Meet Danielle Ozymandias

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danielle Ozymandias a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I found my purpose later in life than I expected. I thought I’d have everything figured out by thirty, and boy, was I in for a shock! And then, I figured I’d get it all together by forty, and that deadline whipped past too. I’ve only found my place and purpose in the last few years.  Not to alarm anyone in their twenties reading this, but now I’m on this side of it and not flailing my arms, trying to figure myself out: in midlife, in a place where I am supposed to be halfway to done and dusted, I feel more alive and confident, and loved than ever before. But how did I get here?

I went a little crazy in 2020. My husband and I had been living in Houston after a decade in Los Angeles (so much cheaper, but not great for an LGBTQ family.) When the pandemic hit, I thought: ‘If I die, what will I regret?’ We’d always wanted to run away to sea and live on a pirate ship, so we did – or at least bought a pirate-style sailboat and took it down the East Coast with our ten-year-old. That’s the short version. It was my midlife crisis. It was an incredible adventure and a heckuva way to spend almost a year but it was hard, not that I think anyone on land was having an easier time! It clarified for me that I needed a life full of friends and laughter. I want to be surrounded by my community and make art I love. 

Eventually, we sold the boat and moved back to Los Angeles, Burbank specifically. I continued doing what I’ve always done here: producing and directing in LA’s intimate theaters. I helped with meals for unhoused neighbors with NoHo Home Alliance, and I helped create spaces of community and sharing with Loft Ensemble Theatre Company and their myriad events and membership. I also joined a Witch’s coven, and I started to bake seriously. 

I’ve always loved baking, and I’ve worked in many restaurants, both front and back of house. I adore a theme. Event planning is just another type of producing, after all. I throw a delightful Victorian Holiday party every year, elaborate Halloween parties, opening night parties, closing night parties, and whatever theme my kid is into for their birthday. If there’s a table read of a play, I always feed the cast with food that ties into the play, like a watermelon carved to look like a pirate ship and buttered rum cupcakes for a Treasure Island adaptation, or finger sandwiches and lavender cupcakes with Earl Grey tea for a 17th-century farce. 

When I look at my life—the life I have built with my partner, my kid, and my friends—I have been creating spaces for people to gather, eat, and share for most of my adult life. I think I have found my purpose in creating space and holding space for the many of us who often don’t feel like we belong: the artists and the weirdos. 

In a few short months, I’m going to open a witchy bakery cafe here in Burbank: The Burbank Witch. When you come in, it should feel like walking into a witch’s cottage in the woods. You can have a comforting potion mixed just for you by an apothecary, eat one of my scones, quiches, or cakes, and take a moment and just breathe. There will be classes in tarot reading or composting, and a meeting space for small groups that can’t afford a rental rate elsewhere. My purpose is to create those spaces, keep them open, and fill them with love. It makes me happy, and it makes me feel like I’m contributing. The longer I parent an LGBTQ kid and see the impact being a Mama bear has on the people around me who maybe didn’t or don’t get that acceptance at home, the more determined I am. What’s that popular meme? ‘You grew up to be the adult you needed as a kid.’ It turns out I did know my purpose after all–I’ve been working towards it my whole life. 

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am a kitchen witch. I feel a deep connection to the earth and the hearth as the foundation of my spiritual practice. I find great comfort in the seasons of the year and the cycles of the moon, and I observe them in ritualistic and celebratory ways. As a kitchen witch, I have a particular knack for baking, cooking, healing tonics, and brewed beverages like tea and coffee. I bake with love. No, really. I spend the entire time I’m baking thinking of who I’m baking for, how much I love them, and how much everyone will enjoy what I’m making for them. I started to learn gluten-free and vegan bakes for particular friends. I cannot imagine showing up with a tray of goodies and nothing for some people. It’d be like saying: “I can’t love you the way you need to be loved.” 
I don’t adhere to the strict rule of “everything in baking must be measured exactly.” I tend to throw “about that amount,” or “that looks right,” or “that feels correct” into a bowl, and delicious things come out of it. That’s my magic. I believe everyone has a special skill–it may not be flashy, but we all have them: my husband can tell you where the nearest coffee place is without ever opening his GPS. That’s magic. I knew guy in college who dreamt in code. That is magic. My kid attracts every wild animal when they go to the park. They look like Snow White: birds, bugs, squirrels, and butterflies, just like hanging out on them. That’s magic. I guarantee you have a little magic in you that you might assume is luck: always find a good parking space. Always pick the short line at the store? Never have a food order come out wrong? Always wake up two minutes before your alarm? It’s all magic. 

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, the three most impactful qualities to my journey were curiosity, yearning to fit in, and self-sufficiency. 

Be curious. Whatever interests you, pursue it. It doesn’t have to be a career interest or make you money, it just has to bring you joy. I have been interested in so many things and people and experiences, and I don’t think any of it was wasted time. I have done comedia del arte in Thailand and hiked the Alps from France into Italy. I have met machinists and glassblowers. I have had meals with celebrities and farmers. I have plucked chickens and birthed calves. I’ve bottle fed raccoons and fished for fresh sashimi. None of it made me a paycheck or paid the rent, but I have heard stories, and I have been in stories, and I’m still making stories, and that is a life. That is a life of creativity and fun and, yes, sometimes challenges, and financial ones at that, but my survival rate is 100% so far. 

I have often struggled to fit in. Or feel like I fit in, or at least conformed to expected behaviors. In my youth, I contorted myself to fit in where I didn’t. In not fitting in in my small town or most of my extended family, I thought wearing people down till they liked you was more or less normal, and it took me decades to unlearn that pattern. In later years, I edited myself to fit in.
I spoke less, became quieter, and tried to make myself small. Small enough to fit in, but somehow often missing the mark and not understanding why I didn’t. Eventually, I found my people, and I found them by being myself and going: this is me. In not fitting in everywhere, I yearned to find spaces where I did, and as I grew, I started to make them. I never want anyone else to feel like they don’t belong somewhere if I can make them feel welcome. I don’t want anyone else to be quiet or small to fit in when I can give them room and listen when they speak.

I grew up on a thousand-acre farming ranch in Wyoming. We grew acres of wheat which we then harvested, threshed, milled into flour and baked into bread which we served with the butter we churned from the cows we milked. In many ways, it was the most magical childhood you could imagine.

We were practically feral running around with little supervision and only one rule: don’t get hurt enough to need a doctor! It made me a very self-sufficient person. I did not have adults around me I could turn to for help and often they were busy or frustrated, and I would get yelled at for asking. It’s taken some therapy, but I appreciate the resilience I earned from that. Whenever anything challenging arises, I assume I can figure it out. If another human has done it, it is possible. I have this marvelous well of self-reliance that means when a challenge presents itself, I don’t wallow, I don’t curl up in a ball and give up (even when I want to). I set my mind to it, and I figure it out. Sometimes, this means asking the right person who knows how to find the solution. There is absolutely nothing that can’t be solved.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am currently looking for people to partner with for The Burbank Witch. I would love to connect with local artisans, spiritual practitioners, healers, farmers, and other establishments who would like to be included in a queer witchy space that pays it’s employees a livable wage and wants you to drink more water. I’d also love to connect with women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and BIPOC owned ventures who wish to expand with our magical cottage.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Alysia Michelle Cruz

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