Selah: Soulful songstress sells everything and gains a life in Tulum

In this episode of Tulum Magazine, the host interviews Selah, a dynamic and multi-talented individual with a surprising background connection. Selah, originally from Toronto and having lived in Montreal, shares her journey before coming to Tulum. She talks about being a chef and entrepreneur, making natural body butters and deodorants. Selah discusses her decision to move to Mexico and her love for hip-hop, explaining that she doesn’t trust the government’s handling of current events. She shares her spiritual experiences, including participating in ceremonies like Ayahuasca and Peyote. Selah also talks about the challenges she faces as an entrepreneur, especially during the low season. She highlights her various offerings in Tulum, including private chef services, live performances, writing workshops, and her YouTube channel for kids. Selah resides in a unique artist building called Cosmic Roots, where she hosts events and creates a vibrant and transformative atmosphere. The interview concludes with Selah encouraging viewers to take the leap and explore new experiences, reminding them that they can always go back home if needed.

TRANSCRIPT:

so welcome back to another episode of Tulum magazine and this is another in
the series of courageous Canadian girls and I’m so excited to have this
conversation with Selah she is probably one of my favorite most dynamic
people I’ve met here in Tulum uh with a surprising Connection in terms
of background and I can’t wait for you to meet her and learn more about her so welcome Selah thank you for having me so
um tell us a little bit about where you’re from um and I’d love to hear about your life
before you came to Tulum okay so um
I’m from Toronto but I was in Montreal for the last three years before I moved to Tulum so from
2018 to 2021 yeah um I was in Montreal and I moved I sold
everything moved back to Toronto for three weeks and then I came to Mexico so and what were you doing in Montreal
so in Montreal I was um I was a chef and what I’ve been doing for many years
I went to culinary school yeah so I do a lot of personal chefing I’ve worked for
company so I’ve done Banquets uh you name it in the cooking I’ve done it
like camps Banquets private public restaurant fast food I’ve done it all
right private homes whatever um so I was doing that and also I’m an
entrepreneur so I make my own natural body butters and deodorant so I was
making those and selling those I was thrifting and flipping and making really crazy actually my money from flipping
items paid for my ticket to Mexico my first month of living expenses really
yeah so and how did you how did you decide on Mexico like why Mexico
um because I had come in 2020 we did it like a friend’s trip yeah there was about eight of us that came yeah and we
just went to the resort and play a car yeah and applied the Carmen sandals was really fun five days and then we all
extended our trip so one Leah she stayed for six months she didn’t leave yeah she
came home settled up and then came back so she never left for the whole time um I was here for almost a month yeah
and we went from Plaza Carmen to Tulum for seven days and then we all kind of
broke up and did our own thing after Tulum Leah went and traveled a little bit in Mexico yeah I went back to play out of Carmen for like another 10 days
or something like that yeah um and then I came home and I was shut in for four months and everything but I
had a lot of spiritual girls in that time and I was only planning to come visit again yeah and Leah and our other
friend could be like come come and I was like yeah yeah I was getting comfortable again in Montreal and I started to make my money doing my thing
um but then kovitz started hitting hard and all that and I about that life yeah I ain’t doing it and you’re
not about that long time no not that not about the vaccine not about taking a test I’m not doing it I’m not doing it
so um it was getting really bad and so I just decided I was just fed up
with the government and I was also fed up with just people in the city’s yeah and it was just
like and for me like with the whole coverage not to get too deep into the coldest thing but for me like I was in a
lot of hip-hop circles and like for me I just don’t think that you could be hip-hop and then fall for the
government’s at the same time it doesn’t make any sense to me it doesn’t correlate with me and there’s just a lot of Hypocrites I was seeing in
that Community like bullying like ones of us that weren’t believing in this stuff it just it just got out of hand
and I was just like you know what F all of this stuff I’m going to Mexico you know what I mean in fact I think I’m
gonna move there and so I just I think I prepared like three weeks of Hardcore selling everything I own yeah
I gave a lot of stuff away so I was giving a lot of stuff to Charities and stuff which was good so when a lot of
