Empowering You To Be Your Own Best Health Advocate
I am Maryam Henein and I want to empower you to be your own best health advocate. I’m an investigative journalist and the director of the award-winning documentary Vanishing of the Bees, narrated by Oscar-nominated actress Ellen Page. The Huffington Post recently named my film one of the twelve “most mind-blowing movies you can stream on Netflix.” I’ve been interviewed by Breaking The Set’s Abby Martin and have appeared on TakePart Live as an authority on the disappearances of the honeybees.
I’m also the Editor-in-Chief of HoneyColony, an online platform that strives to educate and connect people concerned about the plight of the bees, food politics, and the health issues facing us all today. My quest down the path of health and wellness began 12 years ago. You would never know by looking at me, but I was hit by a Ford Explorer at 45 miles an hour and then dragged 49 feet while negotiating a crosswalk. I broke my left femur, tailbone, L-1, and five ribs. I was outfitted with a 14-inch metal rod and it took me a year to walk again without a cane or a limp. The trauma I endured led me down a windy path of medical treatments and self-discovery.
As a journalist, I used to investigative the underbelly of Los Angeles as well as the human psyche. But in a quest to heal, I found myself delving into alternative medicine and using my investigative chops to figure out the root causes behind my health issues. It’s so wild how many of us blindly listen to our doctors when in reality, Western medicine has such a blinkered view of things. They compartmentalize body parts and symptoms instead of looking at human health from a holistic perspective.
I became both scientist and guinea pig. I fused solid research with first-hand experience and not only became quite knowledgeable, but also healed myself and became a holistic health advocate! I found myself in the aisles of Whole Foods sharing my knowledge with strangers.
And then in 2007, the bees literally flew into my life and gave me a bigger purpose. The bees pulled the curtain and exposed the wizards of Big Ag. Just like you, I didn’t know that beekeepers zig zagged through America with semis full of bees from one monoculture to the next. I gained a whole new perspective about our food supply.
If (organic) food is thy medicine, then the rapid spread of industrial agriculture and the increasing standardization of the food industry is our downfall. Chemicals are killing bees and beings, monocultures are breeding super bugs and killing biodiversity, genetically modified foods are making us sick and ruining our seeds, and factory farms are causing wide spread antibiotic resistance and causing unbelievable pollution. The paradigm shift must happen NOW.
Learn About The Vision Behind HoneyColony:
Empowering You to Be Your Own Best Health Advocate Instead of Keeping You Sick
Dedicated to educating and empowering you about the bees, food security issues, and health, I created an online platform called HoneyColony, a magazine and marketplace geared toward people who are starting on their health journey. We are dedicated to putting honesty back into mainstream health and our food supply! This 75-second animation explains our concept:
Today, we reach two million folks a month and have a newsletter with 40,000 plus subscribers.
HoneyColony is a social enterprise and we do not take advertising dollars, which is why we need your support. We strive to bring you the latest news when it comes to bees, food security, and health. With your help, we will continue to report with integrity when other sites just perpetuate misinformation. We strive to get our facts straight and empower you. My mission as proverbial bee and messenger is to create a virtual hive where we can exchange ideas and solid information.
Meanwhile, we know that main stream brands place profits over people and sell us products that are filled with poisons. Therefore we have a line of Simply Transformative solutions to replace them. For instance, most deodorants are made of cancer-causing ingredients. Not only do we provide a food-edible solution, we arm you with science, in-depth profiles, and testimonials. We stand for integrity and quality!
HoneyColony seeks to save you years of anguish by giving you access to solid information and allowing you to connect with others who have undergone similar health challenges. We modeled our platform after the bees and with your help, it will be a fully functioning hive where people can communicate and find each other. Swarm intelligence delivers the truth. WE gather nectar and pollen in the form of information and organic products that do not kill you.
We invite you to become members of our social health-oriented network where we can build a global, online community to share information, ideas, and insights. We also give you access to world renown health advisors who can send you their feedback and tips.
In the upcoming months of February and March, I am continuing my education and obtaining a Permaculture Design Certification. For three weeks and across three countries (Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica), I will learn about the harmonious integration of the human community into Mother Nature’s design. I will witness how the earth and people can grow together in richness and aesthetic beauty. I end my three-week quest in Costa Rica at a festival called Envision where I will give a talk about the honeybees. I plan on sharing my findings with you via a series of videos and articles. Your support will help make that happen.
During my stay, I will also intern on a farm called Atitlan Organics; I will keep bees and learn about humane conservation through soil-building, water storage, and integrative techniques. I will also work with the bees and gain more practical knowledge. I also seek to bring this knowledge in a form of stories back to my community. I continuously go out and seek answers; I don’t just report on what’s happening. At HoneyColony, our reporters and health experts are at the forefront of what is going on in the push towards organic and holistic health. We discover the best new products, report on the latest food and health issues, and share the most transformative, inspiring stories from our readers and collaborators.
People-Powered Journalism
Patreon lets fans support their favorite creators by becoming patrons. Unlike other fundraising services, which raise for a single big event, Patreon is for creators who create a stream of smaller works. I’m using Patreon to help keep HoneyColony a sustainable platform powered by the people. We want to continue to give you cutting-edge independent journalism. We are fearless in our pursuit for integrity, rigorous in our research, and driven by the values of truth. Part of our mission is to campaign for the bees and donate part of our proceeds to non-profit that are making a difference like Center For Food Safety and Beyond Pesticides. We will report on the latest in food politics and food security. You are not just donors but a key part of the hive. We want to hear from you. What health issues do you want to learn more about? We best ways to make the platform work, and improve what we do?
Maryam Henein is an investigative journalist, professional researcher, and producer of the award-winning documentary Vanishing of the Bees.
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