CNX Podcast
The Chiang Mai Community Podcast, where businesses, brands and interesting people get heard. Hosted by Ash Pemberton.
CNX Podcast
Beyond Plastic: Antoinette Jackson's Quest for Conscious Living - S01E11
In this captivating podcast episode, Ash explores creativity, social responsibility, and human design with the amazing Antoinette Jackson. From the lively streets of Chiang Mai to cozy innovation hubs, Antoinette, a pioneer in sustainable entrepreneurship, shares the inspiring story of Superbee - her eco-conscious brainchild in a plastic-filled world.
With the spirit of a seasoned storyteller, she paints vivid pictures of beeswax wraps and eco-friendly ventures, her voice brimming with the joy of dreams fulfilled and obstacles overcome. As the conversation unfolds, we're transported to bustling markets and peaceful spaces of innovation, feeling the passion that drives Antoinette to lead change.
We also dive into the mystical realm of human design, where Antoinette shares insights filled with wonder. She unveils the blueprints that shape our existence, guiding us towards self-discovery and empowerment.
This episode is a journey into conscious living, environmental stewardship, and celebrating our unique energy in life's tapestry. Antoinette Jackson isn't just a successful entrepreneur; she's a beacon of hope and advocate for a thoughtful, inclusive world.
Join us as we peel back the layers of this extraordinary journey, blending success with purpose and impact, narrated by the visionary herself, Antoinette Jackson.
https://linktr.ee/cnxpodcast
Alright, hello. It's only Antoinette Jackson. Hello Antoinette.
Antoinette:Ashley.
Ash:Thank you so much for coming on. You've just been a supporter of this podcast and a supporter of me doing this. And you were on my hit list. I wanted you from the very, very start.
Antoinette:Oh, I do feel like I came here for something completely different. And now I'm standing in front of the mic with the headphones on,
Ash:Actually, you're not the first person I've tricked into a podcast.
Antoinette:okay. I've been Ashlead.
Ash:You have. you're very well trusted family friend. We know each other for such a long time and I'd like to give you a nice introduction. So here it goes. Antoinette Jackson, sometimes known as Teacher Annie or Annie just generally, but for me always Antoinette. You are the creative director and founder CEO of Superbee. For people that don't know, Superbee is an amazing eco. Social enterprise that employs amazing workforce of women here in Chiang Mai and creates alternatives to plastic. Eco friendly, but I think you're most famous for your beeswax wraps.
Antoinette:Yes, that was the first product that I developed and launched that was like the most exciting part of the business, probably.
Ash:It's your core product,
Antoinette:Yes. Now there are other products that are taking over as well, like the Dentos Eco toothpaste tabs.
Ash:with a mixture of beeswax. Sticky piece that you can wrap over clean film, saran wrap, glass.
Antoinette:Sure, so it's a square piece of organic cotton, and then it's infused with a mixture of beeswax tree resin and organic coconut oil. And it's like a sticky piece of square cotton that you can wrap over balls or over food and it replaces cling film, saran wrap, glad wrap, depending on where you're from it's like a plastic wrap that you would normally wrap food because that's like a Use it once, throw it away, single use plastic that also breaks down into microplastics and that's what we're trying to bust.
Ash:Awesome. I would urge everyone, if you don't know about Superbee Plastic Wraps, to check you out. So now, you're a well established business. How do they find you?
Antoinette:So we have a website superb. me. If you put Superbee ecoproducts into Google, we're working quite hard on SEO so I'm hoping it'll be at the top. We also sell on Amazon, Lazada, Shopee.
Ash:And actually, we weren't particularly gonna talk about SuperBee raps today. I've got loads of other things that I wanted to talk to you about. I I know you as a keynote speaker. I brought you on stage at the Cross Borders Summit. Yeah, and that's just one of many events that you have been a speaker.
Antoinette:Yes, I'm a real advocate for social enterprise and for businesses to try to find ways in their realm to have social and environmental impact. I think it's really important.
Ash:I'm not sure everyone even knows what social enterprise actually means.
Antoinette:social enterprise, it's not a foundation. So if we look at NGOs or foundations, they function on a donation basis. So people will fund them to execute projects to help people or planet or animals. For example, there are a lot of foundations that are helping marginalized people, But a social enterprise does not rely on donation. They create profit and with that profit, they pay things forward. So you would then donate to local foundations or you can look for deficits in your community. It's like what you find for example, at Superbee, we are located near a fire station. And we had the opportunity to donate there and bring food and water and buy equipment and so on. And so that's what we did. And obviously for people living in Chiang Mai, the smoke is a really huge problem. That's something that people who have businesses here could also contribute to. How can they help their local fire station and then create some kind of donation for the three months of the smoky season. They allocate 20, 000 to make food or prepare meals or water for the firemen.
