When Alie and Eli waltzed into our studio, they brought with them a whirlwind story of artistic passion and sustainable fashion that's been turning heads in Melbourne. Their journey from the chills of Philadelphia and the glitz of LA to creating Space Swap, an innovative community hub for eco-conscious clothing exchanges, is nothing short of inspiring. The pair share how their serendipitous meeting through a mutual friend planted the seeds for what would become a vibrant celebration of creativity, sustainability, and local talent, all while keeping thousands of pounds of textile waste out of landfills.
The episode unfolds with the color and energy of a Space Swap event itself, taking you behind the scenes of their sustainable bikini sewing class and the largest clothing swap to date at Rockledge Gardens. Eli and Alie discuss their efforts to nurture the local Brevard music scene, building a platform for young artists to shine. They invite us into their world of collaboration, revealing how their personal artistic endeavors—from Alie's documentary aspirations to Eli's candid revelations of living with alopecia—have shaped their mission. It's a tale of transformation, not just for discarded garments, but for the individuals and communities touched by the Space Swap magic.
Amidst tales of triumph, the Space Swap gals don't shy away from the more complex threads of their tapestry. They address the Maui fires, the intricacies of love and relationships, and an honest conversation about navigating life's challenges, such as the journey towards sobriety and spirituality. They remind us of the power of personal growth and how it intertwines with community success. Prepare to be moved by their candid reflections and to be encouraged to weave your own story of creativity and purpose.
Follow us on Instagram @spacecoastpodcast
Sponsor this show
Want to watch our shows? https://youtube.com/@spacecoastpodcast
When Alie and Eli waltzed into our studio, they brought with them a whirlwind story of artistic passion and sustainable fashion that's been turning heads in Melbourne. Their journey from the chills of Philadelphia and the glitz of LA to creating Space Swap, an innovative community hub for eco-conscious clothing exchanges, is nothing short of inspiring. The pair share how their serendipitous meeting through a mutual friend planted the seeds for what would become a vibrant celebration of creativity, sustainability, and local talent, all while keeping thousands of pounds of textile waste out of landfills.
The episode unfolds with the color and energy of a Space Swap event itself, taking you behind the scenes of their sustainable bikini sewing class and the largest clothing swap to date at Rockledge Gardens. Eli and Alie discuss their efforts to nurture the local Brevard music scene, building a platform for young artists to shine. They invite us into their world of collaboration, revealing how their personal artistic endeavors—from Alie's documentary aspirations to Eli's candid revelations of living with alopecia—have shaped their mission. It's a tale of transformation, not just for discarded garments, but for the individuals and communities touched by the Space Swap magic.
Amidst tales of triumph, the Space Swap gals don't shy away from the more complex threads of their tapestry. They address the Maui fires, the intricacies of love and relationships, and an honest conversation about navigating life's challenges, such as the journey towards sobriety and spirituality. They remind us of the power of personal growth and how it intertwines with community success. Prepare to be moved by their candid reflections and to be encouraged to weave your own story of creativity and purpose.
Follow us on Instagram @spacecoastpodcast
Sponsor this show
Want to watch our shows? https://youtube.com/@spacecoastpodcast
This podcast is brought to you by Place Pros, commercial and Investment Real Estate and NikoTour Boutique, your one-stop shop for everything cool. Yeah, that's us Allie and Allie, welcome to our show. It's nice to have you girls here. You guys are the girls from Space Swap. Yeah, you guys have created quite a buzz around here in Brevard and we're all curious about a lot of things, about how it started and how it's going, and, yeah, we want to hear more. But let me start out by how did you guys meet? Because you guys seem kind of like a soul sister duo. Thank you.
Speaker 2:So we met through a mutual friend, Brittany Collins. We first met at a birthday party and then we were having like this profound conversation about love and relationships. And then Allie had to flee. She just had to go somewhere. And then there was some time in between and then Brittany hit me up again and she was like hey, my friend's looking for an artist and I'm like where is she? Like I'm there, and then 10 minutes later I meet Allie at Pineapple Park in EGAD and we're planning out the first Space Swap event.
Speaker 3:Pretty much. Wow, when was that? September of 2021.
Speaker 1:Wow, and then it went from there.
Speaker 3:Went from there, complete snowball. But yeah, we were walking around the park and I was showing her ideas. And then she was showing me ideas and we were like, oh, we can put this tent here, we can put the clothing swap there. So your ideas aligned.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but Space Swap started as like a pop-up place. It wasn't until later that you guys got into the brick and mortar, right? Yes, how did that happen?
Speaker 3:So we did our first Space Swap at Pineapple Park and it was a clothing swap and that was kind of just. We thought it was going to be a one-off thing at first, and afterwards the response was, oh my gosh, that was great. Nothing like that is happening around here. When is the next one? And that's when we started kind of looking at each other and we're like another one. So I stored a bunch of clothing in my dad's living room I'm sure he loved that and clothing racks and tents, and we just got to work and never stopped really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And then it snowballed into like more events. All sorts of events happened at the brick and mortar, like tea poetry.
Speaker 2:What else did you?
