From The Root begins with a calling from G-d. When recording artist, Taja Sevelle, formerly signed to Prince, saw the vast amounts of unused land and extreme poverty in the city of Detroit, Michigan, she put her music career on the back burner and started the non-profit, Urban Farming. Taja began with $5,000 and 3 community gardens of free food in Detroit. She systematically built a passionate team spanning from the impoverished whom the gardens served, to celebrities, political figures, corporations, independent contractors, and volunteers. Within the first two years, Urban Farming had expanded into New York, St. Louis, Jamaica, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Newark, New Jersey.

Taja shares the struggles of the communities she was serving, as well as her own struggles, which included losing a major deal with QVC for her invention, during the time of the 2008 financial crash, as well as fighting to hold on to her home. She faced hard lessons of what it is like to live in poverty. Seeking to bridge human gaps and find solutions, From The Root documents her experiences, spiritual revelations, and the solutions that she and her team developed.  

Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, the girl who had attended the same elementary school as Prince, had already lived a life of wide-ranging experiences: home-schooled in her family’s cabin in the wilderness, with no running water, no electricity and no access by car, winter temperatures regularly 40-below zero; living on her family’s new farm for 4 years; signing her first record deal with Prince, and a red-carpet, A-list world of music. Very little of this part of Taja’s story is covered in From The Root, but serves as a backdrop to another rare experience: a calling from G-d to help heal tough social challenges.  

In late 2009, Taja secured a multi-million, 2-year project with Kraft Foods, planting 65 gardens in 21 cities across the United States. The project was featured for 2 years on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was on the back of 28 million boxes of the Triscuit Cracker. By the middle of 2010, there were 59,000 gardens in the Urban Farming Global Food Chain, and Urban Farming had received over 30,000 media stories worldwide. Urban Farming had ignited a global trend in urban agriculture.  

Perhaps the most important lessons learned are the highly impactful spiritual messages that From The Root delivers, including the importance of G-d’s balanced design, and solutions to address poorly managed municipalities. Through interviews with Urban Farming team members, community residents, and celebrities, story after story, the viewer feels the hand of G-d within this amazing journey. Cameo appearances include Prince, T.I., Richard Lewis, Ed Begley Jr., Montel Williams, and Keke Palmer, among others. Set over a moving soundtrack that was written, co-written, and performed by Taja Sevelle, this film is an unforgettable story of resilience, purpose, bridging gaps, and the power of a spiritual calling to help heal our world, From The Root.