Becca Stevens on Thistle Farms
Becca Stevens is an author, speaker, Episcopal priest, and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of Thistle Farms, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women survivors of trafficking, addiction, and prostitution. In this episode, we explore the theme of women coming together to support, empower, and collborate with one another.
About Becca Stevens
Becca Stevens is an inspiring figure whose life’s mission has been to create a supportive and transformative community for women in need, and her journey continues to inspire countless people around the world.
In 1997, Becca took a bold step by founding Thistle Farms, starting as a small 5-bed home for women survivors. Today, it has grown into a global movement that empowers women through healing programs, education, job training, and employment. It provides women with the tools to rebuild their lives with dignity and hope. Through creating beautiful handmade products—such as candles, bath goods, and skincare—the women in the program gain skills and financial independence, while also finding a sense of community and support.
At the heart of Becca Stevens’ work is a belief in the power of women coming together to support, empower, and collaborate with each other. Becca’s work emphasizes the importance of solidarity, shared experiences, and community networks in helping women break barriers and overcome personal challenges. Her message is clear: women are stronger when they join forces and lift one another up.
Through her books, including Love Heals and Practically Divine, Becca explores the transformative power of connection, community, and the collective strength of women.
Becca Stevens’ work has not gone unnoticed. She was recognized as a CNN Hero for her pioneering efforts with Thistle Farms, and she has been featured as one of Forbes’ 50 Over 50 Women for her unwavering dedication to social justice and women’s rights.
Through inspiring stories and discussions, we delve into the importance of community and solidarity among women. Whether it's breaking barriers in professional fields, sharing personal experiences, or creating networks of mutual aid, this episode highlights the power and impact of women joining forces. Join us as we celebrate the achievements and ongoing journey of women united.
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[00:00:00] Carli Patton: Today we have a very special treat. We have Becca Stevens from Thistle Fams. Becca, you are an author. Speaker, Episcopal priest, and social entrepreneur. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to have you here. So for anybody living under a rock in the Nashville area per se, can you tell us what Thistle Fams is?
[00:00:28] Becca Stevens: I'd be happy to. So Thistle Fams is a global movement now. And it started right here in Nashville, about a mile down the road from where we are with one house. And we welcomed five women to come in off the streets and just figure out what they needed for healing. And it was all women who had, um, criminal histories of trafficking, sexual exploitation, addiction.
[00:00:52] Becca Stevens: All of them had served time in prison. And so it was It's just like, can we do better as a community and can [00:01:00] we focus on a small group of women and really put resources in and make a difference? So fast forward almost 30 years and you know, it's hundreds and hundreds of women.
[00:01:12] Carli Patton: It seems like the superpower of Thistle Fams, both what you're doing with women in the houses that you make and bring them into, as well as the products that you produce and the jobs that you create.
[00:01:24] Carli Patton: The secret sauce seems to be community.
[00:01:26] Carli Patton: That
[00:01:27] Carli Patton: it's not just one person, that it's women walking alongside women, women helping women. And I would love to speak a little bit into you're very open about your past and how your past has informed the work that you do. But was there a moment for you where you were thinking?
[00:01:45] Carli Patton: I know that this is part of my past, but I'm not going to let it define me like people think. I'm going to let it define me in a positive way.
[00:01:53] Becca Stevens: Yeah. You know, I think there's a lot of moments. I think for everybody on that journey that's trying to move from brokenness into kind of [00:02:00] compassion or, action that there's a lot of different moments, you know, and I think, I think you're right.
[00:02:07] Becca Stevens: To begin with that. And, but I don't think it's a secret sauce. I think we try to blast it into the world. That community is the entity for healing that there's individual moments, but really when women come together, that's when the magic happens, that's when, the sum is greater than its part, but really, I mean, honestly, when I, when I got to the place in my life where I knew that I wanted to start safe community for women to find all the things that they needed on this journey to healing.
