Podcast Episodes

If you’ve been feeling discomfort, restlessness, or a sudden urge to change your life, it could be part of a deeper clearing process. In this solocast, Queenie explores the idea of energetic clearings: periods of release that can accompany healing, growth, and spiritual development. Drawing from her own experiences with trauma release, chakra work, travel, relationships, and personal transformation, Queenie shares ways to recognize when an old pattern may be ready to move. Particularly relevan...

Creative Reuse: How Reimagining What We Already Have Can Build a More Sustainable Future So often the things we throw away still have value left in them. This idea stayed with me after my conversation with McKendree Thompson, board member of Portland’s ReClaim It. We talked about creative reuse, the circular economy, repair, community resilience, and what it means to step outside a culture that constantly tells us to buy more. I walked away thinking that reuse is about much more than keepi...

Why Human Connection, Community, and Trust Matter More Than Ever When Life Becomes Too Transactional So much of modern life has become transactional. When we need a ride, we open an app. When we need help with something around the house, we hire someone. When we need food, groceries, or almost anything else, there is probably a service that will deliver it to our door. Convenience can be wonderful, but we lose so much when so many of our needs are met through transactions instead of relationship...

Technology, Nature, and the Future of Regenerative Living We tend to frame technology and nature as opposites. Technology represents progress, machines, cities, and artificial intelligence. Nature represents land, ecosystems, simplicity, and a return to something more grounded. But I’m not sure that divide is actually as clear as we make it out to be. In this episode of New Humans for New Earth, I’m thrilled to be joined again with open-source ecosystem developer, artist, and self-describe...

Letting Go of Expectations: How I’m Learning to Stop Fighting Reality Expectations have been weighing on my mind: especially the ones I didn’t even realize I was carrying. I think most of us grow up with some idea of how life is supposed to unfold. We expect certain relationships to last, certain milestones to happen, and the world around us to feel relatively stable and predictable. But what happens when reality looks nothing like what we imagined? What happens when you find yourself livi...

Rethinking Success, Leadership, and the Idea of “Enough” I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to build a life and a world that actually reflects what we value. We talk constantly about growth, achievement, productivity, and success, but rarely stop to ask whether more is always better. In this conversation with Earl Meininger, one of the new owners of Portland’s iconic New Renaissance Bookshop, I found myself returning again and again to that question. Earl spent 20 years working in c...

When Our Consumer Choices Carry Energy We’re so practiced at thinking about our consumer choices in practical terms. Does this product meet my needs? Is it convenient? Is the price worth it? But lately, I’ve been thinking about another question: What kind of energy am I inviting into my life when I choose to support a company? In this episode of New Humans for New Earth, I explore the connection between consumer choices, energetic awareness, and the values behind the companies we support. If ...

What Does It Really Mean to Rest? We often think of rest as sleeping in, watching TV, taking a day off, or simply doing less. But what if true rest goes much deeper than that? In this episode of New Humans for New Earth, Queenie and Gabe Torres explore rest as something more profound: the ability to feel safe enough to take off our armor, release our expectations, and simply be ourselves. Rest, Boundaries, and Honoring Yourself For people who spend much of their lives holding space for others...

I Choose to Believe: How Changing Your Beliefs Can Transform Your Reality What if the life you're experiencing isn't determined solely by your circumstances, but by the beliefs you've chosen to carry? In this episode of New Humans for New Earth, I explore one of the most powerful ideas in personal growth and conscious living: the beliefs we hold shape the reality we experience. Whether you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or struggling to believe that a better future is possible, this conversat...

Why Small Environmental Actions Matter More Than You Think Climate change, plastic pollution, and overflowing landfills can make environmental problems feel overwhelming. It's easy to wonder whether one person can really make a difference. But as this conversation with Portland's beloved Trash Witch, Nicky Eddy, reminds us, meaningful change doesn't begin with perfection, it begins with action. The Power of Small Environmental Actions Many people avoid taking action because they believe...

How to Hold Onto Hope When the World Feels Overwhelming Why personal action still matters in times of uncertainty There are moments when looking at the state of the world can feel completely overwhelming. Between the headlines, political division, environmental destruction, and the constant feeling that those with the most power continue to make decisions that move us further away from the future we want, it's easy to wonder whether anything we do actually matters. Maybe you've even caught...

Healing Ourselves to Heal the World: A Conversation with Dr. Austin Daniel What if healing wasn't just about fixing what's wrong, but about remembering who we are? In this episode, I had the joy of sitting down with Dr. Austin Daniel, a doctor of Chinese medicine, licensed massage therapist, and Ayahuasquero. Together, we explore what it means to wake up to a deeper way of living: one rooted in intuition, healing, and the understanding that our own transformation is inseparable from the heali...

