We had the good fortune of connecting with Corinna Rosella and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Corinna, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
As of 2023, I’m going into my 6th year as a small business owner- before that I worked primarily in the non-profit sector in social work and health education positions with high risk populations. In 2017 I completed my masters degree in Applied Anthropology, and I felt like after so many years working with marginalized people trying to help them find access to resources within a system really built on exclusion, I wanted to take my skills outside of the institution and dream up something that allowed me to utilize my creativity and various skills in a way that felt both empowering and healthy for me, but also allowed me to reach a wider range of people. The first couple of years were extremely challenging but I was able to build a business mostly through social media and community engagement, and in the first year of the pandemic my business grew as more people began to show interest in herbal medicine and alternative forms of healing that acknowledged the reality that we live in a world in which systemic violence and oppression exist and effect us collectively and as individuals.
In late summer of 2022, I started to rethink my business model as during the pandemic it moved almost entirely online, and decided to take the chance on opening a brick and mortar. My plan was to showcase the work of talented herbalists and artists from around the country to bring it into my small, rural community, as well as provide tarot readings, workshops, art shows, and a fully stocked loose leaf tea apothecary so that folks can come into a welcoming place to learn about taking back their health with plant medicine in a time when so many are struggling with emerging chronic illness from long covid and health care systems are often inaccessible, expensive and stretched thin.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Aside from being an herbalist and tarot reader & teacher, I am an analog photographer, zine maker and former host of the rise up! good witch podcast- which as of last year now has a new host and direction. Being a small business owner means being busy a lot, and as a neurodivergent person living with chronic illness, making sure that I find fulfilling ways to be creative in my downtime has meant so much! My podcast helped connect me to organizers and activists who are also involved in the healing arts from all over the country. I’ve been shooting film since about 2011, using SLR and toy cameras to capture the magic of the desert, flowers, and mystic portraiture of friends. I’ve been making zines for 25 years now, starting with a typewriter in high school and now using analog photos, storytelling and cartoon drawings to document my life while using plants and tarot cards as narrative inspiration.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In Yucca Valley we are blessed with a climate that permits year round outdoor activity, depending on the time of day you go out. Close to town, I love the Pioneer Mountains Preserve, the hiking spots around Pipes Canyon, and just two hours east, the Mojave National Preserve is definitely worth a visit. In Wonder Valley, the Wonder Valely Hot Springs are a wonderful place to relax and star gaze, and The Palms provides a unique experience as a dive bar in the middle of the desert. La Matadora Gallery in Joshua Tree is a great place worth checking out, as well as the whole Art Queen complex.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to recommend the group out of Coachella, ECV No Se Vende, which focuses on fighting gentrification and creating new systems of community empowerment through advocacy, art and resource distribution. I had the opportunity to organize with them some in 2020, and look forward to seeing how the group grows and thrive in the times to come. Learn more by checking out their instagram at @ecvnosevende
Website: http://www.milkthistleyuccavalley.com
Instagram: milkthistleyuccavalley
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/corinnarosella
Other: Just made a Tiktok it’s @milkthistle.yuccavalley