We’re looking forward to introducing you to Melissa Garrett. Check out our conversation below.
Melissa, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
“What’s been bringing me joy lately is seeing growth through both my nonprofit, The Hive: The Indigenous Collective, and my business, Wadulisi’s. With The Hive, we recently received our 501(c)(3) status and can now focus on food sovereignty and cultural education in the community. Through Wadulisi’s, I’ve been able to connect with tribes and resources I never thought possible. It’s incredibly rewarding to see people excited about bringing these foods, traditions, and ways of life back into everyday practice.”
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
“My name is Melissa Garrett, and I am the founder of Wadulisi’s Indigenous Foods and The Hive: The Indigenous Collective. Through Wadulisi’s, I share Indigenous cuisine, education, and catering that celebrates traditional foodways while creating access to healthier meals for our community. With The Hive, a newly established 501(c)(3), I focus on food sovereignty, cultural education, and building collaborative spaces where Indigenous families can reconnect with traditions. What makes my work unique is the balance of honoring ancestral knowledge while finding creative ways to adapt and make it accessible in today’s world. Both Wadulisi’s and The Hive are rooted in the belief that food and culture are not only nourishment, but also pathways to resilience, healing, and community strength.”
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
“The person who saw me clearly before I could see myself was my grandmother, Margaret Sharp. She was a full-blooded Cherokee woman and one of the strongest influences in my life. She taught me how to whistle before I could even talk, and I spent so much of my childhood in her kitchen and garden. She was known for how she could make things grow, and I watched her nurture plants with the same care and strength she poured into me. I can still remember falling asleep on her porch on warm summer afternoons, as she sang to me in both Cherokee and English, mixing her songs with gentle whistles while running her hands through my hair. Those moments were filled with safety, love, and an unshakable sense of belonging.
She gave me my Cherokee name, Wadulisi, which means ‘honey bee.’ She always called me her little busy bee, saying I was carrying gifts from one flower to another. That name became my business name, Wadulisi’s, and it carries her spirit with me in everything I do. It feels like a beautiful destiny, since my given name, Melissa, also means honey bee — a connection my grandmother celebrated long before I fully understood it myself.
She empowered me to embrace the strength of being a Cherokee woman and taught me that in our tradition, you are not taught something unless you are ready to pass it on. That teaching lives in me every day. Now, through Wadulisi’s and through The Hive, I carry her lessons forward — teaching, sharing, and creating spaces for others just as she did for me. Every time I step into a kitchen, plant a seed, or share culture with the community, I feel her presence guiding me, reminding me that I am living out the gifts she always saw in me.”
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
“The defining wounds of my life began with a difficult childhood. Even though my parents did their best to make things happy, there were many challenges and struggles along the way. What held us together was family — we worked hard to stay connected, and those bonds gave me strength even in the hardest times.
As I got older, I faced personal trauma and later very serious health issues that changed the course of my life. There were times when it felt like every dream I had was being taken from me, and in 2018 my family and I even lost everything and had to start over from the ground up.
But resilience has been my greatest teacher. Through my business, Wadulisi’s, and my nonprofit, The Hive: The Indigenous Collective, I’ve been able to turn my pain into purpose. Reconnecting with culture, food, and community has been life-changing — it has given me healing, hope, and the chance to help others find the same.”
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I think a lot of smart people are getting it wrong today by looking at the past through a modern lens, holding our parents, grandparents, and ancestors accountable as if they had the same choices and resources we have now. History is complicated. My family alone is proof of that — I come from both pioneers and Indigenous people, and I’m married to a descendant of Buffalo Soldiers. Those histories contradict each other, but they all shaped me.
We like to think history is just history, something behind us, but it bleeds into every part of our lives today. I also think cancel culture has made this worse — cutting people off, cutting the past out, as if it doesn’t ripple through everything else. In Indigenous communities, we believe we are all connected; what happens to one affects us all. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that. Instead, we’ve let toxic individualism creep in, putting self above the community, and we’re seeing the damage it causes.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope they say that I was kind. That I was generous. That I did my best for my people. I hope they say I helped pave the way for my kids and grandkids to have more access to culture than I ever did. I hope I changed some opinions along the way, helped break a few stereotypes, and left things better than I found them. But most of all, I hope that when people hear my name, they smile and remember that I had a heart for the people.
Contact Info:
- Website: thehivetheindigenouscollective.com , wadulisis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wadulisis?igsh=MTRxd28wYWx2cjBsOQ==, https://www.instagram.com/thehivetheindigenouscollective?igsh=MTM3eXFhb2Z2N3JxZQ==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14KXq7Xy4K1/ , https://www.facebook.com/share/171CwrVZSL/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpRave0WSiMzrWYYKqvWlxlknjhd1UlNi&si=t917sDW0K0NtPGeq
Image Credits
Melissa Garrett