Speaker 1:guys have there. You guys had musicians. It was like all the time there was something to do there. You guys were thriving. What happened?
Speaker 3:So we did pop-ups from, I guess, september of 2021 until we got the keys One year later. We actually celebrated our one-year anniversary of space swap as pop-ups in our brick and mortar as we were still building out the space.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:We are actually coming up on two and a half years of doing space swap as a nonprofit as a whole. But yeah, while we were in the space we were able to just accomplish so much in our mission. I don't know if you want to like mention what our mission is for new listeners?
Speaker 1:Yes, please do, because it is a. It's like sustainable fashion, right, and that was like, but then you guys just took it to other places. Oh yeah, you said you were an artist. Tell me about your background.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, did you grow up here? I did not. Okay, I was born and raised in Hawaii and then I moved up to Philly when I was like 10. And then I came down here when I was like 21. Why did you come here? My parents moved down. It's just too cold up there. Yeah, I'm like over it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know Too much snow, yeah, so your parents moved down here when you were 21?.
Speaker 2:Yeah, around there. I stayed up there for like a little longer and then and then moved.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then like schooling, or like what were you doing then? What were you doing before a space swap?
Speaker 2:Geez, I mean, I traveled a lot. Spacefop was kind of like me finally committing to Melbourne. Really yeah and totally worth it. You know, before I was working at the living room I was like front of house manager, I was running the stage, and do you remember the living room? No, it's right across from it, was it?
Speaker 3:was right across from iron oak. Yeah, it's no longer Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's now that like bridal shop, but sweet little spot, yeah. So um, but I was always into photography, always into video work, but working at the living room, kind of like, brought me into like production.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know like when you stage and stuff like that. So cool. And then, ali, you have like a actual production background right? Yes, what were you doing before?
Speaker 3:space swap. Before space swap, I moved to LA when I was 19 and I started dabbling and acting and film production and then I heavily fell into film production as a production assistant, assistant director, uh, second AD, basically the production side and that basically trained me for what later turned into like event production?
Speaker 1:Yes, it's good for that. What kind of stuff were you working on in LA?
Speaker 3:I did a lot of music videos, television shows, a couple indie features, cool Anything. I could really get work Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what were the years you were there?
Speaker 3:I was there from 2014, I want to say maybe 2015 until the pandemic. And then I came home, okay, so you did you grow up here? I did, yeah. What school did you go to? I went to satellite.
Speaker 1:Oh, you did Stingham, cool yeah. So are you happy to be back?
Speaker 3:I am because I feel like it's important for someone's journey to go out into the world and travel and learn. I saw this quote and it was like your 20s is for learning and all these different things, because our whole life we're living for other people, like our parents or teachers. And then it's like you get this freedom and it's like what are you going to do with it? So you go out into the forest and explore.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and now I'm back and I am happy to be here now because I think there's so much opportunity and it's nice to be able to be a part of the growth here. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which you guys did a lot of amazing things. And now that you guys have closed up shop, what is next for space swap?
Speaker 3:Well, we have a couple of events in the works right now. Mm-hmm. We're really just partnering with other local businesses and going back to our roots. Whenever it seems like we don't know which direction to go in for space swap, we just look at our roots and then it tells us what to do.
Speaker 1:Tell me about your roots, like. What is the mission?
Speaker 3:So the mission is to stitch the community together through sustainable fashion, music and the arts, and part of our mission is sustainability. So sustainability is more than just the ecosystem or pollution. It's like we have to sustain ourselves, we have to sustain our community, and we can only really give our best selves to space swap if we're able to sustain ourselves as people, sustain ourselves as artists. So a lot of what we have been doing for space swap is volunteer work, and so we're taking a season of learning how to sustain ourselves better in order to show up better for space swap and we're able to still do pop-ups and still do this and still do that. But being in the brick and mortar was like a whirlwind of excitement and we I mean, having a brick and mortar is no joke, right? You suddenly have all of these responsibilities you didn't have before.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And there's still so much we want to do with our lives, do with our time. We still want to travel. It's like really, you know, we kind of just like you guys outgrew it, sure, but you had a good time in there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And do you think you'll be?
Speaker 1:able to like replicate those kind of events without the brick and mortar. Also, what kind of businesses do you want to collaborate with?
Speaker 3:Those are good questions. What do you think, Abby?
Speaker 2:I think we can bring the vibe wherever. Yeah, I think so too, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think small businesses need that around here.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:They appreciate the nuance that you guys bring because it's fun what you guys do. What was your like favorite event that you guys threw at the brick and mortar?
Speaker 3:I think I could guess yours Is it. Is it poetry?
Speaker 2:I do love poetry.
Speaker 3:I really do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did have a typewriter event. That was one of the last events. It was so cute. I like decorated the typewriters with like leaves and stuff, I don't know, just got to go in like that. But yeah, my friend, brian Zerajak, and Karissa from Karissa's Bazaar, she has her collection of typewriters and she just brought it in and they're all like vintage and most of them worked and it was just like, and she let you guys use them.
Speaker 2:That's pretty nice. Yeah, someone came in, was like writing some bars down, you know. Yeah, he shared it with us.
