Welcome to Episode 1 of the INBLUEM podcast hosted by founder, Montana Lower. Where we go beyond skincare and explore the people, rituals and culture that shape how we see beauty.
In this conversation, we sit down with INBLUEM's charity partner, Ella Bancroft, founder of The Returning – a female-founded, Indigenous-led organisation committed to restoring people into right relationship with Country.
From growing up on Country and being placed in special ed, to building a charity on her ancestral Bundjalung lands, Ella shares her unfiltered wisdom on disconnection, the living landscape, true leadership and why the matriarchy has nothing to do with women dominating men.
In this episode, we explore the reality behind the bush foods and native plants industry, animism, sovereignty, community care and what it really means to belong to the land.
We dive deep into what colonisation did to our relationship with land and each other, why the most disconnected people hold the most power, why some wild plants like the Kakadu Plum refuses to be cultivated, how to vet greenwashing and spend with integrity, and what collaboration looks like when women truly lead.
This episode is medicine for anyone craving a more honest, more connected and more responsible way of being in the world.
INBLUEM has been a proud partner with The Returning since 2019, donating over $80,000 to meaningful causes that contribute to collective remembering and healing.
INBLUEM is a profit-for-purpose business model created as a vessel to help heal the earth. Donations are built into every purchase.
We deeply honour and respect the traditional custodians of Bundjalung Land, Byron Bay.
FIND US:
The Returning: https://www.thereturning.com.au/
INBLUEM: https://www.instagram.com/inbluem_au
Shop: https://www.inbluem.com
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Welcome and Ella's World
1:36 Why The Returning Was Born
3:02 Life Before and After The Gathering
4:43 Programs, Nursery and the Full Vision
7:26 Native Plants, INBLUEM and the Uncomfortable Conversation
9:23 Indigenous Land Access and the Bush Food Industry
11:55 The Colonial Fracture and the Living Landscape
12:56 Animism, What It Means to Walk in a Living World
13:39 Disconnection Is a Status Symbol
14:33 Country Talks Back
15:30 We All Have an Animist Ancestor
17:20 Real Connection Doesn't Need an Audience
20:21 The Kakadu Plum Refuses to Be Controlled
23:16 Taking a Plant From Its Community
27:57 Kids, Country and What Education Is Missing
28:47 Dyslexia, Special Ed and Growing Up on Country
31:54 Ella's Definition of Success
32:41 How to Deepen Connection to Land and Each Other
36:48 What a Matriarchy Actually Means
40:26 Conscious Consuming and Boycotting Extraction
43:56 Why Every Business Owner Should Understand This
45:35 A True Leader Shares Power
46:22 Allyship Through Real Relationship
48:16 Our Algorithms Are Making Us Intolerant
49:27 Rapid Fire Questions
50:52 Closing and Climate Positive Month
52:12 What Collaboration Looks Like When Women Lead
