LUISA BATIZ
Brooklyn, New York to a village in rural Honduras
Luisa was born in Brooklyn, but spent her summers as a child, as far away from NYC as one can imagine – living with her relatives in a small village in Honduras. During the summer, she would leave the hot sticky streets of New York to spend time living in a traditional Garifuna village. The plane ride was cheaper than sending Luisa to summer camp, as her mother says, but it also had a profound influence on her relationship with her heritage.
Luisa's grandparents lived right on the beach and completely off the grid. There was no electricity, running water, phone, or indoor plumbing. Days were spent playing in the water, climbing trees and gathering fruit. However, by the time she was a teenager, Luisa began to tire of the rustic trips to Honduras, embracing the comforts and convenience of the American lifestyle she had come to associate with success.
Luisa was the first in her family to go to college, and by all accounts she had “made it,” building a covetable career in education administration. Although she had reached a level of financial success, she didn’t feel happy or fulfilled. Luisa always knew she wanted to do good for others in her profession, but she felt like she wasn't creating any real change by working within a corporatized system that did not align with her values.
“We forget about the abundance of nature. Something I think a lot about is what makes money valuable is that it’s scarce - but that’s not in alignment with nature.”
A few years ago, Luisa began questioning the way she was living and the things society was telling her she should strive for. She began daydreaming of her summers spent in Honduras and realized how happy and fulfilled she felt there. She wanted to realign her actions with her values and break away from the structures and systems that were causing harm to people and the planet. She put a plan in place to save money, create a freelance business that gave her autonomy over her hours and the projects she took on, and began envisioning and mapping out a different way of living.
In April of 2022, Luisa decided to take a leap of faith and move to Honduras full time. She bought a little plot of land with ample fruit trees and a shell of an old house and has been working with her local community to bring it back to life. Luisa's family was surprised by her decision to move to Honduras because many young people have been fleeing the country to pursue economic opportunities elsewhere. Luisa would like to help change that and create more opportunities for people to stay and build sustainable businesses.
Luisa is the first to admit she doesn't have all the answers, but she knows she is in a position to keep searching for them, and to reject the narrative that more is always more. She is building a place where people can reconnect, detox from capitalism and embark on their own journey to lead a more intentional and sustainable life. In our conversation, we speak about manifestation, deprogramming from a scarcity mindset, tapping into abundance, solo-living, and connecting with ancestral knowledge.
This is a story about reconnecting with your roots, living with an abundance mindset, and stepping away from convention to create a more fruitful life
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