Danni
“If there’s a choice between money and your health and well being, always choose you.”
Danni is driven, optimistic, and creative. She is passionate about plants and exploring the range of ways they can be used for health and wellness — from essential oils, to soaps and teas. The heart-wrenching experiences of loss she has endured in the last year have not scratched the rose colored glasses through which she views life. Much like the plants she nurtures, she grows back stronger after it rains. Meet Danni. This is her story.
K: Please introduce yourself!
D: Hi. I'm Danni Morinich, or Lady Danni as I'm known.
I was born in Wilmington, Delaware. I left to attend Temple University in Philadelphia, where I stayed and made a home. In distance, the cities may be only an hour away from each other, but culturally it was a world away, and I wanted more than my hometown could offer.
As I finished my degree, I worked as a bra fitter before working as a typesetter for Quaker magazine, an admin at a gay rights organization and as a transcriber to a husband and wife couples therapist team who were writing their first book.
I began working in medical publishing in the early 90s, staying with one company, through a number of mergers and name changes, for almost 20 years.
In 2012, weeks away from my 20th anniversary with the company, I decided to resign.
The company had changed from an environment where I felt valued and excelled in advertising sales, to a pressure cooker that required an almost constant account of your time, that it left no time to do the actual job requirements. I saw some coworkers harassed about their productivity while others blatantly lied about what they had done, and were never challenged. I went from being able to walk on my lunch hour, to being forced to eat at my desk because management scheduled meetings between 12-2 daily. I was working longer hours, drinking more and becoming increasingly miserable.
So I left, with no job, and no clue. The manager asked me if they could pay me just to stay a few weeks longer, till the end of the year. I said there wasn't enough money in the world to keep me there a day longer than the two weeks notice I tendered.
If there's a choice between money and your health and well being, always choose you.
So that December, I made essential oil soap, and sold it at every fair I could, in the weeks leading up to the holidays. That Christmas, friends bought me 2 square feet of land in Scotland, the ownership of which enabled me to use the title "Lady" legally. In February 2013, I legally launched my business Landed Gentress, a nod to my title of lady landowner.
I was lured back into medical advertising sales, in 2014, but this time it was a much better fit, with a smaller company and working from home. It has allowed me the freedom to keep running my herbal business which has expanded from its soap making naissance.
I work from my South Philadelphia row house in the Italian Market which I use as a lab/studio to cultivate all the things I'd eventually like to do on a larger scale; making soap, tinctures, teas, growing herbs, and giving talks about the medicinal properties of local plants. I live with my husband of 30 years, who is a retail butcher, but pursues his passion for making wine, beer and cider. People joke about us moving out to the countryside and getting off the grid, but truth is we love the diverse energy of the city and the trash. Our small 1,000 square foot home is largely furnished with items we've recycled or upcycled from trash day finds..
I am an herb nerd who loves England, sheep and gardens and dreams of someday creating an urban oasis in Brixton, South London. We've seen exciting things created from disused shipping containers, and I would love to take a crack at reusing one of those as a studio and urban dwelling. I'm not everybody's cup of tea, but I'd rather be a lapsang souchong than a Lipton's tea bag.
K: What is your favorite thing about yourself?
D: My favorite thing about myself is I'm resilient. Do you remember the toy Weebles? "Weebles wobble but we don't fall down." That's me in a nutshell. I may wobble, I may tip over, but I always bounce back up. A boyfriends mother once called me Relentless. I don't think she meant it as a compliment, but I took it as one. Destiny's Child "Survivor" should be my theme song.
K: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that’s defined you or made you stronger?
D: What has made me stronger in this life is loss. In 2016 I lost my father, on election day. It was a shock and, as a Daddy's girl, it really broke my heart. We were very much alike and butted heads when I was growing up, but he was my staunchest supporter, and I credit him for challenging me and forcing me to think, and learn to fix a flat tire, and a fuse and replace a toilet flush valve — which has made me the strong and self reliant woman I am.
Then in the fall of 2020, I lost my only sibling and my mother. I buried them 11 days apart. I didn't know what strength was, until I had to endure that. That realization that your immediate family that shared your home, coffee and conversation over the kitchen table; all gone.