[00:02:39] Becca Stevens: It was because so many people have been kind to me over the years. I mean, I did, I started off, it was really rough. You know, my dad was killed when I was five by a drunk driver, the head of the church where we were going. abused me and it was some hard years in there and I got lost along the way, but.
[00:02:59] Becca Stevens: [00:03:00] It was really, there was so much kindness in some of the communities I found myself in, and there was so much forgiveness, so much love, and it was like, that's what I wanted. I wanted this radical hospitality where people could come in and feel loved and not be judged and not have to say, like, you have to do X, Y, and Z before you can be here or if you do X Y Z you have to leave but just like let's just be together. So yes community is at the center of it and community as the oldest entity This whole world knows for healing has got to be where people run to not walk Go run to it if you want to find And it's got to be a safe community.
[00:03:43] Becca Stevens: But if you want to find like, what is it that helps me figure out what my purpose is, what helps me see a vision, what helps me find the resources, it's community.
[00:03:54] Carli Patton: You say in your book that it is easier to say that no one knows me. Than [00:04:00] to let yourself be known.
[00:04:01] Becca Stevens: Mm-hmm .
[00:04:02] Carli Patton: And there is this tension right between trying to build a safe community and letting yourself be vulnerable.
[00:04:10] Carli Patton: And when you've been through some stuff, being vulnerable, it's hard for everyone, but it's uniquely difficult to let it all show. So can you talk a little bit about the power of vulnerability in community? And maybe you have words for people that just think. I don't have it in me. This is scarier than I thought it should be.
[00:04:33] Becca Stevens: Well, I can give you a recent story where I learned that again, because again, I don't know that there's one moment or one time. I think we relearn this stuff all the time and we have to be re invited into a space that feels safe and to be vulnerable in that space so that we can change. and love the world.
[00:04:54] Becca Stevens: But the most recent example, this is crazy, but we wanted to work [00:05:00] with women in Bethlehem. This was a couple of years ago. It was before the October 7th. And we wanted to work with women in Bethlehem and make, chalices. So, you know, that people hold wine in, people can do communion with. But the idea was we were working with these potters, in Bethlehem that were doing beautiful work and they were all about building up their community.
[00:05:25] Becca Stevens: The women were committed to that. And so that's when we go out and we invest and we work with artisans around the world. It's about, investing in women so that they can do the healing work of community. You know, all the data shows if you invest in women, you heal community.
[00:05:41] Becca Stevens: So how do we work with women who are the healers? So, we started the conversations with the women in Bethlehem and then October 7th happened and I thought, Oh, we'll never get these, chalices, these beautiful, they were, they're beautiful. They're white and blue. They're, they're [00:06:00] clay, you know, fragile. And then before Thanksgiving, I received about 10 boxes here at Thistle Fams and they were huge boxes and I didn't even know what it was.
[00:06:14] Becca Stevens: And we opened them and it was, The chalice is from Bethlehem. They made it through a war zone and it's when I noticed on the box that the Universal symbol for fragile is a chalice. It's that red chalice with a little line through it And I was like, Oh my gosh, that the same thing that we say is the universal symbol for something that's fragile is also this cup that holds like Grace.
[00:06:43] Becca Stevens: And that is, you know, the symbol of all that is Holy. And I have always been afraid of being vulnerable or being fragile. You know, that that wasn't part of my vocabulary growing up. And I was like, maybe it's my [00:07:00] saving Grace. Maybe the places where we are vulnerable will actually be the place that we find that saving Grace.
[00:07:08] Carli Patton: When I think truly loving someone is seeing all of the hot mess that they might be, what they might present or withstanding the pushback that you will get, because all people are broken and my husband and I call it kicking tires. Like I am going to kick his tires to make sure he still loves me. And if he makes me mad, I will like maybe fix it, but then I'm going to go back and kick the tires for a while and see if I can make him mad again, just to make sure.
