Bella Figura, The Tradition of Living Beautifully

Jill Winger is the founder of The Prairie Homestead, an online space with over one million monthly visits dedicated to helping people learn how to grow their own food and opt-out of the rat race, regardless of where they live. In 2019, she published her best-selling cookbook The Prairie Homestead Cookbook, which was an Amazon Editor's pick and won Best Cookbook in the 30th Annual Reading the West Book Awards given by the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association.She is host of the “Old Fashioned on Purpose” podcast, which has amassed over 5 million downloads since its inception.She and her family also run Genuine Beef Company, which ships grass finished beef nationwide, as well as the Chugwater Soda Fountain. She has been featured in Urban Farm, Farm & Ranch Living, COWGIRL magazine, Woman's Day, HuffPost, the Wall Street Journal, Wyoming PBS, People, and Buzzfeed. She resides on the Wyoming prairie with her husband, three children, and more farm animals than she can count.

Things discussed in this episode:Photography as an art formMotherhood & family life as inspirationAccepting the changes in our bodies and lives The curious world of InstagramBeing authentic to your styleCultivating your aestheticAntiques as a way to slow downSurrounding ourselves with beautyBeing present in the moment

Things discussed in this episode:Leaving home and making a new communitySupporting local farmersWhat toxins do to our bodies and fertilityThe normalizations of toxins in our productsNatural beauty productsDiet as a means to wellnessThe learning curve when it comes to natural livingThe benefits of tallow as a beauty product

Things discussed in this episode:Not being afraid to release old ways of thinkingLetting go of old ways of beingSwitching career pathsThe negative aspects of the music industryOur work encompassing more than we originally imaginedDoing that work serves our community, as opposed to our egoRe-evaluating stereotypes of what an artist's life looks likeThe ups and downs of long friendshipsThe magical aspects of long friendships

Things discussed in this episode:The toxicity of the beauty industryHow the beauty industry relies on your self doubt for enormous profitsThe toxic chemicals in beauty products that are making us sickLoving the way you look naturallyHow Instagram is skewing our sense of our own beautyHow social media sows intense self doubt in all of usWays to step away from the beauty industryUsing natural hair productsNo more shampoo and the origins of shampoo useUsing herbs to heal your familyComing into your power as a mother

Kari Jansen, herbalist, astrologer and ayurvedic practitioner, founded Poppy and Someday after years of studying herbalism, combining her passion for plants with her love of gardening, wildcrafting and herbal medicine making.The company's product line features an evolving collection of organic body care products. The product design process is rooted in the study of Ayurveda and Western Herbalism and focuses on native plant ingredients. Every ingredient comes from the earth and never contains any synthetics or preservatives.Kari is a graduate of the California School of Herbal Studies, the Dhyana Center, the Ayurvedic Institute of America, Kairos School of Astrology and also holds a B.S. in Health and Nutrition.

Tomás Q. Morín is the author of the collection of poems Machete and the memoir Let Me Count the Ways, as well as the poetry collections Patient Zero and A Larger Country. He is co-editor with Mari L'Esperance of the anthology, Coming Close: Forty Essays on Philip Levine, and translator of The Heights of Macchu Picchu by Pablo Neruda. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches at Rice University and Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Shiva Rose was raised by bohemian parents in the countryside of Iran until the revolution occurred. Suddenly, a childhood nurtured on imagination and nature morphed into life as a refugee. Assimilating to a new life in America, she sought solace in old films, fashion and books, which led her to work as an actress in TV, film and theater. After having her first daughter in her early twenties she was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, an occurrence that propelled her on a path as a naturalist and activist. She is the author of Whole Beauty, Daily Rituals and Natural Recipes for Lifelong Beauty and Wellness. She is also the creator of The Local Rose, a line of all-natural beauty products created with the utmost respect for the natural world and for you.

This is a solo episode where I look back on the conversations and guests of Season 3 and draw out the major tenets I came away with regarding this season's theme, “Slow Down.” Slowing Down is not only about pace, but emotion, energy, the intention in movement, gracefulness, how we possess and use our power and emotions, cooking, and connecting to our ancestors.This episode is a kind of toolbox with some of the best tools I've learned to slow down and live more in the moment.

