Aimee Lewis-Reau, CoFounder & Creative Director

Born and raised in southeast Michigan, Aimee is a certified Scholè Yoga Instructor and RYT 200. She DJs under the name eXis10shAL and takes delight in making crowds dance, because Alice Walker said it best: “Hard times require furious dancing.”

Aimee received her Bachelor’s degree in English, Poetry, and Religion from Central Michigan University before obtaining her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Georgia College & State University. Small, but fierce, Aimee is edgy yet reverent.

LaUra Schmidt, CoFounder & Director Of Operations

Grief chose me. From a very early age, I’ve been surrounded by– and embedded in– grief. My parents were alcoholics/addicts and I experienced significant trauma and many deaths along the way. 

With such a tumultuous upbringing, I was given a choice: give up & give in or figure out why the hell I am here and bring meaning to my own existence. I chose the latter. I choose to be a force of good in the world.

I am skilled at holding space and sitting with uncertainty and discomfort. I have worked with a Rites of Passage guide, a shamanic practitioner, many therapists, and in Adult Children of Alcoholics to clear my trauma and practice becoming the best version of myself.

I am trained in nonviolent civil disobedience, and am a  Climate Reality Leadership Corps member & mentor. I am in the process of earning certificates in Mindfulness Practice and Life Coaching.

While a bit of a nomad, I hail from Michigan, and graduated from Central Michigan University with a BS in Environmental Studies, Biology, and Religious Studies. My MS in Environmental Humanities was earned from the University of Utah.

I grew to understand the importance of place through spending some time living and playing in North Carolina & the bayous of Louisiana (directly after the BP oil spill). Inspiration finds me in natural landscapes and honest, open-hearted dialogue.