Ash:if I was to summarize that, I think you're just saying that you are a business with a conscience, like you just do good for your environment and for your staff and for everyone around you, is that right?
Antoinette:social enterprise is Profit. Profit is still important because without profit you can't do anything, unless you're a foundation who's getting donations. So you need to be profitable, but at the same time have an equal emphasis on people and planet as well. So a healthy balance of people, planet and profit. and then you don't need donations, but I do think there is a rising Consciousness, or people are being more conscious in their consumerism, like I hope to believe people are thinking more like where did this product come from, how was it made, how am I going to dispose of it, and ask more questions when they're buying stuff. And this is also part of our social enterprise mission too. Like a lot of what we do is educate because we have innovative products. If you see a cup in the shop, you know it's a cup and you drink out of it. You know what it is. But for our products, we have the beeswax wrap. So people might see it in a store and have no idea what it is or why they should use it. And a lot of our products are new to the market. So we have to invest a lot in education, not just about how to use our products, but also why. We all have to try and make small changes.
Ash:I've seen you in so many places around Chiang Mai, basically any event, any, community gathering. You seem to have a pop up stand showing people exactly what your product does.
Antoinette:Yes, I think Chiang Mai is great place. It's always alive and international and i think it's actually a good place to introduce new products into the market in Chiang Mai because you have people from all over the world and they can take your product home and, show it to other people. So I do think it was part of our initial success that we are in Chiang Mai and that we launched in Chiang Mai and we had such a huge support from the local community.
Ash:community. are at team and myself, actually we have to be 5
Antoinette:We are every weekend now at Jinjo Market It's a really early market up near Tesco on the superhighway. It's really nice. Even if you just go there for morning coffee and they have lots of like fresh produce and loads of like artisans selling all kinds of beautiful handmade Chiang Mai products. So we're there every weekend right now. And we just started selling at the white market in 1D month. we're at the Nat Fair every year,
Ash:you love about the Knapp Fair?
Antoinette:I love it that I get to hang out with my bestie Lamorna. So it's just, yeah, it's in Soi 1 in Nimman and I think it's like a celebration of all that is handmade in Chiang Mai. But if you talk to the people who organize that, like Lamona, for example, who I think you should also interview on the podcast. I think it's more than 20 years running the Knapp Fair. And way back then, there wasn't like Jinjai or White Market, not even Wan Niman, which has so many shops and markets and so on. So in the beginning, it was really this special event and people come All over Thailand to this Nat Fair, but now I think because there's so many other markets going on, it's a little bit lost in the, different opportunities where people can go to buy stuff, but I still think like we should support the Nat Fair because something that has such a strong history and foundation and knowledge of Chiang Mai and where Artisans and handcrafts have come from over the years. I think it's really important to support those people and not all the newest, coolest stuff.
Ash:We've talked about like events and we've talked about markets, but super B is way bigger than let me ask you just some quick questions. How many countries do you sell wax wraps into?
Antoinette:We sell to about 25 countries.
Ash:Wow. And I've asked you this before and I know maybe you struggle with it, but how many wax wraps do you sell a month or a year?
Antoinette:actually last time you asked us that at the conference when I was on the stage and I was like I went and looked it up for you, So the inventory basically it says last year, last financial year, I think we sold like around 150, 000 units,
Ash:about it with more, everything, when I look,
Antoinette:but that's not just wax straps can be other products too. And some products have two or three wax straps in them. we had a really good year got us out of the whole pandemic stuff. That was really hard. then we pivoted, we got into some US supermarket chain, one in particular, called Maya. that kind of made things a little bit more comfortable, and I think instead of just growing for growing's sake, I think I've just been tidying things up, and we're about to launch a whole new collection this year in September,
Ash:a whole new collection means new designs.
Antoinette:New fabric designs,
Ash:New fabric designs. Cool. Yeah. Cause you have so many different fabric designs. I know I've seen them. I've been a fan and I've been a user of your products throughout the whole time And I bought them as a Christmas presents as well for my family and they love them. But I wanted to give an idea about just how professional your business is. And there's one thing that I'd just love to talk to you about, the most impressive thing that I think you've done with your business. And that is you've attained B Corp status.
Antoinette:Yes.
Ash:Congratulations.
