We recently connected with Marisa Franco and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Marisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Back in 2019, I was a 29 year old woman looking at the crossroads in my life. I saw two roads in front of me, two choices that determined my fate. There was a road that I was familiar with- I knew the curves intimately, and I knew where it would lead me. Then there was this other road, draped in mystery, darkened by the complete unknown. At this point in my life, I felt like a shell of a being. I had all the things one would want for ‘security’- a good job, friends, an apartment in Brooklyn, and yet… I felt starving for something that my soul knew, but my mind did not. After a few months, that inner voice became like a mega-phone and I decided that I would listen, I would walk the path of the unknown to find that ‘thing’ that my soul was calling for. Now looking back, I see that what I was calling for, was more of a calling forth of my self. That feeling of being a shell was a signal that I was drowning in the ordinary, a world that was copy and pasted and inherited. I longed for a new way of being. I could write an entire novel of the last 5 years of being nomadic, living in India, New Zealand, Hawaii, Vietnam, multiple cross country road trips, sleeping in more than 300+ rooms and places, and cracking me open to see who I really am and what i’m here to do. This experience changed my entire world view and has allowed me to unfurl into the woman that I am now. This may appear as if it were a risk, but I feel that the only risk was not saying yes to a life lived outside of comfort to experience the extraordinary.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Marisa Franco and I am the founder of Song of The Sea Apothecary- a traveling wild crafted and foraged apothecary with 100% organic and nature made tinctures, balms, and other medicines. I formed this business from the passion that I have with plants. When I was 8 years old I was misdiagnosed and prescribed 10-15 different pharmaceuticals. The doctors said that if I were to get off these medications, I would die. Around the age of 20, I made a big decision and decided to try the plant path instead because this western way of consuming symptom hiders were no longer a match for me. I dug deep into research. I spent hours and hours in the forest and over the course of a few months I was absolutely radiant, aware, and energized for the first time in a very long time. This intimate experience led me into this reverence that I have for the plants and our relationship to the natural world. I work with plant spirit healing along with the physical plants. Through this reverence, my relationship has deepened and it birthed a communication between the plants and I. Oftentimes, I’ll hear a whispering wind of which plants desire to go to which person. At this point, I understand that it would be foolish to not listen. However, the version of me before I healed a decade of confusion would have questioned this. I view this as forming wisdom for the great mystery. In addition to the Apothecary, I mentor women and men, I am a self-published author, and I run a 4-week course called ‘The Sacred Song’, a home to uncover the song in your heart that has sung your life into existence.

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

Like many of us, I believed that pushing and working really hard is what led to success. I believed that if I just did a little bit more I would find that success that felt like freedom. What I have found is quite the opposite. By creating spaciousness in my life, I was able to listen to the wisdom inside of my own heart that led me to what is true success for me. Within each of us lies unique instructions that we were gifted at birth. No one can tell you what is best for you or how you will fulfill what you came here to do and be. Spaciousness, silence, and aloneness are the three key components to pull down the dream and live it out. You may be busy at times in your life, you may have to work very hard, and yet the beginning of anything miraculous requires the space in-between. If you wish to live out our own unique dream, I highly suggest creating space to receive it.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

My favorite marketing story is telling the truth. My tactic is sharing my passion for what I do. My traveling apothecary for instance, was created from my passion for plants. And that passion translates into the hearts of other people. I don’t need to ‘sell’ anything. I don’t need to manipulate or make people want what I have to offer. That happens naturally because I am in intregrity with my mission and that can be felt.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marisafranco.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/memoriesbymarisa
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisafranco/
• Other: https://marisafranco.substack.com/

Image Credits
All photos from me :)