Fresh Loaf

In 2004, Maria Rivers launched Labrys Atlanta, the only lesbian-centric publication in the city at the time. This year, she shifted Labrys from print to an online ’zine and social networking site.

When did you start Labrys?
June 18, 2004, we had our launch party at what was then known as the Red Chair. It started out that the Red Chair was all male, and I begged them to let me have a Thursday. They were so reluctant [at first]. There were over 600 women there. It was jammin’.

What was your idea behind the publication?
I guess the main reason was that the women’s community needed a presence. When I moved here in 2003, I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t know where to meet them besides going to My Sister’s Room, and that was it.

I got in touch with the only woman who had started a publication, and she was like, “Why? Why are you starting a women’s publication? They won’t support you in this.” She was just totally bitter. And I’m like, “There’s a shift, there’s a change in this world and we have to embrace it, and I believe we can make it this time!”

(more…)

Bookmark It

Serving as a body double for everything from zombies to young boys, Atlanta’s Elizabeth Davidovich is used to getting into character. Her work is inspired by films such as The Matrix and Kill Bill, and she’s well versed in tumbling and hand-to-hand combat. Don’t let her small stature fool you; she can suffer a fall just like the boys.

How did you become involved in stunt work?
I have a background in competitive gymnastics and have always been athletic. One day, I just decided I just decided that I wanted to do stunt work. I believe in the law of attraction, that once you set your mind to something you become more aware of opportunities to do the things you want. I went on an audition for something completely different from stunt work; the audition was held at a martial arts studio. I completely kicked major ass, and the instructor who worked at the studio said I should  audition for the Black Knight stunt team. That was a week to the day I first said I wanted to do stuntwork.

How long have you been in your field?
I’ve been doing stuntwork for five years now. I’m expecting my career to last at least eight to 10 more years. I feel I have an edge, because my athletic background. Plus, someone that I really admire, Zoey Bell, has been able to keep working in stunts as she gets older. I’d like to accomplish the same. Eventually, I want to become a stunt coordinator.

Do you feel that the stunt industry is different for women?
Men and women all have to be able to do the same stunts. The first five or six films I did, I actually doubled for guys. The first was an 11-year-old boy. That made sense to me, but somehow after that I kept getting typecast as the one to double for little boys. That was hard on the ego.

(more…)

Bookmark It

After getting fed up with organized sports being such a boys club, Anne Barr took it upon herself to create an intramural crew specifically for women: the Decatur Women’s Sports League. Since 2007, the league has spread the love of softball, basketball, tennis, volleyball, badminton and bowling to over 1,000 budding athletes in the greater Atlanta area.

How did you start the Decatur Women’s Sports League?
Some girls that I knew from church asked me to coach softball for them, because they knew of my sports background. After we started having games, I decided then that I was going to start my own league for the city of Decatur. On our opening day, I saw 200 lesbians with grins on their faces coming over the hill. That was about two and half years ago.

How many women are in the league?
We have 1,000 women playing six sports, which are softball, bowling, tennis, volleyball, badminton and basketball.

What was your personal motivation for getting involved with sports again?
I’m a recovering alcoholic, I’ve been sober for eight years now. Creating this league was a chance for me to have a place for people to come and have fun. Having all these people depending on me keeps me sober and it reminds me why I’m doing all of this.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Whatever you do, don’t call Freddy O the paparazzi. Though he’s had run-ins with celebs from Kanye to Beyonce, Freddy says he merely captures images and subjects that are relevant to the times.

How did you get started?
I worked for V-103 for about two years. During that time, I was also a producer for Jermaine Dupri. And I’m an artist, so I would have arts shows and worked with the National Blacks Arts Festival and other events around Atlanta. I was trying to figure out a way to make more money, and I’m not a very focused person, per se, so I decided to just go buy a camera. I started taking pictures around the radio station, and then one day 50 Cent came into the station. It was during the time he and Kanye West were having their fake beef, and he had a teddy bear with him that he was calling Kanye. I took a picture of him with the bear, and soon all the blogs were requesting my photo because they had seen it online. It pretty much started from there.

Have you ever had a negative run-in with a celebrity?
Oh my God, yes. In this business, especially now that I have my own blog, celebrities immediately recognize me by face. I had a run-in with Kanye West a little before his mother passed away. He was at a bowling alley here in Atlanta. I didn’t even know he was going to be there, but when I saw him I took out my camera to take my three pictures. As I was walking out, Kanye ran up to my car and was saying, “Don’t disrespect me.” The funny thing about it was, later that night he took a whole lot of pictures at the Velvet Room.