[00:07:36] Carli Patton: We're good. I
[00:07:36] Becca Stevens: thought you kicked the tires before you bought the car. You've already bought the car. I
[00:07:40] Carli Patton: bought the car and I still kick them on a very, very regular basis, but I think that's true love is like having a language and looking at him and be like, sister, I know that you are kicking my tires. I'm not going to take the bait.
[00:07:53] Carli Patton: I don't love it, but I know that you're kicking my tires and I will love you anyway. You crazy, crazy lady. But [00:08:00] it's my imperfections. It's my ability to come as my whole self and be like. Like, I'm feeling vulnerable right now, I'm feeling overworked, my kids have worn me out, the community has worn me out, do you still accept me?
[00:08:11] Carli Patton: And that to me is true community, and that's one example, but how can we do that in the type of community that you've created? You have women coming in with so much that they have pulled into their lives, and most of it has happened from a young age and they don't know any different. How do you counsel them?
[00:08:29] Carli Patton: To let their imperfection show and that through that, true connection actually happens.
[00:08:35] Becca Stevens: The women that come to Thistle Fams are, they're in touch with that stuff. That's nothing that I teach people. They already know. Or maybe they wouldn't be calling. Right. I mean, can you imagine how brave it is?
[00:08:47] Becca Stevens: It's, I mean, it's why in the world of trafficking, I don't love the idea of rescuing. I think it's a lot of self rescuing. It's why I don't think anybody needs to pretend to be a hero for [00:09:00] anybody else, because I think the world doesn't need a bunch of more heroes. It needs good hosts. And that the women get to be the hero of their own story.
[00:09:09] Becca Stevens: And I get to be the hero of my story and you get to be the hero of your story.
[00:09:13] Becca Stevens: It's really beautiful.
[00:09:15] Carli Patton: And I think I'm gonna paraphrase, but when I was listening to Practically Divine, you said That's so nice, you did that! Oh, I You listened to it? I listened to both, Love Heals and Practically Divine this month. I don't I don't take for granted the opportunity to be in your space. You have a lot of people that want your time.
[00:09:37] Carli Patton: And one of the things that I think will impact me for a really long time that I've been unpacking in pieces is you said that we need less heroes and more hosts.
[00:09:47] Carli Patton: It said we can be the best host at the intersection of our gifting and our conviction, between what we're gifted at, or good at, or love to do, and the thing that breaks our heart. And [00:10:00] that's the intersection of being a hostess.
[00:10:03] Carli Patton: So I'd love for you to talk about maybe even a story where you have seen in your life or women you serve where they have found that intersection.
[00:10:11] Becca Stevens: I think the idea of being a good hostess is intention and things become beautiful and we give it the intention for, I hope they feel welcomed. I hope they feel loved, you know, like you can, you can feel it, you know, and, that's my hope is that when people come into this space and this community and we are hosting them, that there's, they can feel the intention.
[00:10:32] Becca Stevens: And I don't know that, the finery is required, but I do think. Also, people can feel lavishness. So I do think there's something beautiful about, offering people what they need so they can be full. But I will say that's idea of being a good host where our gifts and our convictions come together.
[00:10:54] Becca Stevens: There was a woman, that had,you know, just a horrible background. She was actually born in Brazil [00:11:00] and was in an orphanage where very inhumane things happened to her. And a couple came and adopted her from the US, and she came here as a, like, nine or ten year old. And then she ran away and got in trouble.
[00:11:13] Becca Stevens: And she came, she was out on the streets and then in prison and then came to us. And She felt so guilty and so bad about this gift that she had been given as a kid that she didn't, couldn't accept basically, that there was so much damage already in her life and she had to just run.
[00:11:36] Becca Stevens: About a year after she came, I had gone to Rwanda. And the women in Rwanda wrote letters to the women at Thistle Fams. And these were all women who had been convicted, who were maybe, some of them survivors of, of the genocide there in 94, but some of them just, just very rough stuff. And the woman that I'm talking about, that was here, read one of those letters and she was [00:12:00] so mad.