Antoinette:you so much.
Ash:How difficult was that? And please tell people what does that mean?
Antoinette:B Corp certification means you have the highest standard of social and environmental impact as a business. There is like a, score system. It took me more than two years to go through all of the paperwork and create a lot of documents actually the journey getting to that certification was highly valuable. So even if you're not ready to get the certificate now, just to go on the B Corp website and start filling out and you get like a score. it, Inspired me like some things they said how many underserved suppliers do you have and I didn't even know that was like a term But it turns out that most of our suppliers were underserved So we're going together with our suppliers and we work together with other social enterprises So it was like validating I think to see I'm really Having an impact according to these, very professional, knowledgeable people at B Corp. it meant a lot because we're a company limited in Thailand, and sometimes Thailand's not in the drop down. We weren't eligible for a lot of things, like fair trade, for example, was really complicated. It was good just to have the validation,
Ash:a lot of attention or a lot of business from other people? The reason why I ask is, I run Overnight Design, which is a presentation design agency in Nimman Hayman. And some my biggest client is B Corp certified.
Antoinette:Oh,
Ash:Yeah. They're an amazing management consultancy that are very forward thinking, are all about good growth and being sustainable. And since they've opened my eyes to, what this B Corp certification means. Whenever I see other clients who are B Corp, I'm attracted to them. I know that I want to work for you. Have you had people approach you and go, we want your product because of
Antoinette:Not so much. Customers as yet. there's a big community. So when you're in the B Corp community, there's a lot of like collaborations in marketing and introductions access to obviously lists of B Corp certified businesses if we were looking for new partners and so on. It's definitely something that we're adding to all our marketing and our packaging, but to be honest, now, like I don't have anyone. Particular reaching out and said, oh, we wanna buy from you 'cause you're a B Corp. But normally the social enterprise status that we have and we're considered like in the diversity program in the us, even just being women led. We've gotten customers through that.
Ash:what inspired you to hire an entire workforce of women? They
Antoinette:I don't know, I just think women, they synchronized everyone, I don't know, they synchronized better, most women would run your household. In a lot of cases, generally speaking, a woman would be the person in the household that is looking after the kids needs, the man's needs, he goes to work, he's making money, hopefully he's nice to her, but the woman is usually managing a lot of things and has quite a mental load and can really multitask and organise a lot of things. So I find Most of the women that I hired, they're all mothers. A lot of them here living with not only their kids and husbands, but sometimes the grandparents too. So they're managing this multi generational household, maybe even a village. some of them live in extended family situations.
Ash:you have actually hired a lot of local women.
Antoinette:It just happened naturally. I hired the first two or three, and then I would ask them, Hey, do you know someone else? And then they would know someone from the next village, or the cousin, or the uncle, and we would actually vote because, Everyone has to get on and sometimes someone would come and apply and a few people would be like, nah, or yes, or definitely, or whatever. So I would always make hiring. the team, it was a group effort.
Ash:that sounds a little bit like how I built my company.
Antoinette:it? Yeah, I think I'm more of a go with the flow. Like I never had a business plan and I've had to teach myself all kinds of stuff since the business kind of took off.
Ash:Occasionally, people that are thinking about coming into Thailand and have preconceptions of what a Thai workforce would be like, have said to me, how do you find running your business in Thailand? Wouldn't it be better if you had Filipinos or Indians or even South America? And my answer to that is very simple. It's I wanted to live in Thailand. So that's why I chose Thailand. I actually wanted to be here. And then the next question is how does that work with your team and your workforce? How reliable are they? And I'm just so delighted to be able to tell them that my team are absolutely awesome, I trust in them, that I believe in them and that they work so hard and deliver for me. In return, I think I give them pretty good employment contracts and a fair remuneration for their work, but we also have that policy where my team decide who we hire next and we trial them. We've had a lot of success from that. So when I interview someone and I'm like, Oh, I think you'd be a great addition to our team. They come and they work with the team for a week and ultimately it's the team's decision.
Antoinette:Yes, I think that's a really smart way to do it because they're going to be working closely together so they have to feel like it's a good dynamic. And I think it's not about whether it's a woman or a man or if they're Thai or Filipino or British or American or whatever. I think it's just as a business owner, you decide to establish a business here or there or wherever. in order to be sustainable, it's always better to have people who live there. and it's about finding people and helping them see their potential and making the right choices. So I don't think somehow sex or nationality plays a huge factor in my opinion. Obviously in Thailand, I need Thai speaking staff, so
Ash:staff, Thank you for talking about your business. i'm glad that we've got some nice conversation about that But now let's talk about some other things. Human design. Are you an accredited human design, Analyst. What does that mean?
