Hey folks, welcome to Bret Weinstein's Dark Horse Podcast. I am sitting here today with Chloe

Valdery, who is the architect behind Theory of Enchantment. Welcome Chloe. Thank you for having me.

Can you tell me before we get into any of the other things that we want to discuss what the

Theory of Enchantment is? So Theory of Enchantment is a curriculum that I designed to teach mental

health and healthy identity formation, but the uniqueness of the curriculum is that it uses pop culture

to teach these things. So when you say identity, that's obviously a charged term these days. Are

you talking about racial gender? Are you talking about these things? Or do you mean something else by?

No, I think I mean something actually quite deeper than that, which is sort of like the fundamental

humanness that we think of and we think of individuals. And so it's something that transcends all

the categories that you just mentioned in some way. So it almost sounds like an alternative to

this modern view of identity? Maybe. I think that I don't think that race or gender or such

categories can't also be discussed. I think that this just provides us with a better framework or a

better roadmap to point us into the right direction as we discuss those things. Cool. So maybe let's

be bold. Okay. And actually, maybe I have to ask you permission to do this first.

Okay. There's a way in which you as a person of African descent are living in a world in which

race is playing such a prominent role that whether you want that to be an important part of the way

you're interacting, it is on so many people's minds that you're dragged into a lot of conversations

about it. And there's certainly a part of me that would love to just bypass it entirely.

Okay. And then there's another part of me that thinks actually this is an opportunity.

Sure. You and I, I think it's fair to say our friends. Yes. And I feel very comfortable with you.

I think you feel comfortable with me. Sure. And that means that in a sense we're really well

positioned to have a conversation about things that other people aren't sure what to do with.

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