Hey and welcome back to Takemetotheheights.com! This time around, we are shifting gears as we are super excited to come back with another amazing interview for y’all!
For starters, this particular interview encompasses all the more reasons why our founder, Nolia V, admires individuals/creative entities, like Ghetto Heaven NYC, who honor wellness practices like sound baths. So without further ado, we present FVDGE NASTE, Founder and Owner of Ghetto Heaven NYC!
Takemetotheheights: So whenever you’re ready, if you want to tell the readers who you are, a little bit of your background, and we can go from there.
FVDGE NASTE: Yes, okay. My name is FVDGE Naste, 1997. I am a multidisciplinary artist. I’m a DJ, agent and a sound healer, and CEO and founder of Ghetto Heaven NYC, which is a wellness and lifestyle brand, where we blend virtuality to curate unique events and activations for the culture, for the community, and even those that may not be of Black, or Brown POC, but, like those who resonate are all welcome.
TMTTHS: Ok FVDGE NASTE! I heard you loud and clear. I love that! So, now that you’ve given us you know, a taste of, the why behind your starting, Ghetto Heaven NYC, let’s go into what made you decide to go into wellness.
FN: Okay, so it comes out of trauma. And I think you know even Ghetto Heaven and any healing activation, you see me create, it comes from the work that I’ve done for myself in the kind of self-healing journey. And so, when I was like, a teenager like my my primary guardian, my mom transitioned, she passed away, and so literally the same summer that she transitioned, I also got a yoga training. And in that yoga training, we had to read this book called 7 Spiritual Laws of Success. I believe that’s the title by Deepak Chopra, and he also co-founded the program.
FN: It was. It’s like if I didn’t have that outlet, that healthy outlet to like explore my feelings and understand, or the transcendence of sadness and suffering and pain and understanding that you can heal through this, that it’s happening for a reason.
FN: It was just such a kind of a miracle moment like, wow, like, if this wasn’t given to me at this time, I don’t know how I would have handled that experience. And I think, coming out of it, I just felt so at peace, and so relaxed. So every time I would go to class, go to a training session, and I just felt like you know, if it could help me, it could help so many people who look like me, and I was like, I need to find a way to bring this to my people because I also felt like this is wellness. I’m in it for this like, really, and even like just to go a step backward. The reason I even got the training was because in high school, like, I always used to come to class really late, like, and my fifth period was like yoga. And it’s crazy because I petitioned (for the yoga class). I literally petitioned to get yoga in my high school, and then I got it, and then I never showed up to class hilarious. But then, like I. I needed that credit, and I didn’t want to have to take
FN: freshman gym for my senior year. So my yoga instructor was like, Hey, like, take this training over the summer, and we’ll give you a credit like. Little did I know I was getting a Yoga certification training by like one of the highest like yogis, you know, and philosophers in that space. And then also again, like, I said, being able to navigate through the trauma by myself, but like with different guides, and with these different nutritionists…yeah, so I just think
FN: yeah, I just felt like, okay, my people need this. We need to you know, have this peace, and I just felt like if we had more opportunities for peace we could literally get through life in ways that don’t sabotage us or limit us. And so I was just like I need to bring this to my people. And so I designed Hood Yoga, because I felt like there was such a detachment in the wellness community because it was so whitewashed it felt so whitewashed. It felt like, okay
FN: You know, white people know that yoga is for them, but like Black people, don’t think that yoga is for them, and like about Yoga, we think so elitist about it like, Oh, she bougie like she doing yoga. She got her yoga mat, you know what I mean, and I just I wanted to find a way to cause even you know I would go to like Black yoga spaces, and it wouldn’t feel Black. It’s like. Yes, you look Black, but like this don’t feel Black like with the hip, hop playing in the back, or some R&B. Just something with incense burning like, where is the culture?
TMTTHS: Or the connection, the cultural experience.
FN: The cultural experience. Right? And so even in like I said, the white wellness spaces, it feels detached like we could be, you know, doing mantras because I was trained through Ashtanga Yoga, which is a traditional Indian style of yoga. And so it’s like this is tied to spirituality, but it feels so detached in this space. And so I’m gonna find a way to like, bring in what’s supposed to be there. Bring in these missing elements, make it feel cultural, make it feel Black, make it feel welcoming to other Black people, make them feel like it doesn’t have to feel so foreign, and you have to go in these weird, bending shapes. You can just do a simple sun salutation, which is similar to like a dance routine. You know what I’m saying, 8 count. You know what I’m saying.