(more…)

Bookmark It

As a professional food stylist who’s worked for feature films and for Coca-Cola, Arby’s, Krystal’s and Publix, Atlanta’s Maureen Allaben is a makeup artist for all things edible. Her dishes certainly look delicious, but be careful — they’re not always what they seem.

Explain the term food stylist.
I’m the person that makes food ready to be photographed for either print, television or a film.

How did you begin your career?
Once I graduated from college, I began working as a photo assistant. Pretty soon after that, the photographers I was working for started asking me to help the food stylist on set. One day the food stylist didn’t show up, and I got the opportunity to do it myself.

What is your process for food styling?
Let’s say for example that I’ve been hired by a pie company to style pies. The night before the shoot, I would make a dozen mashed potato pies. The day of the shoot, I would bring the mashed potato pies to the set and remove the potato and insert whatever type of filling the company was promoting. I’ve done similar things for Thanksgiving shoots that require a turkey. I can take a frozen turkey and make it look cooked in an hour. Of course, it’s completely inedible, but the point is to make it look good for the photograph.

(more…)

Bookmark It

A self-proclaimed “car man,” Richard Grosvenor of Atlanta is an auto-repossesor. The 15-year industry veteran is president of Speedy Recovery Servics Inc, a repossession company that specializes in cars and watercrafts.

How did you get started doing auto repossessions?
About 16 years ago I had a friend of mine that had a towing service. He asked me to come with him while he was doing a repossession of a car. I’m a bit of a thrill seeker so I agreed to go. We went, but had no success finding and recovering the car. After that I said to him that he really needed to get more information on these people so he could be more successful in recovery. I had worked at a gas station towing vehicle and I also had experience working in auto mobile collision so I told him to give me the information he had and I would work on the cases. We went back a few days later after I made some phone calls and repossessed three cars all in the same night. From there, I purchased my own truck and started my own auto repossession business.

Describe a typical day at work.
Well, first, every morning I go to Dunkin Donuts to get my cup of coffee. Then I call into the office on my way in to ask what the numbers are in recoveries for the day. Then I see if there are any fires to put out, such as someone who has had their vehicle repossessed and is complaining about wanting their property inside the car. I pay some bills. I still do repossessions even though I’m the owner because I like to be very hands on. I also do watercrafts, motorcycles. I had my first plane a few months ago.

(more…)

Bookmark It

“What y’all have?” Louis Jones has heard this greeting nearly every day for 57 years. Born and raised in Atlanta, Jones has served up chili dogs and frosted oranges at the downtown Varsity since before the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

What is the first you do when you come into work at the Varsity?

I have to get the curb set up and get ready to wait on tables. We have to be ready to roll at 10 am.

What made you choose to work at the Varsity? And what made you stay here for so long?

The Varsity was a place that everyone worked at. During the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, this was the place to come if you wanted to make some fast money. And a lot of the time, we had a lot of young ladies that worked here, too, so that was another reason.

How has Atlanta changed since you started working at the Varsity?

Everything we have now in Atlanta is just about brand new. Atlanta used to be nothing but a country town. There was nothing here but red mud. During the days that I was coming up, we raised our own chickens and plowed the fields

(more…)

Bookmark It

Atlanta’s Brianna MacDowell offers training in a rather unusual form of exercise. As a pole dance instructor at Dance 411 studios, MacDowell transforms bodies while simultaneously increasing sex appeal.

What do you think are the greatest benefits of pole dancing?
Burning calories and building strength, because it’s definitely a lot harder than people think it is. It’s also a big confidence boost for women. It helps you come out of your shell. It makes you feel sexy and womanly and sensual.

What are the women like who attend your classes?
They are everyday women. People always ask me, “Do you get a lot of strippers?” We never really get exotic dancers. We get everyday women, working women, doctors, professionals, and executives. Some of them are married and have kids, then there are some that are single doing it for themselves — or for their boyfriends.

What do you think is one of the biggest misconceptions about pole dancing?
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people call the pole the “stripper pole.” It is not a stripper pole. It’s a pole. Over in Europe, it’s an art form. You keep your clothes on. It’s not even associated with strip clubs in places like Europe and Australia. They even have it in Cirque Du Soleil. Being in America — and especially Atlanta — the majority of people unfortunately associate it with strip clubs.

