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From Cult Survival To Garden Revival with Kellesia Sharay: How Nature Rebuilt A Life · Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is where ideas spark, connections grow, and collaborations fuse success.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Tune in for inspiring stories, expert insights, and game-changing conversations.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let's build, connect, and thrive together.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome, welcome to the Ready Said Collaborate Podcast with Wanda Pearson, where collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_04: Today's guest is someone whose story beautifully intertwined healing, growth, and transformation.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_04: I'm honored to introduce Kaliche Sherey.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_04: Did I say it right, Kaliche?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_04: Kaleche.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Kaleise Shere.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: Kaliche Shere.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_04: Beautiful name, though.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_04: The visionary owner of Dexa Farm Family Gardens, Incorporated.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_04: Khice's journey is one of remarkable courage.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: Growing up in a restrictive cult, she found freedom as peace through the simple yet powerful act of gardening.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_04: What began as an escape from pain became her pathway to healing.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_04: And eventually blossomed into Dexa Family Gardens, where she now helps others reconnect with the earth, their purpose, and themselves.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_04: In addition to her green thumb, Khelsey is also a skilled cosmetologist who believes that true beauty begins with from within.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_04: I love that.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_04: And from the ground up.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, I love that.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_04: From within it.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_04: So get ready for an authentic and inspiring conversation about faith, resilience, and how nurturing plants can nurturing plants can teach us to nurture our own souls.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome, Caliche.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_04: I truly appreciate you coming on to the show.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_04: Say hello to the audience, and I'm gonna read your bio and then we're gonna jump into some questions.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: I am ready to go.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go, Wanda.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_04: Let me tell you, I told a little bit about Cliche, but let me tell you a little bit more about her.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_04: She's the owner of Dexter Family Gardens Incorporated.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_04: She helps intro introverted women and children heal depression and childhood trauma, particularly those raised in the cult through gardening with no garden experience.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_04: As an introverted gardener and dedicated cosmetologist, she took personal development into her own hands to find answers to her own depression.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_04: Growing close to 80 different fruits, vegetables, herbs, and planting over eight fruit trees.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, she realized that life was seen and mirrored her journey through life.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_04: While companion planting, she began to understand that your environment and compatible companions are crucial for growth and multiplication, which is identical to our life.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_04: I love that, Kalicia.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's just my God.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_04: And she listen, listen, guys.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_04: She just told me she's on her 19th book.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_04: Is that what it is?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, ma'am.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, Miss One, the 19th.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_04: I am so blessed to be able to have met you in the Author All-Stars.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_04: It's just really a blessing to be able to intertwine.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_04: And the good thing about it, we both Scorpios.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_04: We both were born in November.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_04: So we know we were meant to be.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_04: God just put us together.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: So that is awesome.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_04: That is awesome.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_04: So no, welcome to the show.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_04: So let me ask you some questions.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_04: So your store for your story is so powerful.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_04: Can you share how gardening first became your safe space?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, ma'am.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Gardening became my first safe space.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: After realizing the organization that I was raised in from nine years old, fast forward was 35 years.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: I realized that it was a cult.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: And it really caused me to be in a dark place because of their strict environment.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't able to do a lot of things that normal teenagers and children could do because the cult's rigid, it was a rigid schedule.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday Bible study, Monday was choir rehearsal.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: My mom, she was a top female minister there.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: So she definitely had a role there.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: And that role made, of course, I had to be in that particular circle.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I would say finding out nine years ago, that organization was indeed a cult, and it really messed with my mental state because I felt like I wasted all of my life.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: Everything was a no because I had to be at the cult.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: So anything, I couldn't do anything but be at the cult.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: So to find out that I spent 35 years in an organization, my teenagehood was snatched from me.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: My childhood was snatched from me.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: I was already in a dark space because of the abuse, because of how I was born into the world.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that just that that messed me up.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: So I was already, I already had issues with a broken spirit because of childhood abuse.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: But at nine years old, having to go into an organization, be there 35 years, and find out all this time I was in a cult.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: And it was a lie.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: So I literally had to find something to make me joyful.