I was scrolling through the Reckless Girls Instagram mentions at work one day when I stumbled upon a photo of a girl in our Thug Wife T-shirt captioned, “I swear I was Pac’s girl in a past life #TupacTuesdays”. Having a similar affinity/obsession for Tupac, I followed the link in her bio to her blog, HasWestCoastSoul.com. The about me section read, “Think Tupac, a WestCoastSoul isn’t necessarily someone who is Cali born x raised, but he/she is definitely a revolutionary with an open mind and a sharp tongue. They know the motto – hustle, create, inspire and build your empire. Impossible to stop. One hand always towards the sky, reach for your dreams, put up a fighting fist, one for the love, two for the peace or twist that shit and throw ya dubs up.” Boom. Who is this girl? I had to find out. I sent her a brief message admiring her blog and lamenting on all of our similarities including our love for culture, for hip hop, and in particular, for Tupac. I sent her some Y&R product and was pleasantly surprised a few weeks later when she posted a dope photo shoot she had styled and modeled for wearing our clothes. We made plans to meet up and the rest is history.

I had been praying for inspiration and praying, as I always do, to continue to meet and connect with incredible people who both inspire me and are inspired by me. When Has walked up to meet me, it was one of those God Winks, like, here you go honey. The similarities were almost comical; 5’9”, long blond hair, curvy, and Armenian, just to start with the physical. Once we began talking, it was evident how many deeper things we shared in common. We grew up 3,000 miles apart but it was like our souls had been cultivated in the same soil. You can tell a lot about a person by the people and things they are inspired by. I believe that God speaks to us through inspiration and leads us to our purpose through our passions. We talked for hours, endlessly discussing our passions and sources of inspiration, which were incredibly similar, if not identical. We discussed our love for Tupac, his philosophies, and the incredible impact he has had on both of our lives. We talked about our love for hip hop culture, for NYC and LA, and for living a life full of passion and love. We connected, dreamer to dreamer. Her writing and her creativity inspired me to begin writing again, after weeks of being “too busy,” which we all know is just an excuse. She also told me that she had been inspired to write after our conversation. That’s what I want to fill my life with, people and conversations that leave me inspired. People whose mere presence makes me want to create and authentically express myself. People who feel like life has a purpose and that feel a responsibility to share the best of themselves with the world. People that know that life is about so much more than money and possessions. People that appreciate art, culture, and value creativity above most things. People that ignore the naysayers and well-meaning people that try to steer them towards more practical pursuits. People that are moved so deeply by the teachers that came before them that they can’t help but to follow in their footsteps, blazing their own trails. People that have received so much spiritual confirmation that they are moving in the right direction, that nothing could dissuade them from their path. Or more simply, as Has puts it, people with a West Coast Soul Vibe.