(more…)

Bookmark It

As manager of PAWS Atlanta, one of the city’s largest no-kill animal shelters, Philip Smith knows how much work it takes to turn abused and abandoned animals back into man’s best friends.

How do most animals find their way to PAWS?

For the most part, we try to get our animals from kill facilities. These places end up with a lot of injured animals, and unless we can bring them in, they’re just sitting there waiting for their time to be killed. We try to do what we can to give them the life they deserve.  All together, that probably makes up 75 percent of our animals. Others are dire cases, like the dog we found that was hit by a lawn mower. And about 20 percent are animals that people surrender to us.

We try to help as many people as we can — but unfortunately there are limits to how many animals we can take in, which is why we won’t take in litters of kittens whose owner hasn’t had their mother spayed. We know that the owner will be back here a year later with the same problem.

What condition are most animals in when they first arrive at PAWS?

We get a lot of abused animals. Ninety-nine percent of them are scared out of their minds, and it takes a lot to get them to where they can trust humans again.

(more…)

Bookmark It

“I’m just a boy in pumps.” These are the humble words of Derek J, who’s tamed tresses for music videos, hair competitions and local celebrities — including the ladies of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

How did you get started?
I’ve been doing hair now for 10 years. My aunt used to do hair out of her house, so I used to watch her. I liked the transformation of women. You would see a woman come in and she was having a bad day, and then she would get her hair done and feel so much better. With a woman, when she has a physical change she has an emotional change.

Where would you say your inspiration for your style comes from?
If I want to come to work with some booty shorts on and have an off-the-shoulder top with some thigh high boots, that’s what I’m going to do. When I first started wearing heels, I would wear them with a dress slack so you couldn’t really tell I had a heel on. Then I moved to skinny jeans. I used to say I will never wear my toes out, and then I put on a peep-toe. It’s about pushing the envelope and seeing how people respond. To see people’s reactions and their acceptance makes me strive to do more

(more…)

Bookmark It

A concept designer for a video game company by day, Atlanta’s Tim Mack performs death-defying acts by night. Mack is a “fire artist” — but his scariest endeavor to date has been working as an animator on a low-budget film for the late Anna Nicole Smith

How did you begin working with fire?
I actually started from going to a lot of raves when I was a kid. At these parties, there were people with strings with glow sticks on the end, and I started being one of those people at the raves for a while. Then I went to Italy for a couple of months, and while I was there I met a gentleman who worked with fire. Of course, glow sticks aren’t boring — but fire is much more exciting.

Are you ever afraid?
It is in some ways intimidating, because it’s a ball of fire around you. But if you give into that fear, then you can’t really do anything. When you just go with it, the fear melts away.

What goes through your mind when you’re surrounded by a ball of fire?
It’s very much so a Zen moment. It’s quite an experience because of the sound. There’s a roaring noise all around you, and you can feel the heat all over your body. All you can see are a blur of faces. The only thing you can focus on is the five or six-foot area around you.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Carrie Heller, a born “circus person,” fell in love with the trapeze as a child, after being introduced to it at summer camp. After earning a master’s degree in social work, she combined her two skill sets, offering training on the trapeze (and other circus activities) to help clients juggle life’s problems.

How did you get started in your career?
As a child, I grew up doing circus stuff. I actually did not have the intention of using it as a career. I got a masters degree, planning to be a full-time therapist. When I came to Atlanta, I ended up teaching a [trapeze] class and it turned out to be very popular. I started seeing the therapeutic benefits of using the circus as a tool with kids and families, so that’s when I began developing the concept that I could use circus in the therapy room.

You said you grew up around circus arts, tell me more about that.
When I was a child, my parents sent me to a summer camp they had a circus rig set up. I saw the trapeze and pretty much fell in love with it, and I spent all my time at that camp doing circus stuff. I learned everything.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Noelle Mcllwaine, a boudoir photographer at Divine29 Studios, takes scintillating but tasteful photos that are sure to bring sexy back to your bedroom.

What attracted you to this form of photography?
I believe each photographer sees things differently. Each photographer has their own view. I feel that the human form is so beautiful. A lot of women need a boost, and they want to capture themselves at a certain age when they feel really gorgeous. Everyone needs at least one “narcissist” picture.

