Teya Kepila Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City.
Today's guest is ceramicist and storyteller, Teya Kepila. I had the pleasure of meeting Teya the other month at the garden party we hosted at the JW Marriott Reston Station in Virginia. Teya is the artist behind The Turmeric Times, and one of the most thoughtful, soulful creatives around today. I really enjoyed our conversation. It's not often that I interview someone as young as Teya and feel like I'm having a conversation with an old soul, but that's exactly what happened. Teya is very special as you're about to learn. We talk about her childhood, her deep connection to New York City, how she moved here by herself at the age of 17, and how she's been taking care of herself ever since. We also discuss her ceramics practice, the ceramic ceremonies she conducts to connect clay and wellness, and a lot more. If you are interested in hearing from a woman who moves through the world with rare intentionality, this is an episode you don't want to miss. Teya and I do discuss a few sensitive matters. Please feel free to skip ahead during that portion of the interview. Thank you to Teya for trusting all of us enough to share her story. Stay tuned for my conversation with Teya Kepila.
Thank you to everyone who joined us at Brasserie La Banque in Charleston last week for our final working lunch with the Visa Dining Collection by OpenTable and Visa. This series was so much fun, and it was such a delight visiting Brasserie La Banque, Chef Amy Brandwein's Piccolina in Washington D.C., and Chef India Doris' Marquette in Manhattan. Thank you to the chefs and their teams, and we can't wait to see everyone next year.
Today's show is presented by JW Marriott. At Cherry Bombe, we love a great celebration, and so do our friends at JW Marriott. Their signature garden party events have become a hallmark of the brand, a true tribute to the art of gathering. Whether indoors, outdoors, or any season, each event incorporates distinctive touches. Fresh ingredients from the JW Garden often inspire the menu and even appear in sustainable centerpieces that anchor the long communal table. One standout detail: a butter candle that was as clever as it was delicious. We also admire the brand's dedication to reducing food waste. And another thoughtful touch, menus crafted from seed paper so guests can take home a piece of the JW Garden, a party favor that actually grows. Ready to host your own garden party? JW Marriott can help you craft a personalized garden party experience. Learn more and book your trip at jwmarriott.com.
A little housekeeping? The holiday issue of Cherry Bombe Magazine is finally here, and the team and I love this issue so much. It's all about cake and features three incredible self-taught cake artists on the covers. Lucie Franc de Ferriere of From Lucie, Aimee France, aka yungkombucha420, and Amy Yip of Yip.Studio. The issue is packed with recipes and lots of great stories. Head to cherrybombe.com to subscribe or order your issue. You can pick whichever cover you want or check out our list of stockists around the country. We love our stockists, and you can find Cherry Bombe Magazine in great places like Bold Fork Books in Washington D.C., Issues Magazine Shop in Toronto, and Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Now, let's check in with today's guest. Teya Kepila.
Teya Kepila:
Yay.
Kerry Diamond:
Welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Teya Kepila:
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's start at the beginning. Where are you from?
Teya Kepila:
I am from Chicago. I was born in Chicago, but my family moved around a lot when I was a kid. So there was so much movement from the product of different familial circumstances, remarriage, and separation, that gave me a great opportunity, just objectively speaking, in childhood, living in Chicago, living in California, New York a little bit. But in California, that was pretty much the majority of my upbringing, I'd say. And then I've been here in New York for seven years, and I feel very happy. It feels fitting for me and my work and the things that I want to involve myself with.
Kerry Diamond:
You do give off California girl vibes.
Teya Kepila:
I feel that.
Kerry Diamond:
I will say that. How did you wind up in New York City?
Teya Kepila:
I saved up every dollar. I worked my way through high school. I kind of skipped over a formal four-year university to enter the workforce, and I moved here at 17 and then have been working since then.
Kerry Diamond:
Have you been on your own since 17?
Teya Kepila:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a lot.
Teya Kepila:
Yeah, it is a lot. I didn't feel like a lot. I do and have always been very independent and feel independent in the way where if I want something, I will work very, very hard to accomplish it. In one aspect, I'm extremely grateful for that tenacity and bandwidth. And then on the other end, I think, "Oh, it'd be nice to maybe have that part of me turned off just a little bit so there's slowness and relaxed," which is ironic because a lot of what I practice and preach now is how to be slow. And I think that comes out with my ceramic work.
Kerry Diamond:
Like you said, you didn't have a typical path. What did you think you wanted to do? Why was New York drawing you here?
Teya Kepila:
I had lived here for three years when I was six to nine years old. Those years, I think you're just as a girl figuring out how you want to strut on the street. And the clothes, you notice things like the details of what a woman has and whether it's a phone or a credit card and all these tiny things that often you'd find and even toy kits in a store. But I do think that it was a very beautiful way to establish little seedlings of my identity.
