Last Cut Conversations with Samantha Paige

Last May, Juno Ishida and Eliza Hope Duran joined Samantha Paige for an honest conversation about living beyond the construct of a gender binary. In this special episode, Juno, a trans male university student, and Eliza, a gender fluid prize-winning poet, share their views about the boxes that society places us in around our bodies, gender and sexuality. They highlight what it means to navigate life beyond the gender binary and add insight and perspective to the experience of expressing one’s identity in a manner that lines up who we are on the inside with who we are out in the world. This powerful discussion touches upon what it means to lead an authentic life, how we take care of ourselves and ask for needed support in the face of judgement and how we find inner strength and connection when external, societal beliefs can make us internalize doubt and unworthiness.   In light of the recent leak of President Trump’s memo regarding his administration’s plans to narrowly define gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the time is now to be discussing the historical and current violence that trans, gender non-conforming and non-binary individuals have and continue to endure on a daily basis.   Thank you to Juno and Eliza for bravely and boldly opening up with their own stories. Thank you to the Get Lit team for hosting the recording of this podcast at their Los Angeles studio. For more information on Get Lit, please visit getlit.org.   N.B.: During the recording, we refer to Eliza as Erika, which was the name they were using at the time. They have since adopted Eliza.    Please visit our website, lastcutproject.com, for more information on this interview and ways to support the trans, non-conforming and non-binary communities.

Samantha Paige and Last Cut Photographer Lisa Field reflect on the second season of Last Cut Conversations. They discuss the universal threads shared across the many diverse conversations, and the notable moments that made a lasting impression as well. Each Last Cut Conversation continues to be unique and powerful in its own way, but each season also organically presents lessons that relate to us all. This season’s overarching theme was freedom, which was clearly defined by each guest uniquely and beautifully. These conversations highlighted the power of voice, creativity and vision in the healing process and as a means of activism and service in the world. We covered many powerful stories of trauma, loss and change, as well as our innate ability to overcome and inspire through our personal growth. Samantha and Lisa's conversation reminds us that while each of our stories differs in detail, we connect beyond the particulars through our humanity and common desires for love, connection and community.

Zoe Buckman is a multi-disciplinary visual artist, activist and mother. Originally from East London, she now lives and works in New York. Buckman powerfully weaves together art and activism into pieces that draw viewers in with aesthetically pleasing beauty, while offering an undercurrent that inspires deeper contemplation on political issues. Buckman speaks to the process of transforming what she sees happening in the world around her into thought-provoking works of art. With creations such as “Let Her Rave,” “Mostly It’s Just Uncomfortable” and “Every Curve,” her work beautifully weaves together the feminine with the fierce, sparking conversation around feminism, mortality and equality. Buckman shares how her activism informs her art and how both inform her parenting of her young daughter. After admiring Zoe Buckman’s work for years, Samantha Paige was excited to sit down with her to talk about art, activism, the shared experience of mothering daughters in this moment in time and the power of last cuts to wake us up and foster change. To learn more about Zoe Buckman’s visual art and upcoming projects, including her 2018 LA installation with Art Production Fund, please visit zoebuckman.com or @zoebuckman on Instagram and Twitter.

Samantha Paige first heard of Pidgeon Pagonis’ powerful story of growing up Intersex through a video clip produced by Human Rights Watch. Paige wanted to learn more about Pagonis’ experience of discovering they were Intersex at age 19 and the subsequent deconstruction of a believed identity, gender and (false) cancer diagnosis. In this raw, vulnerable episode, Pagonis discusses a childhood defined by a struggle to conform to a familial and societal definition of “normal.” They had been told a believed, yet constructed story of a childhood cancer diagnosis, built around the notable differences in their body and development as well as the scars on their body. It was not until Pagonis attended an advanced psychology class in college where Intersex was outlined that they discovered they had actually been born with the very condition being taught. Pagonis underwent three medically unnecessary surgeries at age 1, 4 and 11, as well as years of traumatizing interactions with the medical world. They share here about their rediscovery of self as a nonbinary, queer activist and filmmaker in the context of reality over protective lies. Pagonis speaks beautifully to the universal experience of living with trauma and creating a life that feels like one’s own. To connect with Pidgeon and learn more about their work, please visit their website at http://www.pidgeonismy.name or their Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pidgeo_n. To view Pidgeon’s powerful documentary film, “The Son I Never Had: Growing Up Intersex,” please contact them directly through their website.  