TMTTHS: Right, right.
FN: Find a way to kind of like bridge our, you know, our culture into this space so that we can feel welcomed, and we can utilize this as a tool to our overall well-being, because we need it.
TMTTHS: Number one, well said. And number two, that deeply resonated with me in the sense of like, you know, a loved one transitioning. But in the same token, you know me, finding that semblance of what does solace look like for me at that, age of like 27, 28 years old, and you know a lot of it is just like navigating through trauma. And you mentioned spaces of like wellness, specifically like yoga for you. I feel like even early on in high school. You were kind of manifesting this space for you in a way. And so in hindsight, like, you know, you may not have seen it then, but it kind of like catapulted you into the space of where you are now to kind of do the full circle for you to, you know, for you to understand like what I was doing then was preparing for what I’m doing now. In a sense.
FN: Yeah, it’s beautiful. I mean, I kind of just let my intuition run my life. You know, I really just do what I feel is best, and I think also with my mother, my primary guardian transitioning. I don’t really have any any guidance or any guardian. In a way it could feel very lonely, and at times it absolutely does, you know. But I think it’s also this crazy amount of freedom to be like, if I’m gonna stay alive. And I’m gonna keep living. I’m gonna do exactly what I want to do. Like, nothing’s gonna hold me back because I’m not seeking validation. I think a lot of times we seek validation in our family members first, st before anyone else.
TMTTHS: Hello!
FN: Not having that there, or knowing that my mother always validated my creative outlets and things like that. It was just in her connection to spirituality, was so deep, too like it wasn’t even like she was religious, she was spiritual. She would always be like my angels got me. My angels gon’ protect me, like she always just knew if she couldn’t pay the rent like she knew, like at the end of the month
TMTTHS: She was gonna get, she was gonna be covered, no matter what.
FN: No matter what. So I think that kind of also permitted me to like, go deep into my spiritual journey and permit myself to experience it without feeling like this is foreign. Or it’s wrong because in so many ways it’s like demonized so
TMTTHS: Definitely. Definitely, yeah.
TMTTHS: Yeah. And I like that you touched on, you know, validation. And even like, in this particular season of my life, I’m reminded, like the external, like the external factors, and even like the people that are closest to you, you don’t necessarily need to you know, seek desperately that validation that’s already in you. And so you saying that kind of reaffirmed where I’m at in my life. So thank you.
FN:Yes, yes. Don’t you love when the universe do the job?
TMTTHS: Because this is like the back and forth. I said, this feels very seamless like this conversation. I was like, I feel like we’re gonna be like in a really good space in talking to one another. So touching on from you know what wellness means to you. You know just in how you were introduced to it in high school. How does Ghetto Heaven NYC, Ghetto Heaven Femme showcase, you know wellness? So I know I did my little deep dive of, seeing, like all the beautiful sound baths that you do and whatnot. But can you please tell the readers what that looks like?
FN: Yes, correct. So we we have put Hood Yoga on hiatus right now. So right now, our current activation is our R&B sound bath. So I’m also a DJ agent, and I don’t know if I mentioned that earlier, but I’m also a DJ agent, and I’ve been a fan of sound my whole life. I grew up dancing like at the Apollo for amateur night, like you know what I mean.
TMTTHS: Okay!
FN: Yeah, I’ve been so ingrained in the culture since I was a child, and so I think just being around the nightlife and being around DJs so often, and hearing them be so creative with their sound. And just the way that to me it’s like this intuitive like Chi thing when you’re a DJ, and like you really have to read the room, you have to read yourself, trust yourself, know when to transition.
FN: Know what songs that need to be played. You know what I mean like, it’s just there’s so much like there’s so much like inner direction you need to take. And so I heavily resonated with that act and just seeing them and being so inspired and so I wanted to create. I also wanted to create something like beginners or open level or something for Ghetto Heaven, because I feel like Hood Yoga is a bit, can be a bit intense. We do have like a workshop, a healing workshop before we get into the actual yoga practice. And it could be things that I’m ready to talk about, and I’m ready to work through, or have already worked through.
FN: But you know few people may not, and it might trigger them, and it might make them shut down, and all these different things. And so I wanted something a bit more passive where you didn’t have to unveil these traumas, even though,
TMTTHS: So I would.