This is one of my favorite memories. And I was recently asked, what is my favorite memory from when I was six years old and what would perfectly encompass little Teya? And I thought of when I was six years old and it was just my brother and I, and we were home. I had a lot of babysitters growing up. So this was just us playing, and I took little turkey shreds from deli meat packages, and we had a radiato,r and I cut up celery and cut up carrots and I put it on the radiator and would feed him. And it is sounding crazy now, but I just think the idea of that tiny moment, that seedling of nurturing and hosting somebody has translated hugely now into what I do with ceramic ceremonies and just everything in terms of being an adult or kind of an adult, we're always adulting, version of myself today.
It's always interesting to look back on and remember that this tiny part of me exists still. And I'm sure you've heard your younger self and how you can constantly pay ode to her and protect her and continue her curiosity and her essence because she strongly exists in you today. But oftentimes when we grow up and now we have all these obligations and responsibilities and layers of complications in life, or should I say blessings because they're very, very big blessings. We get a little harder, maybe the exterior's thicker and it's quite rare to keep her and our younger self at the top of our conscious.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm surprised New York and its chaotic energy drew you back.
Teya Kepila:
It's kind of the duality of it. It's interesting when... I'm so grateful to have that experience in California and New York. And the reason why I came back to New York is because something about it just felt radically inviting. There's no contingencies. You're here, you're going to be accepted. And what's really interesting is nobody tells you, or at least nobody told me when I was 17, that when you moved to New York, you're going to be chewed up and spat out and you'll have to figure it out. And if you can manage past that one year and you resist whatever's thrown at you and you can take it and digest it, and not just digest it, but if you can, evaluate the ingredients of what was actually chucked at you. And these lessons, they last a lifetime. So it's setting up this foundation of furthering your independence, furthering your capabilities and competency, but also this confidence and resiliency that will continue to affect the trajectory of your life.
Kerry Diamond:
You put that so beautifully. The thing that popped in my head was Frank Sinatra's “New York, New York.” If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere. And there are so many times I tell that to myself on a really tough day in New York, and I'm just like, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." And it is kind of true. New York does have its way with people, but you have persevered.
I know you went to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. You got a degree in plant nutrition from Cornell. You started your ceramics practice during the pandemic, but you were first introduced to ceramics in high school. When did all of these things start to take shape?
Teya Kepila:
I was so lucky to have that as an elective class in high school. I went to a public school, and to have ceramics, which is an incredibly expensive medium and art form to offer to students at a public school with only a $75 donation requested to partake in such class. That was a gift in itself.
So I took that for three years and I was almost going to become one of the first AP students of my class, except I was the only person in the class, so they dropped it. That's to tell you how far I went in high school. And it was all hand building. It was focused on pinch, slab, and coil method. Those are all within the realm of hand building. So we only used the wheel once. And while I was learning this language of clay, it was so beautiful. And we were given different tasks and projects and we'd work on them for a week or two, three weeks at a time. So they were really spread out. How many times do you have that class a week in a school schedule? Like six hours a week, if that, because it was a blocked schedule. It was just the slowest, most beautiful form of figuring it out and feeling the clay and understanding it.
In high school, though, very few things were taken seriously. My mind was very focused on work and moving here. From the second I moved away at age nine, I knew I wanted to come back. I don't love to glorify a specific city or place to say that is your home because I'm so for identifying your body as a home, especially through the lens of the sensuality of clay and physical touch and how that is pretty much anything, whether it be clay or food or language and conversation, those are all kind of signaling back to your home and you evaluate self-talk through all these things like when you do ceramics and perfectionism comes up.
I really just have found that clay was something that stuck with me as a medium to constantly come back to. Except after high school, I didn't touch it. And I was, like I said, focused on work. But while through all of that, my mom was a very big role model in being this artist and paving the way and kind of giving me this green light that you can be an artist, an entrepreneur, somebody who you could truly make something out of anything. And if it's done with your full heart and you can dedicate this love and passion, this kind of heat in your body energy to take it on, then you're unstoppable and you become this person who believes in yourself and can create space for others.
Kerry Diamond:
We'll be right back with today's guest.
If you are looking for some excellent holiday gifts, Cherry Bombe has great options for you. Here's one that's really special. From now until the end of the year, you can get 20% off Jubilee tickets when you buy two or more. Jubilee is our annual conference, and it's happening on Saturday, April 25th, in New York City. It's a beautiful day filled with talks, panels, networking, and great food and drink. Head to cherrybombe.com to learn more.
Your mom is an artist?
Teya Kepila:
Yeah, she used to paint a lot. She doesn't paint anymore, but she was always just chucking things on a canvas and scribbling and scratching. She had so many collections. One is a positive graffiti collection. The other was all this wheat that she painted because she grew up in Kansas. Very interesting.
Kerry Diamond:
I love the idea of positive graffiti. We need more of that.
Teya Kepila:
I know. Her thing was, "I am stamped in the middle of the canvas and then a bunch of beautiful words around it." And something just as simple as that speaks to so many. And I think positive words rewrite a lot of what comes out just often negatively within us because it's a protective mechanism.
