Hannah Mendoza

18.

18.

Well, I'd never actually really been here before. I had no friends, no family here, but I had watched, I think, maybe one or two episodes of The O.C. at the time. And that was absolutely enough to take me over the edge. Oh, my gosh. It was honestly completely on a whim.

Well, I'd never actually really been here before. I had no friends, no family here, but I had watched, I think, maybe one or two episodes of The O.C. at the time. And that was absolutely enough to take me over the edge. Oh, my gosh. It was honestly completely on a whim.

It was that kind of, you know, 18-year-old decision that I'm actually very grateful, you know, brain hemispheres aren't completely fused yet at that age. If I tell you, when my plane touched down in LAX, I listened to Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus in my headphones.

It was that kind of, you know, 18-year-old decision that I'm actually very grateful, you know, brain hemispheres aren't completely fused yet at that age. If I tell you, when my plane touched down in LAX, I listened to Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus in my headphones.

california coming home every single time in my head and i would just go i'm home okay so you come here you're 18 you get here california dreaming party in the usa yes it changed me very in a very massive way very very quickly when i got here i mean i've never been on a single hike i'd never pitched a tent i was frankly i was smoking marlboro reds and would casually put back like a bottle of tequila on the weekend that was just when i was in london we started going clubbing when i was 14. it

california coming home every single time in my head and i would just go i'm home okay so you come here you're 18 you get here california dreaming party in the usa yes it changed me very in a very massive way very very quickly when i got here i mean i've never been on a single hike i'd never pitched a tent i was frankly i was smoking marlboro reds and would casually put back like a bottle of tequila on the weekend that was just when i was in london we started going clubbing when i was 14. it

It was just a very, very different lifestyle. And I thought that was it.

It was just a very, very different lifestyle. And I thought that was it.

I mean, within a year of being here, I'd moved into a house of 11 women who all had their armpit hair intact. The house was strewn with these kombucha scobies growing from jars. And we were doing plant meditations. We were making herbal tinctures. I started surfing. And my idea of a big night out after a year in California was a potluck that ended in a sing-along. It was nothing.

I mean, within a year of being here, I'd moved into a house of 11 women who all had their armpit hair intact. The house was strewn with these kombucha scobies growing from jars. And we were doing plant meditations. We were making herbal tinctures. I started surfing. And my idea of a big night out after a year in California was a potluck that ended in a sing-along. It was nothing.

No one will make up. Everyone worship nature. And God, you know, it's such a trope, but it did change my life. And I felt what it felt like to actually feel good in my body and my mind. And I'm sure, you know, it can be a little eye rolling, but I did feel like a different person. As an agnostic atheist, you know, we're all desperately searching for meaning.

No one will make up. Everyone worship nature. And God, you know, it's such a trope, but it did change my life. And I felt what it felt like to actually feel good in my body and my mind. And I'm sure, you know, it can be a little eye rolling, but I did feel like a different person. As an agnostic atheist, you know, we're all desperately searching for meaning.

And in that community that I found, I'd never experienced what community felt like. And it was, you know, it was transformational for me.

And in that community that I found, I'd never experienced what community felt like. And it was, you know, it was transformational for me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I was still very ambitious, loaded word as we know, but I always have been. And even through the more kind of earthy phase, I started my first kind of proper job while I was still in college. It was at a regenerative agriculture-based superfood company. So again, could it be any more stereotypical, but it was hard work. I was their first employee. And the role was, hey, grow the company.

Well, I was still very ambitious, loaded word as we know, but I always have been. And even through the more kind of earthy phase, I started my first kind of proper job while I was still in college. It was at a regenerative agriculture-based superfood company. So again, could it be any more stereotypical, but it was hard work. I was their first employee. And the role was, hey, grow the company.