FN: that was the best seller, like everyone, loved yoga. Like everyone, no one knew what it was, but they would come in, and every workshop was a different topic. And it was so surprising just to see, like the impact, and like how people resonated with the space. So I know for sure when that comes back. It’s gonna be great. And it’s gonna be great for the culture and community. But yeah, right now, we’re doing the R&B sound baths, which is basically so, a sound bath is a kind of traditional experience where you basically lay down or you sit up in a meditative space. And you hear all these different ancient sound instruments. And so you have like crystal sound bowls. You might have chimes.
TMTTHS: Right.
FN: You might have maybe some Hertz frequencies music playing in the background. Just something. Everything is kind of allowing the sounds to literally massage your brain like you can even see when you’re listening to, maybe like a loud like Meek Mill song versus like a Bob Marley song right like, how does that affect your body? Right like? And so it’s recognizing that. And then, of course, bringing in the culture by adding the R&B. And so basically, what I’ve been doing is making these different mixes. We have, like a featured artist that we kind of focus on. And I’ll do like similar artists’ songs in there, or would all will just have that artist. But basically, yeah, just playing around with that and making that like, I’ll add some 5 28 hertz frequencies underneath an Aaliyah track, or something like that, just to raise the vibrations.
FN: Get you to relax, like literally bringing in spirituality and the culture, and like blending it together so that you feel like yes, it might be a bit foreign. You’ve never been to a sound bath before, but you know this song.
TMTTHS: Right.
FN: That can invite you to permit yourself to fully embrace this new experience. Cause for a lot of it, I think a lot of the people that come to Ghetto Heaven, they’ve never like decided to heal before that, or they’ve never done yoga. They’ve never been to a sound bath before. So I think, introducing them in this way that is so like culturally induced, I feel like really just creates this beautiful like euphoric experience after everyone just feels so good and like, they just feel so free and like a weight lifted over their shoulders. I love to bring back to themselves, and that’s essentially what I’m doing and what I want to do right like I’m not the healer, but like I can create space for you to heal yourself.
TMTTHS: Right, right.
FN: So that’s what that is. And it’s so much fun for me personally, because I’m playing around with these instruments. I’m freestyling, you know, cause I’m a producer. So it’s fun.
FN: Oh, let me add this beat in there, or let me add this drum in here. Now let’s do the ocean wave beat drums, but everything is relaxing.
TMTTHS: He was relaxed.
FN: So that’s fun, too, because I’m not trying to excite you. I’m literally trying to relax you. And so it’s also the intuitive knowledge of how I want it like where I want to take you, and how I want to take you through that journey. In the beginning, we have like a little energy check-in. You can either do that virtually like on an online form, or we do open discussion just to be like, you know, how are you feeling right now what’s going on? And oftentimes people like I’m drained. I’m tired.
FN: I just came from work. I’m overwhelmed, you know. And then, after the session? I ask again, did it change? How are you feeling? And people just look different like they, they have a different expression on their face like it’s just, and it’s such a blessing to like provide space for Black people to relax.
FN: That is a gift in itself, like I already feel like, and I’m not here for, like the ego validation of like oh, I’m such a great healer and like, Oh, I do a great job.
TMTTHS: But even so, like what you do like, I’m holding space for you in this regard, right? And what you’re doing for other people like I have as cheesy as that sounds. I feel like when someone can come into a literal space with someone that they can identify with through music. That’s already life changing for number one, number 2. You’re taking the time to figure out what like frequency would work best for this particular type of setting. Like you’re setting the tone, and I feel like people will walk away knowing like I was taken care of in the most protective way possible.
FN: Thank you
TMTTHS: Honestly, of course, of course, cause even I’m listening to you. I’m like I cannot wait until she drops. I’m like I’m waiting.
FN: Yes, yes.
TMTTHS: Honestly like I delved into the space of like sound bath for the 1st time, like just you know, out and about. And I said, let me just sit because I’m being called into like this particular space with, like, you know, the crystal balls. And there was a black woman who was leading it, and it was like the sweetest, like serene type of space I could be in. And I said, This is what I need to do from now on, and so full circle, just seeing like your page, and just how you’re connecting with other people just solidified even more, how more excited I was in reaching out to you, so I appreciate you sharing your gifts with other people, but also allowing it to resonate with you and allowing it, you know, to fill you in that capacity.