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: I could not.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: I was just laid down every day.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to get up out the bed.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to do anything.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to go anywhere.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: I just stayed in my room watching television, constantly replying my whole life in my head every day.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: What I couldn't do, all of the no's, all of the mistreatment, all you know, just for in an organization, and it was all a lie.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: Because they would scare you with you're gonna go to the lake of fire if you didn't do what they said.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: So for me, I was always in cooperation and obedient because I thought that was gonna get me a ticket in the kingdom with God.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: I was gonna get into heaven if I was obedient.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I was very obedient to their rules and regulations.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, that that's and I was just looking for a way out and of my mental torment that I was doing to myself by replaying everything that was done to me, and I just felt like my life was wasted, and I had to find something to help me find joy.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't have any, and I and that was fear.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_04: That was fear, that was oh, yeah, that was big on that to be able to speak up.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: So I totally get it, I totally understand that.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_04: So what gave you the courage to redefine your life on your own terms?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: Back to the first question.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: The only thing that I could recall that really made me happy and joyful was being in gardening garden environments.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: I just love flowers, I love well-manicured yards, I love to be at farmers market, botanical gardens, anywhere there was nature and beauty.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: I it just drew me in a space to where I felt happy, I felt joyful, and that's what I wanted to.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: I started just going to places like that so I can get that feeling.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: And and then that feeling turned into me trying to create it in my own home, at my own home, in my own yard, something to make me get up out of that room, get up out of that space, and get out of my head and start doing something.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: So that's was answering the first question.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's what led me to the dirt.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: God led me to the dirt because I found peace and joy and solace in planting and growing.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: Your next question, Miss Wanda.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: No, actually, it was good that you actually went from there.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_04: Because actually, I was gonna ask you what moment or explains planted the seed for Dex of Family Gardens.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_04: What was the moment?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, the moment was so just going out there and finding joy and seeing the first seed that I planted sprout and grow into something.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, I literally get that.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you mean to tell me that little bitty tomato seed that I put in the ground?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: 45 days later, there is a there's a tomato.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: And the feeling that I got from that, the feeling it was I was addicted to that feeling because it was a feeling of joy and peace and happiness, and I didn't have it.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I wanted to duplicate that feeling over and over again.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I started planting.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: I started planting just different stuff.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: I would just go out there, just start buying seeds, tons of seeds.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm putting everything in the ground because I just want to, I want that same feeling that I got when I would watch this plant grow, something sprout, you know what I'm saying?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: Something come above the dirt, and then I needed to come and water it and take care of it.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: And then you mean to tell me 45 days later, 60 days later, here is a tomato that I can actually cook with.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what that's where Dexa came from because I began to constantly go out there and chase that feeling, chase that same feeling of seeing something grow and get to its full potential and me adding to it and helping it and nurturing it to get to that to that place.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I tell everybody when I woke up, I had a backyard full of food everywhere.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: Food was everywhere, all because I start seeing myself and everything I planted, and seeing myself and everything I planted and cared for it.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: I've I got that tomato, I got that butternut squash, I got that, you know that whatever, whatever you plant, that's what you're looking to get.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: You're looking for a harvest when you put a seed in the ground.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_04: I love that.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_04: And that's why I was at you, how did you find the courage to redefine your own life on your own terms, not on anybody else's term, but in your own terms, to your garden.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_04: But when did that start?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_04: When did you start realizing that I can do this and I'm gonna do it for me, not for anybody else?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_04: When did that start?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I got heavy into companion planting, I would say.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: So with companion planting, that's when I understood that the seed needed to be in the right environment in order to grow because we're skipping a lot, but I didn't know anything about gardening, so I didn't know where these pests was coming from, these little creatures.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: The seedless was being attacked on every level, and I just didn't know what was going on because I didn't grow up around a garden farming anything, so I had to start researching what was going on.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: But companion planting, me trying to find friends that were compatible with the seeds and that would help them to grow and ward off pests and draw the beneficial pests.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: I needed some pollinators to come and help, I needed all this stuff, but I began to understand that they needed to be in a certain environment around compatible companions.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, wait a minute.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: It caused me to look at my space, it caused me to look at the people that I will was around, it caused me to look at the people that I had been around the majority of my life.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, whoa, that's why my growth is stunned.