Welcome to RAW Podcast,
I am looking forward to sharing all of the stories from incredible women across the world this season!
"Please note there may be trigger points in this episode."
Get ready to be amazed by the incredible journey of Chantilly Foreman, she is the founder of Apothic Woman.
Chantilly bravley shares some of her life story, from being an unwanted child and navigating the complexities of foster care, to withstanding an early marriage, the harrowing ordeal of her first daughter's abduction, and battling a rare form of womb cancer. But she’s not just a survivor, she’s a thriver.
Tune in to discover how her deep connection with nature provided her peace during these upheavals and ultimately led to the birth of Apothic Woman. This venture celebrates the healing power of plants and herbs.
Chantilly’s business isn’t just a moneymaker, it’s a statement of her passion. Listen as she shares how sustainability and self-sufficiency are integral to her business and how she is committed to giving back to the earth.
She opens up about the transformative beauty of the mountains and how they inspire her children's exploration of the world. Chantilly remarried her now husband of 17 years who is an absolute gem in her life.
Hear a powerful message she has for women across the globe, urging them to embrace their uniqueness and never give up on themselves.
So, grab your headphones and let Chantilly’s story inspire you, as she beautifully encapsulates the healing power of nature, the strength of resilience, and the joy of self-discovery.
With love,
Sarah Freeman
PS: You can follow Apothic Women on IG: @apothicwoman
Welcome to RAW Podcast,
I am looking forward to sharing all of the stories from incredible women across the world this season!
"Please note there may be trigger points in this episode."
Get ready to be amazed by the incredible journey of Chantilly Foreman, she is the founder of Apothic Woman.
Chantilly bravley shares some of her life story, from being an unwanted child and navigating the complexities of foster care, to withstanding an early marriage, the harrowing ordeal of her first daughter's abduction, and battling a rare form of womb cancer. But she’s not just a survivor, she’s a thriver.
Tune in to discover how her deep connection with nature provided her peace during these upheavals and ultimately led to the birth of Apothic Woman. This venture celebrates the healing power of plants and herbs.
Chantilly’s business isn’t just a moneymaker, it’s a statement of her passion. Listen as she shares how sustainability and self-sufficiency are integral to her business and how she is committed to giving back to the earth.
She opens up about the transformative beauty of the mountains and how they inspire her children's exploration of the world. Chantilly remarried her now husband of 17 years who is an absolute gem in her life.
Hear a powerful message she has for women across the globe, urging them to embrace their uniqueness and never give up on themselves.
So, grab your headphones and let Chantilly’s story inspire you, as she beautifully encapsulates the healing power of nature, the strength of resilience, and the joy of self-discovery.
With love,
Sarah Freeman
PS: You can follow Apothic Women on IG: @apothicwoman
Hello everyone and welcome to Raw Podcast.
Speaker 1:It has been a hot minute since we've been back on Raw Podcast, but you know what that summer time that is important to pause, and maybe for you it isn't summer and it's some other part during the season for you to take that rest. We pause Raw Podcast to come up with new creative ideas and to take rest as well. We need that to rest our voice. Wow, today I have a very special guest on here and I'm going to share a little bit of a story behind this and, as I bring her on here, maybe she can share some more about that too and what she saw.
Speaker 1:So I remember when I was not too long ago I think it was the beginning of the summer there's a market here in Kenworm and there's so many beautiful souls at that market.
Speaker 1:But I remember going to the pool and I was walking in and I took note of this one booth that was in there and it was like I needed to talk to that woman. Like I walked by and I double-picked and I don't really do things like that, but I knew in my gut that I need to stop and say hello, one that she was beautiful, like her hair is gorgeous and what she had this energy about her and I knew I needed to talk to her and then I saw her whole family there and it was like, oh, and they're beautiful souls and I could just tell there was such a solid, incredible connection with her family. And that's where it all started, where I was like I need to know this woman. And this woman's name is Chantilly Foreman and she runs this incredible business called Apothic Woman and I guess it was part of the name. That also attracted me to her as well and I was like what is this all about? So I want to welcome Chantilly on today. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's an honor to have you, and I'm just glad that we were able to keep going down this journey of getting to know each other.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It was amazing when I first seen you two, because you were actually the very first gentle smile of the entire season for me.