John Viola is host of The Italian American Podcast and previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), where he served with incomparable energy and passion from 2012-2018 as the youngest president in NIAF's history. John serves as co-vice president for New York City of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) and on the Boards of Directors of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, as well as other Italian cultural boards. He was fundamental in the creation of Pope John Paul II Family Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y., serving as the Academy's General Director, and the Director of the Madonna della Neve Foundation for many years.He is a Knight of Merit with Star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, one of the oldest Orders of knighthood in the world, and serves as the United States Delegate for the Constantinian Order and the other Chivalric Orders of the Royal House of Borbone of the Two Sicilies. He is also a Knight of the Order of Merit of Savoy, the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. He also serves as president of the Florida Panthers Foundation. A native of Brooklyn, John traces his ancestry to the Vallo di Diano in the province of Salerno, Puglia, Basilicata, and his beloved Sicily.

John Viola is host of The Italian American Podcast and previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), where he served with incomparable energy and passion from 2012-2018 as the youngest president in NIAF's history. John serves as co-vice president for New York City of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) and on the Boards of Directors of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, as well as other Italian cultural boards. He was fundamental in the creation of Pope John Paul II Family Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y., serving as the Academy's General Director, and the Director of the Madonna della Neve Foundation for many years.He is a Knight of Merit with Star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, one of the oldest Orders of knighthood in the world, and serves as the United States Delegate for the Constantinian Order and the other Chivalric Orders of the Royal House of Borbone of the Two Sicilies. He is also a Knight of the Order of Merit of Savoy, the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. He also serves as president of the Florida Panthers Foundation. A native of Brooklyn, John traces his ancestry to the Vallo di Diano in the province of Salerno, Puglia, Basilicata, and his beloved Sicily.

MaryBeth Bonfiglio's dynamic and varied work is not simple to summarize. She is a writer, writing instructor and guide, an intuitive, a midwife, and a folk/root worker dedicated to exploring the ancient wisdom of her Sicilian heritage. Her Radici Siciliane gatherings, which attendees have described as “not a vacation, [but] a pilgrimage and a rite of passage and a week-long ritual,” take people to remote and traditional areas of Sicily to explore ancient folkway practices—such as tarot cards, ancient recipes, traditional dance and storytelling, cheesemaking, basket-weaving as well as creating a space for attendees to explore their own ancestral healing. She lives in Upstate NY, with her three daughters and longtime husband.

Jennifer L. Scott is the New York Times bestselling author of Lessons from Madame Chic, At Home with Madame Chic and Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic (Simon & Schuster), Mademoiselle Chic (Daiwa Shobo), and Connoisseur Kids (Chronicle Books). She is also the creator of The Daily Connoisseur blog and YouTube channel.

Mallorie Vaudoise is a New York City-based spiritualist of Italian descent. She is the author of Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration and “Italian Folk Magic,” a blog about devotional practices from Southern Italy and Sicily. She was co-host of “Good Bones,” a podcast about living and dying well.Drawn to folk magic from a young age, her path has required both careful study and wild abandon. Her writing is an act of devotion, an offering to the spiritual ecosystem in which she finds herself. She believes that music, food, wine, and kissing are vital tools of spiritual evolution.

Thomas Lynch is the author of five collections of poems and four books of essays, as well as a bo ok of stories, Apparition & Late Fictions.His work has been the subject of two film documentaries—PBS Frontline's The Undertaking, which won the 2008 Emmy Award for Arts and Culture Documentary, and Learning Gravity, produced for the BBC, featured at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival and awarded the Michigan Prize. He has taught with the Department of Mortuary Science at Wayne State University in Detroit, with the graduate program in writing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and with the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. His essays, poems and stories have appeared in The Atlantic and Granta, The New York Times and Times of London, The New Yorker, Poetry and The Paris Review and elsewhere. He lives in Milford, Michigan where he has been the funeral director since 1974, and in Moveen, Co. Clare, Ireland where he keeps an ancestral cottage.