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's why there is no multiplication or growth for me because I am around toxic people that are either they had characteristics of harmful pests.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: And right then and there I found something called a boundary, and I began to set boundaries.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: I had never heard of boundaries before, but because I started to understand who was playing the role of a weed, who was playing the role of an aphid, Japanese beetles, all of these what I'm saying, these are harmful pests that's coming to attack that garden to keep that seedling from growing.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, so people that I know literally has this, they have the same characteristics of these harmful pets.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: So this seedling is me.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: I see such and such you the beetle.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, oh, let me just start to pull back and yeah, and just I had to set some boundaries.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: I had to stay away from some people, I had to cut off some relationships, which is pruning.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's a garden terminology.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: So that's when I began to have a safe space because I understood who was who for the first time, and I had to create boundaries because you got to do it in the garden too.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta have protection.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_04: I love that.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_04: I love the terminology that you put there.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_04: I'm actually looking at your book, Companion Gardening for the Soul.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_04: Grow together, heal deeply, and bloom anyway.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, that's it.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_04: And it's so true because how you brought that into people from your garden, and you realizing God was all part of that, like we were just talking about.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_04: You got to go through to understand why you're going through.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_04: Now, what would you say?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: How'd you say that?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: How'd you say it for go through the understanding to get through which one you got to go through to understand?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: Grow through what you go through.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: But when I say God was all in those details, so when I say God, well, it was between me, girl.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: This it saved my life, me understanding the life of a seed.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: I saw every aspect of my life and with his grace and his mercy just showing me what went on, why it went on, who was who, why everything is in the seed, and I tell every everybody everything you need to grow is already in you.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta go through the process to heal, right?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_03: From your parents, and we are gardens ourselves, we are gardens ourselves, and I and to be a good gardener, I had to take care of this seedling because something is coming to attack it, it doesn't want it to get to its full potential.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: So at each stage of the growth process for the seed, it had a whole different set of insects coming for it because their goal is to destroy it.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's us.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_04: We have to tell you, I'm gonna have to tell you because I commend you for doing the garden, but me and my mother tried to do garden, and when the worms start coming out, we was like, oh so I am not a gardener, I tell you.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_04: I don't even we moved to here from New Jersey to to Georgia.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_04: I uh some of the creatures here that I've never seen in my life.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: I grew up in the city, so I don't know what the heck these things are.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_04: So I said, you know what?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_04: I think I'm I'm good.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_04: My flowers, so I really commend you, and I'm so happy that God actually helped you to be able to determine to get out of that.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_04: So that's what helped you be able to grow.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_04: It was him.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's what you just said, girl.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: I can't pick up a worm to this day.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: You hear me?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Look, and everybody asked me that.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, how do you I don't play with bugs?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm looking like I never played with not one bug out there because it was plenty of days that the neighbors heard me screaming and running.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_03: So definitely there was some surgery going on here.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: Some surgery.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: When I say some heavenless surgery, some godless surgery, because me in the outside with insects and worms, and that is that's not me.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: I still can't fish because I cannot get no worm and put it on no hood.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: There's no way.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: So I know that that God had a plan, and this was all him because I didn't see Khelsea doing none of this.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_04: It's amazing because I used to remember when my mother-in-law, and she had garden, she had a garden, and she grew her greens and tomatoes and cucumbers and all that.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_04: So when I got pregnant, she had my husband, okay, take these greens home to Wanda so she can she can cook them.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_04: So he brought the greens home and there was worms on it.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_04: I'm screaming, I'm like, I can't do this, I can't do this.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_04: You got to clean the greens.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we can talk about a lot of stuff.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_04: So, what lessons from nature have taught you the most about resilience and renewal?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: I would say, like I spoke earlier, everything we need to grow is already in us.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: This everything.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: So when I did something with some children one day, and I had all kinds of little seeds to show them the seeds.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, what I started, what was amazing to me out there, Wanda, was to see this little bitty seed, and they all come in different shapes, sizes, none of them look the same, but to know that everything that seed needed to grow was already in it, but it need it needed a certain environment to be in to grow.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, so do you mean to tell me this little bitty seed has this tomato in it?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: This tomato has more tomatoes in it.