Kerry Diamond:
I read that about you online. You have learned how to restructure inner thoughts.
Teya Kepila:
Yeah. It's an ongoing journey.
Kerry Diamond:
I thought that was so profound. How does one even start to do that?
Teya Kepila:
Well, it's about witnessing. I think it comes from meditation. And if you can envision yourself sitting on a bench and you have this two-way street in front of you with cars going by of all colors, sizes, trucks, motorcycles, whatever, all different volumes, just think about the range of chaos on the street. And you're sitting on this bench and you're alone and you watch these cars and trucks and whatever go by. And it's interesting because you can sort of take that and parallel that to your thoughts. And you are not in any of these particular vehicles. They all make noise. They all have ruckus and try to get your attention. And these thoughts similar to the thoughts, they're also trying to get your attention. Also, similar sizes, similar significances, but you are not owned by these thoughts and they don't really exist for very long anyway.
So it kind of becomes this very peaceful state of neutrality. I'm not saying that I'm constantly existing within this state. It's definitely a tool in a toolbox that I think we can all benefit from.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you meditate daily?
Teya Kepila:
I do meditate, but not in a very traditional sense every day. Now, traditionally, eyes closed in a seated posture, upright position. That is what people envision when they meditate. But you can meditate on the subway, you can meditate as you're walking.
How do you stay present in your body and almost feel these sensations? I love taking the entry into a meditative state through your five senses. Whatever you see, you smell, you taste, whatever you feel like the clothing on your body. We don't feel or think about any of these things. Right now, I don't think we're thinking about that. And then now I'm feeling, "Oh yeah, my sweater, I'm a little warm and so I'm going to roll my sleeve up." So it's just little moments where you can bring awareness and loving attention to different parts of you that are very automatic.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a great reminder because so many people want to meditate, but feel they can't. They don't know how they don't have the time, but to give them permission to do it anywhere that works for them is a good reminder.
Teya Kepila:
It's really lovely because you have the tools of your breath and your attention. That's it. Those are the magic ingredients to becoming a little more neutral about your current position. And if you can do it on the subway, think about how beautiful it would be if you could neutralize all of what's happening and the stimulants around you by assessing your breath, controlling the in and out, feeling your clothing, maybe looking around and just smiling at the people sitting and going on all which directions, and we're all existing at the same time and how miraculous it all is. It can be anything, but I think there's a lot more fluidity to meditation than maybe what is offered to us.
Kerry Diamond:
I love the subway for those very reasons. You just said, I do not love the subway when it is a nightmare, which it can be. I'm sure you've experienced that as well. But when you're on the subway and everything's going as it's supposed to be, and you get to just look around and see the sea of humanity on your train, I've just always found that so beautiful, even when I was younger. I just love appreciating all the different people that make up this city.
Teya Kepila:
It makes you feel small, but significant. You play a big role in it. And being in a sea, you're kind of supported. It's kind of like when you're actually in the sea, you are completely hugged by the water. It's the same thing. You are hugged by us as a collective walking on the street and you don't need to know these people to love them.
Kerry Diamond:
When did nutrition become an interest?
Teya Kepila:
I was 18. It was one year after living in New York, surviving many mental battles. I feel very headstrong and capable and independent. So when I feel like something is wrong, I will internalize that. I don't necessarily want to talk to people about it. That was back then. At the time, I felt very inflamed in my body. I was sexually assaulted at a workplace and then that was something that was hugely affecting my mental and also sexual wellbeing and mental state.
So thinking about all of those moving parts, how I could possibly get a hold on my life and what would make me feel a little bit better, a little bit more in touch with my body. And food is a huge part of that. It's always been. This kind of pivoted because I was eating dollar street pizza because that's all I could afford. I had $0 in my bank account after every rent check went through. And this sounds like a very cliché story. I feel like so many people-
Kerry Diamond:
No, Teya. First off, I just want to say I'm sorry you went through that. I mean, at any age, but you said you were 18 when it happened? I'm very sorry that that happened to you.
Teya Kepila:
I think it's really unfortunate that a lot of women have very similar stories, and it's too common. I'm not sure really the solution to helping create a safe environment to exist in. And maybe it's the upbringing and how we can create more awareness around it and possibly-
Kerry Diamond:
I think Me Too helped on some level and getting women to share their stories and talk about their stories and just an awareness that this is not acceptable, because for a long time it just wasn't spoken about at all. So I think now people know that this is not something that you can do and get away with. People still do get away with it, but I don't think you have to carry the burden by yourself anymore and feel that you will not be believed. That's something that's changed over the past few years, but still it's an incredible burden to carry. You feel very lonely when things like that happen and that you have no one to tell. And I think even in today's climate, you probably wonder if people will believe you or not.