Speaker 1:It was pretty tight, you guys have a knack for for getting big machines in different places. Let's talk about that time. You guys brought like 20 sewing machines to an event. Oh my gosh, can we look at the pictures? I couldn't believe that you guys actually pulled that off, because it was unbelievable. So it was this sewing event that we see here. All the machines were out. There was like a big patch of grass where we were cutting fabric. There was music. It was such like a Good girl, vibe, you know like, yeah, that was such a sweet event. Can you tell us more about it? That was cool.
Speaker 3:So the idea was to do a sustainable bikini sewing class, because a lot of times bikinis are really expensive. They are for this much fabric, exactly and we met a local bikini maker Her name is Rebecca, from Honey Bikini and we decided to collaborate and just go for it. And, yeah, this is our bikini sewing class. It was such a beautiful day, thank you and you were a part of that. I was. I'm in that picture. I am.
Speaker 1:That's the day that I had just gotten a surgery because Kim somber mercy. I was talking to her, I like cornered her in a bathroom, like how are you making your things? Like tell me everything and she's the best, and I didn't know quite how to use it yet. And, yeah, I came to this and I learned and you guys are so inspirational and like to be able to be a part of this and you know gain that skill or just like you know, the Commodery that you felt on these events.
Speaker 1:It was nice, really nice. Thank you, thank you girls, for for putting all that stuff on, and I wish I would have been able to to go to more events, and I'm I'm hoping you guys are still gonna pop up here and there.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, absolutely. And the other thing about going back to pop-ups more people will be able to come. Yeah, we're able to plan them farther in advance.
Speaker 1:People will mark their calendars.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know, that's just something that I learned about. Human nature is, I don't want to say like the sparkle wears off, but if, if, something is so readily available, it's like there's something enticing about it popping in and out, like one day only type of exactly.
Speaker 1:Let's see another photo. The what again tells the story behind this photo.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that was our first big haul for recycling all of the textiles that we had collected, Because that's a big part of our mission right, you know we rescued all these bags of clothes, yeah throughout our four Clothing swaps that we had in the first year. Yeah we just had so much clothes and we had to sort through all of it to see what we wanted to keep, what was sustainable, and then Just properly recycle whatever we can through American textile recycling services out of Orlando.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so super proper cool way to go, girls, and I think you guys documented it all along the way. You guys should check out the Instagram because it was so it was great to see this whole process go down. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to date, we have recycled almost five thousand pounds of clothing Holy cow not in a landfill, so that was part, huge part of the mission.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:Luckily, we've been able to give clothing away to those in need. We've partnered with other local nonprofits, such as ways for life, community of hope, new life mission.
Speaker 1:Oh good, so fantastic. So do you guys still have like warehouses full of stuff?
Speaker 3:I yeah, there's a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of stuff, yeah okay, good to know, we'll be popping up. We'll be popping up. Oh wait, let's see that next photo. So what was this? This was um Glinch, it was rock. This is this Rockledge Gardens. I haven't been yet, but it looks like an amazing space. What did you guys do here?
Speaker 2:So that was our biggest event yet, really, yeah, there was about like 500 like 500 people. Wow, it was a free event we. We sprawled out. We had the clothing swap in the greenhouse that shot right there, so gorgeous, and then we had a handful of bands play in the like, the overhang, like logi area over there by the bar.
Speaker 1:I've never been, I have to go. Yeah, you should. Amazing. And so how do these Clothing swaps work when you put them on?
Speaker 3:Well, it adapted. At first we tried to do a ticket system. That's what I was imagining, right, because Each item we thought held like a different value or this or that and so we were trying to do tickets at first, but it evolved into just donate a bag and then you can fill a bag. So just simple simple swapping.
Speaker 1:Literally just swapping and everybody was pleased. It was a win-win situation. Oh good, yeah, that's so fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we've gone through the mission. Do we have any more photos? Is this, was the your final night?
Speaker 3:this was our grand opening, oh.
Speaker 1:Awesome, tell me about that night.
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, so we had Creek and East narrative play. It was East narrative's first show, right, mm-hmm? Yeah, we did a lot of first shows at space swap, which is really special, super amazing.
Speaker 3:And now you guys have all these musicians like in your roster our last show we had 23 musicians, 10 vendors, a food truck. I mean people just coming out of the woodworks. We posted hey, who wants to play at space swap? Last call, at our farewell for now event, and I mean and shout out to Jimmy jazz for running that literally 20, 23 bands. Yeah, that was a lot yeah, but it was great. Yeah, he did Cool. That was like a 14 15 hour a day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, my god.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys were going. What time did you guys wrap up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we thought we were behind and then it literally just lined up perfectly. Wow, the speed spirits. Speed spirits went on at one and like we ended at two, right when we said you know, it was our hundredth event Like it was just so perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you guys look for it when you're, when you're scouting for musicians? They kind of find us.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, and I love that. You know, we want to work with people who want to work with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, period, you guys have like a Like, a vision, like someone that you would want to work with, that you haven't yet goodness, I feel like we've worked with all of everyone or another.