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_03: It it we're talking about trees, so a seed can turn into a tree.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_03: So it just made me understand everything that I've ever needed was already in me.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: It needed to be cultivated, nourished, protected, watered.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: When we're talking about a tree can grow into a forest, you mean all from the little seed.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what I had to share.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like nature that helped me understand life, it helped me understand us, it then understanding the compatibility with being around in a certain environment that's going to be beneficial to you, that's going to us.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_03: We're looking for love, we're looking for companionship, joyful.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: Help me look, I can't be around nobody toxic and expect to grow or multiply.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, I understood all of that, those lessons from that garden.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: It helps me to this day.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm telling you, I'm just flying high because I understand it.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: No matter what happens, I understand the life of a seed.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I took to God be the glory, it has nothing to do with me.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's all God all in this story.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: And I see the joy that you have.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you like I said, we went you went through it, but you got strong enough to be able to help others, and that's how your healing came about, right?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_04: So let's talk about you're a cosmetologist.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_04: How do beauty and nature connect with your work and your mission?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: I would say with cosmetology, I've been doing hair for over 25 years, and the garden again, me understanding how I love to care for things to get them to their full potential.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: I understood for the first time why I was a cosmetologist for over 25 years.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: Because I love to care for my clients.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_03: I love people come in your chair, they have all kinds of things going on.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: But God entrusted these hands to do something to transform you so that when you look in that mirror, you are a different person from when you walked in the door.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that is the responsibility God gave me to provide that service to you so that you can look in that mirror and say, Wow, oh, I'm beautiful.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: So that same feeling for me to give to my clients, it was the same love and care that I like to give to the garden.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, okay, so I just that those two to me are similar because I am helping, I'm nourishing, I'm providing everything needed so that you can have confidence, so that you can feel great.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm telling you, I've heard it all.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I didn't want anybody to feel after.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: Felt ever.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_03: I felt ever with what I've been through in life.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: I had that moment in the garden when I had a backyard full of food, and I'm like, wow.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been doing hair all of this time because at the end of the day, I want everybody to feel good, to be happy, to grow, not to hurt, not to be sad in the garden.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: I want to feed everybody.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just like food everywhere.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: I can feed everybody.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's just always been my personality.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: But I was able to connect those two because it's the me being a nurturer, loving to provide care.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: And the same thing I did to the garden, it's the same thing that I do for my clients.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_04: I love it because it really does make a difference.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_04: As you talk about that, we are similar in a lot of ways.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: I think that's that social work in me like that.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: Because I remember 10 years old when I was going through abuse, a social worker came to the house.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_04: And when I saw what she was doing, I said, I want to be a social worker, not knowing that's what God was going to have me do.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_04: So as you talk and you speak, and you just want to, and we're like those, it's different types of Scorpios.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_04: So we're the Scorpios that want to help.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_04: So I really admire you for doing that.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_04: The thing about it, many people see gardening as a hobby, but you turned into a healing movement, right?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_04: How do you inspire others to see it that way?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: As far as healing, telling your story, how do you inspire others to say, you can do this, you don't have to be stuck.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: I think I inspire them because, like I said, I didn't grow up around any gardening, farming, or anything.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: You said you was a city girl, me too.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know nothing about no country, I didn't know anything like that.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: But to actually be able to take a seed and provide the care to see yourself in it now.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Because I realized for me, I start seeing myself in everything I planted.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: So when I put it in the ground, I'm respecting a result.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: But it's gonna take me, it's gonna take me to help the seed get to that point.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: Now, what's going on under the dirt?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: I have no idea.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's between that's God's creation, God created dirt.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: We don't know none of that.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: But once it sprout above ground, it is my job to protect it from what's coming its way.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: So when you see yourself in what you plant, and that it is you, and to be able to go back and treat that seed like you would treat yourself, I think just doing that, and then when you see the growth and you're the one providing that for the care, I think it will kind of just you might not get into farming and all of that, but you might plant something to go in your house to know that, hey, I started this from seed and look at it now.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: So I think just that process of me repeating it over and over, that's why I no longer have depression and my childhood trauma memories begin to fade because I saw myself caring where for what was lack, the lack of care for me.