OUR TEACHERS ARE THE HEART OF THE SCHOOL

Juliet is a card-carrying plant geek who channels her plant obsessions through writing, photography, and herb gardening, along with a sizable houseplant predilection. She is an ambitious entrepreneur—her earliest enterprise was a get-rich-quick-scheme involving papaya trees (a monumental flop, on all accounts). Juliet’s been sharing her passion for plants for over twenty-five years, and has owned just about every type of herbal business you can imagine: an herbal nursery, a medicinal products business, a clinical practice, and now, an herbal school. After graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in botany, Juliet continued her studies by attending programs at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine, the California School of Herbal Studies, and the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. Her herbal teachers and lineage include 7Song, James Snow, and the legendary herbalist Michael Moore, now an ancestor.

Brandon Ruiz is an Urban Farmer and Community Herbalist living in Charlotte, NC. He has established various gardens around the city, and runs Yucayeke Farms, a community farming and herbalism project focused on providing culturally-relevant foods and herbs to the surrounding community. His work prioritizes BIPOC, and focuses on providing easy and affordable access to medicines and educational information. His roots are in Puerto Rico, and he works with medicines from the Caribbean and Appalachia.

Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz is a native Arizonan, living in one of the most edible and medicinal landscapes in the world. Following her family’s lineage, Felicia began training as a curandera (medicine woman) in her early twenties, working in cafes and coffee shops to make ends meet. Eventually Felicia would find success as an award-winning restaurateur, and later join over twenty-five years of Indigenous healing practices with food as medicine.

Recognized for her work with Indigenous foodways and decolonizing wellness, Felicia is passionate about sharing food + lifestyle as medicine across many platforms. Her book Earth Medicines: Ancestral Wisdom, Healing Recipes, and Wellness Rituals from a Curandera, has received praise from industry leaders including Padma Lakshmi, Dana Cowin, and Julia Turshen. Felicia’s work has been featured in Spirituality & Health, Forbes, Bon Appétit, and several other media outlets including The Original Americans episode on Padma Lakshmi’s Taste The Nation (Hulu). Felicia presents frequently around the country on traditional healing practices, culinary medicine, holistic wellness, and Native American food sovereignty for nonprofits, universities, and museums–including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Jade is the director and founder of The School for Aromatic Studies. Her school is internationally respected for providing balanced, progressive and inspiring education that is cultivating a new generation of aromatherapists. She has been sharing her love of the aromatic world for over twenty-five years through her numerous online programs as well as in person classes throughout the country. Jade is the author of the textbook Aromatherapy for Bodyworkers.  She served for many years as the president of the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy Association. Jade enjoys gardening, spending time with her son, reading and researching, making her own medicine from both herbs and essential oils, and just being outside in the natural world.

Khamé Abayé’s love for naychur began as a child when she was the frequent helper with her mother’s plant sanctuary, which afforded her the opportunity to gain generational enlightenment and hands-on experience. As she grew, so did the sanctuary and her exposure and care for numerous plant species. While venturing into the world of adulthood, her wisdom of herbal healing and love for gardening continued to bloom.

In 2016, Khamé founded NAYCHURSLOVE LTD. CO., to offer bulk herbs, proprietary formulas, and life-centering tools. Khamé currently has an ongoing self-developed program known as an Herbal Integration Module to assist clients in rectifying bodily diseases and issues. She continues to serve with joy and gladness, spreading her love for naychur all over the world.

Lara Pacheco (they/them/she/her) is a Taíno, Latinx mamita that believes part of our collective liberation is accessed through decolonizing ourselves and weaving into the web of ancestral medicine.  Lara directly works through this realm with plants, fungi, puppets, music, and dance.  When not caring for their family, land, and creatures, Lara runs Atabey Medicine of Seed and Thistle Apothecary, an educational resource that centers Queer, Trans, and Gender fluid Black and Indigenous voices within herbalism.  In connection with their Taino roots, Lara is a behike training with the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle and also a Qi gong student with the Ling Gui International Healing Qigong School, and a student with POCA Tech Liberation Acupuncture program to further help bring access to care to everyone.