[00:12:02] Becca Stevens: On behalf of the woman that all this stuff had happened to in Rwanda. She was like, that's so sad. That's so hard. Oh my gosh, I can't believe that happened to her and I was like it happened to you. You have so much mercy for her But you can't see that that's your story like y'all are sharing a story in in a in very different languages But it's the same theme and all of a sudden she was able to see like I am convicted and I do have this ability to help.
[00:12:35] Becca Stevens: And I think that was the beginning of her being a pretty good hostess. Yeah. She could be a host at that point because she could be, she could feel like that, like, Oh my gosh, this is happening to women. It wasn't just me. It's happening to women all over the world.
[00:12:50] Carli Patton: It is interesting how quick, I don't know if it's uniquely feminine.
[00:12:56] Carli Patton: Sometimes I feel like it is, but how quick we are to, [00:13:00] fight on behalf of a sister or forgive the hard that they present to you because you know their past while continuing to chain yourself with regret and unforgiveness. And it's just like super unfair. Why do we do these things to ourselves?
[00:13:18] Becca Stevens: Yeah. Right.
[00:13:19] Becca Stevens: I don't have no idea and I don't have any idea of why it is. The world is hard enough without us being hard on ourselves.
[00:13:26] Becca Stevens: Let's, let's be gentle. And then maybe we can deal with the hardness out there better.
[00:13:31] Carli Patton: Hmm. Do you find the women that come to Thistle Fams, are they, by and large, ready to forgive what maybe they perceive as their part in the life they've been living?
[00:13:43] Carli Patton: Or do you think that takes a lot of time?
[00:13:48] Becca Stevens: For me at least, I can say, and it's been my experience with most of the women that I've served over the last three decades, is that just like there's not a moment, there's not a moment of forgiveness. Forgiveness [00:14:00] is a journey.
[00:14:00] Becca Stevens: It's not an event, it's a journey. And I think if people can kind of come to terms with the truth of the process of forgiveness, it's not like, I don't know if I can forgive them. It's like, well, just let's just start the journey. I don't know if I can forgive myself. Let's just start, you know, what does it look like to start that?
[00:14:19] Becca Stevens: And I think, it's easier to see looking back, like I forgave versus I'm, I will forgive. I think it's easier. Oh, I forgave them.
[00:14:29] Becca Stevens: point, I let that go or I cut that cancer out of me and I was free I'm freer now because I'm distanced from it. I have some, perspective, I have some safety built around me, you know, all those things that make forgiveness possible.
[00:14:47] Becca Stevens: For most of the women, it's like, forgiveness happens in, again, in stages along the way, but you get to revisit it as you go through other stages in your life. Oh my gosh, you know, I'm clean [00:15:00] three years. I haven't been on the streets or in prison. And now I'm realizing that I had lost 10 years of income on the streets, right.
[00:15:08] Becca Stevens: Or 12 years or whatever it was. And like, And you can't just make that up and you start to see like, there's still a cost that's being paid. I have to forgive that or, this extended family or this abuse happened or this happened now they have children and the children want to come see me. Now I have to forgive that.
[00:15:26] Becca Stevens: You know, like it's not like one thing because we have complicated lives. that we get to revisit forgiveness all the time.
[00:15:36] Carli Patton: Darn it. Isn't that the truth? It does feel like it comes in waves. Yeah. Kind of like how grief hits you in waves and you never know when you're going to get like a soft wave on the shore or a freaking tsunami.
[00:15:47] Carli Patton: It does feel like waves and I agree. I feel like forgiveness is in pieces and then you can look at the horizon and be like, Oh, look, there were two things in your book that seemed to be themes that I just, [00:16:00] gosh, did I resonate with them? And they are rituals and rants.
[00:16:04] Carli Patton: And
[00:16:04] Carli Patton: I feel like in both of your books, you kind of talk in and out about the power of both ritual and a good old fashioned rant in your life.