Speaker 1:Aw, it's funny how like the universe kind of connects people like that, and I think it's really beautiful. So thanks for showing up and being at the market, or else that we wouldn't be sitting here talking today.
Speaker 2:No, it was nice to be there.
Speaker 1:Amazing. So can you just tell the audience that's listening right now a bit about who are you? Who are you?
Speaker 2:I am a mother first and foremost. It's my number one job. I try and make sure that everything I do is centered around my beautiful little beings. And I am a survivor. I just continue to survive and evolve as a person and trying to show my children, which are all females, how to survive in this crazy topsy world.
Speaker 1:Wow. And when you say survivor, is there something I'm curious. I'm totally going off topic here, but this is what happens on Rob's podcast, gintilly. So, like, what is it about the survivor? Like, why that word?
Speaker 2:I think that it's really rooted in my very upbringing. From the beginning of me, from the time I was two, I was pretty much thrown into the deep end. I was an unwanted child so I had to sort of scramble to make sure that I existed. I lived in a very turbulent family where we were always on the run, always leaving, always doing things. And when I was very young I ended up in foster care, so I was being bounced around quite a bit in the system. So it was a struggle to keep on my feet and to keep my head above the water, so to speak. And then, I guess early on, I made some interesting decisions which evolved into an early marriage. My first marriage and my first daughter was actually kidnapped when she was two and a half. So that what really made me cling to my remaining children? As I had them, I knew that the time I had with them was not guaranteed, so I made sure that every moment that I had with them counted.
Speaker 2:And then life just happened. Life kept on happening. We had so many illnesses. My, my youngest was born with craniosinitosis, which meant that her, her actual skill, was fused together, so her brain couldn't grow. So at the age of nine months she had to undergo brain surgery and a cranial vault surgery, where they actually deconstructed her entire head and put it together. It was pretty intense. And then, on the heels of that, I was diagnosed with a rare form of womb cancer. And yeah, our life just kept on spiraling. But we never spiraled out of control. We just sort of became like a little tornado and spiraled into each other. So it was distressing, but a blessing at the same time.
Speaker 1:Wow resilient woman you are. Wow, thank you for sharing that Chantilly. That's a vulnerable story and so thank you for for explaining who you are and in the sort of like where that, where the survivor comes from, I mean, wow, yes, you embody that 100%. So thank you. So many like questions are coming out for me, but I'm going to keep flowing into the questions and I just feel like things are going to come up in our conversation here, so bear with me here. So how did it all start for you? The passion behind your business that's where I'm going to go today. The passion behind your business and like, how did that all come to reality? So that would be, you know, with apothec woman. How did that all come to reality?
Speaker 2:I found solitude in nature. I've always found that my only place where I could ever be calm and safe was when I was in nature. So at a very young age I started learning about plants and what I could, what I could be healed from, the healing power of actual just just what you call weeds around us. And they're not weeds, they're very powerful, powerful plants and urbages. So when I was diagnosed with cancer, I really started looking into how did this happen, which of course there's no real rhyme or reason, it's just sort of it's you.
Speaker 2:And so then I started looking at well, what can I do to heal myself and how can I stop this from happening again? And so I started really going back into my, my first love, which was herbology, and I started delving deeper into my understanding of the herbs and putting them into medicinal tonics and formulations. And that was really where it started. I started using it to start to try and heal myself. I did have to go through cancer therapy and everything else and I lost so much hair and it would not come back in patches. So that's where I sort of had to start trying to help myself. Thank you, I guess I'm sort of rambling here, but that was pretty much where my thought process was. I was just sort of trying to make sense out of the situation and to use the only thing that made sense to me, which was nature.
Speaker 1:And that's how a pathic woman came to life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, she came to life by just deep rooted in nature, the wisdom that nature has. It's so powerful, but we choose not to listen because the rest of the world has such a big, big, booming voice and it's so easy to get distracted when sometimes it's just the humble dandelion that can give you the most relief. And so it's so, true, it's so true, like I resonate what you're saying.