people left some things at laundromat like I sold everything yeah and yeah I brought
my booty down here Test free vaccine free like I’m one of the purest human beings that are on the planet Earth
right now yeah I love um that you mentioned hip-hop because a
lot of people don’t understand they’re not going to understand what you just said
because they don’t understand that actually hip-hop is bigger than the music and it’s actually like why don’t
you explain like what is what does hip-hop mean to you and why did you make that connection what a question you know
I’ve always wondered the day someone’s gonna ask me this question come on because I think I’ve asked that question in interviews hip-hop what does it mean
to me I don’t know it just is it’s a part of me I always say r b heart with the Hip-Hop soul okay
and it’s just it’s everything it’s truth it’s grit it’s getting through it it’s being resilient it’s being creative it’s
the music obviously but it’s the message Behind the Music yeah a lot of this stuff deemed just hip-hop today is just
kind of like new school fillers I don’t even know what to call it right but like real
hip-hop it like it’s just it just I’m gonna I don’t know why I’m
gonna start crying like it just hits your eye I can feel it right now just hits your heart your soul even if it’s
about ghetto like real you just you can feel it there was still a story there was still a message they’re
they’re telling you something yeah so for me especially when it’s standing up for rights and civil rights and all that
stuff and talking about equality and you know the police like whatever like
how are we all of a sudden being like Oh the government crack in the neighborhoods you know like
they don’t they don’t keep our lights on they don’t clean the waters like they’re the last especially in the United States
like those neighborhoods are the last neighborhoods to be surfaced for anything and the first to be tested for vaccines and stuff yeah so for me it’s
just like how do you all of a sudden just trust the government all of a sudden they’re making sense just out of the blue all
the things all the they fed you that is so clear and then all of a sudden this is not it doesn’t make any
sense it just it doesn’t make any sense to me so it makes me wonder like or half these people even real there’s a lot of
robots and AI going around so so I don’t know so that’s why you were
like I’m not sticking to the program you’re all trying to programming with I’m leaving and you found yourself in
Tulum tell me your your first impression of Tulum what did you think of it I
actually was implied on the Carmen at first yeah two months settled there and then I moved it to loom and I always
wanted to learn yeah so when we first came for a visit like we loved it right away so what did you like about it I
don’t know it’s just like this Vibe I can’t no it needs to be explained it needs to
be explained it’s a feeling sometimes you can’t explain the feeling it’s just like a Vibe I’m very City but it’s very
small I forget how small townish it is but yeah I’m like oh you know so oh you uh we know each other but I’m not as uh
taken aback or like put off by that whereas in other smaller towns like I’ve
lived in Ottawa Ontario and whatnot a lot a part of my life and
like everyone when people everybody knows each other I’m kind of like oh God you know someone so it’s like you know but here I think it’s because it’s it’s
such a mix when people literally all over the world like everyone’s traveling or expects that it’s I mean there’s that
core of so-and-so’s but that’s usually the music community that I’m talking about yeah but it doesn’t put me off or
I’m like oh no you know someone so yeah we know the same people like I don’t know it’s I guess it’s just refreshing and it’s
tropical every day so I mean this is I’ve manifested my dream life weather like I used to go outside every day in
the summer but this would be the perfect weather for me like it’s the perfect weather even when it’s too hot I don’t give me the hot yeah I haven’t worn
jeans in two years oh five [Laughter]
so one of the things I admire about you is that
um you plugged in I’m like how is this woman
singing r b and rapping and has found a bunch of
Mexicans that she can do this with like walk me through that Journey like how did you find the the music Community
here yeah how was I doing that here well that’s another thing I was actually
doing that too before I came here I did a lot of shows you do it here but later I just came and
hmm I must have okay I think the real plug because was I
singing before I bumped into that person I think so but one day me and Leah which
you’re gonna meet her we like to like go and eat ice cream and people watch on the main road like
something that we go to do like it’s our time to be entertained and so we were people watching one day and these guys