Kyle Knight is a researcher in the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch in New York City. A former media journalist who chose to do reporting work with more policy follow through and impact, Kyle is a brilliant motivator for change. Samantha Paige sat down with Knight to discuss the details of his most recent Human Rights Watch report entitled, “I Want to be Like Nature Made Me: Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Children in the US.” Written in partnership with interACT, an organization that advocates for the human rights of children born with intersex traits, this detailed report documents the medically unnecessary surgeries done on many intersex children, who make up close to 2% of the US population. Intersex people are born with any of several variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals. Knight eloquently outlines the unethical treatment of many intersex patients, the lasting psychological and physical effects of these unnecessary surgeries and the proposed policy change to create a kinder, safer environment for intersex patients in the medical system and beyond. This episode touches upon important issues related to gender, nonbinary identity, parenting, health advocacy and societal biases and norms. Prior to joining the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch, Knight was a fellow at the Williams Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles and a Fulbright scholar in Nepal. As a journalist he has worked for Agence France-Presse in Nepal and for IRIN, the UN’s humanitarian news service, reporting from Burma, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. For more information on the Human Rights Watch and interACT Intersex report, please visit https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/07/25/i-want-be-nature-made-me/medically-unnecessary-surgeries-intersex-children-us. For more information on interACT, please visit https://interactadvocates.org.

Samantha Paige met Lily Mandelbaum and Elisa Goodkind, the creators of Style Like U, at their “True Style is What’s Underneath: The Self-Acceptance Revolution” book signing in Los Angeles. Just weeks later, Lily and Elisa interviewed Paige for their Dispelling Beauty Myths video series with Allure magazine in New York. In this interview, Paige was excited to switch roles and ask the mother-daughter duo powerful questions about their lives. They touch upon life before Style Like U, the last cuts they made to step into this creative endeavor, where they find inspiration for and connection to their work and how they stay open and vulnerable to and during this transformative process. These two women share eloquently and openly about the importance of redefining individuality, the value of staying true to oneself in spite of society’s homogenizing messages and the deep connection all beings share. In the same vulnerable spirit of the intimate docu-style video portraits of Style Like U, Mandelbaum and Goodkind open up with Paige about the importance of always going deeper within oneself in order to make a bolder contribution in the world. To connect with Lily Mandelbaum and Elisa Goodkind and discover more about Style Like U, please visit stylelikeu.com, Style Like U on YouTube and @stylelikeu on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

“I am always refining my truths, and my truths are always changing.” Melinda Alexander Melinda Alexander, aka Mumu Mansion, sat down with Samantha Paige to speak about love, self-healing, parenting and the gift of learning from life’s most challenging moments. Melinda is an all-around lover, mother, healer and social activist who does women’s work in many forms to heal herself and others. She is dedicated to learning from the internal and external conversation about life, vulnerably and boldly welcoming thousands on her own personal journey. Following the birth of her son and a painful divorce, she revolutionized her life and created a broad platform to show the possibilities born with the willingness to learn from what is not working. Melinda proved to herself that she had the power within to work through anything if she stayed open to extracting the information, and thereby evolution, found in even the most difficult moments. This candid conversation touches upon love, healing, parenthood, race, divorce, trauma, the beauty in the discomfort and the power of transforming pain.   For more information on Melinda Alexander’s powerful work, please visit melinda-alexander.com and @mumumansion on Instagram.

“You are what you can mentally achieve, not what you perceive your body capable of.” Charlie Linville Samantha Paige sits down with her friend and inspiration, Charlie Linville, to talk about life-changing last cuts, overcoming trauma, perseverance, adventure and inspiration on the other side of pain. In 2011, while in Afghanistan, Charlie, an ex-Marine Sergeant, was injured on a mission to dismantle improvised explosive devices (IED’s) as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician. After 14 surgeries over 18 months, his injured foot was not healing. Charlie made the ultimate last cut by proactively deciding to amputate his right leg below the knee. Soon after that decision, he committed to training with The Heroes Project and became the first combat wounded amputee to climb Mt. Everest in 2016. Their first attempt was canceled after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpas in 2014. In 2015, the second effort was abandoned when Nepal was devastated by a huge earthquake. Charlie’s combined strength and humility have inspired Paige since before they first met on an Equinox video shoot in 2016. This conversation speaks to the universal importance of sharing our stories and trusting in the power of connection to heal ourselves and others.

Samantha Paige sat down with bespoke leather worker and qualified saddler, Mia Sabel of Sabel Saddlery, in her East London studio. The two talked about how one creates a life that feels like one’s own and the freedom found on the other side of our biggest last cuts. Sabel shares her journey from an existence ruled by an overpowering corporate job with no time or space for loved ones, nature or connection to a more balanced life filled with creativity, horse riding, travel and solid relationships. Speaking to the power of the significant decisions, or the last cuts, we make in life, Sabel illuminates the idea that change is most powerful when we elect it, rather than when we react to the things happening to or around us. She honestly and vulnerably speaks to the darkness that can occur when we are disconnected from ourselves and the bravery required to leap from a known state of being to a new one.   For more information on Mia Sabel’s beautiful custom leather work and workshops, please visit sabelsaddlery.com.