Teya Kepila:
Well, yeah. So that's similar to what happened. I was sharing it with a few coworkers and there wasn't much response and there's nothing to be done at the same time. So you brush it off and you try to get straight past it. And anyway, I ended up leaving the company shortly after, which was a lovely blessing. And then COVID hit a year afterwards, but it was interesting to navigate as a woman alone in New York City. I didn't have roommates. I had just moved in by myself, I'm paying a ridiculous amount for rent, and you're right, that is definitely one of the first very vocal and extremely informative platforms to start sharing your story and making this become a more needed conversation. And it's not just, "Oh, you did something wrong, now we're going to talk about it." Where's the root? And that's what's really frustrating as a woman and this unfortunate stigma around men, and that's just how I'm talking about it because it's about my story.
Kerry Diamond:
Two things happened during the pandemic. You pursued nutrition seriously, and you start a serious ceramics practice. What was the order?
Teya Kepila:
After feeling incredibly inflamed, trying to get my life just a little bit more centered and grounded, I was writing a lot, I was reading a lot, and one of the things that really caught my eye was actually plant-based nutrition and becoming more centered around plant-focused foods and how to kind of self-medicate through the power of plants. And it became so intriguing to me and I just felt this was the answer to connect back with my body, and then also become connected with earth. And there's a sense of spirituality, probably comes from my California side, that I feel so connected to. And I then went through Cornell, IIN, and then recently Chopra, which then was the more Ayurvedic lens and meditative lens.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I saw that on your LinkedIn. I wasn't sure what... I know who Deepak Chopra is. So, Chopra is an organization that he has?
Teya Kepila:
Yes. And it's an educational space where you can deep dive into Ayurvedic medicine and the foundational practice of it.
Kerry Diamond:
And the Cornell program you took part in.
Teya Kepila:
Exactly. That was so beautiful to learn from because Dr. T. Colin Campbell was the main instructor for the entire course. And he's written a couple books, but the biggest one is the “China Study,” which was a 30-year study taken in rural China and comparing the differences between the standard American diet and then in China, and destigmatizing things like soy and processed corn here and just really unpacking a lot of these things, which is very dense. So if anyone's interested in that, I think that would be a beautiful place to start. And there's also so many other doctors who have dedicated their entire life's practice to providing nutritional information and not allowing some of the big corporations to taint the messaging due to sales and capitalism.
Kerry Diamond:
Did this completely change how you cook and eat?
Teya Kepila:
Yes. So I was very disturbed by kind of the food propaganda I found out about and really just wanted this pure way of eating and fueling myself. And I call myself vegan. I feel like that's very simple just to clear out any misunderstandings about what I'm able to eat at a restaurant or with my friends. So I'm the vegan friend of my friend group. But beyond that, it's my spiritual practice. It's my personal religion to eat this way. I think it is definitely a gentle way to fuel yourself and live and tread lightly.
There are three reasons why someone would eat this way, and it boils down to environmental, ethical, and personal health. And all three of those just ring true in me. And it keeps me going. There's a reason why I'm seven years vegan. And it's from that point, that pivotal point in my life when I thought, "Yeah, it's time we just pay a little bit more attention to this."
That's also when I was with a partner at the time and we did the vegan thing together. And I only say "vegan thing" because we were very, very much so activists at the time. It's pivoted to more private, personal, and very spiritual practice in the lens of Ayurveda, and that's then trickled into ceramics.
So after the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, that's when I started ceramics again and thought this would be a good time to pick up something to come back to myself.
Kerry Diamond:
Before we talk about ceramics, can you talk a little bit about Ayurveda because that might be a new concept to some folks?
Teya Kepila:
Ayurveda is an ancient, deeply rooted system in India and goes back thousands and thousands of years that essentially lay space to three different parts of who you are and how you function as a human being. Ayurveda is simply how to balance the body through self-science and self-regulation. There is a lot that you can learn through Ayurveda to simply come back to yourself. It's all about how to listen to the autonomous health system of you. I think it's really simple to look at the things that you eat, how you work, how you function, how you think, what your activity levels are, how your digestion is, and boil all those down to just a simple way to match or balance how you already operate at. It's not trying to change you. It's not saying that there's one size fits all, but essentially, Ayurveda stands for the science of life.
So it is the science, but personally to you, there are three doshas and this is the fundamental pillars of Ayurveda. There's Pitta, Kapha, and Vata. Pitta is this fiery, energetic, quick digestion, has incredible amounts of stamina and energy to either digest or buzz around and get things done. And they run very hot. Usually, Kapha is very grounded. They have a slower pace of life. They go for long walks, but enjoy just feeling cool, slow, earthy. There are obviously things that play both roles of pros and cons. And then you have Vata, which is airy, light, quick. Someone who eats maybe little throughout the day, not big meals. They just like to stay quick on their feet. Energetic as well, but in an airy way.
It's not that it's woo-woo or spiritual. It's just very factual. It's how do you function as a human being and how can we balance that? And I feel personally, I have a lot of Pitta in me, so tons of fiery things. So I eat cooling foods. I love my spicy, but I love cooling foods.
Kerry Diamond:
Give us an example of some cooling foods.