Speaker 1:And nature and being out I'm a lot like you too in that sense of being out in nature, whether it's by yourself or with your family, but there's so much healing out there, and so nature to me, too, is water as well, so I understand where you're coming from right. There's so much power in that, so much learning, so much wisdom behind that. Yeah, wow, yeah, 100% agree with you. Oh, and where do you find that? Like? You live in Calgary, correct? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So where do you find that in Calgary, that nature, that stepping outside? Do you have a favorite place to go? You know, I'd say exactly where it is, but like maybe the around the boats.
Speaker 2:Yeah, honestly, we literally make the drive up to Canaanasasas and to Canmore. As much as we try and go down to the local beauty spots, it's not really the same. There's just something special, something very, very special about the mountains.
Speaker 1:And what is that, that specialness for you in the mountains, and maybe there's a place in the mountains for you. You gravitate to more than others.
Speaker 2:No, no, no particular place. In general, it's just the feeling, it's the air, the way the air circulates, that cursedness. There's just this energy. It's beautiful up there. I love being so close to what was unspoilt sometimes and you just go off a beaten trap a little bit and you just find these perfect little spots of beauty. And it's not perfect as in the world's idea of perfect, it's just so perfectly imperfect that it's just amazing and I just love those.
Speaker 2:And it's also it brings it back to the kids too, just watching their face, watching how they discover it, and just discovering the world through their eyes as well. It's just, it's humbling.
Speaker 1:There's so much to learn there too, like seeing that through their eyes, through a child's eyes, out in nature. I know my stepdaughter. She in nature, like, she talks to the trees, like, and then we start doing that. Right, it's just this beautiful like thing that transpires. Right, it's taking it back, it's play too, but it's yeah, it's beautiful. We can learn a lot from our kids. So I Think so, yeah, okay, onto the next question. What is your story that you hold close to your heart? And I feel like you've you've said some, you've definitely Drove into that the beginning, but like the story that connects to who you are and what you do as a rad, active woman, is there anything else you want to add to that story that relates to your business, your family's business, a Pothic woman.
Speaker 2:Well, for us, it's just really everything that we do here. It's going to be something that we would use for ourselves. It all has to be. It's not just commercial. We're not trying to do just making a dollar. It's not about that. It's about giving back as well. We try and Keep everything as clean as possible, because I've always believed that the earth is. It gives so much and we don't give anything back. It's just awful, and so we try. We make sure that we plant a tree for every part that we sell as well. But it's really about teaching my children how to Be self-sufficient, teaching my children how you know, just to make something from what appears to be nothing and I Don't know, I don't know. I don't think that really answered your question. It was just sort of the whole idea here, behind a Pothic woman, it's the yelp, it's the apocrythere, it's how to turn this handful of Herbs or weeds into healing. So for Different things that we have, it heals it in different ways. So it's a holistic approach.
Speaker 1:So, oh, you answered it beautifully. That's how you're supposed to answer it. So that was amazing, thank you. Um, what is your one wish for women who are listening to us right now to carry Into their future as a rat, active woman.
Speaker 2:My one wish is to never give up on yourself. It's don't don't stop listening to that small voice inside you and never feel as though you're somehow unworthy or that things that happened to you in your past or things that you've done when you didn't know any better, these are not things that defy you, that they don't define you at all. Like you, they were things that happened before. Yeah and it's so important to move on and to love yourself regardless.
Speaker 1:Beautiful, beautiful. Thank you, hey. Next one what is your one ripple effect that you Would like to create or maybe you already are creating for women in the world?
Speaker 2:the one ripple effect, I think, is we're trying to really jump on to the natural beauty bandwagon, where you don't have to be something else Because you know what we're doing, what we, what we like. Our whole thing is about being the best you. It's not being anything other than the best you. So if you've got curly hair or straight hair or this hair or no hair, or if you know it doesn't matter, it's just. In my family we always believe that you are an individual. You are a masterpiece. There's nothing that will ever be like you. So Embrace it. It's beautiful and that's what we try and do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can see that in your family, like when I've seen you at markets and in Canmore and in Banff. I can see that, I can feel it. Actually you don't even have to say, I can just see it. So you, just your family embodies that as a red, active woman, would you like to own your voice in other communities, and it could be, it could be like local, it could be bigger than that. But is there a place where you would like to own your voice more?