[00:16:13] Carli Patton: So let's start with rituals. And I have this, love hate relationship. I'll just divulge it now with the word self care, because I think everyone wants to be like, Oh, take care of yourself. It's fine. And I actually found your discussion about ritual and the power of taking care of yourself daily in your rituals that you keep in your life to feel like a more true version of the world's interpretation of self care, if that makes sense.
[00:16:44] Carli Patton: So, tell me what you mean by ritual.
[00:16:48] Becca Stevens: I think of ritual as, you take something you do and you make it like a, and make it a habit. And even the practices to do that become special and they actually hold you up during [00:17:00] hard times. So like maybe one of my rituals is how I make my tea in the morning, I put certain things in it.
[00:17:06] Becca Stevens: I let it steep for a certain amount of time and just the act of making tea becomes ritualized in my life. And so it's like, Oh, I can't wait to get up and get tea, you know? And then you have a really hard morning and it's like, I need a cup of tea, or you have a really good day and it's like, I'm going to make some tea for everybody.
[00:17:24] Becca Stevens: It's this, ritualization of just maybe a common thing. It doesn't have to be super complicated. it's a 12 step ritual to. get out of bed or something. It's not complicated, but there are things that ground us that get us back to grateful. You know, that's the thing is like, if you can get to grateful, you're fine.
[00:17:44] Becca Stevens: If I can get to grateful in the morning, I'm in good shape. So whatever it is, it's like, it makes me feel, ready to meet my day, ready to love other people. I think it's a good ritual. mine would be definitely a cup of tea [00:18:00] usually has something to do with knitting or water or walking.
[00:18:05] Becca Stevens: You know, a ritual is an an intention and it's something you practice. It's not like people can sayyeah, I do yoga, but really you did it once 10 years ago. And you know, it's like, oh, by that
[00:18:16] Carli Patton: definition than I do yoga.
[00:18:18] Carli Patton: Yeah, yeah, exactly. But
[00:18:19] Becca Stevens: it's like, it has to be kind of a ritual, something you practice ritualizing it, but. The other day, so I do, knitting, walking, you know, all the, all the basic kind of things. And I was on a walk with my sister and I've now learned I don't look when I knit so I can knit and walk.
[00:18:38] Becca Stevens: Stop. You can
[00:18:39] Carli Patton: knit and walk at the same time. So I was at
[00:18:41] Becca Stevens: Radnor Lake.
[00:18:42] Carli Patton: Can you like pat your head and rub your belly at the same time? Absolutely I can.
[00:18:46] Becca Stevens: So I was with my sister and it's kind of a slow walk, but I can, I mean, I have the knitting in my pocket, so it just comes out. I've got a whole system because it's ritualized.
[00:18:55] Becca Stevens: And I look up and I see an eagle and I'm like, it's the trifecta. [00:19:00] It's like, you know, this amazing bird that's a sign, knitting. And walking, like, what could be better? With someone
[00:19:08] Carli Patton: you love.
[00:19:09] Becca Stevens: With someone I love. Just thinking about it makes me happy.
[00:19:11] Carli Patton: Mm, I can see it. It's all over your physiology. But wait, what are your rituals? My rituals, oh, thank you for the question. You know, I'm a 5 a. m. riser. Mm
[00:19:21] Carli Patton: Because I have four little kids at home.
[00:19:23] Carli Patton: And so, I get up and I move. Mm My body. I had an eating disorder for a really long time and I have found healing in moving for moving's sake.
[00:19:33] Carli Patton: And
[00:19:33] Carli Patton: so I have what I do each day and I keep the promise to myself. Whether somebody's knocking on my door and doesn't want me to, whether I don't feel a hundred percent, maybe I'll like bring it back a step, but I always follow through on my promise to myself that I will love myself enough to move and Not judging it like I used to, but just loving that my body can.
