Cultivating Community Under Capitalism

through her account Soul Sister Plants. And what's extraordinary is that in this conversation, Lacresha and I talk about the way in which black creatives have been raw of their content, how the TikTok strike of Black creatives symbolizes the fact that we are tired, folks, are tired of giving their work, giving their content, only to have culture vultures come and take credit for it. And so we talk about what it means to you both create community while protecting your work.

We talk about what it means to learn and grow through the act of caring for plants, what it means to build community right and break down the walls and the barriers that capitalism creates in order for people to connect with nature. Right, and so this conversation was one of my faves of the week. I hope that you enjoy it. Leave me some comments in the comment section. They're greatly appreciate it, all right, folks, I am so excited to welcome to wok a f daily for the

very first time, hopefully not the last time. Lucresha Braxton, who is building a world she wants to live in. An award winning photographer, digital marketing and content strategists, and the creative and brilliant behind Soul System Plants on Instagram, which is a community of over twenty thousand plant love

and folks like myself. I am included in that community. Lucresha, I just want to start off with talking about again, you know, community and there would desire to build community around the work and the talents that you have what

created that for you. You are a photographer, you're in digital content and we know I mean just recently there were a whole bunch of black creatives that went on strike on TikTok for the for the fact that their content is being stolen and not recognized, and you know, the digital space started out as being called a democratic space right where everybody was going to have a platform and a voice, but then it didn't evolve that way,

kind of like society. So I'm wondering about your initial journey into your work, what you and what you saw that made you say, you know what, I need to build community as well. Oh yeah, So I started solsis to Plants as a experiment. I was working a job where they were telling me because the industry that I was in, well, you don't understand this particular industry, and because I'm going to protect the guilty, I won't say what the industry is. I was like, what you know?

And I was like, okay, let me just show them how you build community digitally, because they were so busy with what We've got this great product and people should just want because we've got a great product, and I'm like, that's not how people deal with things online. So I started solsis to plants. Just pick something that I enjoy, which was plans, and said, well, let me show them. Well, here's how you can experiment with different things. You can do with posts. Well, if you do video, let's see

how people engage with it. If we do just an image, Let's see what they do. How about an image and a video? And because I've been in digital for so long, I understand what happens when people lose engagement. Oh, it's probably changed. Okay, Well what happens if I ignore the algorithm and just do my own thing? And so I'm just building this thing showing them Well, look, here's what happened with this post, here's what happened with this one.

Wasn't really paying the account a whole lot of attention. Then all of a sudden, I noticed, Oh, it's like five hundred people following the account and there's like four posts up. Didn't pay attention to it again for a few more months. Where did fifteen hundred people come from? Well? What would happen if I started paying the account attention and engaging with people not just going and liking their posts, but actually leaving and getting meaningful comments around what they

were doing. And then, as the pandemic descended on us and everybody was locked down, people were really engaged on social media. They needed to interact with somebody. Well, what better way to do that than to go to live? So I went live and created a show called Hella plants, I have a ridiculous introduction, and out of respect for your ears, I will not do the introduction. But I created hell of Plants, and I talk with people who have Hella plants about hell of Plants and anything that

comes up. It's an unscripted conversation, so we no one ever knows what we're going to talk about. And I am just one hundred and fifty nine thousand percent foolish. I also wanted to create a space, a safe space for black women. So when I started really paying the account attention, I made sure and I primarily follow black women. What I also primarily follow black women or people in

the LGBTQIA plus community. And I wanted to give voice to people who felt like they were marginalized not listened to.

And then I started really learning about what was going on in the plant industry, how people were taking advantage of black creator's content, and all of a sudden, You're seeing this video and I'm like, well, she did that video, she just did and so, and then also noticing people purchasing these rare you can't see me air quoting rare plants and selling them to people who just had their

fifty sixty dollars, and they really saw him. Wanted that plant and a tie constellation, which is a monstera that looks like it's got something wrong with it, with white and green leaves. It's a beautiful I've seen that slant. It is stunning, stunning, but I refused to pay three to five hundred dollars. Now I'm going to refuse. And so you have people selling what is called a wet stick.

It's basically a cutting from a branch with a node on it, which is this round bump, and selling that to people for two three hundred dollars in hopes, in hopes that you may get a plant from it, no guarantee, and I'm like, why are y'all buying that? I went on a whole rant for about an hour and called people out. I said, stop this, it's a plant number one, number two. Why are you allowing people to rip you off? There's no guarantee, I says, plants, so it's a possibility

you could die if you get past. You don't know who you're gonna get it from, and you're wasting all of this money. But then I was calling out all the people in these exclusive groups, which were primarily white, where they were selling rare plants back and forth to each other, showing them off and oh, you wish you had this, And then we had cost of Farm come out with a whole bunch of tie constellations selling them for seventy eighty dollars at certain big box stores and

changing the game. They can be completely change in the game with these rare plants that are out there. But I wanted to make sure that community was built around people who felt like they weren't listening to So I would go and just talk to anyone that strikes my interests and invite them to come on Hell Plants, and we would just act straight food talking about plants. We've dragged all the astrological signs around plants, We've talked about

