Latham Thomas was working in the area of maternal and child wellness when she got pregnant. Tired of reading books that made pregnancy sound awful, she started documenting her transition in a way that celebrated pregnancy as a right of passage. Now this 29-year-old, single mom has turned her experience into a boutique, holistic lifestyle practice, Tender Shoots Wellness. Based in NYC, Thomas empowers women through nutrition awareness, yoga, green culinary arts and plant medicine helping them to achieve optimal health and wellness.
How do you describe your work? “Gosh. I would say it’s holistic approaches to healing for the modern woman. I am working to help people look inside of themselves and find their happiness and I think that through discipline, not in the sense of punishment, but as a reward and making choices that are in alignment, will help us live that life we really want. When you’re really feeling charged up then you’re going to live your best life. When something is not in place then you’re imbalanced.”
What three adjectives best describe you? “Bubbly. Grounded. And I think motherly. I have a maternal vibration.”
Cats, dogs, birds … describe your pets? “I have a turtle. It’s my son’s and we rescued him on the hottest day of summer, on the street. We called him Climby because my son was like, `He likes to climb a lot’. He even tries to climb out of the tank!”
Favorite season? “I would have to say spring, even though I really love summer. Spring because there is something about when the quality of the light changes and you see the first signs of budding new life coming forth and the first unfurling of little flowers is really inspiring. It gives me a sense that Mother Nature has not given up and constantly in her infinite wisdom against all odds, she is making her way.”
Name a city you’d love to visit. Why? “I just really want to go to Sardinia for the beaches. I wanna lay on the beach.”
What’s the best thing about being single? “The best thing about being single I think is it gives me perspective when I’m looking in on other relationships. I also find that because I’m single, I can quickly make choices about what is good for me or what isn’t right away. When I was jumping from relationship to relationship, there wasn’t space for that self-growth to figure out what I want and what I require.
When you’re really focusing on yourself and out there and pursuing your life goal, every one is attracted to you. Your life just flows, because you’re living it.”
Describe your ideal Girls’ Night Out. “Going to dinner at one of my favorite vegan spots in the city and going out to drinks, something at Candle 79. It’s a great restaurant for meat eaters and non and then going to drinks downtown in Soho or Chelsea or the Meat Packing District. I like getting my girls together to take a yoga or intenSati class, to talk about our goals or have a networking pow wow where we’ll talk about what’s going on in our lives and ways we can support each other.”
What’s the nicest thing a friend (or friends) have done for you? “It was something I didn’t take well at the time, but in retrospect…One my friends who is a guy, I was talking to him about a guy I was interested in making excuses for him and he said to me, in front of people, `Why do you think he’s not showing up?’ Then he said, `He doesn’t value you.’ He said if he really liked you he would make time for what he wanted. `Men always make time for pursing women. This guy is not working because he doesn’t see your worth.’ We should all make a commitment to not letting each other go down the road of pity and just being honest with each other. If people fall short, they’re really not meant for you. If men realize that they can’t get what they used to being the way they are, then they will step. People act like they do because they’ve been able to get away with it. You wouldn’t settle for this in a meal in a restaurant. Why aren’t we willing to stand up for ourselves in what we deserve in relationships?”
What do you do for “Latham” time? “I meditate in the morning. I light this incense I got from Yemen and it has this sweet, sweet fragrance called bakur. They light it and this beautiful thick smoke comes up that you can breathe. These women in Yemen dress themselves up and put make-up on each other and dance over this smoke. They perfume their clothing and hair and I let my entire room fill with the smell. When I mediate I use it as a place to thing about everything sweet.”
What’s the best advice you ever received? “I think around patience. My dad once told me, it’s really simple, stay slow and steady and just be patient and things will just happen. If you stay on course with one vision, things will start to happen.”
What quality do you admire most in a man? “One quality? I only get one?! I would have to say protective and what I mean by that…I remember my dad would make sure everything was taken care of. I notice right away if I feel safe with a man. If something were to happen, is he going to protect me? Is he protective of my feelings?I have to feel safe, protected, precious, like I am valued with you.”
What quality do you admire most in a woman? “I really admire when I see a woman who is not intimidated by other women, who is more sisterly to other women. There is a lot of cattiness. Telling other women that they’re beautiful and being strong and who they are. It’s self-confidence and not “better than”, that nice sense of being totally in the fold. You’re my sister.”
Who are your real life heroes? “My real life heroes? Definitely my mom who raised 2 girls by herself and put us both through boarding school and ivy league college, without a college education. A friend of mine, Kris Carr, who is a cancer survivor. She and woke up one day and had some pains, and was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in the liver. She was 30. Over night she changed her diet and lifestyle and didn’t do chemo and healed herself.”
What is your guilty pleasure? “I like granola. I know it doesn’t sound that guilty but it is and if there is milk and honey granola, it’s gone in a day and a half. Then there is a place called pure food and wine and they have a mallomar that is cashew cream and raw chocolate.”
What is your biggest fear? “My biggest fear is public speaking. It’s something I’m getting more comfortable with but it still scares me.”
If you could change one thing in your past, what would it be? “I don’t know if I would change anything because if I didn’t I wouldn’t be where I am now, I would be onto another path. That’s the great thing about the present. When you make a mistake, you can always work on changing how you behave in the future. Everything I did up to now is a blueprint; it’s given me guidance on how to move my life. I don’t know who I would be if I hadn’t have gone through some of the things I went through.”
Other than your own talents, what talent would you most like to have? “That’s a hard one. I would like to do flamenco dance. I think I was a flamenco dancer in a past life.”
What is your motto? Or what words do you live by? “Be well. Be happy and be abundant. I really do live by that because I believe that I want everybody to do well. I bless people with wellness, happiness and abundance and there is enough for everyone. If we’re all loving each other and making sure we’re helping to fill voids for people then there is a lot more harmony in the world.”