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: I provided it for everything that I put in the ground, and it was me, it was me, and I kept doing it over and over again.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I tell people when I woke up, it was gone.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: I love it, I love it because it does take years.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_04: I know it took years for me to because a lot of things we bury so deep inside that we don't feed bury it deep, the seat, they have to bury it.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_04: And I forgot about it, but it was for a purpose that he did that because he didn't want us to remember that at those times because it wasn't time, it's all about the timing and how he actually brought it out at the right time, just like you.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: You're writing all these books, nine 19 books, girl.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, 19 books.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just getting my four.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: Why don't I wake up with a title?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm telling you, I would give him one yesterday.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, wait a minute.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: So now I'm already claiming it.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'll be 20 times, 20 times author by next week.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'm like, I I was just forming it out this morning.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, God, where whatever book that I write that can help anybody, wherever they are, when you have multiple layers of trauma, like I had, and no one knows that until they talk to me and we get to talking, and you're like, she don't know this because she ain't been through whatever.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_03: And then when I look at the little girl and I said, Yeah, yeah, I was molested.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then when I looked at that plant that I was trying to grow and I saw those little bugs crawling all over it and trying to destroy it, that seedling didn't want that stuff on it.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: But what did I have to do?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: I had to get those bugs off of that plant and find ways to protect it so it won't get back.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: So you when you plant something, you don't abandon the seed, you have to come out there and you have to take care of it and see what's going on.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I just realized at some point somebody just didn't pay attention or they didn't, you know what I'm saying?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: Whether you got abandonment issues, I we can go there.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm just saying it's a lie, it's a lot.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: But I saw that in the seedling because to me, those insects, those harmful insects was molesting the seedling.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's just trying to grow.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: It didn't ask for but me here.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: I am the protector, the gardener.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta help them.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: As soon as I did, I'm coming out the next day.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: The seedling got was growing stronger, but it was all bent over and slouched because all those bugs was on it, and I saw that, and that's what reminded me of me getting.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't that I didn't want to be touched, I didn't want that to happen to me, but yeah, I saw that.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_04: Amazing.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: I tell you, and the how you the as far as comparing the your plants and also human touch as far as what happened to you, the abuse, it's amazing how you came out of that.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_04: And it's what's amazing is that we don't know when God, our spirit, is talking to us or helping us, and at the same time, he's protecting us.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: And that's what I want to ask you.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_04: How do you balance the spiritual, emotional, and practical aspects of your business?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_04: Now you have a business.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: How do you balance that?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: I just feel like they're all connected because at the end of the day, I'm the gardener, just like I'm the cosmetologist, and it's the same role.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: The same role is I have to care for that hair, just like I had to care for that seed, just like I'm putting my stories in these books with care, so that when somebody reads that, I can inspire all of the Kelly's out there.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I say everything to me is in alignment with my assignment, because you have to care for the hair, you have to have a great hairstylist.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm seeing a lot of the industry just in a state of emergency because we got people out here doing hair that could care less, but it's a monetary thing that they're chasing, or products being sold out here, and you could care less because of the money, but the consumer don't know how to go in here and look at these ingredients and be like, this is not going to help my hair.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: So I thank God that's I've never been like that.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: My nickname is the hair nutritionist because I care about the hair.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna tell you, no, you can't do this, you don't need to do that.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna tell you you might not want to hear it, but you're gonna have a head full of hair with the garden.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, the same thing.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_04: So, wait a minute, you talk about that.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_04: So you have your own product, right?
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_04: Do you make your own product?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes, I do.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, now so you gotta talk about that more.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_04: So you make your own product.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_04: What is the name of your product?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: Shimmer and Shine.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I and people are like, where did that come from?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I named my product Shimmer and Shine because they can't.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: I made the product, I've been doing hair for years, but God gave me the knowledge to understand a lot of herbs, they help with the hair because I always look for natural things to help with the hair.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_03: I don't like all of the chemicals and things like that.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: So, some of a lot of the herbs that I grew, I would make my own hair oils with it, my own sprays, braid spray, lock spray, my own hair butter, which some people might be like they get some grease.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: I make my own hair butter.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: And for me, I started when I started gardening, I'm like, whoa, I actually can grow my own herbs now to put in my own products because I know I'm not using no harmful chemicals or anything like that.