As we close out SAAM (Sexual Assault Awareness Month), we sat down with Smrithi Ram (she/they). Smrithi is a queer Tamil woman, violence intervention specialist, and educator. This episode traces Smirthi’s personal journey as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. We delve into the variety of roles Smrithi has held to support survivors and the birth of her newest offering — Dayaa Healing. https://www.dayaahealing.com/⁠

She specializes in providing trauma-informed training to therapists, advocates, and allies who support survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Smrithi has also served as a sexual assault crisis counselor, advocating for survivors during their forensic medical exam and forensic interview. As a survivor of child sexual abuse, they are extremely passionate about creating safer spaces free of violence while empowering others to do the same.

This episode features writer, perfumer and all around effervescent Venusian sensation @studiotanais. Tanaïs is a queer, femme, Bangladeshi artist and creative based in NYC whose work has touched countless South Asian imaginations and hearts of our generation. We touched on their last book ‘In Sensorium’, and spoke to their upcoming novel and their process in creating truthful, primordial art that upends the patramyth (myths of patriarchy, a word coined by them). You can support them by finding their work and procuring their scents at studiotanais.com.

Our first episode of 2024 features Farmer Zee Lilani of @Kula.Nursery! Zee runs a grassroots nursery offering South Asian heritage seeds and starts to folks in the greater Bay Area (Ohlone Land). Here, we speak to the significance of accessing ancestral foods for those in the diaspora and the complexity of growing these plants on native land/Turtle Island, the history of certain cultivars, and the necessity to protect heirloom and unmodified varieties from large scale agriculture.