacle that arrives along my journey. It inspires my work today,

Healthy living became a priority for me in college, though once motherhood arrived in my late 20s, living the most natural lifestyle I could became the major focus of my day to day life. I learned how to feed, teach, heal, entertain and guide my children through plants. These years helped me build a database of recipes and techniques that worked. My family and I decided to open our 1st business in Portland Oregon in 2015, a juice and smoothie bar named Essential Juices and Smoothies. We wanted to share our passion for plant-based living with our community, so we took our recipes to the streets. When we decided to leave the Pacific Northwest, we sold our juice cart and headed back to Phoenix Arizona, to help bring our healthy living brand and love of plants, back to the desert.

In 2018, we opened Align with Plants Herb Shop in Tempe Arizona. The herb shop is a place for the community to gather, experience plant medicine and we now host a small after-school youth program, regular community events, and a monthly communiTEA poetry night! Align with Plants is currently expanding into a not for profit corporation that is aiming to serve the marginalized youth in our local community. We are here to educate, rehabilitate and motivate these youth towards self-sustainability through nature and technology. Align with Plants is growing to reflect the work of my heart and I am so thankful for each step of the journey.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I often say that if life was good all the time, we would all be bored. So, I have learned to accept the good with the bad. Both are guaranteed. Resisting the ebb and flow of life really only makes it more difficult to find the lessons in the movements. I enjoy searching for these lessons and storing them for future situations.

That being said, my greatest challenge has always been self doubt. There were plenty of experiences throughout my development where I learned to mistrust my voice. Though once my children began to express their undying belief in me, I too began to fully recognize the value I bring to the world. I started to do the real work in building my own self worth so that I could make sure I left the healthiest world possible for my babies. Believing in the message of my heart and trusting it is needed, is the most powerful lesson I am learning. It allows me to share my experiences with the world with confidence, diligence and a heart full of faith. It also helps me encourage others to do the same.

I have had major relationship challenges, as well as loss, disappointment, betrayal, fear, and depression though overall, I am grateful for a peaceful and content life. I learned young that I create my environment through my choices. I also learned that I like to feel good, so with enough time and maturity, I am figuring out how to create an environment that feels good. We each have the ability to create the life we want to live. I am thankful these lessons were a part of my path.

Please tell us about Align with Plants Community.
Align with Plants Community is the next step of our healthy living brand. Having grown through a challenging youth, I see the issues young people face as the building blocks of greatness. Children and especially at-risk youth, have been marginalized in our cities for some time now. Their rights, protection, education and support all seem to be based on the leftovers of a stressed system. Parents are overworked and struggling to heal from their own trauma and so we all miss out on an abundance of talent and wisdom when not investing in the safe development of our youth. Inner city challenges like access to resources and stressed financial households, can really trap the gifts of life in generational cycles of lack of self worth and lack of belief in the ability to change it.

Align with Plants Community wants to highlight this wealth of creative potential and show our youth real life skills that will help them live a more self-sustained lifestyle, earning their own self worth. Using both technology and nature, we are connecting our youth with the tools they need to create the life they desire and the attitude to do it! We are just beginning this new part of the journey, though if you are interested in following how and where we grow, please check out www.alignwithplantscommunity.org and join the movement!

And if you are in Phoenix, come check us out at The Good Life Market at the Unexpected Gallery every Sunday from 10 am – 2 pm all summer long and help us plant some good seed in the community!

We will be hosting live plant-based cooking demonstrations and selling our youth made herbal products line, Align with Plants JR.

There’s a wealth of academic research that suggests that a lack of mentors and networking opportunities for women has materially affected the number of women in leadership roles. Smart organizations and industry leaders are working to change this, but in the meantime, do you have any advice for finding a mentor and building a network?
I feel like the right mentors always come to you. That being said, you do have to be available and actively in circles where mentors are gathering.

I see social media and especially Facebook, really great tools for networking. There are so many small business owners on social media pushing themselves to grow a brand and create their name. I have connected and built real relationships with many through Facebook and Instagram. Lifelong friends, business partners, creative partners, and even family, have all been added to my life through social media.

I also recommend SCORE for FREE business mentorship from retired business owners.

Staying open to new relationships and chances to collaborate are major keys to me. Many business owners are not open to collaboration though they are missing a massive shift that is happening in the younger generations. Working together is usually working smarter, not harder. Find ways you can work with others and support other passionate people on a mission.

To young women everywhere, my best advice is to know that you were born with an intention to fulfill on this Earth. You have a calling in your heart and you hear it. Your happiness is in following that calling. It could be to one day own a radio station or to travel all around the world. Whatever you have in your heart to be and to do, listen. Follow your own beat to your own song. Shoot write the song! You define you! Trust yourself, love. You are on the most perfect path for you.

Pricing:

  • Transitioning to a Plant-Based Lifestyle – Paperback $14.99 Amazon.com

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Pic of me in herb shop – Steve Carr

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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