Who is your typical client?
I don’t really have a typical client. I have men and women who are getting photos done for their spouse, a lot of couples stuff, and artistic nudes. I always tell people that I won’t shoot anything I can’t edit in front of my kids. The pictures that I take are meant to be hung up on your wall and shown to your friends. I want your mother to think it’s the most beautiful picture she has ever seen.

(more…)

Bookmark It

For over 20 years, Civil War reenactor Jeff Thornton has taken the term history buff to the next level. Serving as a “sergeant” who helps to train new recruits, Thornton engages in faux battles and teaches students about the Civil War.

How did you get involved in reenacting?
Back in like 1989, my stepdad had a friend that had been reenacting. I was about 12 years old then. By the time I got old enough to fight, which is 16, I joined a unit.

What kind of training do you have to go through?
Usually it’s on-the-spot training. Before we put someone out on the field, we make sure they know all of the safety stuff. After they learn that, we put them on the field — but since they’re new, we will usually surround them with veterans during the battle to guide them.

How much time do you devote to reenacting?
I go to an event at least once a month, but since I’ve started helping with the classes I read up on it about two to three hours a night. If someone wanted to, though, there is something going on just about every weekend, whether it’s at Kennesaw Mountain or national events like Gettysburg.

(more…)

Bookmark It

No matter what kind of art you’re into, you’ve probably seen the work of Atlanta’s Marla Lawson. A forensic sketch artist for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Lawson has drawn some of Atlanta’s most wanted criminals, including Olympic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph.

How did you get started in your career?
I had just gotten out of high school and I needed a job. My mom found an ad in the AJC that said there was a need for a street artist at Underground. I thought to myself, “I can’t do that.” But I went down to Underground anyway like I was hot stuff and started working. The police department was nearby, and I would go down there from time to time telling them I wanted a job as a typist. After I went down there for the third time they finally hired me. Eventually, word got out that there was a girl downstairs could draw, and pretty soon I was being bombarded to do sketches.

What does a forensic sketch artist do?
If you’re a victim of rape, robbery, homicide or any type of act, investigators will make an appointment with me. I would sit down with you and we would make a sketch of the person who committed this act against you. I also work with the morgue on unidentified remains. I work to create models of what the person would look like today, so that perhaps people will see these forms and be able to identify them.

What is the process for creating the form for unidentified remains?
It’s actually kind of hard, because you don’t know the hair color, eyes, size of the person. A lot of it is sketch work. The skull has a lot of landmarks to reveal how they look.

(more…)

Bookmark It

The plight of the working class, the homeless and the otherwise disenfranchised are the focus of Matthew Cardinale’s online ‘zine Atlanta Progressive News. Cardinale, a liberal-progressive activist, has weathered such setbacks as a violent stabbing on Ponce de Leon Avenue, the loss of his professorship instructor’s job at Georgia State University and the all-consuming power of Georgia’s conservative right.

Tell me why you decided to create Atlanta Progressive News.
There is a gap in the ecosystem of information. If we want people to become involved, then we must provide them the information they need to become participants. I saw news services beginning to do this, and I wrote for a few them and saw that they could be successful. So I created Atlanta Progressive News to serve in a similar function.

What do you believe is the most important issue facing Atlanta today?
Affordable housing is the most important, because so much else falls from housing. If you don’t have housing, you can’t have anything else. There is a lack of affordable housing in Atlanta. The demolition of public housing is creating a worse housing situation. People don’t understand that moving those who live in public housing into the rental market is a terrible idea. Were all struggling. People should be in support of housing as a right. You shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not you can afford housing.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Whether it’s a bird, a deer or even a warthog, Atlanta’s Broderick Head has seen — and stuffed — them all. A licensed taxidermist for over 32 years, Head has a passion for animals that shows in both his professional work and personal life, where he provides rehabilitation to orphaned animals.

What has been your favorite animal to work on?
Elk. They are a really majestic animal. Whenever I see them I just think, “Wow, what an impressive animal.”

What has been your least favorite animal?
Birds. It takes a lot to do them, to get the feathers in the right place. I do everything, but I prefer not to do birds.

What do people ask for the most?
I get a lot of requests to do pets, but I’ve only done about one or two in 32 years. People want a certain expression on their face or an exact match to eye color, and it’s just too much time.

