A Letter From Ashley -- MLK Day 2021

“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” - MLK 

Oh how far we’ve come but little progress that it seems we’ve made. This past year and weeks have led us to believe that is true. 

When we started TRILUNA the idea of being intentional about building a diverse company seemed simple. We would gather people from different races and backgrounds so people would be sure to see reflections of themselves in everything we did. 

The idea was not so simple. It’s actually been a pretty rough road. It first started with me and Liz. We had to truly understand each other’s life. We are having hard conversations, learning to use our voice when we are afraid, and come to an understanding that our backgrounds and the way we were raised are completely different. And no matter how hard we try we will never truly understand what it’s like to walk in each other’s shoes.

We started our Diversity and Inclusion series to have a safe space for our community to have open, realistic conversations. Liz and I facilitate these conversations. We never position ourselves as experts but pride ourselves on creating environments where people can be transparent + feel comfortable in the uncomfortable. 

Even on the hard days I couldn’t — wouldn’t ask for another little white girl to hold hands with. Liz, I appreciate you and what we’ve built together. I appreciate your activation and most importantly I appreciate you for always encouraging me to use my voice with no apologies. 

Giving Tuesday 2020 Edition

Today is giving Tuesday! There are so many incredible organizations doing deserving work and there no way we can highlight them all so we will just highlight a few we really feel connected to. We encourage you to give and share if you can and that’s accessible to you!

1. The Water Bear Cooperative Land Project is a community center and land trust dedicated to programs of learning, healing, and building for the Black community led by @beezandthingsandflowers. You can donate on their website.

2. The Native Wellness Institute exists to promote the well-being of Native people through programs and trainings that embrace the teachings and traditions of our ancestors. You can follow them and donate at @nativewellness or on their website.

3. Gideon’s Army is a community-based, grassroots organization that uses restorative justice programs to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline through social activism by children, families, and the community. You can follow them and donate at @gideonsarmyunited or on their website.

4. Play Like A Girl is an organization inspiring girls through sport and active play. They work to level the playing field by leveraging the transferable skills girls gain from sport to give them a competitive edge in the classroom and propel young women into competitive, male-dominated careers in STEM. You can follow them and donate @iplaylikeagirl or on their website. (Our CEO is on their young professionals board and truly loves this organization and their mission.)

We hope you love getting to know these organizations and the incredible people that lead them!

Spiced Whiskey Sour Recipe

I’m not gonna lie, when I look up a recipe and there’s a long blog post at the beginning…I just skip it. So we’re going to get straight to it and serve up this most wonderful spiced whiskey sour recipe! It’s delicious and airy but also complex and warm. Kinda of like us! It’s basically the cocktail you would get if an Old Fashioned and a Whiskey Sour had a baby––so if those things are your things then this is now your new thing.

This recipe uses egg white but if you’re vegan or just don’t like eggs you could substitute aquafaba (chickpea juice) pretty easily!

Spiced Whiskey Sour Recipe

Serves 2 Perfect Cocktails

• 3 oz bourbon

• 1 oz + lemon juice, freshly squeezed (or whatever you have, more to taste, I usually just squeeze a whole a** lemon in there)

• 1 oz Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup (you can really use any kind of simple syrup here, I like this one because it has the traditional spices of an old fashioned: sugar, cherry, orange, and bitters but you could also make your own spiced syrup out of basically anything just boiled in simple syrup…maybe a blog for a future time.)

• 2 egg whites

• Garnish: fresh mint leaves or some fancy sprinkles

Put all of these things in a shaker with ice (I forgot the ice which is why you see ice cubes in my cocktail glass pictured, whatever it was still perfect), shake it a bunch, and pour it in a beautiful coup (hopefully gifted to you from Apple & Oak here in Nashville). Garnish with fresh mint or even a cinnamon stick or rim it with some fancy sugar crystals. The perfect holiday cocktail. Enjoy!

The Circle of Life

The Circle of Life

Identify Areas Of Adjustment And Focus On Your Strengths

Balance is an overused term, in our opinion, because it isn't always possible and we just have no room for guilt. Sometimes balance means leaning hard to one side while managing to stay upright. And we think that's okay. We like this exercise because it not only makes us aware of where we lack balance but where our priorities lie. The goal is to create a shape that best suits your life. This exercise allows us to draw attention and awareness to the areas of our life that may be holding us back or keeping us from living our best lives. All the kale and meditation in the world won’t make you well if you're struggling with massive financial stress, or feel isolated, or as if your life lacks joy and fun. There is real power in knowing and understanding where you might need some extra help so that you can direct your energy towards healing it.

How to: Place a dot on the line where you currently feel you reside. The outer edge is closer to fulfillment in that area, while a dot closer to the center indicates a stress area where more attention may be necessary. Feel free to add extra lines if you feel critical elements important to you are missing. Once your dots have been created—connect them.

Note: This is an exercise that has been adapted from The Institute of Integrative Nutrition however if you feel like a category is missing or you want to switch one out please do so. This is your circle of life so make it your own!

SURPRISE! New Things Come To TRILUNA!

In the last two months, we have seen much internal growth within TRILUNA.

Due to this years' unfortunate circumstances, like many companies, we’ve had to pivot in major ways and were unsure of the future of our business. Being an events company and trying to figure out ways to keep the community connected has been a struggle. Our team has been heads down, nourishing our current clients, selling to new potential clients, and coming up with exciting new ideas.

Over the last month, we have witnessed an excitement within the team and ourselves that we hadn’t seen in a long time. All of our ideas are coming together and, although it's a BIG RISK, we are so excited about what’s next for our company.

Over the next seven days, we are going to be dropping one-word hints about our reveal on the 9th. See if you can guess what it is before then. 🍁🍂✨

Thank you to all of you for sticking around. We are so grateful for your support.

Stay tuned!

-Team TRILUNA