ride by on their bicycle and they have instruments and I was like oh music
it was just really quick and they’re like oh hi Hi and then they actually turned around and came back and started
talking to us okay and they pulled out a little guitar and we just had like a quick little freestyle session on the
street and then one of the guys took our number and he invited us to Casa elbow
which is like my favorite place to go yeah no um he came to our house like we shared a
smoke and because I was like oh I’m actually ready to start music again so I’m actually looking for people to play
so you’re a guitar player like yeah let’s get together cool acoustic yeah so he came invited us out to this music
night Castle album which is this open Jam every Wednesdays are closed for two months now but every Wednesday they have
this live gem local musicians so they’re like incredible It’s So Dope so fun and you can just kind of get them on the
mic if you’re feeling it if you’re a singer so we went and I wasn’t gonna sing but then they started playing
something that just hit my soul and I was like oh my God to go and went
bang it’s kind of like a blues whatever like everyone loved it it was so dope and then I just stayed connected with
that bass player and then he invited me to play with his band at um Palma
Central that week so I went and then from there we just he knew the
musicians so he kind of got them together and then we started playing and we gigged we gigged quite a few places and then we kind of like the band kind
of dispersed a bit and then I started I met um my other band mate is just me and him
that been playing for the last while uh Nacho uh we met him at ceremony an eye
ceremony he was providing the sound I think at the ceremony actually I wasn’t even
there at that ceremony but um the one that I the the night the day the ceremony that I missed he was there
but we we met him with some ceremony friends at nomades yeah because they were playing there like beautiful music
and he was there in the crowd and then Leah introduced me to him yeah and then she’s like oh yeah playing lots of
instruments and then we just came together mashed it up and then we started performing started getting gigs
and yeah I just started getting gigs being these guys at events that we would go to
yeah but it all started I think Casa elbows were really really started but
actually no originally it started with capoeira because we should take capoeira classes and our capoeira teacher is the
most phenomenal musician he goes white what do they call them a skeleton or something like that whatever skeleton is
in Spanish do they still have the copper class yeah every Saturday it’s donation only they have I have to start going
back again okay I learned something new um yeah so
he is a phenomenal musician like sex if he plays everything yeah any singer and
he’s just like oh my God incredible so I think he must he must have invited us
yeah to something our Leah had had performed at Palma Center and he was
doing a capoeira um display but I think he was singing too with the band at the same time and
so we met him there and then I don’t know just from there like and all the music know each other and it’s just a
lot of local friends I think I think you’re so multi-talented thank you and I’m gonna edit in some video here so you
guys can hear experience what I’m talking about um
but I do want to tap on to something you mentioned you mentioned ceremony yes I
haven’t spoken with people I’ve been interviewing people but I haven’t spoken to people yet about
um that aspect of Tulum okay and the different
um modalities and the different ways that people can connect in our healing
what what is your what has your experience been in terms of
healing mental health tapping into the whole spiritual side of Tulum what’s
been your experience um I don’t get two hardcorns at all the stuff that’s going on but I have gone to
I did a Peyote ceremony which was cool last summer um
Ayahuasca is my thing as specifically I’ve done the ubanda one which is a mix
of the African tradition mostly and then the Brazilian Traditions they kind of
put in a little bit of candolby I think they put in there um but they deal with the orishas and
it’s like all music and all dancing all night and it’s just like
Ayahuasca is very personal and I think everyone needs to experience it to have a description of it because it’s not it
won’t it won’t be the same yeah but it’s it’s like if I could spend my day like
doing like being in that ceremony like I would love to one day be traveling and serving it or something like it’s
it’s really nice um what do you the if just if you just
take people to the first time you did it like what was it about it that so connected for you
it’s a feeling and a lot of like you do a lot of purgings like a lot of like
exorcisms I saw a lot of exorcisms happening to people like I thought like