Why I Canceled My Streaming Subscriptions (And Why I Haven't Looked Back) A little over a year ago, I made a decision that felt surprisingly intimidating: I canceled all of my streaming subscriptions. At first, it wasn't about saving money. It was about asking a bigger question: How am I spending my time, energy, and attention? Like so many people, I had gotten into the habit of turning on a show whenever I had free time. It filled the moments when I didn't know what else to do. Streaming ...

Why Recycling Won’t Solve the Plastic Crisis What if the plastic crisis isn’t really a problem at all, but a systems design challenge? That’s one of the questions I explore in this week’s New Humans for New Earth conversation with Sam Smith (@themagictoolbus). In this episode, Sam and I talk about plastic waste, recycling myths, circular systems, energy literacy, and practical climate action. They’re not separate issues, but parts of a much larger conversation about how we live on this planet...

What happens when we stop fighting ourselves? In many spiritual traditions, we're taught that the ego is the problem and that awakening requires us to transcend it, dissolve it, or leave it behind. But what if the ego isn't a mistake? What if it's an essential part of the human journey? In this episode, Queenie explores a different perspective on the ego and its role in the evolution of human consciousness. Rather than viewing the ego as an enemy to be defeated, she considers both the ego’s s...

What if judgment is one of the biggest barriers to healing—both individually and collectively? In this deeply honest conversation, Queenie and Gabe (owner and tattooist at Shamanic Ink) explore the subtle ways judgment shows up in our lives, from family relationships and spiritual beliefs to politics, power, and the stories we tell about people we don't understand. Together, they reflect on how quickly we separate others into categories of right and wrong, good and bad, and what becomes possi...

Food is a deeply personal and cultural topic. So, let’s get personal! In this episode, Queenie dives deep into the messy, nonlinear path of aligning our values with our everyday choices and learning how to listen to our bodies. Whether you're vegan, vegan-curious, or simply trying to make more intentional choices, this episode is here to remind you that change doesn't have to be perfect or happen all at once to matter. Queenie discusses the pressure that often surrounds veganism, the trick...

Do you ever look around at our planet and wonder why the government isn’t doing more to help? In truth, the agencies we look to to protect and steward our environment are not actually set up to do so, in part because of capitalistic pressures, mindsets, and structures. But no fear, there is still hope! In this episode Queenie sits down with Alvaro Campomanes of GeoARI to talk about how real change we need is already happening from the bottom up. From rewilding to building communities, and ...

Do you feel like you’re living your life running towards the next thing, always feeling like time is running out? It’s exhausting! The good news? This is fixable. (Cue sigh of relief). You can let the hours race past you or soak in every moment with intentionality. In this episode, Queenie reflects on how she broke through the vicious cycle. You can regain control over your life by slowing it down and choosing to stop chasing the unreachable finish line. It may seem impossible, but it’s en...

In a country literally built around the car, switching to bike life can feel intimidating. Won’t I sweat? Isn’t it dangerous? Won’t it take forever? If you’ve found yourself asking one or all of these questions, you’re not alone. (And there’s no need to worry, because the answers will pleasantly surprise you). In this episode, Queenie is joined by Brad Davis owner of Nomad Cycles and e-bike evangelist to discuss the movement taking over our cities: e-bikes. They discuss all things about th...

We're living in a time where it's becoming increasingly difficult to know what's true. Information is constant, conflicting, and easily manipulated (through AI, media narratives, and bill!onaire interests shaping the direction of reality itself). There are loud, monied influences that would like you to believe the world is moving one particular way, and to buy into that story. And if you don't have something else to ground into, it's disorienting. As old paradigms dissolve and the ground seems t...

This episode drops on Tax Day, which makes it the perfect moment to take a closer look at money. How it shapes our lives, and how it influences the way we define value, security, freedom, and success. We explore the ways that money impacts our relationships, decisions, society at large, and ask whether the system we rely on is really the only way to live, or just the most familiar one. I'm joined by Karl Wallace, a builder, welder, self-proclaimed bike geek, and mechanical artist who is de...

In this moment of seemingly endless stories of violence, chaos, and environmental destruction, it’s easy to feel disheartened. To feel overwhelmed by darkness and pessimistic about where we’re headed. In this episode, we explore the idea that either everything is sacred and magnificently orchestrated or nothing is. Gifted tattoo artist Gabriel Torres -owner and tattooist at Shamanic ink- is back for another episode to continue our exploration of what it means to be a New Human. We discuss ...

I used to think thrifting was something you did until you could afford not to. When I finally entered the workforce, I remember thinking, "Finally! I don't have to thrift anymore!" But the more I bought into fast fashion and buying new, the more I started to feel like a f****ng fool. 🥴 In this episode, I unpack why. From the fashion industry's massive environmental impact, to the sheer volume of waste generated every second, I take a closer look at the true cost of convenience. When we sto...