Speaker 3:Yeah, towards the end, we started working with more like kid bands, so like high school kids that are like just getting into music. We're just wanting to pop up and have a show. How's that? How did that go Good? So there's this kid, mark. He threw space ghost battle of the bands. I think he's like 19, but he, a lot of his circle, are like younger bands, punk bands like Teenagers. Yeah and so that's honestly like Even younger than us, like the even younger generation of the music scene in Brevard.
Speaker 1:That's so rad that you guys are tapping into that, yeah and I'm sure they are appreciative too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was cool, yeah. And then we have worked with a lot of people who have traveled, like we've worked with people from Jacksonville, lots of I think, like how many bands five different bands from down south South Florida, we had one from Miami. We've had people from Gainesville come out, so people traveled to play at space.
Speaker 1:They all contact you.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys did like a total. I mean, yeah, you guys are well-known not only in this county but and beyond. Yeah, do you will, you guys ever do pop up beyond.
Speaker 2:Brevard, it would probably be a big one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like a full festival Probably.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'd be cool. You guys, you think you have it in you to make up a full festival. I mean, we have, you've already done it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, rockledge Gardens was pretty much a festival you know we had the music. We had the art and the clothing swap. So that's like three huge sectors.
Speaker 3:Yeah, plus the drum circle, I mean it was pretty big, yeah.
Speaker 2:So thanks to our volunteers and also just the people who that we were able to collaborate with, yeah, like that's kind of like the key to it, I think collaboration.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because everybody wants, has to want to be there for it to work.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we do our best to try to take care of everyone the best we can. Sure, and it's just this camaraderie and this ecosystem of people doing it for the passion and for the love of art and they understand that, like we all have the same goal, mm-hmm, so that's really cool to tap into.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally Mm-hmm. Nice, ali is an artist of empathy, is what Ellie said. Yes, talk about that. What is that me an?
Speaker 3:artist of empathy. So I have a background in acting in theater right and it's interesting because when I started really diving into my craft, really breaking it down, art is Empathy and the art of acting, to me, is the art of empathy and being able to really authentically emote and Feel what it is that the character that you're portraying felt and tap into your own body and so, like when I was taking acting classes, that's really when, like, I got kind of like Spiritual and I was journaling and I was trying to tap into, like who is Ali and learning that, like when you become a better, like transformed version of yourself, you become better at your craft, whatever that is. So it was a whole like journey. But yeah, that's what I have on my Instagram is that I'm an artist of empathy, because really that's so important. Do you miss acting?
Speaker 1:I do. Yeah, why don't you join some? You know there's plays. I'm going to all the Hennigarh Center plays, by the way.
Speaker 2:Have you tapped into the?
Speaker 1:looking into yeah, continuing that skill up here in Brevard.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do a lot of straight acting so I notice a lot of local centers do a lot of Like musical theater and stuff. Specifically, film is more of my thing. So film, like on camera acting, is a little bit different than the theater.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're right.
Speaker 3:If I mean, if there's like a film scene, maybe we'll start a film scene.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know If there's anybody that can do what it's you to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, then I mean I would be, I would be so just like elated to what about Orlando?
Speaker 1:Have you, have you even like, had time to consider that?
Speaker 3:That's where I started, like when I was 18, I moved out to Orlando and I started doing film acting Again. There's like lots of commercials, there's student films that you'll act in but never really get the finished copy. Hey, I did that up in New York too, and I was like this is a lot of trouble for nothing yeah but I mean, if we find a film crew here, I'd love to like get my hands back into it.
Speaker 1:I think there's some. I mean I think I don't know, there's more of like documentarian yeah.
Speaker 3:Speaking of docs, do you wanna talk about the documentary we're working on? What?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:I don't know if we're allowed to talk about it yet.
Speaker 1:No, really, I know Okay. So you guys have been filming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean we have a lot of content, but someone specifically was filming for a documentary at our last event.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very interesting, so it's gonna be submitted and be able to watch on the big screen. So that's exciting.
Speaker 1:More details to come, so it's somebody else like yeah, came and filmed you guys and you guys are part of whatever they're doing. Oh, yeah, Okay cool. Yep, that sounds very interesting. We'll stay tuned for that. Stay tuned, okay. And then, ellie, your Instagram name is Anana Muse and let's hear about that.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, there's a lot of lore back there for me and I like what you were saying about like finding yourself, because that's kind of definitely like the root of it too. Yeah, so when I was 13, I lost all of my hair due to alopecia. Oh, you did, mm-hmm. And so just my adolescence, I just had so many identity crises and just like severe depression and just like didn't know anything. And then I traveled a whole bunch, saw a lot of live music and found community in, like the Grappledead community, and then, um, jesse's loving it. Then I started to want to study more about my Filipino heritage, mm-hmm, and started to connect to that a lot more. And then I found out that there is like a cultural identity crisis with Filipinos and so many other cultures due to colonization. You know, like we all feel that yeah we all feel that.
Speaker 1:So it's like Were you feeling this in Hawaii or in Philly or everywhere.
Speaker 2:Um, philly, definitely yeah. And then like even here, like I maybe know, like two Filipino people, Right right, like it's very like
Speaker 1:rare.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that I. You know that we like get to meet or something.