demons being leaving people’s bodies so it’s a Healer it’s good for you I mean you could read articles on Ayahuasca
there’s nothing bad said about it like it’s great for you in many doses and it’s like it’s actually really don’t change your life yeah I wish everyone to
be able to sit with it once in their lifetime yeah these ones but um it was amazing at one point looking
in the mirror and my whole body is like going like Paisley like blue like iridescent colors all those colors all
that magnificent you see is from another realm and we tap into it and get it like fluorescent all of that stuff it’s not
from here it’s like from somewhere else and it comes through because it’s just like all that stuff is like they say As
Above So Below but it’s like wherever these Realms are it’s like those are where creativities are coming from and it’s like we’re putting Spirits whatever
on paper like how we dress everything it comes from somewhere else so the colors
though I realized that was really cool and I was just very I was very like in
my own little world but still extremely present yeah at the same time so it’s just it’s interesting you
literally you’re just following the feeling yeah like you’re just following the feeling you Just Surrender and you
just if my hands want to go like this or going like this and they’re pulling something down they’re always saying
that you’re working yeah while you’re doing it and especially it’s this this one is specifically for us like Melanie
is yeah it’s for us not a lot of us there but it’s for us so it’s like when they
see us like when the the shaman and everything like they would more like to cater to us they want to see us there
because they’re like this is for you like yes so it’s magical
it’s magical so um I’m always careful to make sure that
I’m presenting a balanced view um you know not just the rosy side let’s
talk a little bit about the challenges of either being a Solo Traveler you know
being away from home or living into the Loom or being an entrepreneur like what
what are some of the challenges the biggest challenge is I would say would be low season yeah
it’s like just scraping on by um that’s the everything else like I don’t miss home like that like I don’t
care if I ever go back to Canada yeah like personally I gotta go back and come in a note but otherwise like I’m good
yeah um but the challenges for me would be as an entrepreneur because you have your highs and your lows so sometimes you get
lots of interest but then like no bookings or you get lots of bookings and then it’s a notebook it’s like it’s so
it fluctuates so so I guess it’s just about still maintaining my joy yeah not losing faith while I feel like I’m
losing everything at the same time yeah so that’s been the biggest challenge like mental health I’ve had a few episodes yeah to say like I’ve been in
through my shadow of the dark whatever they call it the Dark Knight the soul I think I’ve had that a couple times here yeah and
it’s just like the one thing that I Won’t Give Up on is holding my truth and my faith in my ancestors yeah knowing
like they always pull me up and I’ve always been okay even when it felt like it wasn’t gonna be okay it’s
just I don’t like that last minute save stuff yeah I want to be comfortable all the time yeah and just like have
especially because I know what I have to offer is it’s like real and it’s genuine and it’s good stuff and it’s coming from
a good place it’s just it’d be nice for it to just to catch on yeah well let’s talk about that because you wear many
hats so people by the time they get to this section they will have seen you perform because I would love to share
some of the videos that I’ve recorded of you performing um but you also mentioned that you are a
chef yes so why don’t you just take people through like if if you’re coming to Tulum what are some of the things
that they could engage with with you okay so one thing is I’m a chef so I’ve
been a private Chef for many years went to culinary school so um you could have maybe a weekly lunch
with me because I do offer pop-up lunches you could hire me privately I could feed you your friends your family
birthday party or if you have a retreat coming I can service a retreat I do dinners once a
month here at X Clubhouse so I do Caribbean vegan and vegetarian dinners sometimes pescetarian
um but you could come get tickets for sometimes it’s dinner on a show
but if you hit me up with enough time and you’re like I would like to order a lunch meat or can you whatever that can
always be arranged unless I’m really swamped yeah some problems so yeah and
then I have the monthly meal prep weekly meal prep people order a few meals from your week they pay me I make the meals
either they come pick it up or deliver that’s one thing sometimes I have a show
when I’m performing live so um if you just follow me on Instagram or something what’s your handle at sailor