Samantha Paige recently sat down in London with Lily Parrott and Laura Stahnkhe, two of the founders of Migration Collective. Migration Collective is a group of dynamic and creative women who aim to challenge the current, narrow rhetoric on migration. Through events, film festivals and soon cooking programs, they seek to focus on inclusion, what is shared rather than what separates people. This episode highlights the simultaneously increasing number of humans voluntarily and involuntarily leaving their homelands and the rapid rise of nationalist rhetoric around refugees, migrants and foreigners. Using the power of art and expression to examine the experiences and reality within migration, displacement and diaspora, Migration Collective’s founders are broadening the conversation around these issues and facilitating connection by highlighting the humanity behind every story. Parrott, an American, and Stahnke, a Dutch-Italian, share their own personal stories of living in the UK, the potential impact of Brexit and why they have dedicated their lives to changing the dialogue around migration. For more information on Migration Collective and their upcoming London Migration Film Festival, please visit migrationcollective.com.

Sofia Lindvall was born and raised in Harads, Sweden (population: ~600), just 60 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. She is a trained stunt person and daughter to Kent Lindvall and Britta Jonsson-Lindvall, the founders of the TreeHotel. The TreeHotel is a collection of 7 unique tree houses, designed by Scandanavia’s leading architects, where guests can sleep 4 to 6 meters up in the trees and commune with nature. In the middle of untouched Swedish forest, Samantha Paige gathered with Sofia to hear the story behind the TreeHotel and the love of nature that inspired her family to create this magical place. Honoring and embracing nature is the key to the whole TreeHotel experience; incredibly, no trees were cut during its construction. Sofia shares about growing up and living in a small town in a time of globalization and urbanization, why she left for a bigger city and what motivated her to return after one year. This conversation highlights the beauty of strong inter-human connections, the importance of living in harmony with our natural environment and the power of slowing down our pace in life. For more information on the Lindvall family and the TreeHotel, please visit treehotel.se.

“For me, it’s [freedom] about taking it as a gift that I have been given privilege, I’ve been given certain assets, certain abilities. How I am going to use those to affect others and to make my life, honestly, a life of meaning? That’s how I define freedom.” Arthur Gross-Schaefer Arthur Gross-Schaefer is a man who literally wears many hats. He is a husband, father, rabbi, lawyer, CPA, professor, mediator and murder mystery author, amongst other roles. What comes through most beautifully in his conversation with Samantha Paige is how he threads his commitment to honoring tolerance, kindness, thoughtfulness, vision and intelligence through all he does. Gross-Schaefer shares in detail how he works with his students and community members to establish conversation and connection with controversial and polarizing issues, such as DACA, racism, climate change, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and party politics. He speaks to the importance of creating a personal mission statement, knowing your core values and remembering to find humor and humanity in all we do. Gross-Schaefer opens up about losing one of his sons. Avi Schaefer, to a drunk driver, and how that painful loss inspired the Avi Schaefer Fund, which actively works to promote peaceful dialogue and empower young people to bridge intolerance. For more information on the Avi Schaefer Fund, please visit avischaeferfund.org.  

Samantha Paige dialogues with her dear friend, professional soccer player Annie Hawkins, in this touching episode about living life from the heart. Hawkins opens up about losing her father to pancreatic cancer six years ago and how his passing, and possibly more profoundly, how he lived the last months of his life, inspired her to deepen her own dedication to a meaningful, service-filled, and connected existence. She shares what soccer has taught her over the years, her unique relationship to time and how she has opened her heart and schedule to traveling the world to connect, explore and inspire others to live their fullest lives, while remaining radically true to herself. Paige and Hawkins also address the importance of community and friendship when one is living a life outside of the box. To stay connected with Annie Hawkins, please visit her website, www.the10influence.com, and follow her on Instagram and Twitter @anniehawkins.

Jenna Tosh, CEO of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast, speaks to her dedication to her work and to her other major role as conscious parent to three. Tosh oversees 5 Planned Parenthood locations and is part of the team advocating for health care access for over 800,000 individuals annually in California. In the wake of the ongoing attempts to reform Obamacare, she opens up about why she chose this career, what she is passionate about and how she takes care of herself, and encourages her staff to do the same, to stay focused and energized. Tosh also beautifully shares about her hopes for her children and how she is teaching them to be the change through kindness and tolerance in action and words. For more information on Jenna Tosh’s work with Planned Parenthood, please visit www.ppcentralcoast.org or Planned Parenthood California Central Coast on Facebook.

