Meet Asia “Fermentasia” Dorsey. Minus six years of traveling the world and living in New York City, Asia has lived in Denver her whole life. Asia is a member of Denver’s Sustainable Food Policy Council and creates probiotic culinary art & radical earth-centered education in Denver through the Five Points Fermentation Co.. Asia is passionate about combining her love of microbes and fermentation with herbalism to liberate the full potential of food, plants, and people. Here’s what it means to be Black in Denver to this local plant alchemist.

What does it mean to you to be Black in Denver?

To be Black in Denver is to be a mermaid living in the mountains. I am a being who is adapted to breathing without oxygen. I can find home in the dark depths of the ocean and at the top of Pikes Peak. Being Black in Denver is holding down my own frequency no matter the temperature, pressure, and atmosphere. It’s sending out my light beam and calling forth my people. Being Black in Denver is building a flotilla and learning to become my own safe space.

What do you love most about living in Denver?

The Sunshine. Really, my skin absorbs sunlight and creates energy. It’s a great place for me to be.

How have your experiences in Denver shaped you?

Before university, I was linked into the nonprofit world via service-learning and environmental education through an organization called Earth Force. It was this education that introduced me to environmental justice that later had me center the Earth and the genius of her people in my epistemology. When I returned home I called forth and cocreated programs and organizations with the dopest radical artists and futurists of color. I have been able to develop into my full being because of the minds that have nourished my own. I can step out into the world because I have giants standing beside me. Denver is a place, a specific bioregion, with its climate, flora, and fauna. The frequency of home is created by her people and the moves we make in rising together, in power. These are my ingredients.

Learn more about Five Points Fermentation Co. here .