FN: Thank you.
TMTTHS: Of course, yeah, of course.
FN: And shout out to you for going to your sound bath and taking care of your mental health.
TMTTHS: Definitely, I will do my research. So now I’m like, Okay, I know I don’t have it. And my C is gonna have one. So I’m just like, you know, checking off the boxes. I’m telling all my friends things like that. So.
FN: Yes, yes, and we’re we’re all to start to have more resources as well. We’re about to join a new wellness studio. All right. We’ll we’ll the cats out the bag. We’re about to join a new Wellness studio. Yes, and.
TMTTHS: Congratulations!
FN: Thank you. So that will be weekly will be super consistent.yeah. And so they also have a full, you know, roster of like different poc, Events and and classes and things of that nature so super excited to put people on, give people more resources.
TMTTHS: Right, right.
FN: If we’re not showing up, there’s like a million other people you can, that are trusted, that are vetted. So yeah, I’m so excited.
TMTTHS: Oh, that made me so happy. That literally made my day. I was like, yes, because, honestly, I was like, okay, like, you were talking about the different mixes that you were making and whatnot. I am a I like to call myself the queen of manifesting the life that I live.
FN: I love that!
TMTTHS: So in the spirit of manifesting. And this is an aside. Honestly, I just want to know, like, have you ever thought about creating an EP dedicated to people who want to tap into, you know, just a meditative state, or you know anything along the lines of like sound meditation.
FN: So I I have produced an Ep.
TMTTS: Okay. Okay.
FN: That a private release party.
TMTTHS: Okay.
FN: Working on the public release for September.
TMMTHS: Okay.
FN: So it’s, it’s already done. We have an EP, yeah.
TMTTHS: Amazing. I love it like when you just know you just know!
FN: You know girl! She knows! You on it!
TMTTHS: I’m like she either has it or she’s working on it.
FN: It literally. Yes. So it’s 3 tracks. So the 1st track is more of a, it’s literally kind of leading you in, and of course you can listen to it in in rotation, as you’d like to. But the 1st track is the overall Ep is called. Be your own Damn Savior.
TMTTHS: I’m here for it.
FN: All about literally, because I think again, like the healing spaces often kind of look like, Oh, here’s my Guru, or here’s this person we’re following. I feel like we’re in this age of. You are your own Guru. We’re in this age of you are your own healer. Everything like you said earlier, right? The validation is inside of you. So that’s essentially what we’re focusing on specifically with Ghetto Heaven, and why it’s a lifestyle brand is because everybody’s lifestyle is different. But it doesn’t mean that.
FN: like like, spirituality is tailored to you like, there’s no book to read and be like, Oh, yeah, like, this is what I’m gonna follow. And this is my life path now, like no, like you, you have a specific way that you were raised. You have specific childhood traumas. No one else has. You know what I mean. So
TMTTHS: Need to.
FN: things need to be tailored to you a certain way, and so the 1st track is called, I am my own Damn Savior, and it’s a guided meditation. It’s like a 10 min guided meditation. Ghetto Heaven is really all about kind of going into another planet, going to another atmosphere like it just feels like you’re in a whole different place, which is like.
FN: And so I put that into the sound right? The sound sounds really atmospherical. It sounds spacious. Everyone who’s heard it is like, I feel like I went to another planet. I add little spaceship sounds in there and stuff like that, and water sounds as well, and it’s just playing off of mixes. So I have. That was that track is off of Kelela’s latest release. I forget what the album.
TMTTHS: Hey! Okay.
FN: But I have one of those songs, because when I 1st heard it, I was like, Oh, my God, this is so ambient, and it just sounds so calming and soothing. So yeah, I added, hertz frequencies. I put my vocals on top. I’m just kind of literally guiding you, saying affirmations toward the end. And then, after each track, I produce my own like I call it a sound activation, because there’s a bunch of different frequencies I use, different instruments I use to kind of elevate your frequency like right before you finish the track or before you finish that setting. The second track is a money manifestation mantra loop called man. I think it’s called Quantum Leapin’ on these Hos.
TMTTHS: Okay!Hey! I’m feeling all the titles! I’m like she is manifesting for all of us right now.
FN: Yes, yes!
TMTTHS: Oh, man!
FN: Yes, I have. So I have a mantra loop, and what it is I have a Kaytranada song, so I don’t know if you know Kaytranada?