From a young age, Melissa Muller spent her summers in the Sicilian village of Sant'Anna, where her grandmother was born. She received a master's in journalism from Columbia University and a diploma from the International Culinary Center. Muller has helmed three acclaimed Sicilian restaurants in New York and has been featured in The New York Times, Saveur, and La Repubblica, as well as on The Food Network, Martha Stewart Radio, and Mike Colameco's Real Food. She is the author of Sicily: The Cookbook: Recipes Rooted in Traditions, and she lives on a farm with organic gardens and orchards in the remote countryside in the heart of Sicily.

Shawn Lang is a designer and one half of The Farmhouse Project. Along with his partner, Kris Prepelica, Shawn left the big city and decided to slow down and simplify by moving into a historic farmhouse in upstate New York. From there, their online brand, shop, design inspiration, and restoration of their 1800 farmhouse began. The describe themselves as “modern-day gents living the old-world way.”Today, their lives are filled with the things that bring joy: entertaining, cooking, gardening, and learning to live off the land. They also started a line of home goods, all unique and sustainably made. On any given day, you can find them working on a project in their onsite studio, putting the final touches on a room, gardening, feeding chickens, or dreaming up a new cocktail recipe.

Shele Jessee grew up in rural Northern California and currently makes her home on the beautiful Central Coast. She makes her living as an independent designer, artisan hide tanner, and rancher. Her brand, Hollow Bone, is dedicated to helping others live the ranch life, and to creating well-made timeless pieces, made by artisans out of natural materials, which are salvaged from their respective industries. Hollow Bone is more than a brand. It is a dedication to the future and the health of our culture. It is a love story about raw materials, a handmade life, and a love of land.

Annabell Alsup is owner and founder of House of Tocumen, a vintage rug company that sources authentic, weaved rugs from artisans around the world. Annabell is not only a vendor, but through her vibrant Instagram page, also educates people on how to find and buy authentic vintage rugs and home decor.Part of an active duty military family, she lives with her husband and four sons, with a fifth on the way on a homestead in South Carolina, where they care for four goats, one baby doll sheep, 32 chickens and four mini donkeys.Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Shop: Bella Figura ShoppeResources:House of Tocumen websiteHouse of Tocumen InstagramDolores:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Shop: Bella Figura ShoppeBella Figura Shoppe on EtsyBella Figura websiteDolores on InstagramBella Figura YouTubeBella Figura Pinterest

In this third and final solo episode of Season 2, I am talking about the American writer Wendell Berry's essay, "Family Work."Berry makes the connection between work around the home—gardening, cooking, reading, farm chores, etc.—and the solvency of family life.Discussed in this episode:Wendell BerryThe history of life at homeThe forces that have eroded home lifeWhy disease is more lucrative to companies than healthHow to combat the erosion of home lifeResources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Shop: Bella Figura ShoppeBella Figura Shoppe on EtsyBella Figura websiteDolores on InstagramBella Figura YouTubeBella Figura Pinterest

Ros Byam Shaw is a freelance journalist and writes on design and interiors for "The World of Interiors," "House & Garden" and the "Saturday Telegraph," among others.She is the author of Old House New Home, Perfect English, Perfect English Cottage, Perfect English Farmhouse, and English Eccentric, as well as Farrow & Ball Living with Color and Farrow & Ball Decorating with Color (all published by Ryland Peters & Small). Ros lives in Devon, England with her husband and dog.Resources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Shop: Bella Figura ShoppeGuest:Books by RosRos' writing in "House and Garden"Ros on InstagramAntique ShopDolores:Bella Figura Shoppe on EtsyBella Figura websiteDolores on InstagramBella Figura YouTubeBella Figura Pinterest

Join me for a Christmas special where I talk about cultivating the Christmas spirit with nature, vintage finds, and your own two hands.Merry Christmas to all!With love,DoloresResources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Bella Figura Shoppe on EtsyBella Figura websiteDolores on InstagramBella Figura YouTubeBella Figura Pinterest