Speaker 1:I feel that, like growing up here myself, I was the only brown girl in class and yeah, and then back then, before you guys were around, nothing on TV was like speaking to that, nothing in the ads, you know it was. So, yeah, I could I feel what you're saying. Like you end up feeling strange, but you're not, you know, and so it might take a while for someone to sort of be okay within themselves. What made you be okay? You were saying the music.
Speaker 2:Music, yeah, and just creating, I mean, I feel like that's what we do as artists. We work through trauma with creation, yeah, and even now, you know, like as big as like creating a community, creating a home, so that, like we do feel like we have a place Cause we built it. You know, like it's, it's that, it's.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like you've totally overcome that now?
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, I'm not. I'm not the same person, anyone. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Have you guys ever done that like meditation, where you go back and you speak to your like childhood self, like you speak to yourself, like you kind of? Go into you know a meditation where you like put yourself in the same room as like your younger self and you kind of like nurture you guys should try that it's.
Speaker 3:I've heard about that. Yeah, yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1:It's really cool. I recently heard a story where, like a woman did that and she had like a memory of something and it it like changed her life because she remembers some lady coming to her as a child and then, and then she did this meditation as an adult and she realized that that lady was her. Wow, I know it was crazy to hear, but like powerful stuff and what you were saying totally reminded me of that.
Speaker 1:It's, it's. It's a thank you for sharing that too, because when when people see someone like you I mean you're so cute and you're so like. You guys are doing so much to the community Nobody would ever guess that you did this to overcome trauma. And here you are thriving.
Speaker 1:And it's thank you for sharing that because I think a lot of people want to hear that, especially if people have been through depression and stuff like it's hard and they don't know how to get past it. But there's, there's a light at the end of the rainbow. Right, there is, yeah. What lessons have you guys learned this past year that you might want to share with anybody really Cause you don't have to be young to need, you know a spark of hope.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm. Well, I guess creating the safe space was huge and important for us and I guess, like tapping into why we did it, yeah, the community was so important. Yeah, for both of us. Like Ellie mentioned, like creating that community or creating like that family or whatever, I feel like we now like have a home.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I feel like a lot of people who regularly are involved with space swap found like home and safety in it and purpose.
Speaker 2:Kind of just like being what, being what you need to be for yourself. You know, back to like that inner child work that you were just talking about you know like being who you needed to be as well you know, like it's in there, it's out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Our younger selves would be so proud I love thinking about that too, you know yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good place to be when you can say that. Yeah, do you ever go back to visit Hawaii?
Speaker 2:It's been a really long time, but my fam has been coming here. Oh really, yeah, but you still have some there. Oh yeah, like my dad, all my family only my immediate are there in Tampa.
Speaker 1:Do you have a take of what happened with the fires?
Speaker 2:I do not, and I mean like I heard some things you know like typical things. I don't want to say like conspiracies or theories or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, because I'm biased I'm from the island Like we have like some kind of understanding of how it feels to be exploited and all that jazz. So like it doesn't really like the conspiracies and stuff that I hear. Like it doesn't really like surprise me, you know.
Speaker 1:Do you kind of do you have any knowledge of what really happened?
Speaker 2:I don't just because we were here doing a Maui fundraiser, actually like for that time we collaborated with like a whole bunch of O'Galley small businesses and some beach side just to raise some money and just bring awareness to it, and even then that was kind of like a hard topic for me to like work on.
Speaker 2:I bet Just because it was like so close to home, yeah, so, and like even now, you know like there's a protest going on in O'Galley right now, really for the Maui fire, for a peaceful protest for Palestine, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm Okay.
Speaker 2:So you know, we're so far away. There's only so much we can do.
Speaker 1:Right, but your family wasn't affected.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, no, no, they're in Oahu. So, they're like Pearl City, Pearl Harbor area.
Speaker 1:Interesting. I thought I'd ask because you don't get the real news. You almost want to.
Speaker 2:You need to fish it out from people you know, and it's interesting because I would ask my dad and it's almost like he didn't know. I feel like everyone gets a different take of the news.
Speaker 1:But even the locals claim that too, like they're not seeing it on their local news channels. Everything is so hush-hush.
Speaker 2:So it does it begs the question. Right, exactly, Time and space.
Speaker 1:There's a lot in between that can get misconstrued, yeah a lot of unanswered questions that, yeah, unless you're the media, and then they refuse to answer, so ugh. Can we talk about love a little bit, ladies, love, what is going on in your love life? I mean, I have to ask. I know, ali, you have a boyfriend. Yes, yeah, and it's been Good, yeah, for a year.
Speaker 3:So we met actually through music shows. Okay, yeah. So the first time we met on a couple of different occasions His name is Ben Shout out Ben, hey, ben. So yeah, I met him through Doonies and his best friend is Carter, the lead singer of Doonies, and I would see him around and we talked for a while one Halloween and I didn't think I would see him again. And then, sure enough, space Coast Music Fest happened and we were running one of the stages at New Visions full service nursery. We were doing the vinyl record stage and we were a little tucked away because there was some construction happening with the new music venue being established in EGAD, so not everyone knew we were there. But apparently Ben was looking for me because I told him we were running one of the stages, so he was going around to the different stages, kind of like oh, I see her.