In this moving episode, Samantha Paige reunites with her childhood friend, Jennifer Yashari, who opens up about living with hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM), a rare degenerative disease that causes muscle cells to weaken progressively. Diagnosed in her early 30’s, Yashari, a psychiatrist, has learned to cope with the massive loss delivered with the disease and all the subsequent losses that have come in its wake over time. She started a blog, “Living with HIBM,” in 2011, and writes beautifully and with a piercing rawness about the experience of a living with an ever-evolving disability that affects how she moves, parents and interacts with the world. Yashari details the importance of mourning each and every loss fully, so that we can then do our best to be present in life, and fostering strong, loving relationships to support us on the ride. In telling her own story, she provides guidance and vision for how to speak with others about differences and how to maintain a connected mindfulness in the process. For more information on Jennifer Yashari, please visit her website, www.jenniferyasharimd.com, and her blog, www.livingwithhibm.com.

Mallika Chopra joins Samantha Paige for a powerful conversation about living life with intent and conscious parenting. In her humble and authentic manner of sharing, Chopra details her self-defined "somewhat messy journey" to deeper purpose, peace and joy in all aspects of life. With anecdotes from her life and conversations with her father, Deepak Chopra, and friend, Eckhart Tolle, she models how we can set clear intentions to create greater balance in all areas of our lives. She shares her belief that conscious parenting requires mindfulness in speech and actions with our children as well as a continuous reflection on our deepest desires for the journey as parent. We discussed how she is raising two empowered, engaged feminists through her family's honest sharing of what is happening in the world and how she is always modeling the need to connect with self in order to navigate everything with grounded confidence. Mallika Chopra is a mother, author, speaker and entrepreneur. Her books include “Living with Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace and Joy,” “100 Promises to My Baby” and “100 Questions from My Child.” She is the founder of Intent.com, an online community where members can share their dreams and aspirations, and receive support from others to do the same. For more information on Mallika’s work, please visit mallikachopra.com (@mallikachopra on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and Intent.com (@intentdotcom on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).

Get Lit Poets Monique Mitchell and Vanessa Tahay bravely and vulnerably share how reading, writing and speaking poetry has paved a path to freedom and happiness in their lives. In this raw and moving conversation, these two powerful women detail where they came from and the ways in which they have used their art and voice to cultivate freedom, self love, empowerment and joy from pain and hardship. Mitchell, a Get Lit graduate and now Get Lit Education Coordinator, and Tahay, a recent Cleveland High graduate and 2017 Classic Slam winner, hold nothing back and boldly recite their own original poetry. Their raw eloquence and strength give me hope for the future. For more on Get Lit, please visit getlit.org or @getlitpoet on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. For more on Monique Mitchell, please visit www.mnqmtchll.com or @mnqmtchll on Instagram and Twitter. For more on Vanessa Tahay, please visit @vanessa_tahay on Instagram and Twitter, or Vanessa Tahay on Facebook.. Get Lit was founded by Diane Luby Lane in 2006 in Los Angeles. It started in two high schools, Fairfax & Walt Whitman, and now offers its program in almost 100! Get Lit-Words Ignite fuses classic and spoken word poetry to increase teen literacy and cultivate enthusiastic learners emboldened to inspire social consciousness in diverse communities.

Santa Barbara, California based Pilates instructor and dancer, Alejandro Ameijeiras shares his long, sometimes dark, road to personal acceptance and embodiment of his sexuality, sensitivity and inner power. Born in Communist Cuba to prominent Diplomats in 1963, he grew up in a culture, beautiful in many ways, but far from accepting of individual differences. He studied first as a professional swimmer, then in military school and eventually as a dancer. Being the son of a top General was at times in contrast to who he was and knew he wanted to be. Alejandro left Cuba in his late teens to train with the Bolshoi ballet in Moscow and traveled with the Tropicana troupe in East Germany and Italy right before the Berlin Wall came down. After further exploring his dancing and modeling career in Cuba, he finally left for Panama in 1995 and arrived in Miami on Christmas Eve in 1997. Years, and much dedicated internal work, later, he has created a dream life in California with a loving husband, thriving Pilates business and ever-evolving inner peace, due to his ongoing dedication to personal growth and self discovery.

