Lush Cosmetics launched the brand’s first podcast, The Sound Bath: Conversations That Cleanse, in May. Hosted by blues poet and storyteller Aja Monet, the podcast is focused on tackling some of society’s biggest questions regarding mental, physical, social and environmental wellbeing. 

“This new podcast platform will help Lush continue to connect and support consumers looking for an escape/relaxing community away from day-to-day challenges,” a release sent to Blavity stated.

In the latest episode, organizer, author and activist Hope Giselle joined Monet for a moving conversation about her Afro Cuban identity, Black trans bodies and how she unwinds amid life in the spotlight.

The Miami-native surprised Monet at the top of the episode when she revealed her ethnicity.

“I grew up in those housing projects,” she said of her childhood. “And then, I moved to an area that was near Little Havana. And that was like the sweet spot between getting back and forth to my father’s house, and then my mom’s, because what a lot of people don’t know is that I am Afro-Cuban.”

Giselle said growing up as a darker-skinned person, it was complicated. Some people often didn’t allow her to claim her heritage, which left her feeling like she had to prove her Afro Cuban identity to those around her.

“It was always interesting,” she explained. “Whenever I would tell people that was a part of my heritage or my lineage, they would never believe me because it’s just like, ‘oh, you are dark skin and dark-skinned people can’t be anything other than Black.’ I might get away with saying I’m Jamaican, I’m Bahamian or I’m a solid Haitian person, but you didn’t get away with being a Black or a darker-skinned person and saying I have Cuban in my family. It was just really awkward for me.”

She went on to say that standing next to her sisters, who look like what others assume Latinx people look like, became a way for her to validate her lineage.

“My sisters are very stereotypically Latin and Hispanic looking,” she said. “Whenever I’m with my sisters, they become the thing that proves that I am a Afro Cuban person because they are these stereotypically, light-skinned, curly-haired women. I dealt with a lot of real issues around trying to assimilate, especially in high school, because I went to a predominantly Cuban High School, and a lot of people thought that I was appropriating for a while.”

For Giselle, the key to processing and moving past her childhood was reclaiming her Blackness for herself.

“I revel in the idea of being a Black woman —just being a Black woman who happens to have roots in Cuba that stretch back to Haiti and to God knows where,” she said. “But I don’t like the idea of people using me for the nuances of my Blackness.”

Later in the episode, when Monet asked about Giselle’s relationship, she got candid about accepting her body and the recent changes its been through.

She told Monet about a pivotal moment with her boyfriend while they were on vacation in Mexico.

“I was wearing this bathing suit but I wanted to get in the water, and I couldn’t hide my penis,” she recounted. “And I remember looking over him, and I was like, ‘Babe, I don’t want to tuck, I’m uncomfortable, I just don’t feel like doing it. But if I don’t, it’s gonna be really obvious.’ In my mind, I had told myself that I needed to ask him how he felt because he’s going to be embarrassed, he’s going to be ashamed. I had never had a partner look over at me and go, ‘I don’t care.’ Like, if you’re uncomfortable, you don’t have to do it. I know that I’m dating a trans woman who has a penis; I don’t care what these people think about that. I just want you to be comfortable.”

She continued, explaining that her boyfriend’s comfortability with her wearing her bathing suit in a way that felt comfortable to her was transformative.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had somebody like really see me in that way and still love me and not have this vain idea of what it means to be with a person who is trans,” she said.

Giselle went on to share that she recently underwent sex reassignment surgery and while she was healing, her partner taught her the true meaning of “radical care.”

“He just showed me this radical form of care, like I am going to be here for you through the good, the bad and the ugly. And I am not here because it is this perfect thing or it was this other thing, like I’m here for you as a person. And so, whatever you need me to do, I’m going to do that,” Giselle said.

Monet concluded by asking Giselle what helps her unwind. She revealed the key to her relaxation is through scents.

“I’ll have some honey or some lavender going, like I do a bubble bath or something like that and mix the auditory with my ability to smell,” she said. “And that usually brings me to a place of peace.”