Lorna Mauney-Brodek is a traveling herbalist, medicine maker, wildcrafter and teacher dedicated to promoting diversity, environmental responsibility, and social justice through herbalism. Growing up “americana,” her health practices reflect the abundantly diverse influences of these lands to blend western medical herbalism, traditional Chinese five phase, Ayurveda, and southern folk.  Early barefoot adventures in the Appalachian foothills and global wanderings with tent-packing parents led to more formal trainings in plant medicine.  She completed an herbal residency with Michael Moore at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine and her clinical internship at the Blue Ridge School for Herbal Studies. Lorna is the founder and director of the Herbalista Health Network, a web of clinical services, health education, and service opportunities that provide earth-based care to underserved communities.  Lorna teaches around the country and abroad, spreading the Herb Bus method and celebrating our capacity to build community through herbalism.

Lorna teaches Materia Medica in the Herbal Immersion Program and Foraging Course, and Aromatherapy and Hydrotherapy in the Herbal Immersion Program, Medicine Making Course, and Foraging Course.

With a journey that began as a little girl mixing herbs, clays, and mud on her grandparents’ farm, Lucretia VanDyke has been in the industry for over 20 years. She is a Holistic Educator, Speaker, Herbalist, SacredSexologist, Ceremonialist, Spiritual Light Coach, Intuitive Energetic and Reiki Practitioner, Diviner, and world traveler with over 3000 hours of training. She has studied with some of the greats minds of our time and indigenous healers. Lucretia been a holistic esthetician and practitioner for over a decade focusing on integrating indigenous healing rituals, plant spirit medicine, and meditation into modern-day practices. She brings her vivacious spirit and message of self-love in her work to inspire others to embrace their unique beauty and purpose. Her work with herbs and sacred practices honors Women’s Wholeness Medicine, grief work, sexual trauma, ancestor connection, womb healing, self-empowerment, food alchemy, and holistic skin care. You can connect with Lucretia on Facebook, Instagram, and on her website.

Marc Williams is an ethnobiologist. He has studied the people, plant, mushroom and microbe interconnection intensively while learning to employ botanicals and other life forms for food, medicine, and beauty in a regenerative manner. His training includes a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies concentrating in Sustainable Agriculture with a minor in Business from Warren Wilson College and a Master’s degree in Appalachian Studies concentrating in Sustainable Development with a minor in Geography and Planning from Appalachian State University. He has spent over two decades working at a multitude of restaurants and various farms and has traveled throughout 30 countries in Central/North/South America and Europe as well as all 50 states of the USA. Marc has visited over 200 botanical gardens and research institutions during this process while taking tens of thousands of pictures of representative plants and other entities. He has taught hundreds of classes to thousands of students about the marvelous world of people and their interface with other organisms while working with over 100 organizations and particularly as a Board of Directors member of the United Plant Savers and online at the website Botany Everyday.  Marc’s greatest hope is that this effort may help improve our current challenging global ecological situation.

Meghan is one of the Chestnut School’s primary instructors through her written lessons, sharing herbal and wild foods wisdom from the flowery heart of Appalachia to an ever-wider field of herbalists, gardeners, healers, and plant lovers. You’ll find her plant love and clever wit throughout the blog and lesson pages of all the programs. Meghan first apprenticed with Juliet at the Chestnut Herb Nursery in 2010 and then went on to become a Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine student and lifelong learner of herbalism. Meghan lives in the Ivy Creek watershed, just north of Asheville, North Carolina. 

Sarah Nuñez was born in Bogota, Colombia, and raised in North Carolina. Sarah is a cultural organizer and healer, weaving storytelling, art, hierbas, and movement building throughout her work. She is one of the founders of Aflorar Herb Collective which provides herbal community care and support to organizers, activists, and nurturers across the county. Currently, a resident of Asheville, NC, she organizes around immigrant rights, racial and economic justice, and education access and success for students of the global majority. As a Ph.D. candidate in Education, her research and teaching methods use testimonials and oral histories to uncover healing practices, wisdom, and knowledge of Latinx students in the South. You can learn more about Sarah here: Aflorar Herb Collective.