Speaker 3:We were in space. We ended up seeing him at a show there and we bumped into each other. We danced to the Doonies, of course, and then, kind of like you know, cinderella, I was about to turn back into a pumpkin. I had to go clean up a stage and he was like oh, I'll come help you. I was like, oh, he's helpful, okay, so he helps us.
Speaker 1:And he has been helpful. I've seen him helpful Moving couches for you, yeah.
Speaker 3:Our boys have been like just the men behind the curtain of space swap For sure, Helping us to who's your man.
Speaker 1:You're taken.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Can you want to share or no? It's um. Is it too new? No, not at all, Okay.
Speaker 2:Um, it's just, it's a deep topic for me. Oh really, Mm-hmm. Okay, we'll leave it at that. I'm just a big lover. Okay, good, it's beautiful, it's fine, that's cute.
Speaker 1:So you girls are taken. Yeah, do you girls know of any single men, though? Do you guys have friends that are single?
Speaker 3:Uh sure, yeah, yeah, we do.
Speaker 1:Just curious, because I feel like there's a lack of connections being made and people want to make these connections and uh you know, Jesse and I are kind of racking our brains. How can we help?
Speaker 3:We would love to do like a dating show or something. Oh my gosh, that'd be so fun yeah right, I think people would go for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's like, how do I, how do I reel them in?
Speaker 3:you know, Just do a little bit of vetting first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and just through common interests.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you know, just like make it organic Okay.
Speaker 1:Like that Ooh. Yeah you guys are giving me ideas.
Speaker 3:And lots of self-healing, like I wasn't able to be in my relationship until I was able to do a lot of self-healing, change who I was attracted to like the type of people because I was constantly attracting like that wounded.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it isn't until you like go to LA and get your shit done and you come back and all of a sudden you are magnetizing a different kind of person to your life, absolutely. You're right, you do have to do that work. You have to go on that, that fool's journey, you know and then come back yourself. I mean who you are.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And you guys have done that beautifully.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I feel like our loves compliment us, because Ellie and I have a lot of like energy, like what did you say? We're like manifesting generators.
Speaker 1:Oh, are you guys into that? The human design.
Speaker 2:Human design.
Speaker 3:I think I'm a manifesting generator too. Yeah, and I think our loves are generators Is that how you would describe them? So it has to be like complimentary that they would give us like the support.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Do they get along?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah All of our boys get along.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wait, what do you mean? You have multiple boys. Yeah, oh, is that what you were looking to? Oh, my goodness, I like that. Make a blush. Oh, cool, and they're cool with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, we're all adults. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like we Are you guys in like a polyamorous, like altogether.
Speaker 2:No, not really. No, okay it's interesting because I don't really like to label myself because love goes beyond that. You know, yeah, yeah, you know, but I don't know. I guess it's just like mutual understandings of what we can be for ourselves and what we can be for the other. You know, yeah, while also taking time and prioritizing the individual too, not like the relationship, but like the individual separately within the relationship. Do they get along?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not like they hang out, but they know of each other. Yes, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's super interesting. Do you think that you're going to continue to do that all your life, or will you ever? Do you guys ever see yourselves getting married traditionally?
Speaker 2:I don't know about marriage. I know that my dreams Like no offense to like the boys, but like I have my own dreams.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like I want land, I want a farm. You know what I mean? It's either like you're with it or you're not. Yeah, and they are with it. So it's like, yeah, let's do this. Yeah, let's team up. Like I don't know.
Speaker 3:What about you, ali? I can only talk about it like that but that's like my own like heart in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, yeah, and they should all yeah, as long as you guys all have the same understanding, it's kind of beautiful how many people are involved. I'm sorry, but I just need to know.
Speaker 2:Currently two.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, it's not like you got five, it's two, that's good, not full-volume. That would be a lot to deal with, though, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean ugh, but the amount of support I feel like is just immaculate and they've been like involved with Space Swap and like the behind-the-scenes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the both of them Like with sound and just putting up all their skills building the stage. Wow yeah. So yeah, there's a true yeah you guys have the man behind you there is a purpose beyond it too, because they also believe in the mission. Yeah so we were able to like, bond with that and build that together.
Speaker 1:Cool. What about you, ali? Are you going to get married someday? Probably yeah, you want the tradition.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think honestly I'm more like traditional in that sphere. I too went through a long phase where I didn't I was questioning whether or not I wanted marriage or kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, I don't feel like one has to pick one, especially as a woman, but kind of just seeing how things unfold, I didn't really think I wanted marriage until I met Ben. So he's kind of changed a lot of perspectives on that, but I totally feel Safe with him. Yeah, that, like you know, he's super sturdy.
Speaker 1:Which is good. Yeah, you know you want that stabilization at some point.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so kids.
