Who is Janelle Iaccino?

Welcome to my dark world.
Embrace your weird.
Find inner light as we explore our shadow selves.

I’m forever grateful and loyal to my Day 1’s. But there are so many new friends I’ve made, albeit virtually, over the last year that I feel I don’t know too well. So I’d like to (re) introduce myself to you and hope I can learn more about you, too.

I’m a Chicago native, working artist, multi-instrumentalist and producer, scientist, Apothecary, nature lover, and Marketing Director. That’s a lot of stuff, I know.

Creepy Mask.

First of all, shout out to Ricky Kluge and Erin Anthony for taking these photos of me with my plague doctor mask. This mask was handmade by an artist in Venice, Italy. I bought it when I had visited in 2016.

I’m super proud of my Italian heritage. I have a fascination with masks. I love ancient theatre. I love making masks. Death is something I’ve had a lot of experience with in my life. The history of the Black Death is particularly interesting to me. The plague topic couldn’t be more relevant right now. But it ties in with my passion for natural and holistic medicine.

Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the traditional knowledge and customs of a people concerning plants and their medical, religious, and other uses.

Labor of Love

Growing up, I learned a lot by spending so much time with my Italian grandparents. They taught me how to take care of plants, eat what we grew, they taught me the meaning of slow food, the ceremony of preparing coffee, tea or meals, what certain foods were good for in terms of healing. There’s a magic to the invisible ingredient of love that goes into everything I make because it’s been instilled in me my whole life.

Lady J Apothecary

I have an apothecary business. What is that?

An apothecary is a place where you can buy herbs, loose tea, herbal preparations, natural products, and more.

I grow many of the herbs that go into my smudge sticks and recipes. Well-being starts in the gut. I have a ton of experience with my body rejecting certain types of foods. It’s a personal mission to grow what I eat and eat what I grow. Urban gardening is one of the skills I learned from my immigrant Nonno and Nonni (that’s what we called my grandmother even though it’s the plural word for grandparents). And that’s what I practice on my second floor apartment balcony. It’s lovely, really. The afternoon sun is blissful.

Music Is My Therapy

I’ve been through a lot of hardships in my short lifetime. Sometimes words aren’t easy for me to find. Sometimes it’s hard for me to identify a feeling. Expression through music has gotten me through so many moments in life. Through sounds and textures, I practice creating vibes and painting audio pictures to express what I’m feeling. There’s always a story behind it.

To explore and appreciate darkness is to understand just how beautiful our roles on this living planet can be.