We recently connected with Romanistan Podcast and have shared our conversation below.

Romanistan, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

We are Jezmina Von Thiele and Paulina Stevens of Romanistan podcast, and every day from the very first day that we chose to work together, we are taking a risk. We choose to represent and spotlight Romani people like ourselves in a world and political environment where Roma are discriminated against and misunderstood. Roma are a diasporic ethnic group originally from India circa the 10th century, and who now live all over the world, otherwise known by the slur/ misnomer “Gypsies.” Roma still face worldwide oppression and many, if they can, choose to keep their ethnicity a secret for this reason. We created a podcast together to share our experiences as Roma with a background in fortune telling as a survival trade, and we interview other Roma from all backgrounds and walks of life. We want to share how rich and diverse our culture is while also highlighting the human rights issues we all face.

We are also gender liberationists and feminists, and activists within our own community as well for rights for women and LGBTQIA+ Roma. Almost every time we release an episode, or share our work or beliefs publicly, or speak with the media, we are opening ourselves up to harassment, both from Roma and non-Roma. But we care about our community, and our vision for better Roma representation and inclusion, so we keep going. Our latest big risk was writing a book together, Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling, in which we share the cultural and historical context of the iconic “Gypsy fortune teller trope” and how Romani divination practices have shaped divination as a spiritual tool and as a job over many centuries. We hope that by educating others about Romani culture and celebrating Roma doing wonderful things, we will improve Romani representation and strengthen our global community.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Romanistan podcast is our love letter to Romani culture, but it has become more than a podcast. We are authors of our first book, Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling, and we will keep writing and have plans for future tarot decks and oracle decks. We are fortune tellers ourselves in our families’ traditions, specializing in tarot, tea leaf and coffee reading, palmistry, and holistic wellness. We are performers, creative writers, and sensitivity readers and editors. We are creativity and writing coaches to help Roma tell their stories. We are on a mission to create better representation for Roma in the media by empowering Roma to tell their own stories.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

We had to unlearn secrecy. We were raised to keep our ethnicity a secret, as well as every bad thing that had ever happened to us, like abuse, domestic violence, and so on. We have also had to hide other aspects of our identities and our own actions that we were ashamed of or saw as mistakes. We have had to learn that it’s ok to be open and vulnerable, and so much of what we want to change depends on us sharing our stories and creating welcoming spaces for others to share. And being open also requires us to learn from others and grow as people.

This is why we called our book, Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling– we’re proud of what we do and so often our culture and practices are appropriated and distorted while Romani people have had to hide. We’re not sharing anything that’s closed practice, but we are giving ourselves and the Roma who contributed to our book to represent themselves and share the parts of Romani fortune telling that are already in the mainstream, but now with authenticity, context, and clarity. We’re sharing the secrets that we want to share.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We built our audience on social media just by being ourselves. We share what feels true to us, when we have time. We are not social media experts, but through our earnestness and hard work, our audience has found us. Our advice is to be authentic and consistent. Not all of your audience is going to agree with you, so you need to learn to roll with the punches and rise above the haters. We focus on our love for what we do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://romanistanpodcast.com
• Instagram: @romanistanpodcast
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/romanistanpodcast/
• Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/romanistanpodcast/
• Twitter: https://x.com/romanistanpod
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/4PjuCCf0ewbsynPNvWN5cv

Image Credits

Photo of Jezmina in the blue dress– credit: Aurora Rose DeCrosta
Romanistan logos (both): credit Elijah Vardo