Speaker 1:You're open to that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, like I would love to have kids one day, like that's always been a dream that I had to kind of grieve and then come back to and what did you grieve it? I grieved it because I, when, when I Felt like I had to pick career or family especially living in a big city, you know, I kind of was like career like 110,000 percent. Oh yeah, I would like sacrifice anything for it, but my ideals have changed since coming home and being around family and I'm like well, you've conquered the career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, but there's still a lot more to do, of course.
Speaker 1:Did you come from like comfort or did your family struggle?
Speaker 3:Um so Goodness. There I mean that's where my.
Speaker 1:I asked because that's where my drive came out of yeah, like. I saw. I came from single mother and I saw her work her ass off and so I had to like step it up and, yeah, be a strong woman.
Speaker 3:So my parents god, I hope they don't watch this, um they so they got divorced when I was pretty young. So there was a heavy amount of us like being raised by one parent and there were a lot of things Like drinking addiction, you know, mental health things, where I became very independent at a young age and I have always been working as an entrepreneur. I was like a bus boy at 15, entered food and beverage. I was like running food at 17 at coconuts, 18, moved out, became a bartender, like for a long time I Did not want to be present in my home, mm-hmm. So that's kind of where my drive came from.
Speaker 1:So a lot of your events I actually none of your events had alcohol in them. Is that because am I wrong?
Speaker 2:The Rockledge event had their bar and that was right. But you guys like oh tea, are you guys like?
Speaker 1:So I grew up and maybe Jesse too in a generation where they fed us the idea that party hard and. You're gonna be cool. I don't think that that's what's going on with the younger generations, yeah we push sobriety. Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2:Like it was like Yob sometimes you know like we want to have fun, but the thing about having a sober space is we're focused on the music and the art rather than the drinking. That's the intoxication, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're just. That's refreshing though. Yeah you know, I think a lot of people my age are kind of Stumbling out of what we were fed and are appreciating this Lifestyle a little more.
Speaker 3:Totally yeah, and I've been sober since October. Really, yeah, this past October, yeah, ben and I do it together Just to clean, flush out or just just like a lifestyle. Yeah like we're getting really into, like being completely just alcohol-free and some personal things. Good, personal things have happened in my family where the family member like accepted treatment and I think they're almost a month clean and it was something we had to do now, kind of if I wanted to like continue having a relationship. Yeah, so you're good role model for that.
Speaker 1:Thank you, oh, my gosh, yes but it's been.
Speaker 3:It's been wild.
Speaker 1:Just the amount of stuff that's just happened yeah well, good things happen when you, when you're on the right path, right. That's how you know that you know what you're doing is good and I love the message that you guys bring to the table. Is there anything else you guys want to share? Do you guys feel like soul sisters? Yeah, yeah, like you guys have been around each other in another life, maybe.
Speaker 2:Maybe, Maybe what would we be doing? I don't know what's happening.
Speaker 1:Farming- Communiting living.
Speaker 2:I've said that like I like waking up early, like maybe in a in a past life I was a farmer. Yeah, I'm about it.
Speaker 1:Have you guys ever done any like stuff like that, like tapped into your past life, regression or anything a?
Speaker 2:bit. Yeah yeah, mostly when I meet Someone that feels super familiar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you'll go get a reading.
Speaker 2:Oh no, I just like. It's almost it's almost like a memory, you know, yeah, and to me, like intuition and imagination are like really really close together. Yeah so I mean like you, I mean there has to be discernment with like everything, sure, obviously, but when something feels like a memory, that's a, that's a different story.
Speaker 1:You guys are both kind of like spiritual. How deep do you get into that? Are we talking? Do you guys practice tarot or Astrology? You guys have talked about like it's part of Kind of like your vibe, your essence, but I don't. How far does it go? How witchy do you guys get? I?
Speaker 2:Feel like I was a lot witch year before, okay, without even knowing, and then Without me knowing, without me claiming it, and then there was a moment in time that was like no, this is happening and you need to Understand, or it's gonna, or you won't be able to like overcome right these things.
Speaker 1:It's like you. You have to develop, listening to your intuition. Yeah, yeah, because at first it just I think when you're younger it just sounds like a voice in your head that right it does is nonsense.
Speaker 2:And it's gonna make you feel crazy. Yeah, and that's the key, like once you get past that crazy and then you have that clarity, yeah, then it's true, it's like.
Speaker 1:Then you're like oh, whoever's in there. Do you guys ever feel like whoever's in there, isn't you like it's like your buddy? Hey, right, or am I crazy?
Speaker 3:No, totally I. I like read a book on that and that's interesting. It's like that voice inside of your head and he was just kind of like befriend it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually named it, Jennifer when I was a kid really. Yeah, when I was like five. I'm having conversations and, and, and I I don't know why I was compelled, like I always understood that it wasn't me, hmm, so I feel like that degree of separation too is nice, so that you can kind of be kind to yourself, yeah, yeah well, yeah, because that there is another voice in my head. That's really really mean and, and I think all of us have to like you know, Learn how to shut that one up.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, if you're too like self-critical, I just want to ask you guys, before you go, a couple of swap related questions. Um, first of all, you guys always dress so cute. If you could swap wardrobes with anybody, who would it be? You're like no one, because I love my clothes.