Speaker 2:Share your voice to share my voice more. I think the whole idea of sharing my voice is is is Terrifying. It scares me, but at the same time I believe I've gone through so many Things that I can't just sort of let it be for nothing. Surely there's someone out there who's had an early hysterectomy, who know their path to having a family is now closed, or who's struggled watching their children go through these surgeries, or who's lost a child. These women need to know that there's after, it's not just now, that life does go on, even though you don't want it to think of it at the time. So if I could ever be of any kind of help to anyone in any situation, I would love to.
Speaker 1:I'm like right now. I just want to just celebrate you to saying coming on raw podcast and sharing your voice and your wisdom out into the world to other women that are listening, and I know some of the women that are listening will resonate and will relate to some of the things that you're saying right now and they'll be like, yeah, their heart will be. Yeah, I know that's going to happen. So thank you for being brave today.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you. Thank you for giving me an opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So the last question, and this is a hard one, but you know what I'm going to compromise with you a little bit on this one, and you'll understand why when I say it. So can you give a shout out to one rad active woman and why. Why I will compromise with the one if you want.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness. Okay, the first woman that comes to mind is a friend I've had for ever and ever. Her name is Lisa Calhue. She lives on the Isle of White, is teeny, tiny little island off the mainland of England, and she is also a rad, active woman, and reason beings because she's had to be everything. I have watched her struggle as her husband nearly died of cancer. I've watched her and during the time she was full pregnant with her her youngest child it was it was insane, but through it all she's been, always had a you know, a pep in her step and she's always made me accountable, sometimes when I felt like, oh, you know, I just I don't know, I don't know if I should really try and do this. She's always been there to try and be like, you know you really should. So I would say it would be Lisa Calhue from the Isle of White.
Speaker 1:Oh, beautiful. Well, I'm sure Lisa's receiving this and we'll hear this. So thank you for sharing that so Chantilly. Thank you so much for being on Raw Podcast, for sharing your voice, your wisdom again, your stories, vulnerability. I really feel like this is the first step to something bigger that you may choose to go down. So thank you so much for being here. Keep shining your light out in the world.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you again for having me. Thank you so much, and you're wonderful.
Speaker 1:Aww, thank you. Thank you so much, shantilly, for being on Raw Podcast. My, wow I'm actually a lost for words right now To start off the season with so much wisdom and vulnerability. And Wow, you are a survivor and you are going out into the world and you're sharing your story gracefully. There's just so much to be said about this interview and I am just so honored to have had you on here as my first guest of the season. We're just getting started and I am grateful for you. So thank you for sharing your wisdom, your vulnerability and just showing up for you. I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1:Okay, everybody out there. Thank you so much for listening and thank you for being here and holding this space here, whether you're here in person, necessarily, but you're ahead in the world and you're holding that space for all of us and all of the incredible women in the world, no matter what you're going through. You know a lot of what Shantilly said in this interview. There's so much wisdom in here, coming from the nature to be the best you to never give up on yourself, and that you're worthy. You're so worthy of everything that you want in your life. The perfectly imperfect I have that on my phone. Yeah, be perfectly imperfect, do fail, get back up, learn and share that with other women in the world. Share that with your children, whoever it is that you think that needs that. I see that has a massive form of kindness. So thank you everybody for being on here, and I also just wanted to dive into something a little bit is I wanted to give a shout out to Shantilly and her family around the products that they share, and we didn't really dive into that necessarily in the podcast and that wasn't the natural flow where it was going and I wanted to share how much I embody her products and because I love them. They're naturally coming from the earth, they're all of that stuff. They smell like divine and they work. And there's something about one of the products she has that you use for your scalp and I find it's it's. It's, yes, it's about the product, but it's about like taking care of your scalp and like literally giving yourself a massage your brain and taking care of your soul. So check out her products. I'll leave it in the show notes for you to reach out to purchase.
Speaker 1:She's in Bath this weekend at a two to eight market I don't know the name of it Harvest Market, I think, and check that out. She is there, a Pothic Woman. Go and say hello to her beautiful family and her. So thank you everybody for listening to raw podcast. Like you know, wait for the next woman to come on. Think water, think mermaids, think all of that fun stuff. I cannot wait for this amazing season. If you know a rad, active woman in your life that should be on here, point her my direction and let's make that happen. Keep eating the beautiful soul you are and have a beautiful day.