Her name speaks for itself, our April muse is a woman embodying her power. Model, artist and mama, Brook Power, an Ojibwe Sicilian who grew up in Hawaii and now lives in L.A. is a natural creative, passionate about sustainable living, regenerative farming and wildly devoted to her family and horse Pomp.
Brook, what does it mean to you, to be a woman in your power?
I’m sure that’s different for every woman. But I would say it means doing what you love every day. Not apologizing for your ambition.
Who or what inspires you to keep growing?
My ancestors who came to this country on a boat with nothing. And my ancestors who had their culture and heritage stripped of them and their homes and way of life taken from them. I hope that I can use this society to finally better the future of my line. I started here in Los Angeles with virtually nothing.
You grew up in Hawaii and now you live in LA, why did you move and how did island life contrast to LA?
I was born in Inglewood California, and then my parents moved to Hawaii after the riots in LA when I was very very small. Hawaii is a beautiful place to grow up, you don’t need to be rich to have an amazing life there. I was very blessed as a child. But when I was a teenager the reality of how difficult it is to find opportunity there set in and I left when I was 16. I never really lived in the city in Los Angeles, LA is full of suburbs, I lived in Venice first and now I live in the mountains north of Malibu now.
Can you tell us a little bit about your Obijwe Sicilian heritage?
I never grew up with any Ojibwe culture sadly, my Grandpa was very ashamed of it and my Dad didn’t really learn any of it. It’s very sad that his native pride was so stripped by American culture. But I grew up in Hawaii feeling a very strong connection to the land and working closely with native Hawaiians to care for it and being fascinated by that way of life being connected to the earth. I was an indigenous child put on someone else’s land to love it and I do identify with Italian/Sicilian culture very strongly, and I have a lot of Italian family in LA, but growing up in Hawaii it also wasn’t very prevalent outside of my own house. America is a melting pot and Hawaii is an even smaller melting pot inside that – Now I just identify as a human!
Your daily life feels very rich and diverse, from family life, work, creativity, horse riding and surfing – how do you navigate juggling all these different parts of your world?
Well, they’re all very close geographically so that makes it easy. You just have to make that the priority in your life. Being in nature daily is definitely a top priority for me and for my kids and animals.
You are passionate about treading lightly, sustainability and regenerative farming – what wisdom can you share to our readers who are looking to be more active in these fields?
The easiest thing everyone can do is to eat organic. Not only for your health but for the environment, which is our health too. The more people who eat organic the more demand there will be for it and the less demand for the toxic chemicals that are permeating our soil and water and wrecking havoc on the planets health. I grew up playing on a golf course as a child and the residual glyphosate in my system from that toxic environment they created still affects me. Small things like not using rat poison or weed killer are huge.
Finally, we love your style and how you express yourself, what is most important to you when you are choosing what to wear?
These days good quality and the ability to wear something multiple places, dress it up or dress it down. I don’t have time or energy to be overthinking outfits any more!