Antoinette:mean? it means that I can analyse your human design that requires your birth date and place and time and give you some guidance,
Ash:okay, let me tell you how I felt about that and I think why people would be interested in It was like a massive relief to know, Oh, there's a reason why I'm good at certain things. And there's a reason why I don't like doing other things. And I've had so many different business coaches over the years. And the ones that I really like are the ones that kind of push me into things that I know I'm good at and things that I enjoy doing. I did a list once on one side of the paper, right? 20 things. bring you joy. And on the other side of the paper right, 20 times that you feel you've been successful. And I've just drawn some comparisons and tried to link them together. And it like really helped me define, this is what I'm good at and this is what I like doing. And I should do more of that. And when we talked about human design, you really empowered me. Oh, I didn't realize that I had superpowers. I didn't realize I was particularly good at certain things and I should do more of that. And that I could help other people with some of the things that come very naturally to me. So that's what I took away from human design. Is that typical?
Antoinette:that is why I became so passionate about it and became an analyst because when I first had my design read, I also felt so empowered and so relieved because I thought I was such a freak show before that. it's actually called the science of differentiation. So it's really on a basic level, the reminder that we're all very different and we grow up and we have all this kind of conditioning from our parents, what we should be, what we shouldn't do. How we should always behave, but it's not even possible for us all to be the same, obviously. And we all have our strengths. And this creates these beautiful dynamics between people, which is something I find so fascinating about human design is the quantum mechanics of it, where you can show the connection and the dynamic between people. And this is Okay,
Ash:Even though I've looked at the charts for probably over two years, they still don't make any sense to me. Can you just basically explain what the kind of structure of this chart looks like? And what impacts it has to different people?
Antoinette:on a basic level if you look at a human design chart, it has the chakras. So it has head and ajna, which is the two triangles at the top. And then it has a throat chakra. And then it has the G center. So that's about yourself. And then it has the sacral center. And then it has a base. And then on the two sides, there is an emotional chakra and the spleen, which is more about primal instincts. So all of these chakras, if you look at your chart, some will be colored and some will be white. if they're white, they are called like open centers or open chakras. If it's colored, it means they're your kind of strong centers that are always turned on and always consistent. For example, if someone has a throat chakra and it's turned on, it's colored, it means they always communicate quite smoothly and effectively. And then there's channels that connect those centers and they also have meaning.
Ash:Can you just give me a very quick summary of the main types of people that human design group people into?
Antoinette:there's something called an interactive type and people will often mistake this for the personality, but it's not true. It's more about how you interact in a group situation. So the most common would be generators. They're about 72 percent of the population. they're the real doers, the go getters go. And without them, we would probably still be living in caves. And then. another 20 percent is projectors, which are guides or support people. And then there is the manifesters which is about 8%, which is you. Also known as the initiator.
Ash:I love the way that you just give us like the stereotypes of these groups. So let's start with my one first because what I liked about it was like, Oh, I'm quite rare. That was one of my first like pleasant reactions to it. Let's just talk first about the manifesto. What typically does a manifesto do?
Antoinette:operationally It works better if they respond to something, an opportunity, for example. Whereas the manifesto, instead of responding to what other people want, so probably going along with others might be not your thing, but it always works out more when you initiate something. That would be. How it works.
Ash:Yeah. I was given that guidance and it felt very comfortable to me. It was like, I actually used to maybe criticize myself, but also get criticism from other people why can't you stick around? Why don't you deliver on all these amazing ideas that you have and all these projects that you start? And the answer was I get a bit bored with them.
Antoinette:Because you're not the doer, you're the starter. And the thing is, because generators like to think they can initiate, so they get really frustrated and they tend to really resent manifestors without knowing. Because everyone is jealous of them. They're really annoying because they just seem to like, start things and it just takes off. And then, they're like, how come he can do it? a lot of manifestos are also bullied at school. If you have a child, man, were you bullied They were all scared of you, probably. I've actually observed you like going to the school, let's say there's an audience and someone's performing and then you would start to clap and then everyone else might start to clap because you're a manifester and you start the applause. If I started to clap, I'd be clapping and Oh, nobody else is clapping with me.
Ash:in my head.
Antoinette:if I say, Hey, come on, everyone, let's go. They'll be like, Oh, but if you say that, it's more likely as a manifesto that people would get up and start walking. Do you find that's true?
