Stepping into your Power W
hile on a walk on day 26 of her monthlong trek in the Amazon jungle with no running water, no electricity and bathing in the same swamp water as anacondas and crocodiles, Luciana (Anna) Verhoye Passeri, M.D., avoided a step that changed her life. “I went to put my foot down and, instinctively, I felt something underneath my foot, and I looked down and there was a massive coral snake ... I did a Herculean leap to my left to avoid it because they’re extremely deadly,” says the former Woodbury resident of 20 years. She hollered for help, and the indigenous men from her group did what is customary—knocked out the snake with a stick, so it couldn’t bite and eventually burned it. Because the snake was just react-
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ing and trying to protect itself, Passeri felt badly. “I thought about how often in my life I have hurt other people out of defensiveness, not intending to, but I was protecting something that really didn’t deserve or need protection,” she says. “I knew I could do better.” The snake came to Passeri in her dreams and waking moments, and she kept saying to it, “‘You cannot come into my presence until you transmute your power,’” she says. “On the last day, I said, ‘You must transmute your power. Look to your skin. You’re beautiful,’ ... In this poof moment, the snake kind of evaporated, and I felt this really beautiful white holy presence.” She left the jungle three days later and met up with her husband, Jim, in Cusco, Peru. They walked into a teeny
building and met a man, Julio Huillaca, who later became Passeri’s friend, master cobbler and director of operations at her company. “I saw his work, and I looked at my husband and said, ‘This is it.’ The colors reminded me of the snake and how wearable art is really important, and I wanted to use wearable art to support people in stepping into their power and living their best lives,” she says. Established in 2019, Passeri is now a footwear business with 10 employees in a small village in Peru, carrying products handcrafted by local Peruvian artisans using handwoven alpaca wool textiles and fine leather from South America. The company purchases textiles handwoven on traditional Peruvian pedal, treadle and portable back-strap looms
Photos: Passeri
Former Woodbury resident creates slow-fashion footwear company in Peru.