Teya Kepila:
Mm, think of raw vegetables. Think of like a cooling cucumber. But beyond that, pre-digested foods. So think about what pre-digested is. It's like a smoothie or a soup, something that has taken a lot of the chewing out of it. That is also really gentle on your stomach. Softly sauteed vegetables, things that are going to allow your body to absorb the nutrients without doing a ton of the breakdown work is considered cooling and gentle. And there's also the more obvious term of cooling, like a salad or a smoothie. But beyond that, it's all about biodiversity and creating nutritionally optimal foods where you are eating the rainbow. I kind of don't like that Skittles named that because-
Kerry Diamond:
I know. Because eating the rainbow is such a good way to think about your approach to fruits and vegetables. Did you grow up with an understanding of these concepts?
Teya Kepila:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
Because you are Indian. Yeah, your dad is Indian, right? Yeah. I saw him in your video.
Teya Kepila:
I love him. No, I didn't grow up with Ayurveda. So I kind of had a lot of space between us, and my mom was the primary caregiver and my guardian for my entire life. And we'd visit my dad sporadically throughout the year. Sometimes we'd go for winter, sometimes we'd go for summer. And even if we would go, he still works full-time. So it's getting this two-hour window before we go to sleep. It really wasn't until about four or five years ago when our relationship just settled where it needs to be and kicked in where we were both so excited to learn about each other. And I think that's a beautiful example of how we can always restart a relationship and you don't need to constantly revisit some of the turmoil or some of the previous things that have happened. It's about moving forward and choosing to stay curious about who you are today.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a good reminder, especially given how many friends and family we see this time of year.
Teya Kepila:
Oh, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about your ceramics practice because it is so important to you, so key to who you are today. And your ceramic ceremonies we need to talk about. You rediscover ceramics during the pandemic.
Teya Kepila:
Yeah. I teach myself the wheel stubbornly. There are classes available and you can wear a mask and stand six feet apart and try to take this class except I had all the time. Everyone had this time that was so uncomfortable, and I'd prop the phone up on YouTube and kind of get myself ready and I'd reserve bench time at a ceramic studio nearby.
When I was there, I just remember I have never felt so much determination to do something outside of nutrition and getting to... When I'm really excited about something, I will do it all the time. I will rehearse it in my head. If it is meant for you, you'll have a tingle from the inside to get you there. And once you're there, it's up to you to do the work.
Someone said luck is when preparation meets opportunity. I love that saying because many times people will remind me how lucky I am for this community and this space to share ceramics and to be an artist in this climate. And I said, "Yeah, I am lucky, but I prepared so much for this moment and have done so much underground work that even when I was working on other things, I wrote a whole cookbook. I never published it. I wrote a book. I never published it."
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, where are these mystery books?
Teya Kepila:
In my computer. Deep, deep, dark, dark corners of my computer. I did this because I had so much coming out of me. I was fueled up to the brim with information and passion. And I was cooking so much at the time because of my found love for plant-based nutrition and I wanted it to be easy. I wanted people to make a dressing for any dish possible, but the dressing had incredibly medicinal ingredients in it, and food combining as well. Like black pepper and turmeric is a very easy combination, or mustard seeds and cruciferous vegetables to release the sulforaphane in them and optimize the digestion. There are so many fun things to know about food and I just saw a gap and I didn't do anything with it, which is a little unfortunate.
Kerry Diamond:
As a writer, sometimes you just have to write things and shelve them, and the world doesn't have to see them. It's just something you have to get out. If you do feel that cookbooks and the book are something that could have some kind of second life, speaking for myself, and I'm sure your fans feel the same way, it would be great for you to have a Substack.
Teya Kepila:
Thank you for bringing that up. I know you completely understand this entire concept of writing things and making ideas come to the surface and brewing on things. And then it's almost like when you look at something so long and you're spending so much time with this thing and you're just, "I just don't know." So then you put it aside.
But yes, I think Substack is calling my name. I love rambles and yap sessions and spewing things. And I'm definitely more of an artistic yapper than someone with critical advice and logistical steps to do something or whatever it may be. And so I just enjoy the decorative aspects of life and how you can relay those through storytelling, which is exactly what ceramics is for me. It's more of a silent version of that.
Kerry Diamond:
Right. Where are you getting this word "yapper?" I don't think anyone thinks of you as a yapper.
Teya Kepila:
I think I yap with girlfriends and things.
Kerry Diamond:
Which is good. Okay, back to the ceramics.
Teya Kepila:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
You had this training in high school, but you had never worked on a wheel. You start to teach yourself this. You just take to it like the proverbial duck to water, right?
Teya Kepila:
I really enjoy being humbled by this clay. The clay is going to teach you so many lessons and it for some reason was so frustrating but addicting. And I just wanted to keep going. I wanted to feel this coordination. When people do pottery now, because it's 2025, people are so in love with the art form as they should be. They go straight for the wheel. And I think, "No, no, no, no, no. Hold your horses." It's so charming. The movie”“Ghost: kind of set that up.
