Expert okra enthusiast and 2020 James Beard Award winner Chris Smith is the executive director of the Utopian Seed Project, a non-profit exploring diversity in food and farming in the Southeast. His presentations on the versatility of okra (and other crops) have delighted audiences at food and farming festivals and fairs across America. A native of the UK, Smith has a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Manchester. The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration (Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2019) is his first book.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well where Chris, of course, shares about the many wonders of okra.
Al Bailey is the owner and operator of NOWON Center For Inner Training, located in his hometown Elizabeth City, N.C. Al is a bodyworker, breath worker, and gifted healer and teacher. From an early age, Al was inspired to help people that has led to a remarkable life that he is now sharing with others. He wants us to know that there are countless ways we can transform life’s challenges to help us along our Journey and help us relax and return to our unique energetic rhythms.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well where Al shares how breath work can be be a powerful catalyst for inner transformation during these most unusual of times.
An Asheville native, Dewana is the Executive Director of the YMI Cultural Center that was founded in 1893 and thought to be the oldest African American Cultural Center in the nation, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Dewana is the founder of Positive Changes Youth Ministries, which takes local students on tours of colleges and universities, in particular Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She is also employed as Marketing and Administrative Associate for Self Help Credit Union.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well with Dewana who talks about the reasons for the nationwide and local protests that are bringing attention to racial injustice, social inequity, and police brutality. She also shares the demands of the African American community and the need for everyone to stay involved to bring about real change.
Quiana Grace Frost has served tens of thousands of individuals, couples and groups from around the world for over 38 years. A pioneer on the leading edge of the transformational & healing arts, she’s served as a leader, teacher, speaker, writer, facilitator, movement educator, expressive artist, healer, coach, mentor and champion for those on the path to their own self-realization. Getting right to the heart of the matter, Quiana has a vast array of tools and wisdom to support profound transformation for her clients.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well with Quiana shares about how we can approach these challenging times with clarity, alignment and wisdom and use as a tool for self-realization and transformation.
Kelley Tyler is a nurse at Mission Hospital where she has worked for 35 years. She is a western North Carolina native. She started her career on the Orthopedics floor and with the development of the trauma program, the floor became the Trauma Unit. She is involved in professional governance, nursing informatics, nurse practice council, unit council, and Kronos scheduling. She enjoys being a bedside nurse and advocating for patients and is involved in the Mission Hospital nurses efforts to unionize. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, gardening and reading.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well where Kelley shares about the challenges and gifts of being a nurse and the reasons & process for the nurses to unionize, including ensure the safety and quality of care for all patients.
Two time winner of the North Carolina YA Book Award, Allan Wolf is an author and performance poet living in Asheville, NC. Allan spent fifteen years as the educational director of Poetry Alive!, and he is considered one of the founding fathers of the National Poetry Slam movement. His poetry has appeared in many diverse publications from Lady Bug Magazine to the North Carolina Literary Review. Wolf’s many books showcase his love of history, research, and poetry. With literally hundreds of poems committed to memory, Wolf travels the country presenting author visits, poetry shows, and inspirational talks for all ages.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well with Allan where he shares a few poems and discusses how he finds meaning, creativity, and wonder in these strangest of times.
Glenis Redmond’s love of words has carried her across the country for two decades. She logs over 35,000 miles a year bringing poetry to the masses. Known as the Road Warrior Poet, Glenis is steeped in Afro-Carolinian roots, and speaks a universal tongue of love, loss, celebration, sorrow and hope. Her verse uplifts family, culture and community. She has recently been awarded the highest award for the Arts in the state of South Carolina, The Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award. A Native-American Omaha elder once translated Glenis’ role as a poet into: Woman-that-Flies-with-Words. It is her hope that her words morph into wings and take flight.
Enjoy this special one-hour Living Well with Glenis Redmond where she shares about the powerful influence of her mother, the impact of Ahmad Ahmaud Arbery’s death, her journey with cancer, and of course, her wonderful poetry.
Sunya Kjolhede and Lawson Sachter, ordained Dharma heirs of Roshi Philip Kapleau, are the co-founders and teachers of Windhorse Zen Community. Lawson and Sunya have each been practicing Zen for over fifty years, and have conducted sesshin and workshops in the United States, Mexico, and abroad.
Sunya, along with her other teaching activities, travels regularly to Poland, where she serves as spiritual director of the Bodhidharma Zen Center, a Polish Zen community founded by Roshi Kapleau in 1975. She has trained in Clinical Pastoral Education, working for a period of time as a hospital chaplain, and she has also worked in schools as a storyteller.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well where Sunya shares what Zen has to teach us about living well in these most uncertain of times and the amazing potential that exist in all of us.
Michael went to AB Tech College and received a degree in nursing, working in hospice for many years. In 2015, he came to work at Haywood Street Congregation as Director of Programming for Haywood Street Respite, an 8 bed home for people living on the street that have had an illness or injury and need a couple weeks off the street to recover. Michael shared that life is not always kind to some of those coming through Respite’s doors, but he tries to set an example of what life can be “ through the love and support we offer each other.”
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well where Michael shares what its like for those who are homeless in Asheville and what they are doing to adapt to threat of COVID-19, including an inspiring story of how they safely took in 9 people to live in Respite for at least two months, and likely more.
Katie Button is a chef and owner of two unique restaurant concepts in Asheville, North Carolina: Cúrate “coorate” Tapas Bar and Button & Co. Bagels. She has earned a number of culinary awards that includes being a semifinalists for the James Beard rising star chef award. Katie remains dedicated to causes beyond solely culinary pursuits. Her dedication to an eco-friendly approach to restaurant ownership was lauded by Grist.org, and both restaurants are living wage certified and work with local companies and organizations to recycle, compost, and reduce food waste and environmental impact. Among other charitable events, Chef Button cooked for a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser in Washington, D.C., a Chef Action Network summit in Asheville, and works locally with Chefs at Welcome Table and Green Opportunities’ Kitchen Ready Program.
Enjoy this one-hour Living Well where Katie talks about how the impact of COVID-19 on independent restaurants and her efforts to organize the Independent Restaurant Coalition to advocate for their interests during the global pandemic.