Ash:I do find that true, but I'm aware of that now, and I like to use that to my advantage and to the advantage of other people, to the advantage a community or the well being and harmony of a group. I'm very motivated by making sure that everybody is happy, and actually I've been criticized for being a people pleaser.
Antoinette:Actually the manifesto, his signature is peace. So you just don't want to have any conflict at all. So you would probably, yeah, you might, I've noticed.
Ash:Conflict or
Antoinette:anything that's like very confrontational or conflict or not peaceful, you just don't want to know. you want to have peace. for example, the generators, it's about satisfaction. So generators really like to see a job well done or have a really yummy meal, they like to feel really satisfied. So every interactive type will also have this thing that they're searching for.
Ash:I also think of it in business roles just because the way my mind works. are the operations guys? Are they the generators?
Antoinette:There are two kinds of generators. There is the pure generator and then there's something what is called a manifesting generator. someone you want to like just put in his own office and send him tasks and he will get it all done. That's my husband. And then the generators tend to be more likely to delegate to others and be more operational and more of a team idea. I reckon a lot of like programmer IT guys that I actually know because I've done probably 300 readings and when I find programmers, most of them, they're manifesting generators and they can do things that might take me like eight hours, they can do in two hours.
Ash:hours, they can do
Antoinette:the reflector. It's a 1 percent the 1% ers.
Ash:the 1%. Magical
Antoinette:they're magical little fairies. So they have no defined centers. So Their whole chart is white. So all the chakras or centers are undefined. And so they just tend to go with the flow. They tend to be quite wise unique characters. I have met a few.
Ash:So you told me that you've done 300 readings. I know that you've done this for your family. How has that improved your relationships and your family dynamics? And have your children and your husband, do they enjoy knowing it or is it just for you?
Antoinette:it goes through stages. I think my husband finds it fascinating. It makes sense to him, obviously, a lot of things where I'm like, Oh, cause you're like this and I'm like this in our design. So maybe, we can. do it differently or whatever. I think for the kids it's quite powerful. I wish my mum or dad had have told me about my design when I was younger. even just to understand that I operate differently to others and just that reminder that we're all very different so we can't expect that other people are the same and that we have to treasure. I think it really promotes self love. I definitely love myself more after I realised. my chart and what it meant. It just made a lot of sense to me. And I'm also like in the 20 percenter group. So it was the projectors, I think Ra Uhuru, who discovered this system he calls us like the aliens.
Ash:I think it's a good thing if you understand your children more and know about how they think and you can talk to them and motivate them to do things because you have a better understanding of them. So for that reason alone, I just think it's a really worthwhile thing to do.
Antoinette:It's a great tool in coaching and understanding, the differences between your loved ones. with my son Noah, he was really interested and then he was in that teenage stage where he's oh, that's all stupid. But now he's really into it again. And I think it's helpful for him to understand who he is.
Ash:I guess some people, wouldn't like this and would probably call it a bit woo, a bit spiritual, unscientific.
Antoinette:absolutely. And I'm wondering if my husband knows that I'm talking about human design on this podcast, cause he's afraid people will think I'm like woo woo. And that makes me somehow discredited as a business person. I really don't care. I think we should all embrace the woo and the weirdness because, has conventional, life really helped us so far. I don't know. I think maybe we need to explore and discover energy and light work and all these other things now that we can, be exposed to on social media or even here in Chiang Mai with all the massive abundance of woo going on in Chiang Mai. It's beautiful. I love it.
Ash:I always try to do this. If people don't understand what woo means, because I think it is an American term.
Antoinette:Is
Ash:Yeah.
Antoinette:What's another word for woo? Esoteric. I think that's another word, maybe esoteric. according to my design, I don't need to understand things in detail, how everything works I just need to go on. I want to turn it on. It should be functional and I want to know the use for it. for human design, people often press me like, so, what's the science behind it, or whatever. I do, obviously, during my course as an analyst, I also learn about that. one thing that really It's interesting, it's how the moon affects the tides, for example. and how much percent of water are we? it's something like 90%, it's a lot, so we're mostly water. And the moon, is affecting the tide. So how could we possibly think that the moon or the sun or the planets are not affecting us? it's a combination of astrology, chakras, Kabbalah, I Ching and quantum mechanics. That's what human design is. So it incorporates all of that woo stuff. I just think it's really cool and people can make their own choice. And when I do readings, I also say to people like. You can believe this or not, they call it actually the seven year test or experiment. So once you've had a reading, let's say your reading is initiating is your key to success for a manifesto. Mine is wait to be invited. which can be really
Ash:really lonely.