Shaye Elliott is founder of the popular blog The Elliott Homestead. She is a cookbook author, farmer, artist, wife and mother of four. She lives with her family in rural Washington state where she records her well-known YouTube videos on inspiration and tips on homesteading, cooking, preserving, gardening, and all around cultivating a beautiful life.She is the author of four books, including Welcome to the Farm: How-to Wisdom from The Elliott Homestead; Family Table: Farm Cooking from the Elliott Homestead; The Elliott Homestead: From Scratch: Traditional, whole-foods dishes for easy, everyday meals; and Seasons at the Farm: Year-Round Celebrations at the Elliott Homestead. She is co-host of the high-ranking home and garden podcast, “Homemaker Chic.”Things discussed in this episode:Growing your own foodThe importance of cookingWhy cooking challenges convenience cultureEmbracing being a homemakerIt's okay to want to be a wife and motherDefying the push to climb the corporate ladderLiving a slower lifeFood is loveResources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!My Guest:The Elliott HomesteadShaye's photographsShaye's booksHomemaker Chic PodcastShaye's YouTube ChannelDolores:Bella Figura ShoppeBella Figura websiteDolores on InstagramBella Figura YouTubeBella Figura Pinterest

Sara Dahmen is a coppersmith and the founder of House Copper cookware. When Sara was researching a historical fiction novel, she realized much of our kitchenware is no longer available as it once was and no one was making American copper designs. She created the House Copper American copper cookware line using historical references from original American coppersmiths.Not only does Sara hand-drill, rivet, hand-tin and polish each of her wares, but she also spends time with a tinsmith, where she works weekly with tools from the 1700 and 1800's to recreate vintage reproductions of tin and copper and build custom copperware designs from scratch. She is the only female coppersmith working in the United States. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and children on a micro farm.Things discussed in this episode:The benefits of cooking with copper, clay, and cast ironWhat's in modern-day cookwareThe origins of copper, clay, and cast iron as cookwareBeing the only female coppersmith in AmericaCreating with your handsCreating a life that resonates with your valuesThe importance of communityEmbracing your ancestral cultureResources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Sara's websiteSara on InstagramCopper, Iron, and Clay: A Smith's JourneyBella Figura ShoppeBella Figura websiteDolores on InstagramBella Figura YouTubeBella Figura Pinterest

This is the first of several solo episodes, where I choose a topic and spend a bit of time breaking it down and exploring its many angles. I'm choosing topics, mostly books, that I believe will resonate with listeners. My first solo episode focuses on Alice Waters' "We Are What We Eat, A Slow Food Manifesto." Waters is an American chef, author, and restaurateur, well-known for her restaurant Chez Panisse, and its pioneering of the farm-to-table movement.Things mentioned in this episode:Recognizing the values of "fast food culture" in our own actionsRe-evaluating our relationship to convenienceRethinking our approach to the availability of foodLearning to slow downLearning to appreciate beauty over speed and convenienceChoosing what we value over what is easiestThe importance of hard workThe need for challenge in our livesResources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Alice Waters' "We Are What We Eat""The Tyranny of Convenience" by Tim Wu, New York TimesBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

Kay Foye is a knife maker and artist who grew up in Princeton, NJ, where her love of horses began. After leaving the hustle and bustle of work in New York City, Kay became a rancher in Colorado, and in 2018 began to learn the art of knifemaking, and she then began forging legacy knives—handmade knives with the mementos of a client's life forged within the handle. Kay combines an aesthetically appealing blend of ranch life, artist, and blacksmith into her creative expression.Photo courtesy of Preston HoffmanDiscussed in this episode:Finding your path the roundabout way.The importance of storytelling in different forms.Creating a legacy through tangible objects.Collecting items for beauty and longevity.Creating and purchasing heirlooms for your descendants.The kitchen as the center of a home.Upleveling your kitchen tools.The wrangler life.The artistic life.Country life.Doing things simply because they make you happy.Resources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Stetson short filmKay's siteKay on InstagramChevalier + Co.Bella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