Kerry Diamond:
I was just going to say, “Ghost” ruined it for everybody. Everybody wants that moment on the wheel.
Teya Kepila:
I know.
Kerry Diamond:
The ghost of Patrick Swayze is standing by us.
Teya Kepila:
Yes. I just recently watched that movie.
Kerry Diamond:
Not for the first time.
Teya Kepila:
No, for like the 50th time. No, no, no. But they go to the wheel and I think, "No, we got to rewind." Go from learning the language of clay, and I continue to say language because it really does have a mind of its own. Clay has memory. Clay has function and dysfunction, and there's different kinds of clay bodies. Stoneware, porcelain, earth, and wear. There's types of glazes that are compatible or incompatible and that have different reactions on the clay body. It's incredible.
Kerry Diamond:
People need to think about all that when they throw the pieces in the dishwasher.
Teya Kepila:
Exactly. Exactly. And we're recently learning because there's a huge thrift wave as well. People are buying secondhand plates and they have lead in them because of the previous ways that they've been made before. And there are lead testers and things. So it's just a very interesting thing. So yes, ceramics.
And then after teaching myself the wheel... I guess not after because it’s an ongoing lesson. Maybe this is a side note, but I just don't believe there are professionals at anything. I think we could be very good at things and have an incredible stance in the thing, but we can't possibly own an identity in one professional role. So I think that-
Kerry Diamond:
Except doctors. Maybe I'm very happy to have professionals.
Teya Kepila:
No, definitely professional doctors, but I'm more saying like-
Kerry Diamond:
I know what you mean. I say that to the younger members of the team often. Nobody knows anything today.
Teya Kepila:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
That's not to take away, like I said, from doctors and people who are very serious about serious professions that we need in the world. But the world has changed so rapidly that people who pretend to know things don't necessarily know.
Teya Kepila:
Have you ever been asked how would you describe yourself without a job title or a background of any kind of religion or where you were brought up or how much money you have?
Kerry Diamond:
No, because I'm the one who does all the interviewing.
Teya Kepila:
Okay. Well, I would be very curious about how you would describe yourself if-
Kerry Diamond:
I don't think I'd have a hard time if you we're going to make me do it right now.
Teya Kepila:
Would you like to? I'm very curious.
Kerry Diamond:
Repeat the question, please.
Teya Kepila:
Please honestly answer. If you were to describe yourself in any length of a response, who you are without your background, your upbringing, who you are, your parents, your identity, your professional role, your age, your race, any nationality, nothing that could objectively categorize you as a human being. Who are you?
Kerry Diamond:
In a weird way, I think that's easy for me. I am someone who is fascinated and intrigued by other people.
Teya Kepila:
I love that.
Kerry Diamond:
It just amazes me endlessly. And even when I was younger, it's definitely been the through line of my life.
Teya Kepila:
It's so beautiful. And I think you have completely manifested this entire life around the ultimate “who are you” question. It's so beautiful.
Kerry Diamond:
In a way. Yeah, I'm very lucky. You talked about luck earlier, and we talk about luck a lot on the show because a lot of women tend to attribute the good things that happen to them to luck. But like you said, it's a combination of things. It's preparedness, opportunity, luck, all of that.
Anyway, okay, back to you. Thank you for interviewing me briefly. Ceramics. Yes. So turns out you're talented at it, although I don't feel like those are terms you would use. You have a gift for this. You actually start to sell your pieces and people love them.
Teya Kepila:
Yeah, that's not until I embarrass myself and share it on the internet, which becomes this really great... It used to be an online journal for me and I would post mainly recipes, which by the way, the Turmeric Times, which is my ceramics business now, was once a health journal and I would food blog on my personal website. So that's probably why I'm untraceable. It's because all of my existence was on this one website that didn't have a lot of foot traffic, but it was still mine. After I posted some videos and gained traction and weirdly caught virality on this crazy internet platform.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, you have a lot of followers.
Teya Kepila:
It's just a very interesting world, the social media thing.
Kerry Diamond:
It's fascinating. I'm happy to see how many followers you have, and you have a lot. I mean, we're talking hundreds of thousands. You're approaching like half a million followers. It's so nice to see that someone focused on the things that you are focused on can attract an audience like that.
Teya Kepila:
I feel very lucky. When I say lucky, I want to you to know-
Kerry Diamond:
It gives me faith in mankind, that that many people want to follow someone who's putting so much substance into the world.
Teya Kepila:
Thank you. Thank you so much. I think it's about the storytelling aspect. It goes beyond ceramics. I've been told many times in my little messaging box that they came for the ceramics, but they stayed because of one of the things. And the things that I mention a lot and are constantly on rotation because that's who I am, is not just this Ayurveda, an Ayurvedic lens of health and feeding yourself and feeling, and not just community, but it's also body hair and body positivity, mental health awareness and the slowness of life that isn't just romanticized through gorgeous settings, but the slowness of what exactly you can do right now to just live a little calmer into the moment and that this actually has enough worthiness to slow down for and you don't have to reserve a reservation somewhere far away on some gorgeous vacation in order to slow down.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. You got to go back.