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: I can just grow out here, I can naturally infuse these herbs that I grew and then make the hair product with it.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: And so one day when I was just feeling great because I like I told you, I started healing depression and all of those repetitive toxic memories begin to fade.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_03: And one day I looked in the mirror, and for the first time I smiled and I didn't see that traumatized, scared little girl crying anymore.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: I saw her smiling and I said, Girl, you better shimmer and shine.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: I love it.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: And you have a beautiful smile.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_04: So now that's where I got the name from.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I'm I love it.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_04: So, how can people get your product?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what I have a website, yeah, Khaleese Sheree.com.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: You can go on there and you can place an order for the hair products.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: They were coming straight from the garden, straight from some fresh oregano, fresh rosemary, lemon balm, chocolate mint.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and and just for the hair to have a natural shine without the greasy feel.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of people don't know chocolate mint helps your hair naturally be shiny.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: So you got a product with an oil, but it's not greasy because these herbs are naturally doing what it for it's naturally caring for the hair without all that extra.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, God gave us everything we need.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my God.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_04: So anybody can is it on it's on any hair, anybody can use the product as far as what you have for that.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_04: My hairdresser, I've been with her since God, 20 years.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I can take some to her and say, Here, put this on my hair.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I actually have people that have their own salon and they love the product.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: So the owners of the salon buy it from me where they buy several bottles because they the clients love it so much, they're like, You're not gonna do my hair unless you got that oil.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_03: They yeah, they take it to their stylus, and the stylist uses it on their hair.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, definitely.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_04: That's gonna be in the show notes to tell people how to get it because I'm definitely gonna get some of it myself.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_04: So you've turned pain into purpose, and we got girl, we can be I I told you gonna have to come back on my show here again, okay?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: So you turn pain into purpose.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_04: What do you say to others who feel stuck in their past but want to move forward?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: So for the seed, I use this analogy one day when I had an event that I put on for the children, and uh a male asked me, a grown male, he said he suffered from anxiety, and so God gave me the words to say, and the words were that anxiety is living in the present, depression is living in the past.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: So in a garden, you can't force that seed to grow no faster than its allotted time frame.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: So when I put that seed in the soil, no matter how many times I came out there and wanted it to hurry up and grow, it had a time frame in order to grow.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_03: So again, you can't rush healthy growth.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: So anxiety, you want to live in the future and you making yourself anxious about what's gonna happen next week, next month.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: So in gardening, you can't have anxiety because you just waiting on the seed, and depression was like living in the past.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: If the seed don't grow, you gotta plant another one.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's nothing you can do because that seed did not grow, so you can't keep thinking about what the seed didn't do.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: So, in order for us to move on, in order for us to grow, in order for us to multiply, we have to let go.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: The gardener has to let go and let God.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_03: And for me to let go and let that seed do its thing and just wait on that time frame for that sprout to hit so that I can do my job and care for it.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: That's all I can do.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: You have to move on.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_03: It has caused me so much joy to let the past go because I could not do anything about it, and right now I'm able to give so many books and talk about what I've gone through all because I decided to move on, create these books, and help somebody that needs my help.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, that's powerful, that's really powerful.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_04: And I just signed up for your website because I want to know about those hair products.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I like I said, you got to come back on the show.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_04: So, what's next for you in Dexter Family Gardens?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: What's next for me, Wanda?
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like I said, you couldn't have told me I was gonna be no author.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know nothing about what God is showing up and showing out, but one thing I do want to provide is a coaching program.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, almost through uh carving out my amazing coaching program and course where I can actually have sessions with people, get they can have these books, and we can actually have a great garden workbook, and we're going to actually go through the workbook together and provide what someone needs with my stories.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: And they are, I really have some.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: So to be able to help people to know that they matter and they are not a mistake, no matter what has gone on in their past, I'm sure that I can relate in some form or fashion, but that's why I want the coaching program and I want the course so that God can just guide them on through healing, like they would be in the garden right next to me, and I just put it all in the books and coach them on through with his help, coach them on through that pain, and like I said, growing through what they went through.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta keep on growing.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: Say that again, growing, say it again, girl.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Grow through what you go through, right?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because everything is a lesson.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we have some lessons, we got some blessings, yeah.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we got some tests, we got some testimonies.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_04: I love it, I love it.