Angela Reed, also known as Parisienne Farmgirl via her online presence, is an author, farmer, wife, mother of six, and a successful entrepreneur. Angela lives on a 27-acre farm tucked deep in the woods of Door County, Wisconsin with her husband and six children. Moments from the sapphire waters of Lake Michigan, she spends her days tending to her potager and cottage gardens and caring for her family and farm animals.In 2005, Angela created the website “Parisienne Farmgirl” and since then has been passionate about developing “joie de vivre”, a joy in life, and sharing that journey with other women as they cultivate memories of domesticity, motherhood and creativity. She is the co-host of the popular podcast, Homemaker Chic, and author of “From France to the Farm: Blending Generational Favorites with French Flair.” She is also the publisher and founder of Old World Design Society, a publication and private society for individuals who cherish the design and lifestyle elements of a bygone era and who believe in lived-in spaces, heirloom pieces, and that ‘new is not always better.'Discussed in this episode:Learning how to farm.Being self reliant.Adding beauty to your home and work.Trusting your decor style.Old World decor.Antiques as decor.Country life.Homesteading.Raising farm animals.Preserving foods as our ancestors did.Learning lost traditions that our ancestors knew.Rethinking motherhood.Homemaking and motherhood as artform.Resources:Dry Farm Wines: Use link dryfarmwines.com/bellafigura to receive a bottle for just a penny in your first order!Angela's WebsiteOld World Design SocietyAngela on InstagramAngela on YouTubeHomemaker Chic PodcastBella Figura websiteDolores on InstagramBella Figura YouTubeBella Figura Pinterest

My guest for Episode 13, the last of this season's conversations recorded in 2020, features model and fashion blogger Lisa DiCicco Cahue. Originally from Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, Lisa, of Italian descent, moved to NYC and attended Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) where she graduated top of her class and received her Bachelor's Degree in Fashion Merchandising. She worked in numerous areas of the fashion industry, specifically in the fashion closet at Harper's Bazaar, as well as being an assistant buyer. She has since been signed with Wilhelmina, Ford, and is currently represented by Elite Model Management. She has worked for designers such as ATM, Cynthia Rowley, Thom Browne, Ramy Brook, Rebecca Minkoff and Protagonist. Maintaining the perfect minimalist street style and “model off-duty” looks, Lisa hosts her own blog, and in 2018 she became pregnant and now dedicates herself to her own business and raising her son, Sebastian. She has collaborated with some of the best designers in fashion both as a model and an influencer. She had a successful capsule collection with Amazon, selling out many pieces in under 30 hours and hopes to one day have her own label. Things discussed: Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones Jealousy verse aspiration Motherhood The struggles of the postpartum experience Learning to accept our postpartum bodies Inspiring women to be bold Fashion as bella figura Raising children to have a sense of their roots Embracing our cultural values and discarding those that limit us Fashion tips to feel your most confident How to look great in photos Resources: Lisa's website Lisa on Instagram Bella Figura website Dolores on Instagram The Italian American Podcast

Sandra Chuma, of Zimbabwean ancestry, is an entrepreneur, speaker, coach, podcast host, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. She believes that our greatest responsibility is to share our stories so we can inspire and create possibility for others.Raised in a tiny mud hut in Zimbabwe with no running water or electricity, Sandra has never been one to let circumstances define her. Through hard work, and support from her “village,” she became a management consultant, advising major global companies. She then went on to build two successful companies.But despite all her professional success, she knew she wasn't walking in her purpose. Sandra made the decision to go back to school in 2015 to get a master's degree in Journalism, Storytelling & Documentary Filmmaking from Columbia University.Sandra has made it her mission to help others create the best version of themselves. She is building brands focused on providing inspiration, tools and community.Discussed in this episode:The power of storytellingAssimilation and knowing your rootsThe complexity of leaving your country of originHolding onto the values you were raised withFollowing your purpose, not just your passionTaking the first steps in a new endeavor and allowing the path to unfoldPassing cultural awareness onto the next generationResources:Sandra's websiteNDINISandra on InstagramBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

