Who We Are: A Glimpse Into Cultural Fabric, the Publication, and the Journey
We envision a world where we put our humanity at the center — placing the highest value on people’s needs and on our deep abiding connections to one another.
Values Focused, Inspiring Action
Founded in 2016, Cultural Fabric is the brainchild of founder and facilitator Melissa Alexis. Recognizing the widespread disconnection people have from their bodies, their inner world, and one another, Melissa sought to support people in healing this disconnect. First becoming aware of her innate ability to connect and communicate through movement as a dance artist, she delved deeper into this connection through yoga/meditation. She realized she could tap into the value of states of heightened awareness for all aspects of our lives and well-being.
Ultimately, she crafted a methodology to support others in realizing their power and potential using mindfulness.
Since 2016, we’ve been helping companies across varied sectors, individuals, and communities co-create strategies and respond to current issues, including: engaging constituents, shifting culture, creating safe inclusive spaces by building community, racial healing, and supporting Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and people from other historically marginalized backgrounds.
At Cultural Fabric, we understand that mindfulness, a state of heightened awareness, can be applied to address both personal and organizational development. Our overarching mission is to promote healing centering the experiences of BIPOC across the U.S. and beyond. We use embodied practices, rooted in ancient traditions, to enhance self-awareness, build community, and re-awaken our bodies’ innate tools designed to energize and promote vibrancy.
Beginning with building trust and coming to greater awareness, we help transform consciousness and shift culture, from the inside out.
The Publication
Our goal in starting this publication is to co-create a resource, a community voice, where everyone regardless of proximity to a Cultural Fabric offerings can engage in a healing and safe environment through reading, writing, and sharing stories of deep connection and healing.
The Commitment
Dedicated to helping people transform from the inside out and break past the barriers of conditioned responses.
The Root
A first generation Trinidadian immigrant, Melissa’s research is rooted in exploring the intersection of African, Eastern, and Western perspectives, informed by psychology, the arts, social justice, sustainability, and mindfulness studies. Certified to teach yoga from JP Centre Yoga, sustainability from The Earth Institute at Columbia University, trained in meditation through Isha Institute of Inner-Sciences and Sarah Powers/Integral Yoga Institute, facilitation through Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, she holds a Master’s from Sarah Lawrence College and a Bachelor’s from Amherst College but is most proud to be a mother, daughter, sister, friend, and community member.
The Invitation
When you take part in a Cultural Fabric offering, you answer a call to the invitation — the invitation is to co-create an interconnected ecosystem of higher consciousness for the benefit of collective well-being.
Our core program, the Healing Arts Institute (HEAL), guides cohort members in racial inquiry and healing, and supports them in bringing mindfulness-based practices back to their work places or communities. In this way we create ripples of energy to expand the reach of our work together far and wide. After graduating, participants really know from experience that their personal well-being is linked to our collective well-being. Underlying every class, workshop, program, talk we offer is the intention to spread this realization — that care for self and communal care are inextricably linked.
If you have a story about healing, mindfulness, and/or well-being, we’d love to hear it. Submit here.