TMTTHS: All the artists that you’re naming. I’m trying to hold it down right now. So!
FN: Yeah, it’s it’s so good, and it’s so fast paced, and it’s upbeat. And it’s just like every day money comes to me like I wake up to money every day, and it’s all these different affirmations about money, because I think money plays a large role to your mental health like money plays a large role to your self esteem, knowing what you can and cannot get for yourself. Right? Like money allows us to manifest the life that we desire. That’s the affirmation I have in there, too. Money allows you to provide opportunities for other people to be successful.
TMTTHS: Right!
FN: Like. And so it’s just like making sure that we don’t shy away from money, because I feel like as a culture we shy away from money. We don’t want to talk about it, and it’s like no millionaires. They talk about money.
TMTTHS: Exactly exactly. No, and I love that. You’ve, you know, made it a place where people can say the thing of like, well, money surrounds me, or I live an abundant life in that regard so like again. Thank you for creating that space. And now I get to listen to it.
FN: Yes! and it is. I feel like, even in spiritual community, sometimes like it feels very taboo, because it’s like, Oh, money’s the devil. Money’s the root of all evil.
TMTTHS: Yes, it’s a lot of like negative connotations, but it’s like, how else can we maintain our livelihoods?
FN: How come my whole thing is, if I’m spiritual, I’m spiritually well, and I feel energetically rich. How come my money? Don’t match that? That’s a problem for me. I’m not feeling that. I don’t like that.
TMTTHS: And you saying that I read something somewhere. Of course, it’s on the ground because the algorithm is finally making sense. Now, in the sense of the spiritual world. I read something along the lines of like, Nothing changes if nothing changes, I said, hold on.
FN: Yes, yes.
TMTTHS: Oh, that was powerful in itself. So like you speaking on like, you know, just like the negative, like the negativity behind money for some people it’s like, well, what if you just kept saying the thing of like, I will find money (everywhere I go), or you know, and you say it in a way that’s going to reflect positively in your life.
FN: Yes.
TMTTHS: But again. I can’t wait to just start blasting that in my ears.
FN: Yeah, I cannot wait to release it honestly, because it really is a blessing. Everyone who who came to the private Ep release was like so obsessed. And then the last track I had is called a Love Letter to Myself. Yes! and it’s just me kind of saying all these things I need to hear over like the Moesha diary beat.
TMTTHS: Oh, come on!
FN:Yes, I wanted to, and then I wanted something a little new, like, you know. People think affirmations is cliche and all these things, but it’s like every time I say, or I create an affirmation that’s going to help me out of a mental block. A spritual block. I overcome that over time.
TMTTS: Because I hope.
FN: Because this affirmation, like I really need to hear this thing, and I need to tell myself that I believe in this thing, and really it feels like magic. It feels like a little pill, a medicine pill. You take everyday.
TMTTHS: It really does and it honestly, for me, I’m a firm believer of listening to like all the, you know, affirmative affirmations. So a lot of the times when I’m tapping into whomever’s doing it, Lil’ Jon, for example.
FN: Yes! Lil’ Jon! Yes!
TMMTHS: When I found out, I said hold on I am diving in!
FN: Yes!
TMTTHS: The minute I started to listen to him. Full disclosure, full transparency. I’m kind of steering away from the interview. I’m so sorry. But towards the end of the school year, I said, I have to change how I’m viewing. You know the current circumstances, because things are, gonna you know, be as they will, people are, gonna do what they will with the resources in front of like, just in that sense.
TMMTHS: So you know, as I’m diving back into the space of my creativity, I said, well, what can I listen to? That’s gonna put me at ease. I found Lil’Jon, and he said, manifest happiness. I started to listen to that, and I promise you I started to go into work with a smile on my face. Even my students are like, oh, why are you smiling? I said, because I’m happy.
FN: Oh!
TMTTHS: Honestly, and they started to. You know, it started to kind of like reverberate around them. And it just you like a lot of what you’re taking in has an impact on other people, too.
FN: Yes.
TMTTHS: So, I cannot wait for your EP!.
FN: Oh! I can’t wait to release it!
FN: It’s coming in September. It’s coming in September.
TMTTHS: And whenever you drop that link, for you know the general public to.
FN: Yes absolutely!
TMTTHS: I would like to, you know. Be there, support.
FN: You’ll be on the list for sure.
