LO Circle Gisele Azad

LO CIRCLE

Gisele Azad

WHO

co-founder Musae Agency
IG

@giseleazad
@musae.agency
LO COLOUR

NICO

“TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF AND OF OTHERS GO HAND IN HAND.”

March 8, 2023 by LO CARE

In celebration of International Women’s Day we’re talking to women that inspire us about their take on wellness and beauty.

Gisele Azad, founder of the creative and lifestyle agency MUSAE, was born in Tehran, Iran. At the age of 4, she fled to The Netherlands. Knowing what it’s like to integrate, and how that can affect one’s self esteem, she’s passionate in helping other refugees: by organizing art projects in asylum seekers’ centers.

Not only are we inspired by her community involvement, but also admire her recent move to a forest which she documents on Instagram with the most breathtaking images. Below she shares her experience from city life to living in nature, what self-care and beauty rituals mean to her, and how she finds self-acceptance and gratification in her everyday life.

You recently moved into a forest, can you tell us how that’s has been?
The transition has been major. Me and my fiancé closed and signed on this property without ever seeing it in real life, we were on vacation in Los Angeles and Mexico at the time. The minute we saw it online Rudmer told me: this is it. He never said that before. So we went for it.
Mid December we got the keys and it has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. I wake up and only hear birds, wind in the trees, and go for a walk through the forest and the dunes. Our house is located in the midst of a national park with only sandy roads around us and no street light whatsoever. The nights are extremely dark with shining stars and most days here I see more animals than people. Every week we see many owls, deers and countless birds. Coming from a busy life in the city it really hit me – this is what calm and serenity means.

Has your approach to beauty evolved since waking up in nature everyday?
Living in the forest leaves you with no choice then going with the flow of nature. I wake up when the birds do, they are really loud, and get sleepy when the sun goes down, no light pollution as I mentioned before. After a week of living here I started researching how to adjust my routine to the season and my cycle.
I am still diving into this topic. One thing that feels like a ‘beauty hack’ to me is to understand how your body works in what period of the month and year. I am slowly tweaking my wellness and beauty routine and I feel much better in my head and body. It’s starting to show in my exterior as well, my hair has become even thicker, as well for my nails and my overall skin feels smoother.
The book ‘Period Power’ is a necessity for people with a menstrual cycle. Also I love the podcast episode by Huberman Lab called ‘The science of Making & Breaking Habits’. It explains how and what nature has intended for us humans to live a life of ease and achieving certain goals we may have. I combine the things I learned from the book and the podcast in my daily journalling and it has already been so helpful.
With all these ’self-help’ tools I don’t want to achieve a certain career or financial goal, it’s always about being happy and showing gratitude for what I’ve been able to do so far.

How do you start your day?
An oat cappuccino drinking outside on while listening to the birds – yes, I feel like a retired person at times.

Do you have any morning rituals?
Going outside as soon as possible and taking a little hike through the dunes.

How do you end your day?
Most days, making a fire outside or taking a bath.

Do you have a favourite ritual?
Journalling.

What has your confidence journey been like?
I grew up in a very white environment so it was pretty hard to experience growing dark hair on my body at an early age while all my friends had blonde hair. This little, I say that now, characteristic became something huge for me. I got bullied and felt like I didn’t belong for many years. Thankfully our society has grown a bit -not nearly enough though- and at some point I saw the beauty in being different and representing my heritage. It was when I started volunteering at a refugee camp when I realized how beautiful people are from all corners of the world.

How do you define beauty?
I think because I always felt different – I draw to everything that’s out of the ordinary. I love natural, bold characteristics and embodying who you are. Focusing on all characteristics that belong to me has made me shift my focus from what I think I should look like to what I feel is best for me. That’s the true essence of beauty to me.

Do you have any wellness habits from your home country that have stuck with you – how do you stay connected to your heritage?
For years my mom brings me back a washcloth, a Kisseh, for showering when she visits Iran. It’s constructed in a way that scrubs your body without harming it. After using it, my skin feels super soft and it removes any irregularities. You can probably get it somewhere online, but I love the nostalgic feeling and it just hits different.
Next to that I always celebrate Nowruz, Persian New Year, with my family and friends. It’s the first day of spring. We have many rituals to enter the new year positively and leave negativity behind, plus the food is amazing of course. This year I invited my closest friends for a Nowruz weekend in the forest.
On the last Tuesday before the New Year, there is a tradition to make small bonfires in your garden. Traditionally people jump over the bonfires, and it’s supposed to be a symbol of purification, challenges of the year gone by, and energetically cleansing you and preparing you for the year ahead.
A key tradition is to set up an altar in your house called a Haft-Sin, which means seven S’s in Farsi. You place seven things on your altar that begin with the letter Si, which are symbols or qualities you’d like to invite in for the year ahead. You can have apples for good health, candles for light, eggs for fertility, wheatgrass for rebirth and renewal, vinegar for wisdom, and a gold coin for abundance and prosperity.

You’re also working on a guest house on your property, what are the plans for that?
My fiancé and I talk about the concept daily. We want our guests to have a sensory experience with all nature’s beauty. Raw materials, serene rituals and wellness, luxury in a modern approach. Winding down and feeling a sense of lightness in a space that’s curated to be inspiring without being intruding. Next to our guesthouse we’re building a studio/artist in residence in cabin number two, which will be sensory in a more creative sense.
It’s all very abstract, it’s been a tremendously expansive experience for me personally. We are both artists in a way and can finally explore this side of us in this project, which has been a dream. We are currently researching interior, materials, architects and of course building regulations. Stay tuned.

Favourite Tune
Right now I’m listening to the new album of Thomas Azier on repeat.

A mistake you’ve learned from:
Taking what other people think of me too much into consideration.

A note to your younger self:
It’s ok that you are bold, present and different than most people. It’s what makes you unique.

What do you want to pass on to the next generation?
Taking care of yourself and of others go hand in hand. My mom always told me that if something good happened to me I should celebrate by giving a helping hand to someone else, in order to restore balance. This always stuck to me.