Model Sara Mills, best known as “Sara on the Internet,” reached widespread international acclaim with a viral YouTube video highlighting her twerking her breasts to Mozart. Her global Internet fame focused greatly on her silicone implant enhanced breasts, as well as her tattoos and distinct voice. However, along the way, Mills has also openly shared about her relationship to her body, autoimmune ailments that increased with the implants and an autism diagnosis she received two years ago. Finally, in 2016, after moving towards a healthier lifestyle in an effort to feel better, Mills opted for an explant surgery. Not concerned about what effect this decision would have on her following, she did what she does and made a YouTube video announcement. Sara’s direct and outwardly vocal style around her choices is what drew Samantha Paige to her story. When they finally met in person to share this conversation in LA, Mills shared so much more with Paige, including her take on the effects of chronic illness on creativity and friendship, “social inoculation” with autism, body positivity, the reasoning behind her tattoos and her take on societal norms. It is no surprise that her strong, clear voice and intelligence around these issues have actually garnered her a much larger following, far compensating for anyone, or anything, lost with the implants.

Artist Samantha Paige kicks off Season 2 of the Last Cut Conversations podcast with an honest reflection on this tenuous moment in history and the need for human connection beyond technology. She shares her belief in the importance of raw self-inquiry as a means to healing, connecting and growing in spite of what is happening around us. Samantha speaks to freedom, Season 2’s theme, and how, even though this word means something different to each of us, there is great beauty in the art of reflection and conversation around what makes us individually feel connected and free.

In this special Mother’s Day edition of Last Cut Conversations, Samantha Paige and her mother, Jeanne Marks, share about the evolution of their relationship over the years, but specifically open up about the deepening of their bond during this first year after Last Cut’s inception. In this honest and raw exchange, this mother-daughter duo dialogue about motherhood, the big life choices we make and learning how to respect and love one another as unique individuals. This episode is poignant and sweet and speaks more broadly to the power of listening and learning from the important and key people in our lives. Happy Mother’s Day to all!

In the final episode of Season 1, Last Cut Creator Samantha Paige reflects on the Top 10 Lessons she has learned over the first year of Last Cut. Ranging from the internal process to the external need for community, this episode is a thorough recap of Last Cut’s primary themes.

Samantha Paige and Last Cut Photographer Lisa Field reflect on the first season of Last Cut Conversations. They discuss the universal threads shared across many of the conversations, and the notable moments that made an impression as well. Each Last Cut Conversation has been special and unique. However, Season One’s ongoing dialogue about the significant decisions each individual makes to live their truth highlights how universal these choices are as well. Samantha and Lisa's conversation also circles back around to how last cuts must come from within, but are often made easier and supported by community and connection.

Last Cut Creator Samantha Paige reflects on how the truth lives in our body. She candidly shares how her body tends to show her when she is not living according to her truth. This episode is a raw and vulnerable snapshot of Samantha’s recent physical and emotional dance with her body.

What’s most true to you? How are you living it? “So the thing that is most true to me is truth and love and love for the truth. The ultimate truth for me is love, which means we are all connected, we are all in this together. I have universal love for each and every individual on this planet, because it is such a miracle that any of us are here.” ~Anne Van de Water, Life & Lifestyle Coach and Consultant, Health & Wellness Teacher and Practitioner and Creator of Vibration Transformation Anne Van de Water is a life & lifestyle coach and consultant and a health & wellness teacher and practitioner. She is also one of my dearest friends and an incredible travel sidekick. One of the threads that continues to bind not only our working relationship, but also our friendship, is a shared love of the truth. Anne and I are both straight shooters and have continued to support each other in showing up in the world in a manner that lines up with our values and beliefs. She has been one of my greatest teachers along the way. Having this second Last Cut Conversation was a wonderful marker for how much we are all constantly changing and growing. (The first is available on thelastcut.net) For more details on Anne’s incredible offerings, please visit annevandewater.com, and @AnneVandeWater on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

What’s most true to you? How are you living it? “Somebody said something really insightful to me once and it really helped me. They said time now has a definition. That has stayed with me since the moment it was said because, especially at 27, I thought time was limitless. I thought I had all the time in the world and now I guess it just removed some of that inhibition because, so what? Ana Ono doesn’t make it? I tried. I did the best I could. I gave it my all. I did something that I always dreamt of doing.” ~Dana Donofree, Founder of Ana Ono Intimates Diagnosed with Infiltrative Ductal Carcinoma, an aggressive form of breast cancer, at 27, Dana Donofree founded AnaOno out of her own necessity and desire for pretty, sexy, beautiful lingerie. After a bilateral mastectomy with implant reconstruction, her own bras no longer fit, and she was certain there must be better options. After discovering her beautiful and functional bras following my explant surgery, I had the pleasure of becoming friends with Dana from across the country. Finally, in December in New York City, I had the pleasure to meet Dana and Ana Ono employee, Alison Hinch, to discuss life after breast cancer, mastectomies, personal growth and embodiment after illness and trauma. Dana frankly shares about breast cancer and her last cut, her decision to get a mastectomy tattoo years ago before it was popular to do so. Her choice was a powerful reclaiming of self after all she had been through at a young age. I love Dana’s honesty and honor all she does for this community. For more information on Dana and her gorgeous lingerie and loungewear, please visit anaono.com and @anaonointimates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