Stephanie Flor, of South American ancestry, is a NYC­ based celebrity makeup artist who works regularly with industry leaders ranging from musicians to television personalities. Her clients include Mariah Carey, Eve, Sting, Kathy Griffin, and politicians Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and the Israel President Shimon Peres, among others. She is most currently the Global Colour Pro artist for Clinique U.S and Hispanic market.Flor has been featured on Glam Belleza Magazine “Weekend Section,” Latina magazine's “Young & Inspiring: Ones to Watch” list, “ Beauty Vanguard in April 2015”and landed herself on the Cosmo for Latinas blog spotlight for Around the World Beauty.She is a go-to beauty expert for her tips in both beauty and travel for Teen Vogue, Allure.com, Glamour, InStyle, Essence.com, and Vogue.com.Editorially, Flor has worked on photo shoots and video productions for Cosmopolitan, Glamour, L'Oreal, People, Martha Stewart, The New Yorker, Time, OWN­ Oprah, Victoria's Secret, and Women's Wear.Flor expertise in multicultural beauty has made her a go-to ambassador for leading cosmetic and hair care brands, such as Head and Shoulders, Makeup Forever, L'Oreal Paris, La Bella, Thicker Fuller Hair, and Maybelline.Discussed in this episode:EntrepreneurshipBeauty as a spiritual practiceConnecting to ancestors through beautyTraveling the worldConnecting to ancestral culture through beauty practicesBeauty approaches from around the globeResources:Around the World BeautyStephanie's Makeup Artist pageThe Italian American PodcastBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

Shelly Marshall, of Japanese and Irish descent, is the founder of Beauty Shamans, which unites the wisdom of the past and the science of today to create healthy skincare products from the ocean and Earth. As a nurse, esthetician, and aromatherapist, her approach to skincare is clinical, clean and holistic.Things discussed:Connections between our work and our heritageHelping our parents and ourselves reconnect to our rootsTaking care of our skin holisticallyWays to wean off chemical skincare productsTurning our nightmares into our greatest giftsFeeding our bodies for optimal health and skinEmbracing our family storiesConnecting to our ancestors through our work and by being the keeper of family historyResources:Shelly's website, Beauty ShamansShelly on InstagramBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

Jaquira Díaz was born in Puerto Rico. Her work has been published in Rolling Stone, the Guardian, Longreads, The Fader, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and included in The Best American Essays 2016. She is the recipient of the 2019 Whiting Award in Nonfiction for “Ordinary Girls,” two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Kenyon Review, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She lives in Miami Beach with her partner, the writer Lars Horn.Things Discussed:Growing up in Puerto RicoComing out to a Catholic familyThe tensions between the white and black sides of her family during childhoodThe silence around sexual violenceEthnic and racial identity - What am I?Practicing Catholicism and being gayEven the hardest family stories can give us strengthThe publishing industryRacism and learning to understand one anotherResources:Jaquira's new memoir, “Ordinary Girls”Jaquira on InstagramJaquira's websiteBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

Aimee Raupp, of Irish ancestry, is a renowned women's health & wellness expert and the best- selling author of the books Chill Out & Get Healthy, Yes, You Can Get Pregnant, and Body Belief. A licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in private practice in New York, she is also the founder of the Aimee Raupp Beauty line of hand-crafted, organic skincare products.She's appeared on The View and has been featured in Glamour, Allure, Well + Good, GOOP, Shape, and Redbook and has received endorsements from Deepak Chopra, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Arianna Huffington, and Gabby Bernstein for her work in helping thousands of women to improve their vitality, celebrate their beauty, and reconnect to the presence of their optimal health. Aimee is also the Head of Chinese Medicine at The Well, an active columnist and is a frequent speaker at women's health & wellness conferences across the nation.Things discussed:Cooking and eating as our ancestors didBeing drawn to practices from other culturesHow to improve fertility through health and wellnessPossible causes of the epidemic of infertilityThe impact of the IVF industry on women's perceptions of their fertilityEpigenetics as it pertains to fertilityAs long as you're still menstruating, fertility can be improvedThe myth of fertility decline past 35 years oldResources:Aimee's websiteAimee's booksAimee on InstagramBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

