Sutton King (Journey Colab): Indigenous Reciprocity in Psychedelic Business

Today’s episode is a repost from my personal podcast, Life is a Festival, where I interview cultural pioneers about living a more openhearted life. Today’s guest, Sutton King, lives a life full of joy and service and she is also the Head of Impact at Journey Colab a major psychedelic drug development company. Journey Colab just raised 12 million and Sutton’s important work in reciprocity is a major part of the company’s appeal to value-aligned investors. In fact, she has a lot to teach all of us about the lessons of reciprocity from her people, which is why I chose to share this podcast with you today. On the show, we explore Sutton’s commitment to healing and service from her early days dancing jingle dress, to her work with the Urban Indigenous Collective in New York. Sutton explains her perspective on kinship and the Seven Generations Principle. We discuss Journey Colab, the psychedelic startup that is developing mescaline for treating alcoholism. Finally, we review the responsibilities of psychedelic entrepreneurs as well as individual psychonauts to be in right relation with the honorable harvest. A descendant of the Menominee and Oneida Nations of Wisconsin, Sutton King is a nationally recognized indigenous heath advocate, researcher, and social entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and President of Urban Indigenous Collective, a nonprofit advocating on the behalf of Urban Natives in the tri-state area, she is Head of Impact at Journey Colab, a start-up led by Sam Altman and Jeeshan Chowdhury developing psychedelic treatments for mental health, and she is the Co-Founder of ShockTalk, a culturally tailored telemental health platform that facilitates culturally appropriate patient-provider relationships. Links Sutton King on Instagram Sutton King on Twitter Journey Colab Urban Indigenous Collective ShockTalk Decolonizing Wealth Braiding Sweetgrass Timestamps :06 - Sutton honors her ancestors :09 - A day in the life of a psychedelic impact advocate :14 - Sutton’s early life and indigenous cultural traditions :23 - Kinship and Seven Generations as a way of understanding indigenous reciprocity :33 - Mescaline, Peyote, and Journey Colab Reciprocity Trust :43 - The Nagoya Protocol, Free and Prior and Informed Consent and the responsibility of psychedelic business :58 - The responsibility of individual psychonauts for Indigenous reciprocity