What’s most true to you? How are you living it? "I really and truly believe that undergarments can change a women's life and then she can go on to change the world. I'm talking about how starting with that layer, [that experience] can totally transform how a woman thinks about herself, about her body, about her worth, about her femininity, about her feminine energy. Physically and emotionally, our breasts are the doorways to our hearts. So if you can imagine, if you think anything about chakras and even if you don't, just physically being able to stand up tall and have your heart be able to lead, it changes a woman's life." ~Kimmay Caldwell, Hurray Kimmay blogger and expert bra fitter I first encountered Kimmay Caldwell, lingerie blogger and expert bra fitter, and her “Hurray Kimmay” blog on the Ana Ono Intimates Instagram feed. After reading her post on post-mastectomy lingerie (though not post-reconstruction herself), I was further impressed that she does not allow photographers to Photoshop her body in photos anymore. Kimmay is here not only to talk body positivity, but is walking the walk. In her adorable, bubbly and deeply intelligent way, she is here to educate, connect and help women fall in love with their bodies. This Last Cut Conversation reminds us that there are so many ways to be of service, educate and show up as a force of good in this world. For more information on Kimmay’s work, please visit hurraykimmay.com, and @HurrayKimmay on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Samantha Paige and Last Cut Photographer Lisa Field speak candidly about the evolution of their friendship over the last decade and how they have navigated working so closely on Last Cut. In sharing about the birth of Last Cut, they discuss how their trust and connection has fed the art and also the need to speak up and create boundaries to honor the friendship. 

What is most true to you? How are you living it? “Honesty is what drives me, but in order to be honest you have to understand who you are. You have to go through experiences to build who you are, but you also have to look at yourself and reflect because honesty is the only way to receive love.” ~Vanessa Cuccia, Founder of Chakrubs Vanessa Cuccia, founder of Chakrubs, speaks about her movement towards self-love, healing and pleasure in this Last Cut Conversation. Meeting last summer on Samantha Paige’s birthday, Vanessa opened her Chakrubs’ office and heart, telling the story of her personal discovery of self and pleasure. She has shared the literal and figurative tools crucial to her own evolution through the creation of Chakrubs, the original 100% crystal sex toy company. Samantha connected with Vanessa through her exquisite and artfully presented Instagram account for Chakrubs. Everything that Vanessa has her hands in is beautifully powerful. For more information on Vanessa Cuccia and Chakrubs, please visit chakrubs.com or @chakrubs on Instagram.  

What is most true to you? How are you living it? “I feel like what I have come back to, or come into, is honoring myself first. Which is something that I never knew how to do. I’m still learning it. It’s really amazing. Yeah, the concept of self-care. I can talk about it over and over and tell people what to do. But radical self-care is revolutionary.” ~Vonn Jensen, US-based cancer advocate and founder of Flattopper Pride and Queer Cancer. Vonn Jensen (formerly Emily Jensen) is a US-based cancer advocate and vanguard approaching advocacy through the lens of social justice. They founded the movements, Flattopper® Pride and Queer Cancer, and work specifically with populations often disenfranchised or rendered invisible in the dominant breast cancer narrative. Using a variety of media, they have worked for visibility as a means of combating the marginalization that certain groups, such as the queer community, face during treatment. Jensen is currently working with filmmaker Emily Mackenzie on Tapestries, a documentary series that chronicles the stories of individuals as they navigate their lives after a breast cancer diagnosis. In an effort to change the discourse around breast cancer, this project offers alternative narratives to the mainstream depiction of ‘pink survivorship.’ By sharing the complicated stories of people navigating life after diagnosis, we question our culture’s relationship with cancer, femininity, gendered bodies, power, and survival. For more on Tapestries, please visit For more on Tapestries, please visit www.tapestriesdoc.com. For the latest on Vonn’s other projects, please visit vonnjensen.com and Flattopper® Pride on Facebook and Instagram.