[00:19:57] Carli Patton: And I switched working out to being an act [00:20:00] of worship where I thank God when I'm in a hard interval or doing something that I wish I wasn't doing, like wanting to cuss cause something's really heavy and I don't want to do it. I started praying like, thank you that my body can. Yeah. Because it won't always be able to.
[00:20:12] Carli Patton: So that's my, like, worship movement ritual in the morning. And then I have read the Bible through for the last five years. And there's something about returning to the same stories every year around the same time of year where it feels like I'm going a little deeper on the mountain every time. Wow. those are my two things that I can like, I always say, somebody has to go let me read my Bible or I'm going to slap somebody today and I won't be any fun to anyone.
[00:20:36] Carli Patton: So those are my rituals.
[00:20:38] Becca Stevens: But four kids, and they're that little, that's awful. Yeah.
[00:20:42] Carli Patton: It's awful. Well, let me say this, they feel really little. I had three kids in three years, and then now they're pre teen, teen, and I have a little guy still. So they still feel little to me, but it's busy. But I find myself in this season of life, if I'm being honest, doing a lot of things that scare me.[00:21:00]
[00:21:00] Carli Patton: Every week, I feel like there's something that I get really nervous about, like, speaking in front of crowds, or doing a podcast with someone that I respect so much, and these things that you almost don't share that you're nervous when you get to be an adult, because people are like, why are you nervous?
[00:21:14] Carli Patton: Then don't do it, right? And I'm a big believer of If you're not doing something that scares you, you're probably playing it a little too safe. Mm. but I would love to ask, you've done a lot of things that I think a lot of people would think are really scary.
[00:21:27] Carli Patton: Working with genocide victims in Rwanda and starting social enterprise and growing and even the hardest I think is just being true about your story and leaving space for other people to share their trauma, whether it triggers you and it's hard in that moment or not.
[00:21:43] Carli Patton: That's hard work. So, do you have any rituals? Before you do something that feels hard or scary that maybe they're not every day, but that help you
[00:21:54] Becca Stevens: I would say that the thing that brings me back to myself the most is [00:22:00] water That like if I'm getting ready, maybe this week I'm doing two weddings I'm speaking to a group and I'm gonna do XYZ on top of that preach maybe and it's like oh my god, I'm overwhelmed You Oh, my Lord, I can't figure out, like, where I'm actually gonna be present.
[00:22:20] Becca Stevens: That's what makes me nervous. I don't wanna just dance through it all. I wanna be present.
[00:22:26] Carli Patton: Okay. What about rants? I love that you wrote about how rants are a powerful part of your life, and you even shared a story about your husband trying to fix the situation mid rant.
[00:22:36] Carli Patton: One time you were like, I am ranting, please give space and recognize what this is. The sacred rant. I don't want you to. The sacred rant. So talk a little bit about just like the very human fact that. Every once in a while, you just need a rant.
[00:22:51] Becca Stevens: You know what I love is that when you can name it, it's funny.
[00:22:55] Becca Stevens: You know, like the other day I had in my mind a rant with [00:23:00] this, I really hate people who. try to direct four way stops. I know how a four way stop works. You know, I've been driving a very long time.
[00:23:10] Becca Stevens: And I was like, I'm going to rant for like, give myself 60 seconds to rant. And then by the end of it, it's funny. It's like, who cares if he did that? But it's just, it's that thing that comes, a rant to me is something that comes up when somebody like, this is something that drives me crazy and it's not that interesting and it's not that big a deal, but you just got to let it out or have somebody that will listen and say, Oh, it drives me crazy too.
[00:23:35] Becca Stevens: And then you go,
[00:23:37] Carli Patton: I journal those. I write them because if I hear myself speak, sometimes I'm like, Oh, pull yourself together. But if I write them, I don't have to hear it. And then nobody judges it. Well, it's
[00:23:48] Becca Stevens: kind of like in the scheme of things, it's nothing, right? It's the laundry. It's the way people put dishes in a dishwasher.