My guest for Episode 6, Alicia Jo Rabins, of Jewish ancestry, is a writer, musician, performer, ritualist and Torah teacher. She is the author of poetry books Divinity School (winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize) and Fruit Geode (finalist for the Jewish Book Award) and has released three albums with Girls in Trouble, her songwriting project about Biblical women. She is currently at work on an independent film, "A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff." The recipient of a 2020 Oregon Literary Fellowship, Rabins lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.Things discussed:Being drawn to ancestral religious practices.Reconnecting to cultural traditions even after several generations of assimilation.Re-examining the biases against organized religion.How organized religion can root us.Art as a means to explore religious experience.Embracing the roots of our adopted country in addition to our ancestral one.Emotional challenges of motherhood.Struggles of the writing life.Teaching children about their heritage.Raising children with ancestral traditions.Resources:Alicia's websiteA Kaddish for Bernie MadoffGirls in TroubleAlicia on Instagram"Ancestral Language for Strength," Dolores' blog postBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

In Episode 5, I speak to Jill Willard, of Italian and Irish ancestry, author of “Intuitive Being" and celebrated intuitive and healer. Jill is trained in multiple healing, wellness and listening modalities. Her wisdom and expertise focuses mainly on the connection between the brain, our body and our choices.Topics discussedWhat intuition is.What an intuitive is.How her heritage connected her to her intuition and fifth-sense.Her silent conversations with her grandparents.How intuition and instinct are not new ideas, but ancient practices that were commonplace to our ancestors.Catholic sacraments and their parallel to energy centers.How her psychic abilities forced her to see the abuse priests perpetrated on children, and other troubling facts, before they were revealed.Why intuition has faded in modern society.What being out of touch with your intuition feels like.Learning to rest and to get back into our bodies.How motherhood opens up a new form of intuition.The art of mediumship.ReferencesJoseph CampbellConnect with Spirit, Find Your Center, and Choose an Intentional LifeGuestJill's websites:www.jillwillard.comhttps://intuitivebeingexperience.podia.com/ibehttps://www.thepresentprogram.comJill on InstagramBella FiguraBella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

Mallorie Vaudoise, of Southern Italian ancestry, is a NYC-based spiritualist of Italian descent. With Vanessa Irena, she hosts Good Bones, a podcast about living and dying well. She is the author of Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration and Italian Folk Magic, a blog about devotional practices from Southern Italy and Sicily.Drawn to witchcraft and folk magic from a young age, her path has required both careful study and wild abandon. Her writing is an act of devotion, an offering to the spiritual ecosystem in which she finds herself. She believes that music, food, wine, and kissing are vital tools of spiritual evolution.Things discussed:What ancestor veneration is and what it isn't.How different cultures venerate their ancestors.Mallorie's book, “Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration.”How we repeat patterns from not only our own past, but the pasts' of our ancestors.Ancestor veneration can shine a light on these patterns to help release them.How to discern if a pattern is ancestral trauma.The body and home are our spiritual foundations and need to be tended to first and foremost.How to feel messages from our dead.Resources:“Honoring Your Ancestors: A Guide to Ancestral Veneration”Mallorie's blog, Italian Folk MagicMallorie on InstagramBella Figura websiteEpisode 2 [Marine Selenee]Dolores on Instagram

Christopher Castellani, of Southern Italian ancestry, recently published his fourth novel, Leading Men, for which he received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, was published by Viking in 2019. The novel explores the complex relationship between Frank Merlo, a Jersey-born Italian American, and Tennessee Williams. Castellani is also the author of the novels All This Talk of Love, The Saint of Lost Things, and A Kiss from Maddalena, a trilogy inspired by the lives of his Italian immigrant parents. His collection of essays on point of view in fiction, The Art of Perspective, was published by Graywolf Press in 2016. He is currently on the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. He lives in Boston, where he is artistic director of GrubStreet, the country's largest and leading independent writing center.Things discussed:The parts of our heritage we need to leave behind.Internalizing our family stories.Research shows that family stories give us strength and build the foundation of our lives.Loosening the ties to our family stories in order to incorporate some of our own.How our respective cultures can be comforting and also suffocating.The beginning of our lives start with our ancestors' stories.Writing our family stories as a way to redeem the loss of assimilation.Leaving behind the parts of our heritage that don't support us.The same Elemental of our culture can heal as well as wound.Tips on how to gather and write your family stories.Resources:Guest:Christopher's websiteChristopher's booksChristopher on InstagramGrubstreetMentions:Guggenheim FellowshipItalian American Podcast Gay Talese Episode 1Italian American Podcast Gay Talese Episode 2"Where are the Italian American novelists?" - Gay Talese essayBella Figura:Bella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

