Kelani means Heaven, Royalty, and Majesty in Hawaiian. With a name like that it makes sense that she is choosing to live up to her calling by taking a risk and Traveling to live her Truth and find her Personal Legend. Kelani was born and raised on a big island in Maui, Hawaii where she spent a lot of time with her father. Growing up, was far from blissful for her. Although she had a strong connection with her father she came from a family who struggled with addiction and depression. Kelani's story is more than inspirational, it is life changing! At the age of 12 Kelani started drinking which lead her down a slippery slope to trying and becoming addicted to harder drugs. Her addiction started to affect her appearance and personality so much so that her friends had to have an intervention with her. Surround by those who cared about her Kelani decided to take their advice and go to Rehab. She was admitted into a 35 day residential treatment facility and shortly after she was discharged she relapsed with Alcohol. This was her wake up call! She realized that she needed more help so she decided to put her story on GoFundMe. In two and half weeks Kelani was able to raise $8,000 in donations towards her sobriety. At the time living in Colorado, she decided to pack up everything she owned, with her emotional support therapy dog Pedro she hopped in her car and drove to California. Upon her arrival she went straight to a Sober Living Program, gave them all the money she had and asked "How long can I Stay." Being three months clean, during her stay in the Sober Living Program on May 27th, 2013 she received a devastating call. After years of dealing with addiction and depression her father committed Suicided. Its hard to imagine how she was able to deal with that and remain sober, but she did! This was what many people would call her Turning Point, Awakening, Moment of Redemption. After being 6 months clean Kelani started working as a Residential Treatment Manager at the Sober Living Program that she was once a client of. At 9 months clean she started working at Paradigm Malibu a Treatment Facility for Adolescents that deal with addictions and depression. Kelani has impacted hundreds of youth with her story and inspire them to do the work that it takes to get a strong since of self and break through the barriers of life that keep them stuck in unhealthy habits and self neglect. She has showed kids how to "Ride the Waves of Life" figuratively and literally by doing Surf Therapy. Her passion for the youth lead her to Chiang Mai, Thailand where she thought english for a while. Her stay there showed her how important travel was for her.
Which leads us to Kelani's decision to sell everything she owns and start her Living The Alchemist journey. First she will be going to San Francisco then to Oregon, Washington, Canada, Montana, Yellow Stone National Park, then to Colorado, Costa Rica, North Carolina, and where ever the tide pulls her next. Stay tuned to see what she encounters, who she meets, and the opportunities that come her way. In her post you will notice a consistency in her apparel, she has partnered with DINO Swell clothing line for women. Like Living The Alchemist, Dino Swell has a mission to promote exploration and self discovery so as Kelani is "Living the Alchemist" with us she will also be "Living Softly" in the free flowing fabrics of DINO Swell. If you like any of the clothing items you see in her post click the picture it will lead you to www.dinoapparel.com where you can purchase them.
“At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