Antoinette:if you test out the rules of your operating system that you discover through human design reading, and you just test it for six months, you will definitely find more success and positivity in your life. That's my experience and also people I've done readings for who take it seriously, of course.
Ash:Nice! When I was really young my woo woo sister put me onto a website called astro. com and it's very basic. All you needed was your date of birth, your time of birth, your location of birth and it would give you a big report. That was like my introduction to knowing myself what's the difference between doing something that's free on the internet and very accessible to doing a human design reading? how much more do you get from it?
Antoinette:there's a lot of free resources, if you're willing to research or look into you can really get a good understanding of who you are through those free resources, definitely. What I don't like is people who get into human design and then learn heaps and then do readings for people that have not been accredited, I find that really dangerous. And the other thing someone who is an analyst can provide is just a more in depth understanding of the whole chart. Because you can read this centre means this or that channel means this or this is my type. But to see it holistically, good analyst can do maybe a better job than the app. Although the apps are really sophisticated these days. And I also think an analyst can do a better job at sharing insight into the dynamics between couples or business partners or parents and their kids and so on. I think this is like something really worthwhile looking into.
Ash:So I'm going to put you on the spot now are you open to doing readings for people in Chiang Mai?
Antoinette:Yes. I don't like to be paid for my readings. Yeah. I don't like to go anywhere for my readings. So if you want a reading, you can come and visit me on the mountain. Someone told me off for that once, but I was like I like fruit. Donation is fine. If you want to like, bring me. Not chocolate because I'm trying to lose weight, I'm menopausal. I do them for free but you have to contact me and come up.
Ash:How many accredited human design analysts would there be in Chiang Mai typically?
Antoinette:I have no idea. I did start Human Design Chiang Mai, it's a page on Facebook, but I don't really post there. I'm so busy running my business, but it is my passion project. And I'm actually gathering some volunteers for a book I want to write. I'm not sure about the name yet, but, many people might know Phyllis Rawley.
Ash:When I invited you to come onto the podcast, you said, yeah, as long as we don't talk too much about business, can we please talk about human design and Phyllis Rowley? What do you want to say about Phyllis? First of all, let's just give people a little bit of a background about Phyllis. So I will always remember Phyllis. I didn't know her that well. But I went to her farewell party, which was at my dear friend, John Mitchell's house. And he's been hosting some amazing parties. And this one, everyone dressed up in white. It was a really amazing party because of the diverse group of people that were there. And it became a little bit of a landmark. It was like, Oh, you were at the party. Yeah. I remember seeing you at the party. So tell us a little bit. First of all, a little intro to Phyllis.
Antoinette:Phyllis was in my opinion, an icon in a way. She was somebody who really brought people together and I think that's why at that party there were so many people she told me this story once how she had done this ayahuasca trip and the ayahuasca message for her was that her job was to gather the indigo children. So however you understand indigo
Ash:I don't
Antoinette:I'm not an expert on the term, but I would say all the odd balls or misfits, maybe it's people who are functioning possibly on another frequency, who have really open minded beliefs. Non conventional people. her purpose in life was to gather the indigo people. She really did that. I went to quite a few women's gatherings with her and she connected a lot of women here in Chiang Mai. She did a lot of things that people, even those people present and who were connected, maybe don't even realize how much she was connecting and networking and introducing people to who they needed to talk to about all kinds of things like business or healing. And She was a very non judgmental person. She had a very interesting history and of course she died. So that party we had where everyone actually dressed up in white, it was, she was going to Ecuador. I think she knew at that time that she was dying of cancer. She'd beaten it already a few times. was sad to see her go. So I had met Phyllis originally through my human design mentor, my original one, who was from the UK and she was creating this event and she wanted him to come and he couldn't make it and he said, you should meet Antoinette. So we met and she really empowered me as a healer, and I was very inspired by her. She grew up as Military rat, is that what they're called? Like the kids of military people and they travel, move around the place. And then she was a dominatrix. I think before that she was a hardcore Christian, and then she became a dominatrix, so she was a sex worker. And then I think she came to Chiang Mai. she really inspired me. So anyway, when we first met, We had met many times and we talked about human design and she was very inspired by human design and we wanted to write a book together, a research paper basically. I don't know if I can pull it off but I'm starting to feel like in memory of her or to respect to her and our kind of dream project that maybe I should start doing that for as a passion project. I'm running the business and it's wonderful. It brings me a lot of joy, but I need some other passion project. to keep some kind of balance in me. I need some woo. So I've spoken to quite a lot of friends. I need 20 people to be guinea pigs. So I would not release any names or specific information into the book, but it's more about research. And I've got some volunteers. So if anyone else wants to volunteer, I need 20 people. I think I have about six already.
