This month, we wanted to take a beat and introduce you to Rasa's LGBTQIA+ prismatic fantastic fam, as we dive deep into pride, love, and our fave blends!
Lopa van der Mersch, Founder & CEO
Fave blend & why: Calm & Super Happy Sunshine - I had to pick two! Asking me to pick a favorite Rasa is like asking me to pick a favorite child. Calm helps me settle into my heart and be ready for family time after work, or slide right into a nourishing bedtime routine. Super Happy Sunshine (which we internally call just "Joy") tastes like liquid sunshine and I really notice how it helps me stay bright in the face of the challenges of running Rasa! BUT Y'ALL. Together?? These two are LIQUID MAGIC. I mean, who doesn't want the more "Calm Joy" in their lives?!
What Pride (deep down) means to me: Pride is a breaking free of the absurdly arbitrary limitations that modern society puts upon us as human beings. It's being who we are in spite of, and breaking free of, the structures of so-called "normalcy." It's rebellion, it's acceptance, and most of all, it's celebration of the variegated expressions of human nature and love in all its forms.
Grey, Administrative Support Specialist
Fave blend & why: Super Happy Sunshine is incredibly yummy (like a lemon bar) and makes me feel light in my body and mind!
What Pride (deep down) means to me: Pride to me represents a powerful combination of resistance, resilience and celebration. It's a time set aside specifically for queer people to proudly show up in their truest forms and be celebrated for doing so. The fact that we are able to have parades and parties celebrating the queer experience is thanks to years of resistance and resilience in the face of oppression. Today when I look around a pride parade, I see the history and strength that connects such an amazing community.
Viv, Editorial Director
Fave blend & why: Calm! I love Calm. Every since I was a little kid, I've had resistance to sleeping. I'm a high-energy extrovert who has a real hard time powering down at night. Calm helps me switch my gears and take care of my sweet self! Also, it tastes freaking D I V I N E.
What Pride (deep down) means to me: Pride is about being exactly who you are in a community that loves & accepts you. So many of us don't have that experience and that's why Pride is so profoundly important. My experience is that society is moving towards de-colonized, non-binary thinking: i.e., acceptance of all facets of being. Like an ecological system, human identity & sexuality is vast and fluid; when we are unified around that idea, we all win...and love prevails.
Pride is about being exactly who you are in a community that loves & accepts you. My experience is that society is moving towards de-colonized, non-binary thinking: i.e., acceptance of all facets of being. Like an ecological system, human identity & sexuality is vast and fluid. When we unify around the idea that all loving expressions belong, we all win—love prevails.
Ben Lovejoy, Brand Director
Fave blend & why: I love Bold, it's a little more energizing than Original, and I love to mix it with other blends. My two favorites are currently Bolderberry (Bold + Elderberry) and Jold (Bold + Joy). Moreover, Bold is the perfect energizer that doesn't give me jitters or trigger anxiety. In my job there's so much complexity, Bold helps me stay even-keeled and clear-headed.
What Pride (deep down) means to me:
I think it's super important to acknowledge that the LGBTQIA+ community is deserving of our love, acceptance, and attention all year long, and, I'm glad that Pride has become a time when all sorts of brands and media go out of their way to acknowledge and amplify queer messages. I believe in no separation, and that we are all part of one human family. That love transcends gender and sexual preference. And that when we focus on our shared experiences, for instance the experience of loving another, the things that seemed like differences pale in comparison. Pride is also a wonderful time to celebrate with my queer daughter.
Jenn Parke, Customer Care
Fave blend & why: Super Happy Sunshine- it's like a cup of warmth and love!
What Pride (deep down) means to me: Pride is by definition is a consciousness of one's own dignity, a feeling or honor and self-respect; a sense of self-worth. Pride is about building a better world, a safer more equitable world where all people are free to love whoever they love and be the truest expression of themselves without fear of retribution. I think about this a lot when I teach my children about love, about relationships, about freedom and equality. We have a responsibility to continue building and creating the future for them and raising our next generations to be open to all, to be open to themselves and to each other. We get to continue to create that world by choosing to embrace and show our Pride, by being who we are, by not being quiet, and by having a voice! I'm grateful and humbled by those who laid the foundations of the Pride movement so we can continue to do the work, we wouldn't be here today if not for those brave souls who came before us.
Amy Hayes, Designer
Fave blend & why: Spicy Rose Cacao is my fave Rasa Blend. I love the complex flavors, and how it warms my heart. As a working mom, being intimate with my husband can unfortunately become another item on my to-do list. I drink Spicy Rose in the late afternoon when I want to downshift/lane shift and find an authentic desire to connect.
What Pride (deep down) means to me: To me, Pride is about cultivating complete self-acceptance, and then giving others permission to do the same by radiating confidence and joy. It’s about not giving in to internalized homophobia, and embracing difference within ourselves and others. It’s about intolerance to oppression of any kind, and standing up for LOVE in all its many colors.