What do you enjoy the most about your career?
Once I get through with the mount, I kind of stand back and look at my work. I’m able to get the animal back to as close as it looked alive and that gives me a sense of pride.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Are you feeling like your body is more of a wasteland than a wonderland? Don’t worry! Since 2001, Beverly Segel of Atlanta’s Sattva Yoga & Healing has helped people purge their toxins with colon hydrotherapy and yoga.

Tell me about what you do.

We have a healing center here at Sattva, which focuses on holistic methods. I teach yoga under the Ayurveda teaching principles as well as perform colon hydrotherapy as a healing method.

What made you choose this career?

I had a bicycle accident back in 1999 and at the time I was working a corporate job. I decided after the accident that life was too short to not be doing what I really wanted to do. I chose my career because even though the western doctors and medicine did all that they could, my real healing came from holistic methods.

What are key signs that a person is in need of a colonic?

Any type of imbalance means there is a need for cleansing. Whether it be showing on the skin, weight gain or just not feeling at your optimum level in general. The colon is the trashcan of the body and so it needs to be cleansed in order to restore balance.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Have you been looking for a spot-on impersonation of Madonna or Liza Minelli? Look no further than Blake’s on Sunday and Monday nights. A seamstress by day and a female impersonator by night, Gigi Monroe is one dude who definitely looks like a lady. And he performs like the best of them.

How did you become a female impersonator?
Well, this month actually marks my five-year anniversary, but I pretty much started doing an amateur contest at the Metro, which is closed now, and I went from there.

How did you receive the name Gigi Monroe?
The “Monroe” is in honor of Marilyn, and I picked the name “Gigi” just because I thought it was playful and I liked it.

What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened during one of your performances?
God, there’s so many crazy things that happen every night. I would say one of the funniest was the first time my wig fell off. I was dancing and I ran into a split, and as I went down my hair went up. I didn’t know what to do so I just kept singing along without my wig on. It was pretty funny.

What do people say when you tell them that you are a female impersonator?
Hmmm. I get a lot of different reactions. Sometimes when I tell them, they try to picture me in drag. Usually the reaction is pretty good. It’s a really exciting job. When people come to a show, we’re helping them deal with their problems a little bit by providing an escape for them.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Have a hankering for a heart-shaped bikini line? Marissa Pendergast, a licensed esthetician at Sweet Samba in Midtown, can hook you up. And yes, she does Brazilians.

At your salon Sweet Samba you have a motto: “A salon for your hair down there.” Can you elaborate on that?

We do traditional bikini waxes, and we specialize in Brazilian waxes. We serve both male and female clients, but in addition to our more traditional services we also can create shapes and designs. We also dye hair and use creams to make the hair texture softer.

What kind of designs do customers ask for?

People ask for initials, hearts, any type of design. Everything is done free hand. I’m pretty much a pubic hair artist. We also have to do a lot of trimming for first timers.

I tried to get my mother in here for Valentine’s day once, but she wouldn’t go for it.

What is your favorite on-the-job moment?

I had a woman who named her vagina and was talking to it the whole time she was getting her wax. She was doing it to entertain me, because sometimes clients feel awkward those first few moments. This particular client kept talking to her vagina and apologizing if something hurt. She said she was going to take it home and be nice to it. I thought it was hilarious.

(more…)

Bookmark It

When he’s not busy appearing on reality television or writing style and grooming advice for the masses, Atlanta’s Aaron Marino can be found saving fashion-challenged men across the country, one computer programmer at a time.

How did you get involved in your line of work?

I used to own a fitness center, and I had a male client that came up to me one day and was like, “Hey, I don’t know what to wear on a date.” And I said, “Well, why don’t I come over and we’ll go through your closet? By the way you need a haircut, so let my take you to my stylist. You also need to trim your nose hair.” I had no idea that I was setting the groundwork for an actual career.

Describe a typical day as an image consultant. What is it that you do?

I meet somebody at their house, and from that point we start going through all their old clothes. The idea is to create the best possible picture of somebody. It’s basically fashion smoke and mirrors. We take a gentleman’s best attributes and maximize them while simultaneously minimizing the negatives.

Where do you think your sense of style comes from?

I’m Italian, baby. One of my earliest memories was taping the end of my pants going to kindergarten, because I didn’t like the way they flared out. My wife likes to joke that I’m a gay man with a straight penis.