Ash:there will be a lot of people listening to this that are interested in it. Can I just clarify exactly what you mean by I need volunteers? You need people that you do human design readings for?
Antoinette:I would analyse the reading. It would, I'm thinking, so I've already created some kind of structure for this. I would need to do four readings per person. It might take a year or two with 20 people. Let's see. I want to do a research and that was what Phyllis and I had often talked about. she meant a lot to me.
Ash:Thank you for sharing that just so that I can understand the research paper or the book a little bit more, what's the title of it? Let me just explain why I asked that because you obviously haven't got the title. But a friend of mine, her name is Esther Jacobs, if you're listening Esther, this, I should definitely credit you for this. She has this amazing process where you re engineer, reverse engineer your book. So you start with the cover design, the title and the back page and then you put it out there and it's absolutely blank in the middle. And you put it out there and go, would you buy my book? And if the answer's no, and no one takes any interest, don't bother writing it. So it's start with the finished book and see what interest it gets. So that would be, write the title, what's the cover look like? What's the premise?
Antoinette:premise? But my purpose is not necessarily to sell the book. if I do cool. yeah, now you're saying like it should have a title and see if people are interested. I'm not sure that should be my motivation.
Ash:What's the purpose of this then? I
Antoinette:It's more like a. passion project than something that I think I'm going to make money from this or I want to sell it or put it on Amazon or anything. I'm not really thinking like that at the moment. I just want to do it and then see where it goes. I could still sell millions. Who knows? Yeah.
Ash:I'm with you on that. Sorry if I always try to put like a financial or a business slant on things That is who I am, but I do understand what you mean by that. Actually, that's my approach for this podcast. I Really just wanted to be creative. I don't know what it's gonna be. I don't know where it's gonna end up
Antoinette:this book is my podcast, if you understand like that and Superbee actually, Superbee was not really like I'm gonna make millions or I'm gonna do so many of these, I don't know, it just was from this place of I'm gonna make this product and I'm gonna sell it and it's really fun doing it because I wanted something to do and it feels good and then it became a business as well. a good place to start. With your passion.
Ash:Yeah, for sure. Let's talk about this podcast on this podcast, because like I said at the start, like you were championing this idea. you gave me the encouragement, even when I just told you I'm thinking about doing, right? I've always loved local radio. I love that community news and information and connections. So I said I would like to do a podcast with all of the amazing people that I know in Chiang Mai. because people are always asking me, Oh, do you know this person? Do you know that person? Or I want to recommend a person and rather than have to tell their life story every time, I'm like, Oh, you can just go to episode four or episode 12 or, and then they can get to know all these different, amazing people in Chiang Mai. And you were really behind that. You said, Oh, that's a great idea. But you picked up on one thing in particular when I said, Oh, I want it to be a community podcast. So why did you like that idea?
Antoinette:I just love community. especially because we're expats here, so we don't have like mum and dad and auntie and uncle and grandpa or whatever down the road. So I do feel like the particular, the expat community here, we're quite tight knit. Like we talked about how we've known each other for so long and our kids know each other for ages. And we come almost more in between friends and family in the middle, like that's why it's so good to support the community here and to celebrate the plethora of talent in Chiang Mai. I do think It attracts some of the most interesting people in one spot, definitely.
Ash:So one idea you were most enthusiastic was not just to do one to one interviews like we're doing today, but to do more group discussions.
Antoinette:Yeah, I love that in Australia we have a lot of those kind of panel talk shows, where there's more people, so there might be like perhaps, two or three, normally it's about three permanent people on a panel. And then you'd have two guests that come in each time. And sometimes you could call it like, a group of people more like having a chat about what's going on. let's say it's the smoky season. You could get like different people in to talk about it. Like the regular three people who are from the community and then bring in a couple of professionals about pollution or
Ash:I've got a massive long list of people that I want on my podcast. What's happened is a lot of people since they've heard it have said oh you should get this person on So the list is ever growing. there's more than two years worth of people There's more than two years worth of interviews here
Antoinette:worth of people. There's more than two years
Ash:trying to release one a week
Antoinette:release one
Ash:so I got ahead of myself before I made that commitment. So I had a nice buffer of eight interviews. And now I know if I do one a week, then if I slip more than eight times, I won't be able to release one a week. So I've given myself eight slip ups. But I'm trying to do one a week. And truthfully, I'm just now starting with the people that are most accessible to me and people that are friends and that are easy to talk to and that actually are enthused like you to come here to my house and do this podcast. So the list goes on and on and there are some quite heavyweight, as I call them, heavyweight Chiang Mai people,
Antoinette:me, what have you
Ash:people that have lived here for a long time, or are very well established in the community, or have just done good things for the community and set up businesses or set up networking events here. I don't know if we should run through the list. I'm not really sure if that's the right thing to do. Let's go for one last new subject.