This episode with therapist Marine Selenee, of French ancestry, who specializes in the practice of Family Constellations, dives deep into why we keep repeating destructive patterns, and how we can stop doing so by healing our family traumas—both our own and those of our ancestors.Things discussed:What is Family Constellations?How is it used to break damaging patterns?Your body remembers and guides you toward what needs healing.Trauma is passed down genetically through generations, and it appears as fears and phobias in descendants.The four principles to teach children in order for them to thrive.We all want to belong, and we'll even take on bad habits—alcoholism, gambling— in order to feel we belong to our families.Our lives are entangled with our ancestors stories.All family members have a place, including those lost through miscarriage, and someone will repeat the story if those members are not recognized.Taking responsibility for our own lives, no matter how our parents may have failed us.ResourcesGuest:Marine's websiteMarine on InstagramMentions:Bert HellingerFamily Constellations TherapyBella Figura Podcast:Bella Figura websiteDolores on Instagram

In this first episode, I take the plunge with the incomparable MaryBeth Bonfiglio, of Sicilian ancestry, whose dynamic and varied work is not simple to summarize. She is a writer, writing instructor and guide, an intuitive, a midwife, and a folk/root worker dedicated to exploring the ancient wisdom of her Sicilian heritage. Her Radici Siciliane gatherings, which attendees have described as “not a vacation, [but] a pilgrimage and a rite of passage and a week-long ritual,” take people to remote and traditional areas of Sicily to explore ancient folkway practices—such as tarot cards, ancient recipes, traditional dance and storytelling, cheesemaking, basket-weaving as well as creating a space for attendees to explore their own ancestral healing. She's originally from Upstate New York, but lives in Portland, Oregon with her three daughters and longtime husband.Things discussed in this episode: How assimilation changes traditions and family life.Wanting to deny your heritage to fit in.Reclaiming your heritage and its traditions.Ancient customs can be reminders on how to live well and according to what matters most.Our ancestors' poverty forced them to focus on living well, on living in community, and enjoying the good moments of life, which is something we should remember.How having children brings out our need to return to our ancestral traditions. Rewriting stereotypes heaped upon cultures.Reading tarot cards as an ancestral connection.Doing work in our ancestral lands.Ancestral worship traditions as powerful tools.In modern pop culture, Buddha is cool, Jesus is not cool.; Yoga is cool, rosary is not cool, and how this can drive us away from our own culture's spiritual practices. The study of Epigenetics.Ways to reconnect with your culture and its traditions, even if you're generations removed from the first immigrant's source.Resources:Guest:marybethbonfiglio.comradicisiciliane.comInstagram: @marybethbonfiglio and @radicisicilianeThe Italian American PodcastBella Figura Podcast:bellafigurapodcast.comEmail: Dolores@bellafigurapodcast.comInstagram: dolores_alfieri_taranto

I'm your host, Dolores Alfieri Taranto, and in this brief Welcome Episode, I give listeners an overview of what to expect from this new podcast. I break down the major themes that will be covered through interviews with guests from various ethnic backgrounds, including healers, award-winning authors, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and more, as well as through choice topics on solo episodes. This show explores heritage as a source of power and inspiration. Discussions will focus on what I call The Holy, a culture's spiritual style; The Majesty, lineage and family stories; and The Elemental, a culture's principal values, all in a straight talk manner with minimal woo. Join me in spiritual conversations for the rest of us. Your heritage is your superpower. Learn how to wield it...