Speaker 3:I have an obsession with Haley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore Redhead representation, but she just like came back like cover of Rolling Stone 2024 and she just looks so good. Yeah, yeah, she does the whole like Professional but like a hint of like rock and roll.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like business suits.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like cool business suits and she wears like a tie and it's so like fun and cool.
Speaker 2:Androgynous is that the word yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What about you? I don't know, my style is all over the place.
Speaker 1:I love it though. Thank you, yeah, yeah okay, you don't have to. You don't have to swap wardrobes with anybody. Okay, if you could swap a day in the life of a historical figure, who would it be? And if there's like an actual event that you would Want to be a part of, or kind of see how it went down, who would it be?
Speaker 3:These are good questions, nico.
Speaker 1:I try an event, historical figure like do you guys feel tied to anybody in history?
Speaker 3:I Like Eleanor Roosevelt, just because she's like a badass bitch. Yeah, I hope I can say that on here, and she says some pretty cool stuff in history. She was like ahead of her times and she has this quote. She has a lot of good quotes, but there's one where it's like women are like tea, and I love tea. It's like the hotter the water, the stronger you are. I don't know, just touches a lot of like happy points in my brain.
Speaker 2:I'm like oh tea Strong women.
Speaker 3:OK, what about you, ellie?
Speaker 2:I don't know. All I can think about is music. Yeah, yeah, but uh, anyone's specific?
Speaker 1:There's historical music. No, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking like eras, like when, I don't know, psychedelic rock was just coming to be, you know, and it was like a little fulky and like a little bluesy. Like yeah and then there were like parties, yeah yeah. Yeah, cool, I kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:What about, like if you could swap a day of being a fly on the wall? Where would you go? Who would you visit? Who would you want to visit and see like an intimate moment, not sexual, but like? You know, what does this person talk about behind closed doors? These are too hard for a Sunday morning, huh.
Speaker 3:No, it's good. It makes you think, yeah Turns. Those wheels Lie on the wall in a room of someone.
Speaker 2:My mind is going everywhere.
Speaker 3:Really yeah, tell us.
Speaker 2:First it was like somewhere that I can learn, because, like, I want to be able to like go to school, but I don't know. I feel like my attention span to like try to do that again is like a very short yeah. But then it's even like what subject would I want to, because I'm just interested in so much stuff. And then it went to like a submarine, which I don't know why it's not like what's under the ocean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe you want to know what's under there. Kind of scary, but I know there's worlds under there. What about, like, if you had the ability to swap a skill set with each other? What is something that you would, you guys, admire about each other?
Speaker 2:I'd want to be able to like how you come off like that you're confident and you're happy to just be places Aw.
Speaker 3:I would want just a dash of how you see things, like the creativity, like the way you can look at something and it's just automatically beautiful.
Speaker 1:You guys are so sweet to each other. If you can swap jobs with someone in a totally different industry, what would you do? Who would you swap with?
Speaker 3:I don't know. I'm like kind of interested in law. Ok, yeah, like an attorney because I like learning. Yeah, like that sounds so boring and corporate.
Speaker 1:No, but like there's so many law loopholes that if you knew them all, you would probably be better off right.
Speaker 3:Or like the world would be better off, because I feel like there, before space swap, I knew nothing about politics and I still don't know a lot, but I know that politics heavily influence the amount of change we can make. So I feel like if we had some really solid like spear headers of the changemaking that were like not corrupt, yeah, yeah, we need some cool politicians. I know.
Speaker 1:Well, one of my questions was if you could swap a day being president, like, what kind of things would you want to learn about Aliens? Yeah right, what do you guys think about the Miami alien thing?
Speaker 3:Oh, what. What is that oh?
Speaker 1:stop it.
Speaker 3:What Did we?
Speaker 1:not know something Like a portal opened in a Miami mall recently. What and like beings came out, beings, beings, interdimensional, what, what there's this guy, 8 to 10 feet, what. There's a little bit of footage. But then, like this kid got, like he had to like go into hiding. Somebody blew up his like apartment. You guys need to look into that. Oh my gosh, it just happened and like all the police were called out, like more police than ever before, they stopped airplane flights and all this stuff and it's you know. Obviously it's a conspiracy theory and nothing happened, but you guys got to look up this guy's like account about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, stop.
Speaker 1:I'll leave you with that.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it was lovely having you guys here.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Tell everybody your Instagram handles and where we can find what's to come for Space Swap.
Speaker 3:So you can find Space Swap at space underscore swap on Instagram. We're also on Facebook and our website is spacewapcultureorg. My personal handle is alexandercomera a-l-e-x-a-n-d-r-a-k-o-m-a-r-a.
Speaker 2:My art and my personal Instagram handle is anonymous with three E's.
Speaker 1:Oh, cool, and if anybody out there wants to collaborate with these two lovely ladies, give them a DM. Yeah, give us a shout. Yes, thank you, ladies, so much. It was a pleasure to meet you guys further and I can't wait to see what happens with Space Swap next. Thank, you girl. Thank you To be a sponsor or nominate a guest. Hit us up on Instagram at local underscore celebrity underscore bravard. Until next time, goodbye, Bye.