underscore Genesis which is s-e-l-a-h underscore g-e-n-e-s-i-s
um you can follow me there and you’ll see everything that I’m into I make natural body butters and deodorants I
swear by the deal I mean I swear by all of it the deodorant I haven’t bought commercial deodorant since 2014. so and
I wasn’t living in a hut okay yeah so I
make body parts and deodorants um like I said I’m a singer but if it’s something like you want to hire me for a private party I could come with like a
band or acoustic guitar player they’re amazing musicians um yeah so there’s so many things I also have access to
dancers and so we could actually put you like a beautiful show yeah yeah they put on a show or if you have shows you want
to do here like do your private entertainment or whatever we got it going on
um I also hold spoken word um nights talk about your spoken word
and your writing workshops I mean on my ex-club house because I’m here for the
expansion I want to be flying free no cabin be sitting here and harming me no
scrapping on them saying goodbyes hear me rapping be coming through with that
group meditation because you know it’s the best education my heart is open I
feel like we are one all the Rays I think this is like
um what I would love is for people who are really trying to hone those skills to
come down here spend some time with you yeah because you are um actually probably one of the best
female freestylers that I’ve heard I’m serious things I’m serious I’m like what she
just freestyles on the spot like that where did where did you where did that
come from do you come from a family of musicians yes um on my dad’s sides all gospel singers
okay on my mom’s side I think my grandmother said that she when she was a teenager she should do uh singing
competitions so yeah I didn’t know that until later in life I was like oh cool so again I guess I get it from both sides
the writing I’m sure there’s somebody else in my family actually my dad is a really
phenomenal gospel songwriter oh really and he writes songs for his church sometimes and they’ll sing them or other
churches will request him and I keep telling him you need to retire because a gospel writer like so I’m actually
helping him write something right now like he had this crazy dream the day so he wants some right he said he heard the melody that something he never heard
before in his head oh um but I’m helping him put something together now just through his words he’s
describing it to me so I’m just like yeah how people songwriting like that so yeah so what can people expect when they turn
attend like a writer’s Workshop so um Soul writers is what it’s called and
we just go through a bunch of different fun um writing game so I like to start opening
I like to open up with affirmations and some cacao kind of open up our heart space and just get us in a Groovy Little
mood and then we just have instrumentals I play instrumentals in the background and then we do different
um different writing exercises so a big one that we do a lot is we each pick two or
three words depending on how many people are in the group that day you pick two or three words and then you have to use
all those words and something that you write and they’ll give you like maybe five to seven minutes or something depending on whatever yeah to write that
then we all recite and see how we how we made the how we made it rhyme it’s usually like a topic of the day that
we’ll be focusing on yeah um we do freestyling so I’ll do the same thing with maybe 10 words but we all
have to do a freestyle on top of my heads using those words so I’ll be checking them off
list by list sometimes we do a thing where you start writing and then you swap books and then you finish
yeah just do a lot of just a different just like fun exercises like no pressure you could be really good at writing or
not like it doesn’t really matter it’s just more of like to have fun but also just to like get more comfortable
writing and even getting comfortable performing a little bit and just you know getting comfortable speaking in
front of people even for me I’m still nervous hosting these things I’m like but he’s got to get through it
it’s so so good I’m gonna get through it um so what can people expect this next
season so we’re in slow season right now yes um how can people connect with you
um in your socials it’d be just just say those again yeah
um and what are you thinking how long are you thinking you’re going to be in Tulum what sort of where’s your head at
right now um right now it’s indefinitely yeah I don’t have any big plans they might like
step out and come back in or whatever but um as far as I know I’m here for a while
um the best way to reach me I guess would be Instagram so let’s add Sela underscore Genesis which is
s-e-l-a-h underscore g-e-n-e-s-i-s
um I also forgot to add in that me and Leah we also have a kids channel YouTube kids
