How TT The Artist Takes It Easy During Pride Month

For Pride Month this year, we’re spotlighting members of our extended community, including folks we’ve collaborated with and deeply admire. Our goal is to offer a softer take on Pride and capture quiet moments of joy, rest, and reflection. For TT The Artist (she/her), that’s at home resting — in every sense of the word.

Below, find our conversation with TT The Artist about keeping things quieter and slower with cannabis. Follow TT The Artist on Instagram and find our collab with her on The Travel Agency’s Instagram.

TTA: Pride can be loud, but it can also be quiet. What does a softer, slower Pride look like for you this year?

TT: A softer, slower Pride looks like me easing my way into the day. If I have a performance or any appearance and schedule, instead of just popping up to the event, I like to set my morning. I take my vitamins, my supplements that help keep my immune system strong.

I like time to physically and mentally prepare myself. Rest is a big, big thing for me — not overextending myself or overindulging in a lot of social environments, just making sure that I’m being selective and intentional with how I use my time and energy. 

TTA: How do you care for yourself — mind, body, spirit — during a season that asks you to be visible?

TT: The top of my list of caring for my mind, body, and spirit is allotting more time to rest, and more time to have mindless activities where I’m not working or serving others. I’m doing personal things that help my mind relax, whether that’s walking my dogs, going to brunch with my partner, reading a good book, doing things that take my mind off the everyday hustle and slow all the things that usually bring stress into my life. Those things are really really really important to me.

A lot of times, I’ll listen to podcasts or work on something that I’ve wanted to work on. That’s a personal goal of mine that I may not always have the time to do when I’m consumed with client work or just the demands of just everyday work-related stuff.

[For me, rest before a big day] means physical sleep. When you’re in this type of industry, a lot of times, your hours in the day could be very sporadic. You might get a call where someone says, “hey, we need you to come to the studio,” and it might be a good opportunity. So now all of a sudden, your whole day is pushed aside. Or, I might have a shoot where I have to be up at 6 [a.m.] and the day may not end until midnight. So all of a sudden, I’m not getting that full eight hours. I’ve learned to really value and appreciate when you can get eight hours of sleep. 

Sleep is like your charger. If you look at your body like a phone, when your phone’s in the red zone, you need to plug it in. If you don’t sleep [and] recharge your body, your nervous system goes into shock. That’s been something that I’ve experienced in real time. … Your body has a way of telling you it can’t function at its optimum level. 

I would add to that, doing things that help the body relax [is important]. I’ll book a massage. I might take an edible that helps me chill and relax. I prefer edibles and infused beverages.

TTA: What is your relationship to The Travel Agency? What about the brand connects to you?

TT: I like this one vape I got from The Travel Agency. It’s a lemon watermelon vape from Flower by Edie Parker. The petal puffer. I love that thing. It’s God’s gift. I have a very busy brain, so sometimes, even when I’ve been working for hours, when it’s time to rest, my brain is still going, so it’s hard to go to sleep, so I take something to help me relax [and] help [my] body and mind shut down in a healthy way.

TTA: When you think about your wellness practice, where does cannabis fit in, and how does it support you?

TT: Cannabis slows my mind down from too much activity that can bring on anxiety and stress.

TTA: Has cannabis ever shown you something about your identity, your joy, or your limits that has surprised you?

TT: Yeah, absolutely. The first time I ever smoked weed, I felt like I had [all the] different things that come with [it], like the munchies, paranoia, opening your inner emotional side, almost as if I took shrooms. That’s what I felt the first time. … It was like I went through some sort of portal and…something opened inside me. Ever since then, you know, I indulged, but I had to find the right types of cannabis that work for me.

I think that’s a big thing, because a lot of people might have experiences from other sources, which are not the best. … The things that work for me are regulated.

[Cannabis] provides clarity. It helps me cope with things that are happening around me. It frees me a little bit more in my day-to-day life to remind myself to be present. To remind myself that things that are out of my control, I can’t stress about and build up unnecessary anxiety over. I think it’s shown me how to let go in ways.

TTA: Describe a time when cannabis helped you come back to yourself. What did that look like?

TT: I would say when I moved to LA in 2018. I started doing edibles because I didn’t even realize they were accessible. I was in Baltimore before I moved to LA, but when I came to LA and I saw dispensaries, I was like, “You can do it this way?” 

There was a cannabis restaurant out there [that] was an escape, a place you could go to. People would have business meetings there. They had a regular food menu and a cannabis menu.

You could choose flower, you could choose different things to rent and smoke out of bongs, all types of stuff. I discovered [THC] beverages because they had these sparkling waters, and that was a game-changer for me. I [felt] both super functional and relaxed throughout my day.

TTA: What does your ideal cannabis ritual look like, from setting to sensation?

TT: I like a little microdose of an edible, sometimes in the middle of the day… especially if I have a lot of creative work to do. If I’m about to do something creative, I feel it just kind of relaxes me and opens up my mind a little bit more. My thoughts are spaced out, rather than a bunch of ideas back to back. It puts things in order for me.

When I want to have a chill vibe, party vibe, I’ll take a higher dosage because I want to feel an overall body sensation that relaxes not just my mind, but my body as well. If I’m not trying to be super high all day, I do a little microdose [of 5mg THC] and that’s cute for me.

[Usually,] I wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, wash my face, eat breakfast, and then I’ll do a microdose. Especially if I have a day that’s going to involve me creating, doing my work — a fully loaded workday where I have to be on the computer a lot. That helps me concentrate, but it also keeps my mind at ease. And then, after that, I’ll microdose a couple of times throughout my workday.

Within two to three hours, depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll take a hit, or take another bite of the edible. But if I have my vapes, I’ll also substitute that. Sometimes, the vapes get me there a little faster… so I know within an hour or two, I’m going to be feeling back to normal. And then, at the end of the day, once I’m done with my workload, I take a higher dosage to get that more full body relaxation.

TTA: If your smoke sesh had a mood, a vibe, or a soundtrack, what would it be?

TT: Kaytranada, Brent Faiyaz. It’d be a mix of house and lo-fi vibes.

TTA: Do you lean more toward indica, sativa, or something else? How does that choice support your state of being?

TT: I have different types for different moods. If I’m gonna have a busy day or I’m gonna be social, I’ll get a sativa or a hybrid, something that’s gonna boost me a little bit [and] keep me in bliss mode. But when I’m home chilling and it’s a weekend, I’m about to watch movies, relax… When I’m done with the workday and I know I’m not doing nothing else, I’ll take an indica for chill-at-home, late-night vibes . I used to think indica was too much of a downer for me, but I’ve learned indica can calm me down.

Ascend at your own pace with The Travel Agency

If, like TT the Artist, you sometimes consume cannabis for a boost and sometimes consume it for chill times at home, visit The Travel Agency for day and night options. Our menu is home to edibles, vapes, and so much more for launching into your task list or sinking into serenity. We’ve got whatever you need to achieve liftoff at exactly your own pace.