My relationship with food, plants, and health began long before I had any formal training - it's always been an integral part of my life.

My early life always revolved around good food. My parents would drive long distances to source the best quality ingredients and often reached for herbal remedies when my brothers and I got sick. All my friends at school either wanted my lunch or would say, "What is that?!" We moved to a small family farm. One of my brothers would eventually go on to become an expert chef. Looking back, those experiences quietly shaped the direction of my life.

As a teenager, I became fascinated by plants, Chinese medicine, ecology, and the ways different cultures understand health. I went to the local library to learn what was growing around me and ran through the canyons trying to identify whatever I found. The local gardening club gave me a scholarship to study ethnobotany. And while my path ultimately unfolded differently, that curiosity about the relationship between people, plants, and place never left.

In college, I spent time outside of class with a professor going on plant walks; I helped restart the school garden.

My studies eventually led me to Chinese medicine school. Ironically, I became increasingly more interested in the abundance of medicine that grew outside the classroom and clinic apothecary. I had lived in China briefly the year before and saw many Lao Nai Nai ("old grandmothers") harvesting plants at the city parks all spring. I found myself asking deeper questions about why we often overlook the foods, weeds, trees, herbs, and ecosystems surrounding us—or simply what's in our pantries— while searching for health somewhere else.

I left school and got my hands dirty again: I explored permaculture and farming, medicinal plant cultivation, foraging and ecological stewardship. During this time, I also navigated my own food sensitivities and digestive challenges, which pushed me to learn firsthand about nourishment, gut health, traditional foods and remedies, and the realities of applying these practices in daily life. I began making nutrient-rich bone broths, various fermentations and herbal preparations.

Over the years, I've learned from many teachers —people and plants alike—and explored what it means to develop a truly reciprocal relationship with the land.

Through all of this, I was learning to observe, to attend, and to participate—watching seasonal cycles, stewarding local landscapes, harvesting responsibly, and developing a deeper understanding of how plants, ecosystems, and people shape one another over time.

Today, my work and worldview draws heavily on the understanding of the body as an ecology. While I value remedies and protocols, I am more interested in helping people understand the larger patterns influencing their health. Food, herbs, movement, culture, environment, relationships, and daily habits all interact in ways that are often more important than any single intervention.

At its heart, all of my work is about cultivating deeper relationships: with the body, with food, with plants, with place, with one another and with the conditions that allow health to emerge. My role is not simply to recommend herbs or supplements, but to help people develop a deeper understanding of themselves and the living systems they are already part of.