Teya Kepila:
Okay.
Kerry Diamond:
You said body hair.
Teya Kepila:
Yeah, that's a big one.
Kerry Diamond:
I didn't know you had body hair content. I think I missed that.
Teya Kepila:
Yeah, I am half Indian, and that's a really big part... When I grew up with my mom, my mom is white and she has very little hair. And I also grew up in a neighborhood where there weren't a lot of people with the same, I guess, traits as me. Really, it was third grade. So that's also when I was first told that someone had a problem with my body hair and that I was called various names. "Gorilla," and, "Oh, is she a man?" And it looks like you have-
Kerry Diamond:
Some people are awful.
Teya Kepila:
... tattoo sleeves on your arms because of how dark your body hair is. And then I shaved a lot and-
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, yeah. The body hair industrial complex gets you early.
Teya Kepila:
Don't... Well, we're getting started.
Kerry Diamond:
Dye it, shave it, Nair, all these things. Oh, my God. I'm so happy now when I see people who do not buy into all that.
Teya Kepila:
Do you. Do you. So that happened and then fast-forward, it wasn't until putting my arms on the internet, which I was doing pottery. So obviously, I have no sleeves on. Then a crazy surge of people come in and virality is sneaky because it's like, "Oh yeah, this video got so much traction. Wow, you must be doing great." And you look in the comments and it's all bullying and the bullying on my-
Kerry Diamond:
About your arm hair?
Teya Kepila:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, my God, people.
Teya Kepila:
So anyway, now I'm so grateful because it's paved this very lovely, strong, incredibly intense, which has to be, path to other women and girls who are constantly being shoved in this box of, "You are only beautiful if you are hairless from the eyebrows down." And I just don't believe that. So I don't pluck my eyebrows. It's not because of resistance. I just enjoy myself like this. But then there's also my arm hair and other body hair and I'm not living in that box ever.
Kerry Diamond:
Good for you.
Teya Kepila:
It's even more incredible when I see men appreciate because it's usually from a male's voice ridiculing and policing a woman's body. The social standard boils down from men, though. That's the patriarchy.
Kerry Diamond:
Mm-hmm.
Teya Kepila:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, I'm so happy you're a body hair influencer. That makes me so happy and proud of you.
Teya Kepila:
I'm just a woman. Thank you. I'm just a woman with a human body and I want to stand on behalf of all bodies. Which, by the way, how you were born should never be anyone's business.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. We have a few minutes left.
Teya Kepila:
Okay.
Kerry Diamond:
You just had a drop on December 3rd of some of your pieces. I'm guessing they'll sell out because your stuff sells out. For folks who are fans and who would love nothing more than to have a piece made by you, how often do you do your drops of product?
Teya Kepila:
It's been a very interesting thing to provide for because on one end, I'm heavily protecting the quarterly drops that I put out, and these bodies of work take a really long time. It's a lot of labor and a lot of time and a lot of focus for something physical. Usually, when you're not online and taking pictures, you know when it's like, "Oh, if you didn't take a picture, it didn't happen." It's not all the time I can document how much time and accurately depict the effort that goes into these pieces. So yes, they do happen quarterly, but the December 3rd drop, when it does come out, I'll have plenty of notice online on social media. That's my main form of communication to the masses. I will share them via my website and that's pretty much where they will live until they all have homes.
Kerry Diamond:
I know you're not big on positioning things as advice, but give us a few thoughts on the new year and how to prepare for the new year if that's maybe not something you have thought about in the past. A lot of people in there are like, "Ugh, resolutions. I don't like resolutions." What's a nice way to approach the new year?
Teya Kepila:
I'm actually really happy you brought this up because when we see the numbers restart and we're back at one out of 12 months of the year to figure stuff out, it's not, "Three, two, one. Go out the gate." It's, "Wow, let's reflect." I think we have to look the other direction. So it's not so much who we want to be and how much we want to change and what we want to get rid of and habits we want to create, but rather, "Hey, where are we at right now? Also, what happened the last 12 months?" It's a beautiful block of time and I know that's why it's a very attractive place to then start all over and three, two, one, go.
When it becomes the new year and you have opportunity for newness, you also have an opportunity to reside in gratitude. And I think that's where a lot of things begin. I'm really grateful that this year when I felt I needed to, I took a walk. And that walk was my mental notepad and I just let myself think about anything and it was one lap around the block, but that was something I'm very grateful for is that I created space for myself and I heard these thoughts out.
It could be small things. Those levels of gratitude reach beyond just reflection. It actually propels you into the next thing and positively sets you up for a better foundation if you ever did want to start something new.
In food and in life, you crowd out. You don't eliminate right away. You can't just strip yourself of who you are and the fundamentals of you just because something else is more attractive or you want to eat this way or feel this way or practice these things. It's crowding out. It's making sure you can acknowledge everything you already are so if there's something that you want to naturally kind of blend into, that's going to find its own unique way to settle into the life you already have. But it's not cut and dry.