channel yeah where we have like five music videos out that we’ve done we still have five more that just have a
little tweaking to do that already do they’re like been ready to release um and we have an Instagram page two McFly world kids and so if you’re a
parent and you’re into them and you’re looking for some fun activities for your kids please message me because I do offer
activities on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a couple of hours um just like music writing games
whatever just some loosey-goosey fun like interactive educational super fun
um stuff um snacks provided and they’re healthy yeah I’m a chef so you’ve got that
um so yeah we do do that let’s check out our YouTube channel it’s called McFly culture and learning McFly world kids
culture learning okay um we have some music videos up there plus some little in between educational videos I think you’re going to get for
your kids because we use beats that we like so it wasn’t like baby shark beats yeah if you’re gonna put this on repeat
at least Mom and Dad could be like it’s about yes so I love that yeah let’s give a shout out
to you live in a pretty unusual Place let’s give a shout out to your where you
live and what can people expect there oh yeah
oh yeah I know so I live in this really cool artist building owned by my friend
um I help property manage it um her name is Leah McFly Liam McFly and we run
Cosmic Roots uh Tulum it’s a nahido colonial agido and it’s a magical portal
and you really won’t understand until you physically come there and step into it it’s a feeling it’s more of a feeling
that will just like encapsulate and I mean maybe we’re in the portal because everywhere we live people get sucked
into the energy yeah it’s hard for them to leave they’re like oh I forgot my bag but we’re like
DJ lady Ryan kill it she killed it she was our DJ that night but yeah like you
come to Cosmic Roots you’re gonna Feel The Vibes I do host um spoken word my
soul writers there between here and X Clubhouse um there we do I know Leah’s going to be
doing some dance classes whatever we’re going to be doing like reggae Vibe nights where we’re gonna have like Caribbean food for sale drinks for sale
we come in through catch a Vibe we’re actually doing something on the 21st I don’t know if this is gonna be aired by then
July 21st we’re having a little something something at the house so um tapping it’s gonna be free donations
are welcome but we’re still building up the space but we have theme rooms so we have the Egypt comedic room which is
like I’ve stayed in all of the rooms and like they all just have a Vibe they just suck you in the Egyptian Room really
feels like I’m in an Egyptian tomb or something like the bedroom is just like you don’t see me if I’m in there you’re
never gonna see me again like it’s super dope we have the cosmic
um room which is still getting set up but we’ve got some cool like paintings on the wall and everything in there we
have the African tribal room okay which is super dope as well it’s just a nice Vibe and then we have the Mexi roster
room um giving you those vibes so this is Cosmic roots does it have an Instagram
page yes at Cosmic Roots Tulum so Cosmic fruits Tulum sound it out
um yeah so we’re gonna be doing um stuff from there it’s like I said like you look us check us out online but
really you need to come into the space to feel it to understand to know and you’ll just know when you come like yes
you’ll just know you’ll feel it maybe I’ll edit in the video from the from the part the last parting you guys did oh
yeah so much okay
[Music] come on everybody let’s go
[Applause] [Music]
[Applause] [Music]
when you come into the house so lucky this Vlogs might save your ass greet
greet the house the house is very much alive and it scans people like straight up I’ve seen it beat people away don’t
be alarmed don’t be alone don’t be alarming but just come in and just greet the house and say hello like just read
it all the rooms are alive it’s very but it’s not like a freaky alive things moving on stuff it’s just you’ll know
when you come it’s like a hug yeah yeah awesome socilla
um there’s gonna be some young lady somewhere watching this from her small
town and maybe she sees this on YouTube she’s been trying to debate whether she
should make the leap to leave her City leave her country
um what would you say to her take the lead don’t sleep
Take the Lead honestly you can always go back home if you don’t like it remember like you you’re not a treat you can move
like at least even if you did it for a week or two or a month or two or six months or forever like I think you have
to do it at least once and it’s better than not knowing if you liked it at all so so y’all you heard it here first
you’re not a tree you can move sayla thank you so much
so everybody hit her up on IG and you will not regret it she’s a unique
experience thank you