[00:23:56] Becca Stevens: It's the way that. like no one's ever, [00:24:00] ever changed a toilet paper roll in my whole house except me, ever in the history of humankind. And it's nothing. So it's like, don't take it that seriously, but it's really fun to every now and then say, Hey,
[00:24:14] Carli Patton: Mmm. Oh, you're speaking to my soul. Okay. One other thing we have in common, although I think that you are definitely more advanced in your craft than I am, is believing that creativity and the power of crafting I mean, I, like I said, I lived with my mom and I was back and forth to my mom and dad's house.
[00:24:34] Carli Patton: I love them both so dearly. My mom grew up with nothing. We had nothing. So she made everything. I, I didn't purchase a Halloween costume until I was 12 and then I really wanted a Cinderella costume and that's a whole other story. It broke her heart, but she made everything. We did all our Christmas cards together.
[00:24:52] Carli Patton: I want to
[00:24:52] Becca Stevens: say we made everything, but I always got false nails. I always got Leigh Presson nails because that's really all I wanted for Halloween was Leigh [00:25:00] Presson nails. Nice! And so she would let me get those. We didn't have anything either, but it's like, I don't mind if you make the costume if I can get the nails.
[00:25:06] Becca Stevens: The nails.
[00:25:07] Carli Patton: Oh, you are a woman after my own heart. And my mom would teach me, like, the self care, like the rituals. We would just make them ourselves. We didn't go get stuff. We just did it. We would put on music. I remember we would listen to Bonnie Raitt. Mmm. Mmm. Let's give them something to talk about, you know, and it was the two of us in our apartment and we would clean every week and then we would craft what we needed to craft or cook what we needed to cook.
[00:25:31] Carli Patton: And so I think your upbringing gave you a lot of context for being thrifty and making everything. But you really are kind of on a mission to save the world through crafting piece by piece,
[00:25:43] Becca Stevens: you know, creating as being part of the healing of the world. I've been in refugee camps and I think it'd be really inappropriate to say let me hear the story of how You left Syria.
[00:25:52] Becca Stevens: Let's hear that trauma people don't want to necessarily talk about stuff You spend a week in a camp and you are [00:26:00] beginning a justice enterprise with women And they start, you know, whatever it is for, for this particular group, it was weaving welcome mats.
[00:26:11] Becca Stevens: And we were using the life vests that they use. And we just, you know, sat there for a week and people are ripping the vests and the women start talking to each other and ranting. about things in the camp and then they start, they're still ripping vests and then they're sharing some memories and eventually they get to, um, kind of the hard part of why they had to have those life vests in the first place.
[00:26:35] Becca Stevens: But it's women talking to each other and also being super practical and functional, which is important.
[00:26:42] Becca Stevens: as a refugee, you want to be pretty practical and efficient. Yeah. And so I think it's not setting up,a separate trauma group, but creativity becomes part of the mental health healing that needs to happen.
[00:26:56] Becca Stevens: And at the same time, it's offering them a way [00:27:00] to get their kids what they need to, provide,enough money to get a decent attorney. Okay. So you can. Begin the process of being relocated, all those things. So I, I love it in that way. And then I also love like any group, I can go to any group in the U S and it's like, Hey, we're going to make, we're going to do this talk today and we're also going to make bracelets.
[00:27:23] Becca Stevens: And everybody's like, I don't want to make, I don't really want to make a bracelet and you bring out these. Amazing beads and even like kind of the vol, the volcanic rock beads that can hold the oil and say, you can make this for anybody. This is a H high valued bracelet and it's just, you know, you string it on this string, but at the end of it, we're gonna share who we're making it for and then people will start making 'em.
[00:27:49] Becca Stevens: And you can hear, the conversation start while people make bracelets and about who they're making it for and who they love and they feel super proud. I'm talking about men, women, [00:28:00] everybody. It just doesn't matter because the beads are beautiful we use and you make something beautiful with your hands and it gets you excited.