some of any all and everything. But I felt it was really necessary to have community built around everyone should own a plant if they want to. Why do you think that there was sucked? I mean because it sounds to me like this upscale, black market type of exclusivity around something that isn't supposed to be about that right, Like there is not supposed to be some type of velvet rope weight list in order to start to love nature, connect with plants, connects growing, and just you know, why

do you think that that? I mean, it happens in every industry, right, but why do you think that you started to see that within the plant community as you were building your own community? Like, what do you think started that? Is it? Just like I want to be seen? So it's it's driven by social media, It's driven by the clicks. Capitalism. It all goes back to capitalism. If somebody can make some money and they can find a sucker,

they'll do it. And if you allow yourself to be sucked in because you want to jump on what's trendy, then you'll get sucked in. You've got people who have dropped hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars on plants. It's because they don't really know how to care of it. You're buying plants that are tropical, and I tell most people that most plants came from some brainforests, some tropical location. And you bring it into your conditioned air home and

you set it up. You're taking pictures for the Graham. You can get it because everybody wants to be liked. And you've now seen two, three, four hundred dollars die, You're not going to ever recoup that money. And this gate keeping is what I call it in the plant community. It's just gatekeeping of who's allowed to be cool. Well, well we're the cool ones because well only we own this particular planner. I'm the cool ones. So I started hosting plant swaps locally and I felt, and I still feel,

I have a plant period. I have some what's considered rare plants. I'm just sitting there and watching those plants grow and at some point I will Someone sent me she was so kind to do this. I have been asked, oh what plant would you want to? Oh, pink princess philodendron, which is a plant that has green, beautiful, stunning plants, stunning plant and it's A woman sent me a DM and said, I will to send you a clipping. How

much do you want for it? She said, no, I just want to send you the clipping, and she sends me this node on it and the leaf was still on it. But I could tell the leaf had been stressed in travel because it came in the water. And that leaf I put it in some I let it propagating some water. Then I put it in some dirty It did nothing for six and a half months, nothing, nothing, didn't I just didn't do anything. And then one day I see this leaf pop up, a little bit of

pink on it and a little bit of green. I was completely underwhelmed. Now it's got about five leaves on it, but it's it's slow growing. It I look at so slow growing. I will just say, I have one in my bedroom window that I bought, like, I don't know, maybe eight months ago, and I had, you know, I have like a range of you know, of plants, and this one. I was just like, oh, it's pink pink lady, this is what I call her. Yes, And I was just like, why are your sisters growing at a faster

rate than What the hell is wrong with you? And I'm like, do you do we need to talk, like are we troubled? Are we going through like our adolescence? What is happening? Yes? Yes, And just recently just started poking out like two two nodes that are like growing, that are growing out, but they grow out, I swear to God, like half a half a millimeter a week. See just doing nothing. So I'll sit there and I mean,

just shocking me because I have to straightforward. When I see a new leaf on a plant, I'm like, girl, is that I do you? Oh? I see you? Oh we showing out? Now? Are we showing? Look at it? Did you tell your sisters? Look at me? Look at look at me? About to pop this leaf out? That three months? But I'm gonna be fine when I pop out.

I can't stand that damn plant, just just sitting there with her five little leaves and then she just popped out a new one, and I'm sitting there just just searching, Like, so, how much pink are you going on? You? I said him deeply on ndwhelmed. I'm deeply underwhelmed. But I was never gonna pay three hundred dollars for you. But there are people paying for a full size, paying three to five dollars for this plant. In fact, somebody tried to sell me one and I was like, oh, how much

is the plant? Oh? Three hundred dollars. It's like, bitch, you can keep that. No, are you out of your mind? Are you out of your mind? And so I tell people, no, make you some connections. This is what community is all about. To take a clipping off of a plant and give it to somebody. Give it to somebody. In fact, I tell people all the time, why don't you give it? Today is a great day for you to give a

black woman a plant. Buy a black woman a plant, show her some appreciation since we're out here saving the world from themselves. Buy a plant. And at the same time I tell people also forth an effort to include people in things instead of it being this whole exclusive thing, which is why I host these plant swaps. Plants will pop up that I have never seen before at a plant swap with somebody like, oh, I've got like six of these at my house. I have three hundred plants.

I just collect stuff. I'm purging my collection and they bring fifty plants to a plant swap. And what I've found and what's so interesting, because I've had enough of them now I had easily about ten of them over the past year and a half, is the black people will ask, oh, it's free, yeah, just take it. Why do I have a plant to give? I said, you don't have to. It's not just come and share a plant. Take a plant. It's just take a plant. Otherwise they

come home with me, take a plant. And it's just seen people who don't have the means black and white, brown doesn't make a difference. It's just saying, oh, I would have never thought I would have been able to get a piece of this. Oh, this is great. And then also for them building community off of that, realizing that some of these some piece people don't even know who your neighbors are. But if I put a plant swap together, here come people. Oh you live down the street.

Didn't even know that, And people are making friends at a plant swap. So I realized that plants could bring people together. It could also just help to foster quality community that it makes people feel connected and if you feel like you're introverted, you can still talk about a plant. That is it for today's Woke app Daily Podcast. To hear more from today's show, support me on Patreon at patreon dot com Slash Woke AF Power to the people

and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.