(more…)

Bookmark It

For the last 10 years, Reed has overseen historic Oakland Cemetery’s operations, including the digging of graves for funeral services. The West Virginia native can usually be found talking with visitors and giving tours.

How did you get started working in Oakland Cemetery?
I was working as a funeral director at a local funeral home at Murray Brothers and this job came open. Someone called me and said they had a job open at Oakland Cemetery as the Sexton [and said], would you be interested? And I said yeah, because I need some benefits. At these private funeral homes you don’t have benefits.

How did you get started working in a funeral home?
I knew in the first grade I was going to be a mortician. I remember my first grade teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and at that time I we called them “undertakers.” So I said “I’m gonna be an undertaker,” and everybody laughed. But I knew that was my special calling.

Why is that?
I was always fascinated with how people look when they lay them out in a casket at a funeral home, especially when you hear that they were hit by a car or hit by a train. Then, when you get there, you see this beautiful person laying there, just looking at peace. And I wanted to understand that. I wanted to understand how they do that.

(more…)

Bookmark It

When not defending his 4-1 record in the ring, Boudreaux can be found instructing classes or training with other fighters at Unit 2 Fitness on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

How did you get started in MMA and how long have you been with the Unit 2 Fitness Fight Team?
I’ve been with Unit 2 Fitness Fight Team about two years now and that’s pretty much my career in MMA. I wrestled pretty much my whole life. Once I finished wrestling in high school I did a little bit of college and went into the military. After the military I went and played a little football at West Georgia, so I’ve always been pretty active.

I took a long time off from wrestling and was actually looking in to getting back into it when a friend of mine had been training with Roberto Traven [Unit 2's head coach]. He told me ‘it’s not wrestling but you’ll fit in real well with it with your wrestling background.’

I came out here, trained with Traven, loved him as a coach and as a person and just loved the sport. That was my first class and I just took straight to it right away.

How were you selected to be on the Fight Team?
I started training with Traven, and from there, it’s the same with anybody up here. It’s Traven’s call. Once he sees you’re excelling, he invites you to start training with the MMA Team.

How is the Fight Team different from other classes?
We’ll jump into some of the normal classes, but we have separate MMA training. We have general training every single day for about two to three hours a day, then we also have training for individuals who have fights coming up. So the classes are still normal classes and we still do those, but we have separate training for ourselves and for the team in general.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Angie Fuller, a forensic technician assistant supervisor, has worked at the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office for nine years. She and her team are responsible for collecting and preserving evidence from the body. She receives an average of four to five bodies a day.

How did you get to be involved with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office?

I went to school at Gupton-Jones College of Mortuary Science in Decatur. But I was not a good embalmer. I could never find the vessels! So I came to the Medical Examiner’s Office and asked them if I could volunteer, so I could see the anatomy from the inside the body. I was such a good cleaner that they decided to hire me six months later. That’s how I got started. I was a good cleaner!

What is the biggest misconception people have about what you do?

That we have cold hands, and that everyone who is dead is cold. While that may be true in some cases, sometimes we’ll get people who die right on the scene and we get the body four hours later. So it’s still kind of warm. But that’s a basic misconception — that any anyone who works in the morgue or autopsy room has cold hands. One thing for sure: [Our work] is not what you see on “CSI.”

It would take more than a day for us to get the lab results back to solve one case. And we don’t do autopsies in the dark!

(more…)

Bookmark It

Helene Frisch is a fourth-generation psychic. Her great- grandmother was the personal psychic of the Russian Royal family, and they both share similar attributes. Like her great-grandmother, she specializes in personal and intricate feelings. She now receives 15-20 phone calls and e-mails a week and gives three to four readings a day, some lasting as long as two hours. She also gives what she calls “mini-readings” at corporate events, fundraisers and other festivals.

Could you elaborate on the feeling you got when you first became aware of your abilities?

Well, it was when I was four. It was very simplistic. That’s just how it is, but it’s the truth. I was sitting in the back of my dad’s station wagon and we were coming back from my grandmother’s house and I don’t know what hit me, but this feeling just came over me. It sounds corny, but from that moment on, I knew that I was protected and I knew that I was okay. I just stated to know things, and from there, it just became second nature.

So could you start predicting different things about people at that point?

Yes. I knew things, but even though you’re four, you have a sense of what you should tell people and what you should not. Even though I was getting this information, a lot of it I kept quiet. Of course, I did let it rip occasionally!

(more…)

Bookmark It