[00:28:08] Becca Stevens: And it's like, I can't wait to give this to my wife. I can't wait to give this to my friend, And I just, I love that in the process of making, we remember we're creative and beautiful and lovely.
[00:28:23] Carli Patton: Well, and you teach people crafts that are sustainable, that they can make a good wage with all around the world.
[00:28:29] Carli Patton: And then you even decorate with the crafts here at Thistle Fams. I was, I didn't even realize you were in the studio today cause I was so taken with the quilts in the other room. Will you talk about the quilts that you have on display here?
[00:28:41] Becca Stevens: Sure. That's a project we started about two and a half, three years ago called the Remnant Project.
[00:28:46] Becca Stevens: And it's the idea of telling a textile history of, Some of the first acts of violence the women know. And it's a way to educate, a lot of people about that story, and to put, [00:29:00] you know, a visual with some of the scars that people never get to see. But also a reminder that you piece it together and it becomes something beautiful.
[00:29:08] Becca Stevens: And there's life after that trauma, and all those things too. And so we have 12 quilts now, and there's, I think, seven different countries have participated in it, and we're gonna keep going, and You know, remind the world that, this is still going on, but also that the, God, the journey of healing is stunning.
[00:29:31] Becca Stevens: It's stunning. And that's what I want people to feel when they see it.
[00:29:35] Carli Patton: I love that. I would love to give you space because I've heard about Thistle Fams for years. I know a lot of people I know and love have great respect, but what is something you're working on right now or that you haven't gotten the chance to talk about as much as you wish you do, that you wish people knew about that you're doing at Thistle Fams?
[00:29:56] Becca Stevens: Well, I would say that I think people don't realize that Thistle Farms [00:30:00] is a pretty powerful voice, not only in, working with women who are survivors of trafficking, addiction, but we're also really good at what we make. And we distribute around the country. We're the largest justice entrepreneurial program run by women survivors in the United States.
[00:30:21] Becca Stevens: And I wish sometimes people took us more seriously as a voice in the world of business that is based on love, like a love business. We are a mission with a business and we're doing pretty well. And, you know, so many people say like, Oh my gosh, I love what you do. It's so inspiring. You know, and then they go buy their soap at Target, which, and I love Target.
[00:30:44] Becca Stevens: I don't have anything against Target. I give it up every year for Lent. I love Target. So it's not about that, but it's about like. If this is something that inspires you and you see the value in it and how we have learned the alchemy of how do [00:31:00] you take a candle and turn it into a house, how you take a body oil and turn it into education for children.
[00:31:07] Becca Stevens: We can do that. That, that happens, but we need people to, support and be a part of it and see it as, wow, they could, they could even do more if People would really support them and we should, we should be much bigger business than we are, my opinion. And I don't get to talk about that because I need to talk about gratitude, but I do think.
[00:31:30] Becca Stevens: You know, I want us to be seen as a successful entrepreneurial business venture. I
[00:31:38] Carli Patton: love that. Well, and that's what Spence and I are all about. That's what our foundation is about, is all about empowering entrepreneurship because there's something about the power of small business. Oh, by the way, it's the greatest employer of people across the country is small businesses, right?
[00:31:56] Carli Patton: But also, entrepreneurs remember where they came from. Yes. They [00:32:00] go back home and they educate and they take care of their own. And so, I happen to agree with you that I think entrepreneurship, These ventures, what you're doing in each individual country, each product line has a chance to change the whole world through one enterprise at a time.
[00:32:16] Carli Patton: One set of skills being given to one group of people at a time. And so that's the stuff that gets me out of bed when it's. 445 and I'm afraid and need to dunk myself in water.
[00:32:26] Carli Patton: Yes, you're jumping the water. Listen, you're doing it and you are so kind to invite me on this and I'm so grateful.
[00:32:34] Carli Patton: Thank you for being here.