Antoinette:Okay,
Ash:So Antoinette,
Antoinette:Yes, Ashley.
Ash:thank you for talking about all these different subjects. This one has been quite a diverse kind of mix mash of podcast subjects. And there's just one more thing that I associate you with, and that I know you're very good at, and that's finding property in Chiang Mai.
Antoinette:Oh, really?
Ash:Yeah, so if I wanted to find like a new location, a new office, a new home, I would always ask you. where's good? Where should I be looking? Do you enjoy looking for property?
Antoinette:I really love it. I wish I was a real estate agent. I think I've missed my calling sometimes. when we first came here, I would find places for us to live, obviously. And then new parents would come to the school and I just find places for them out of fun. There are so many great properties in Chiang Mai and all kinds of different levels of cost and place and so on.
Ash:your favorite places in Chiang Mai?
Antoinette:I love the 1269 road to Samoeng, i live on that road that's why, because it's my favorite. Actually, when we first came to Chiang Mai, we lived in Nimmanoradi, which is across from the big sea, and the planes used to just fly over the top of our house, basically, and we could wave to people as they went past. It was quite loud, and we stayed there for the first six months. And then we would go for drives, like exploring the area, and we would always go up that 1269 route to Samoeng, and we were always dreaming wouldn't it be nice to live here? And then eventually we did. It's different to MaeRim. MaeRim is more clustered with a lot of tourist attractions and so on. Whereas the Samung side of the loop I feel like is still very local and there's a really strong Thai community vibe. And actually before I started, the business, I wanted to leave Chiang Mai. Did you know that?
Ash:you were going to leave us?
Antoinette:I was moving to Uruguay. Yeah, I was moving the whole family to Uruguay. I did the research kids can go for free to school there, you can easily get visas, you can work there, everything, and I just thought the name was really cool and it's on the ocean and I'd never been to South America and I thought I could learn Spanish and I got really sick of living in Thailand and not feeling Immersed into Thai community or culture. I felt like I was really living in this very expat bubble. cause I'd lived in other countries before and I was really immersed. So I felt like I wasn't getting the experience I really wanted here. And so I guess through starting the business now I'm like on the local scene, in the community up there. And that brings me a lot of joy actually to. learn to speak Thai better and understand culture and eat a lot of weird food. come out of my house, I drive past a few elephants from Patara walking down the road it's just a beautiful drive. A lot of people will say to me like, oh, it must be, it's so far away. But actually back in the day when we would drive to Panyarin, for example, someone from Niman, would not get there faster than me, so you can spend 30 minutes in Chiang Mai traffic, which is quite awful these days,
Ash:Sure, and then what new places have come up on that road? I think it started with a whole new selection of quite nicely built, designed resorts. And now there seems to be new restaurants. it is a changing environment on that road, especially at the Handong end. Is that right?
Antoinette:At the Hang Dong, and there's quite a lot closer to the Canal Road. Now there's like a oven pizza place. a lot of people will know that road as the Lana Rock Garden, the Jai Thep Road, the Festival Road, that's halfway to our house. close to the canal road there's quite a lot of resorts and restaurants, more like Nampre area, but once you go past the Lana Rock Garden It's still Thai food only, like If you're looking for diversity in food, like non Thai food
Ash:much for that we've talked about today. Thank you. I know that you weren't particularly expecting to be put on the spot about all
Antoinette:just like to say I felt very tricked into it because I came here for Ashley to help me with my presentation because he's the presentation genius. I'm actually giving a presentation in the US later in the year about social enterprise and I need something very swanky and sophisticated so I was coming to you to talk about that and then suddenly I have the headphones on And I'm talking into this microphone and I feel very flustered.
Ash:You didn't come across that way at all. You've given us loads of insights, loads of interesting conversation about lots of different topics. So I thank you very much for doing this interview with me, and I hope everyone enjoys it. Ladies and gentlemen, Antoinette Jackson!