My mother had dementia and all the strides she had been making at her new care home stopped and reversed once Covid forced all residents to quarantine in their room and group activities ceased. Then my brother, who lived nearest to my mother suffered a massive heart attack and although he was resuscitated, was brain dead and a few days later was taken off life support. I had to tell my mother via Skype and because of her condition, had no way of knowing how much she really understood. Two days after David's funeral, I received an urgent call telling me my mother was in ER and I needed to get there right away because she had internal bleeding and was Covid positive and they didn't think she would last more than a few hours. Although the ER wasn't allowing visitors, the head of the department gave me clearance and PPE so I could sit with her and say my goodbyes. That was a gift denied so many people who lost loved ones during the pandemic and for that I will always be truly grateful.
I don't know how I got through it, but after the death of my father, I joined a foraging group Wild Foodies of Philly and began learning about local edible plants. Daddy had always been a keen fisherman and small game hunter so in many ways I felt I was connecting to him. I loved the walks, and it was so inspiring to learn that these weeds, many of which pop up between the cracks of the sidewalk in the city, were edible and more nutritious than cultivated greens. Pretty soon I was joining them for every walk I could, and I began researching the medicinal qualities of our local plants. I kept thinking someday I might be able to educate others, especially people in underserved areas, about the benefits of these “weeds” for food and medicine.
As I muddled through the grief, I went into the parks and even managed to teach a workshop on foraging and using medicinal weeds. Occupying myself with plants, saved me. I was grounded by the earth and calmed by the green. I was reminded not only of my connection to the plants but to the ground to which someday I'll return. That cycle of life, from the dormancy of winter to the new life in the spring that will follow. Wherever you live, you can find or cultivate a patch of green, and just that act of connecting with a growing thing, can heal you.
K: What is one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
D: If I could talk to my younger self I would say, just be you. Listen more, talk less, and don't stress too much about being included or liked because in five years many of the people from whom you seek favor, won't be in your orbit.
You know who needs to like you? YOU! And I don't mean that in a conceited way, but I like my own company and I've seen too many women settle for situations and relationships they shouldn't, because they're afraid to be alone. For me, being alone gives me the freedom to create, learn and explore. Time alone enriches my soul.
K: What does being a woman mean to you?
D: What does being a woman mean? Well, it is biology, but it's also the strength and unity to challenge the inequities we face because we ARE women. The real struggle of making 79c to a man's dollar; working full time, and still having to do the large part of child rearing, housekeeping or caring for aging parents. It's the longer queues for fewer restrooms and the reality of period poverty. It's the ability to procreate or the choice not to. It's being a Prime Minister but still having your looks evaluated in a way men's never are. And dealing with that is the common thread between all of us in the sisterhood, no matter if they are uber feminine lesbians or masculine heterosexual women or anything in between. Being a woman is not a gender role or a social construct. It's being the female of the species, and if the song is to be believed, it's being more deadly than the male!
K: Who is one woman that inspires you? What would you say to her if she were here now?
D: A woman who inspires? I should probably say something cool like Bessie Coleman, the first female black aviator, or WWII super spy Vera Atkins, but it's Martha Stewart.
In many ways she reinforced what my grandmother, who had been housekeeper for a judge and his family, taught me. Suddenly I had a reason to use inherited soup tureens and ramekins and while other people were serving chips and dips at a party, I was baking crackers and cheese straws and making crab in aspic. And she encouraged me to begin growing things when all I had was a windowsill or the tiniest of outdoor spaces.
I especially love how many people underestimated her, thinking her catering and home keeping was just "women's work.” Some women were even angry and thought she was encouraging women to turn back the clock instead of pushing for the corner office, but she parlayed that into a magazine, and television show, merchandising deals and a major corporation. Yes, she's white and privileged, but when the insider trading went down, she did more time than men accused of the same thing. She kept her head down, did her time and emerged from prison in a fabulous poncho and with newly acquired street cred.
In the process of exploring so many topics for her shows and magazine, she's developed such a breadth of knowledge. There's something to be said for knowing a bit about a lot of things, I think it’s one of those characteristics that makes you a great conversationalist.
If I met her, I'd probably gush for several minutes as a girl fan, then ask her how she schedules her time to get as much done as she does. Everybody's got a system, so I'd like to know specifics on how she plans, delegates and chooses to explore new paths, while staying true to herself. I mean, only Martha could expand into the CBD market by introducing CBD infused pate de fruits in flavors of blood orange and huckleberry. It's bonkers, yet it makes perfect sense.
It's in complete alignment with who she is. And knowing and making choices that align with who you are, whether that's a lifestyle guru, or an urban forager and medicine maker, makes you a force with which to be reckoned. Just remember to use your superpowers for good.
Check out Danni’s website here.