What’s most true to you? How are you living it? "So for me, what really interested me is the politics around reconstruction and what you do with your body. Body politics is a thing. What is that famous piece of art? The photo with the words, 'My body is a battleground.' That photo, when you are talking about women's bodies, says that everyone is allowed to have an opinion. What they should and shouldn't do with them. How they are supposed to look. What's going on? So breast cancer becomes this interesting intersection to talk about feminism to me. Body policing. How does this work? What is expected of us?" ~Emily Mackenzie, New Orleans based Director and Editor Emily Mackenzie is a New Orleans based director and editor. Mackenzie is a graduate of Bard College and the New School’s Documentary Media Studies program. She has worked as a director, producer and editor for broadcast networks such as MTV, HBO, and Animal Planet and for documentary films - features and shorts - that have been screened at festivals internationally. She is currently working with US-based cancer advocate and vanguard Vonn Jensen on a documentary, entitled, Tapestries. Tapestries is a documentary series that chronicles the stories of individuals as they navigate their lives after a breast cancer diagnosis. In an effort to change the discourse around breast cancer, this project offers alternative narratives to the mainstream depiction of ‘pink survivorship.’ By sharing the complicated stories of people navigating life after diagnosis, they question our culture’s relationship with cancer, femininity, gendered bodies, power, and survival. For more on Emily’s current project, please visit www.tapestriesdoc.com.

Samantha Paige and Last Cut Photographer Lisa Field discuss the lead up to Samantha’s participation in Equinox’s 2017 Commit to Something campaign. Equinox’s message around commitment and how our commitments show who we truly are, parallels the underlying themes of Last Cut in unbelievable fashion.   Equinox Creative Director Elizabeth Nolan speaks with Samantha about the power of commitment in life, not only the gym, and how Equinox chose Samantha for this image.  Samantha’s provocative image from the campaign conveys her empowered embodiment, which landed and evolved powerfully this year through her explant surgery and Last Cut.

What is most true to you? How are you living it? "I think for me what is most true to Ronny is the desire to never stop discovering and for me the discovery is limitless. Discovery of myself. Discovery of others. Discovery of what the world has to offer. This inner voice inside of me that is always giving me advice and direction of where should I go, where should I not go." -Ronny Turiaf, NBA basketball player, world traveler and a truly generous soul and friend.  In 2012, I sent jewelry from my company, Adesso, to a stylist for a couple of NBA players. One of them, Ronny Turiaf, loved the pieces but beyond that, was moved by my personal story. We had something profound in common. We both were cruising along in our early 20’s, feeling healthy when we were told that we were sick inside and needed surgery. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 21, and Ronny, after being drafted by the LA Lakers right out of college at age 22, was told he had an enlarged aortic root in his heart that required immediate surgery. We both made it to the other side and are probably the better for it, but the trauma of those experiences, including having your life turned upside down and then quickly put back together again with little time to process what happened, changes you. Ronny called me for the first time on his way to the celebratory parade for his 2012 Miami Heat NBA championship. We went deep fast and that call was the beginning of our powerful friendship. We understand and learn from each other, and crossed paths in this lifetime to encourage the doing of great things. It was at dinner about a year and a half ago with Ronny that I first vocalized the dream of Last Cut project. I knew I wanted to highlight people’s stories through their internal and external scars, and here we are. Ronny shares his most recent last cut, which was an allowance of time and space for deep self-discovery off the basketball court.

What’s most true to you? How are you living it?  "I was struggling so much with my self-identity as a woman, seeing myself in the mirror without makeup and wondering, “I don’t know if I am a woman or not.” So for the podcast that I am doing, when I got the answers about “what makes a woman a woman,” I was told “beautiful,” “strong,” “resilient,” nothing about big boobs and makeup. I had my mind opened to the fact that there is more. I am a woman!” ~Stephanie Ramirez A few months after my explant surgery, I received a direct message on Instagram from Stephanie Ramirez. She wrote, “I’m 23 years old and I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I underwent a double mastectomy. I’m comfortable with the way I am and did not undergo reconstruction or plastic surgery. Your pictures help me a lot and just thank you so, so much.” I was touched and wanted to meet this young survivor. She finished her chemo in July and soon after we shared a Last Cut Conversation in her home. Stephanie is such a bright light. Within two minutes in her presence, it was clear why my daughter said, “She is my favorite role model” after seeing one of her photos. Her battle to love herself, inside and out, is a universal one. The way in which she landed in her power through her bout with breast cancer holds lessons for us all. She also reflected back to me that, even in those moments when I think that having my chest photographed and sharing on Last Cut is utterly self-indulgent and unnecessary, I should keep going. I made a difference in someone’s life. We all can. We all do when we show up, open up and connect in whatever way we can.