TMTTHS: Thank you now. But jumping back into the interview. So Ghetto Heaven NYC so the name alone stands out from any other wellness like brand or company. But how does Ghetto NYC., Ghetto Heaven Fem stand out from any other wellness Brand Company program?
FN: Yeah, I mean, like you said, like the title stands out. I remember I was like walking somewhere, and there was like these free vinyls on the curb and get up and is a is a black band.
FN: It’s a hip hop, band. I think it’s hip hop, or it might be. Yes, hip, hop! Yup! It came out in nineties, and I was like that. Oh, heaven! That sounds so dope because I already had hood yoga! At the time I had the hood apothecary and I had hood therapy. So I was like this is Ghetto heaven like encapsulating these 3 things. I don’t do hood therapy anymore. And I don’t you know Hood yoga is on hiatus (and I don’t do) hood apothecary either. But I just think that Ghetto Heaven being a lifestyle brand, a wellness brand who’s blending in hip hop and spirituality in a way that I think is palatable. I think a lot of times when people are using the hood or using the culture, it feels really gimmicky.
TMTTHS: Yes. Definitely.
FN:Didn’t really feel black, or hood, or.
TMTTHS: Doesn’t feel authentic.
FN: It doesn’t feel authentic, it doesn’t. It feels like they’re trying in some way to be Ghetto or to be Hood, and you know, and I think that it’s it’s not necessary. I think we are. We’re not a monolith. Black people are not a monolith. We all feel, act, speak, think differently. Yes, we might have cultural things we absolutely will agree on or disagree on. But I think it’s so important to embrace our differences definitely with Ghetto heaven. I think that we go about things in a very authentic way. We don’t shy away from even certain political views, as it relates to black people.
FN: We don’t shy away from the spiritual aspect of things. Of course, like I never wanted like people don’t come into my room, and I’m talking about chakras and like, if you want to do that research, do that like feel free. I’m not gonna come in here with tarot cards. I’m not gonna come here with oracle cards. I’m not gonna come in here with things that might make you feel like this is foreign to you, or that you like, and I find, even when sometimes people want to collaborate with black people, sometimes people coming in, and they kind of want to flex their knowledge and flex that they know Sanskrit, and they know Indian, and it’s no we’re a flex. We’re a flex because we call Ghetto until we get on a fucking fashion runway. And now we’re high fashion, or whatever you know, it seems.
FN: On white bodies, and I feel like, why can’t we just validate our experiences as we are? Why can’t we validate the hood? Why is it that every time you know, we go into a wellness space we immediately detach from the hood and culture. It’s like, Oh, we gotta get out of Hood. We gotta get away from the hood. It’s like yo. There’s so many things that the hood has taught me integrity, self respect, will play with me like I think that that is so godly. Hip Hop is godly. Like Hip Hop fell in the minds of all these people in the Bronx, you know, while was burning like you can’t.
TMTTHS: Right.
FN: And so you want to say us there, you want to clean up this approach to something that is so raw, so real and it’s and it’s most purest essence. So that we don’t. We don’t. We are so authentic. And I think ultimately, that’s why people like our spaces because they feel like I don’t need to pretend. I don’t need my back to straighten up, and I don’t need to, you know, wear this like athleisure outfit to yoga class. I could come in with some sweat pants, a T-shirt my hair. you know. Nobody’s recording me, she just recording her. You know what I mean like. It’s like.
TMTTHS: Right, right.
FN: I don’t even like to like pan the room sometimes, you know, because it’s just like I want to make sure that if you was in witness protection. You could be here. You know what I’m saying like, I really like to
TMTTHS: Right.
FN: Create sacred spaces. They’re healing spaces because it’s not something that needs to be kind of glorified bright. But I do what I will say to myself, too, is just like I definitely need to have, like classes or sessions where we do have photos and things like that, where people know that they’re coming into that space because it helps other people understand what it is, what they’re getting themselves into. And it definitely creates more space for like visibility. But again. I want to work with the people I got. I want to make sure that the people I got feel good 1st before I try to market and get more people into the space. You know. I wanna make sure I’m nurturing the people that are nurturing and pouring into me at the levels that we are. So yeah, I just, I just think in conclusion, I definitely think that we
FN: we’re just super authentic. We try. We try not to look at other wellness spaces because they just don’t exist, the way that we are trying to show up and with that being said, I think so many corporations and so many spaces like really love us really love what we’re doing. And even with that, like, we don’t really take in investors. Everything is bootstrap by me.