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_04: So we're at the end of here, but could you plant one seed of wisdom in our listeners' hearts today?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_04: That what would that be?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think I said it before, but I'm gonna say it again because it's so powerful, Wanda.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Everything you need to grow is already in you.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_03: Everything, your confidence is there, your wisdom is there, your resilience is there, your healing is there.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Everything you need is is in there.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: It just needs to be cultivated by the right gardener.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_04: I love it.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_04: I love it.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you're gonna be a good coach, and I know I got some homework from you that I gotta do too.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's kind of crazy busy here, but no, definitely.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_04: I love it, Kalicia.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_04: And this is it was it was what an inspiring conversation.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, I'm still like, wow, just a conversation and how how you came about.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: And it's amazing how we don't know what God is gonna turn us to be, who to be.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_04: I had no idea.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I don't even have the garden would be taken from me from a divorce, and I felt some type of way about it.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: But one day God was like, You planted all that you can plant there.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's time to move on.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: What else?
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Look, what else is there that you're gonna put back in that little bitty back garden space?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: And at the end of the day, it was never about that physical place, it was the work that I was doing in you because I had no idea that 19 books later, this is where we at sharing the story.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: This the books are way more valuable than me digging in the dirt out there trying to create a space hidden in my backyard.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: So he had something for my chapter six, seven, whatever chapter I'm on with him.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: But we like to these chapters he had for us, we like to add and drag stuff on to a chapter that was supposed to be over with.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: So he knew that there was an author that was gonna be in chapter whatever this year.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: I had no idea, but I was still trying to hold on to something that it was already, it's season was up.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's beautiful, and that's the growth that you he's took you through and to be where you are now.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_04: That's just a garden there.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_04: But look what you planted with all of these books.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I gotta share this real quickly, Wanda.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: It was so powerful with this garden thing.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: When I started reading the Bible and letting him just guide me through his word to know that a farmer, because I I didn't know anything about it, but they plant for seven years, and then they have to let the land rest after seven years.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: You have to.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's in the Bible.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: How about I was in that seventh year trying to drag on the eight year?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: I planted for seven years, so it was time to move on.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: And then I was like, Oh, you can't make this up, you can't make this up.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: So, all of this, what I'm feeling like chaos happened in the eighth year, but everything was already done, and it was time for this part of the story, this book, this chapter.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_04: And that that's a great ending to that.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_04: And I always said, see, my favorite chapter is Jeremiah 29:11.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_04: God has plans for you, plans to prosper, plans to give you hope in the future.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's my favorite.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_04: And he gave you a future, not to harm you, but to help you move on.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_04: So his plans, and I always talk about his plans, his plans, like I said, we the way we grew up.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_04: Look how he made us now.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_04: He made us grow.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_04: So girl, okay, so listen, I am gonna have you back on my show.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_04: So, what a beautiful, soul-stirring conversation with Caliche.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for sharing your story of courage, faith, and transformation.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_04: Because it definitely was transformation.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_04: You reminded us that healing is a process, right?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_04: One that often brings begins with planning.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_04: Just one seed of hope.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_04: Just one seed of hope is all you take.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_04: To learn more about Caliche and Dexter Family Gardens, visit her online to follow her journey as she continues to help others grow from pain to purpose.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_04: As always, the episode of Ready Say Collaborate with Wanda Pierce is about connection, healing, and growth, because collaboration truly is the key to success.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you once again to Caliche for being on my show.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I really appreciate it.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_04: This is a very inspiring conversation.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_04: It was just, I just got chills going through my body as far as what you were talking about here.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_04: So until next time, I'm your host, Wanda Pearson.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_04: Say stay inspired, stay grounded, and keep blooming where you're planted.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_04: So make sure you subscribe.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_04: And if this is going to be on YouTube as well, and please subscribe to my channel, Wanda Pearson or Ready Set Collaborate Podcast.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_04: So until next time, thanks again.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks, Caliche.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: That wraps up another episode of Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to help you build meaningful connections and successful collaborations.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe, share, and stay tuned for more great discussions.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep collaborating and making an impact.