What is most true to you? How are you living it? "One of the greatest liberations, perhaps, is actually recognizing for real what feels right and recognizing that what is negative is probably not right.” ~Talila Gafter, Philosopher, Pianist, Business Woman & Friend With her background in philosophy, my guest, Talila Gafter, breaks down the fundamental meaning of the words truth and cut while discussing a pivotal last cut moment in her life, the suicide of her father. Talila earned a PhD in philosophy and wrote a dissertation on German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. She shared Nietzsche’s sentiment, “The truth is there is no truth,” and from there, our conversation examined what it is to know one’s truth and how one finds greater freedom through the pursuits of holding up those ideals.. Talila is undoubtedly one of the smartest people I have ever met. She speaks 7 languages and is constantly seeking to study and learn more, be it classical piano or philosophy. She is as kind as she is intelligent. I admire her and always learn from her way of approaching things. This Last Cut Conversation was no different. Talila challenged me to go deeper and even further refine and elevate the dialogue of the project. Visit http://www.thelastcut.net/last-cut-conversations/2016/8/10/talila-gafter for the full transcript and photos of Talila Gafter’s Last Cut Conversation. For more about Ellagem, the beautiful jewelry business that Talila runs with her mother, visit their website, ellagem.com, or ellagemny on Instagram.

What is most true to you? How are you living it? "Love. Easy. Love. It’s the only thing that is, that we are, that everybody is. Simple.” ~Josette Tkacik, International Zumba Instructor & Inspiration My guest, Josette Tkacik, shares her story about overcoming debilitating disease in her own way. Diagnosed about five years ago with mobility threatening rheumatoid arthritis, a dancer for life, Josette opted not for a hefty pharmaceutical regime, but her own recipe for healing. Instead of leading Zumba class with a mic from a wheelchair, six days a week, Josette pulls hundreds (yes, hundreds) of people onto her dance floor and leads them through an hour plus of pure joy and complete celebration of life. What happens in that room is nothing short of magic, but is also purely the result of what Josette has cultivated in her own life. Her story is testimony to the power of love, positivity and knowing what you believe in, and taking action to uphold those beliefs.   Visit http://www.thelastcut.net/last-cut-conversations/josette-tkacik for the full transcript and photos of Josette Tkacik’s Last Cut Conversation. For more about Josette Tkacik’s story and Zumba class offerings, visit her website, josettetkacik.com. She is on Facebook and Instagram as Josette Tkacik.

What is most true to you? How are you living it? “I believe in creativity. Absolutely that is what I believe in and what I believe can fix the world. Creativity can shift consciousness.” ~Sasha Markova, Creative Mind, Advertising Visionary & Author My guest, Sasha Markova, shares about her most recent last cut, a move from her hometown of London to Los Angeles in order to pursue creative projects in line with her values and global vision. Sasha, a creative genius, author and activist, outlines the reasons behind her transatlantic move and the inner truths that drove her decision. She also brilliantly describes the concepts behind Last Cut in her own words. She is here to do incredible things, and in very Sasha fashion, is able to express it all beautifully. Visit http://www.thelastcut.net/last-cut-conversations/sasha-markova for the full transcript and photos of Sasha Markova’s Last Cut Conversation. Sasha Markova has been behind many incredible campaigns with the Mother Advertising Agency, and also writes and designs projects for her own website, iloveboxie.com.

In the introductory Last Cut Conversations episode, Last Cut creator, artist Samantha Paige, tells her personal story and discusses how the Last Cut project was born. Samantha talks vulnerably and candidly about her cancer diagnosis at age 21 and the debilitating effects of unaddressed trauma, anxiety and depression over the following decades. After years of suffering from PTSD and undergoing additional major surgeries, Samantha finally began to ask herself some powerful questions that led to greater freedom, wellness and peace within and around her body. Last Cut is a photo-documentary and book project about those big life decisions {last cuts} made to bring us closer to living truth and more freedom. The project was born in January 2016, when Samantha opted to remove silicone implants she had elected 8 years ago when she had a preventive double mastectomy. Her explant surgery became the metaphor for the many ways in which we are faced with choices that ask us to address big questions within ourselves, commit to our truth and own our scars. Her explant inspired the launch of the Last Cut project with photographer Lisa Field with the intention to capture these moments of truth and bold ownership of self.  The basis of the Last Cut way of living is asking questions, such as “What is most true to you?” and “How are you living it?” These questions provide the foundation for the Last Cut Conversations.   Samantha is currently finishing her memoir, Last Cut, and working with Lisa Field on the Last Cut photo-documentary and Last Cut Conversations, where bold individuals are interviewed and photographed.   To read further about the Last Cut project, visit thelastcut.net.  Last Cut is on Instagram (@lastcut) and Facebook (@lastcutproject).