Welcome to this bonus episode of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast! Season 3, Episode 6 features Claire Jones and Amaranthia Sepia, the mother/daughter duo behind Sista Creatives Rising. The mission of Sista Creatives Rising is "To help creative marginalized women and marginalized genders gain accessibility and visibility in the arts to facilitate personal healing."

In this episode, we discuss:

• Our experiences with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and their impacts on our personal growth
• How Claire navigated a cancer diagnosis during the height of a Covid surge
• Amaranthia's experiences growing up in Japan and moving back to the United States, highlighting a stark difference between the two cultures
• How past experiences shape parenting styles and the value of creating a supportive environment where children feel safe to make mistakes
• Generational trauma, patterns, and how they drive us to change
• The origins of Sista Creatives Rising and Art and Mind, A FREE virtual charitable film & art event for marginalized women and genders
• Art and Mind 2025: Covid, Climate, and Our Future, which "will focus on these themes and their ongoing effects on BIPOC creatives who are homebound, disabled, and immunocompromised and how it’s affected their art & cultural practices while highlighting Indigenous perspectives such as Native North American & Palestinian experiences with displacement & climate disaster. "
• The challenges of running a virtual organization, including grant rejections and funding issues
• Collaboration, community, and accessibility
• The Sistas Uprising Fund, a charity project to help marginalized women & marginalized genders gain financial support through microgrants, created in memory of Claire's mother

I am very grateful for this conversation and the opportunity to get to know Claire and Amaranthia! I want to again thank both of them for taking the time to chat with me.

Tickets for Art and Mind 2025 will be available on August 21st, and the event will take place on September 25th from 6:30 to 9:30 pm Eastern time.

You can find Sista Creatives Rising

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sistacreativesrising/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@artmindseries9207

and Substack: https://substack.com/@sistacreativesrising

You can also support them via: https://givebutter.com/sistacreativesrising

If you'd like to support this one-disabled-woman-produced podcast, check out my Bonfire apparel shop. Items bought in the shop support the renewal of my Zoom license for recording. Many items co-support other chronically ill friends. I also have an Amazon storefront and I'll get a few pennies if you purchase your everyday items through the links in my...