Squamish musician uses her creativity to launch Charity Shop

The pandemic hasn't been a laugh riot for anyone, but in typical turning-lemons-into-lemonade Lozen fashion, the musician is making the best of it.

The Squamish-based alternative hip-hop artist, whose real name is Meaghan Mullaly, has launched an online Charity Shop.

The idea started with the release in November 2020 of her "Ladies World" video.

She created hats to support the release and donated $1 from each hat sold to the Howe Sound Women's Centre.

Lozen ordered the bare hats, and then, after winning a vintage sewing machine from Pearl's Value & Vintage Store she stitched the hats herself.

"I was able to sew the labels with the sewing machine I got from Pearl's and be able to give back," she said. "So, very circular."

A local taught her how to use the sewing machine in exchange for baking and plants, Lozen explained. "I feel like those little moments add value."

The hat sale evolved into her creating hand-beaded mandala pendant necklaces, and the idea took off from there.

She also has hoodies and beanies.

Every item in Lozen’s online shop is aligned with an organization, not-for-profit, retreat, or centre, and she’s penned a short story to go with each piece.

For the Dharma Charity Mandala Pendant Necklace, for example, she explained that the necklaces were inspired by her Goal Digger album artwork.

Though the pandemic has been really tough on those in the music and events world, she tries to spin the narrative for herself.

"In particular, in the last year, I am really looking at the blessings. This is what it is. I can't change all that, [but] my relationship to it, I can," she said. "If I focus on all the things that I am losing, then I am not looking at all the things I am gaining."

Lozen thinks of the pandemic as an incubation period.

"What are the things that weren't working for me before and how am I able to curate my life better?" she pondered, adding that the time for reflection has made her ask bigger questions.

"I am still working every day. Maybe not in the way I was doing it before, but I still show up for myself to do work. I want to be creating and doing things," she said.

The idea behind her store is that everyone has something to give back.

"I think it can feel really big," she said, noting that if we think of problems in the whole — such as all the garbage in the world — it becomes overwhelming, but if you start picking up what you can, that is making a difference.

"You can pick up that one. Sometimes I feel bad that I can't pick up another, but you do what you can when it feels right. You can do some."

Find the store on her website.

Meanwhile, Lozen isn't giving up music to become a philanthropic entrepreneur. She'll be appearing on June 4 in Arts Whistler's The Next Level series live from the Maury Young Arts Centre theatre.

Tune in for a 60-minute set of her original music from 8 to 9 p.m.