Kerry Diamond:
I like the idea of reflection before resolution.
Teya Kepila:
That's as simple as that. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a great takeaway. All right. Let's do a little speed round.
Teya Kepila:
Okay.
Kerry Diamond:
What beverage do you start your day with?
Teya Kepila:
Tea and then coffee.
Kerry Diamond:
Tea, then coffee. My kind of girl. What kind of tea?
Teya Kepila:
This morning was ginger chamomile. I love ginger. Good for the stomach.
Kerry Diamond:
How do you do your coffee?
Teya Kepila:
I do a moka pot.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh.
Teya Kepila:
Like you know, the Italian espresso makers?
Kerry Diamond:
I'm so susceptible to the internet. I was thinking about getting one of those because I used to own a coffee shop. I find all the coffee apparatus so intimidating.
Teya Kepila:
Oh, no. This is very-
Kerry Diamond:
But a moka pot I can handle. Yeah.
Teya Kepila:
Yes. I love the chambers. I love that I can control everything. And I like a small, short, black Americano, typically if I'm going out. It's the perfect amount of coffee and the perfect amount of ritual. You just put the coffee in the chamber and you put the water in the bottom and you twist on the top and you open the lid and you wait for it to boil and it's very simple.
Kerry Diamond:
I can handle it.
Teya Kepila:
And smells good too.
Kerry Diamond:
Yes. What was your favorite food as a kid?
Teya Kepila:
Oh, my goodness. When I was really, really young, my dad would make these marble breads, and I'm rubbing my hands together, like making a ball with your palms of your hands. So he'd compress these balls of bread. It's not really my favorite food, but that's the first thing I thought of.
Kerry Diamond:
It's memorable. It was almost like a ceramics gesture when you were doing that.
Teya Kepila:
Oh, my goodness. Exactly.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. What's always on your fridge?
Teya Kepila:
Oh, carrots.
Kerry Diamond:
Carrots. Okay.
Teya Kepila:
Whole carrots. You could sauté them, you can blend them into a soup, you can eat them raw. To me, they feel very energetically enhancing. If you're munchy, oftentimes it's only because it's psychological.
Kerry Diamond:
What are you streaming right now?
Teya Kepila:
I'm between shows. Right now I'm reading.
Kerry Diamond:
What are you reading?
Teya Kepila:
I just finished “The Nightingale,” a very powerful piece of literature. All of Kristin Hannah's books are.
Kerry Diamond:
You're also a fan of “The Artist's Way.”
Teya Kepila:
“The Artist's Way,” “The Creative Act” by Rick Rubin, and “The Four Agreements” I'm also rereading because these are books that you reread every year. The first two, especially “The Artist's Way” by Julia Cameron. These pieces of literature are just timeless.
Kerry Diamond:
What's a dream travel destination?
Teya Kepila:
I just accomplished recently this year, went to Brazil, and that was a very big dream of mine. So I think next year is Africa.
Kerry Diamond:
Very exciting. Last question. If you had to be trapped on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?
Teya Kepila:
Food celebrity? Wow. I think Chloé.
Kerry Diamond:
I knew you were going to say that.
Teya Kepila:
Because her simplicity, it is so pure.
Kerry Diamond:
Chloé Crane-Leroux.
Teya Kepila:
Yes. Chloé is a friend of mine and has the most beautiful way of creating with food and handling food. And because of her ways of handling and looking at the colors of a tomato and acknowledging where it came from and how the human exchange, even at a marketplace, boils into your food. That is what makes a dish to me, is the human interaction and the growth process, and of course, the simplicity of the dish.
Kerry Diamond:
Chloé's wonderful. I weirdly knew you were going to say Chloé. We've had Chloé and her mom, Trudy, on the show, and they really are two of my favorite people. Just exceptional, lovely human beings.
Teya Kepila:
I love their connection as mother-daughter.
Kerry Diamond:
Teya, I'm sad to say bye. This was a really nice chat, and I think a lot of folks will find this very grounding as we approach December 31st and January 1st.
Teya Kepila:
Thank you for having me and making this space for this conversation, and being so inquisitive with all these different angles. I feel like it's hard to talk about so many topics in a tiny amount of time because life is very dense. So thank you for so beautifully navigating through all this story and constantly inspiring people with your grounded energy.
Kerry Diamond:
That means a lot.
Teya Kepila:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
So thank you.
Teya Kepila:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you so much to Teya Kepila for joining me. Don't forget, tickets for Jubilee 2026 are on sale. The Cake Issue is out right now, and be sure to check out our Substack. There's lots of fun stuff over there. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Special thanks to CityVox Studio in Manhattan and Good Studio in Brooklyn. Our producers are Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadhu. Our executive assistant is Brigid Pittman, and our head of partnerships is Rachel Close. Thanks for listening, everybody. You're the Bombe.