FN: So I, you know, I wanted it to be that way, because I don’t want people telling me I can’t say nigga in my spaces, or I can’t say you know what I’m saying. Certain things.
TMTTHS: Yeah, yeah.
FN: Oh, you feel like, you want this picture perfect. We’re not picture perfect. We’re problematic. We’re human beings. We’ve been through trauma. How can you expect us to show up perfect all the time like we’re in space? You know what I’m saying. So? Yeah, I would say. For the most part we just come through really authentic. We come through real, and we accept people where they at and not try to like. Get them into this like picture, perfect space.
TMTTHS: No, definitely, and even like you know, I feel like that to me, it’s like a dream, because, you know, when you’re at work. You’re expected to, at least in the role that I play in my everyday outside of what I like to do. So like. Even with that, it’s like I’m learning to find the balance. But in the same token, it’s like girl you are who you are like. Show up with, you know. Show up all the way as you are. And so you saying that reaffirms and reminds me like when you’re entering a space like Ghetto Heaven NYC. Show up as you are.
FN: As you are. Yeah.
TMTTHS: And that’s it. And they’re, you know, and they’re essentially not asking for anything else. And I think that’s so powerful. And that’s so admirable for a brand in itself. So I feel like, with all you know, all the growth, the brand will have, all the growth that you’ll continue to have like, I honestly feel like you’re gonna continue to ascend as like the most ideal space that anyone could ever walk into. And that’s just me like pouring into you.
FN: Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I appreciate that I receive that. Thank you.
TMTTHS: Of course, of course, I feel like I needed to say that in the moment. And just and I’m just watching, like how you just talk about Ghetto Heaven NYC, and like what it does to you. So it’s like I have to like, reaffirm you whenever possible in this conversation. So of course, anytime. But if you can choose one of your favorite moments just being in like the space of Ghetto Heaven, NYC Ghetto Heaven Femme, or just overall, like what’s a moment that you think back. And you’re just like this is why I started, or this is why I’m still doing Ghetto Heaven NYC.
FN: I love that. I read that question because I actually do have a moment in my head. And (just something) I want to speak on. So Ghetto Heaven Femme is like a sister to Ghetto Heaven. It’s a page really, it really just lives on social media, but also even with the EP, like the EP was kind of me tapping back into my divine femininity because I feel like it’s so many ways
FN: black women are stripped of that right. Because it’s like this strong black women mentality is so emasculated. And it’s like it’s not who we are supposed to be, how we’re supposed to show up.
FN: we need to learn how to receive. And so I think that was such a struggle for me. And ironically, I have all these, so all my friends are like guys. But then, like, when I’m doing hood yoga, it’s like a lot of women pull up. And so I’m like, Okay, like, how do I.
TMTTHS: Let me, you know, soften up a little bit, or something.
FN: Up a little bit. Let me try. Understand? Not judge right.
TMTTHS: Right.
FN: These people experience these things that I don’t but again, it’s all a journey. We’re all symbiotic. We’re all helping each other, which is why I say I’m not a Guru. I’m still figuring stuff out. I don’t know everything.
TMTTHS: Okay.
FN: I need help, you might have insight. And that’s really what I love about it. When I create space for like open discord, it’s like, I want to know about your experience, because it’s going to teach me something, like we’re all here to help each other.
FN: But one of my favorite moments was actually recently. I believe it was at the Erykah Badu R&B sound bath. And this girl came, and she’s a college student. And she just started bawling, crying. It was also a day where I was crying. I was crying that whole day before I went to go teach my class. I was so sad like my energy was sad. It was like
TMTTHS: Mhmm
FN: feeling a whole lot of things that I’m no longer facing. I say, thank God! But,
TMTTHS: Yeah.
FN: it was. It was, it was boiling, it was so overwhelming. And I was so excited that I created a space that I could also heal at, too. And I don’t have to put this energy away, because I’m showing up to work like it’s like, no, these people understand. That’s what they’re here for, right? That’s the beauty of for me, as I think Ghetto Heaven to me is a gift that’s always given to me.
If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read part one of Takemetotheheights’ interview with Fvdge Naste,1997. Be sure to follow her wellness and lifestyle page, Ghetto Heaven on Instagram!
