It’s only fitting that every photo I’ve found of myself lately includes my daughter – my studies at East West coincided very much with my transformation into a mother. I decided when I was pregnant that I wanted to create a long-lasting and valuable family legacy for my daughter, one that was primarily based in plant medicine and the traditional knowledge of ancient cultures and first peoples. I wanted this to be my daughter’s foundation, her strong beginning, and so I signed up for my formal studies at East West School of Planetary Herbology in September 2012 when she was just three months old. I have embarked on this lifelong journey of herbalism with her and all future generations in mind.

My goal is to foster a world where the norm is living wholly and healthily – one where the focus is on prevention rather than cure. My natural journey began with studying Permaculture in Australia from 2005 to 2007. There, with some amazing individuals in really diverse communities, I first became deeply immersed in nature in a way that was previously unknown to me. It was also during this time that I began my connection with plant medicine, and the flame was lit under the cauldron of herbal creation in my soul. Upon relocating to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, in my native Canada, I shared a home with two women who had devoted their lives to practicing herbalism personally and professionally, weaving the rich web of plant medicine in the Pacific Northwest. I took that inspiration and ran with it, starting my informal independent studies on my own.

Through the years I continued to travel and explore, eventually making my way to California where I made my home, put down some roots and fertilized those roots with my enrollment at East West. Up until then it had been a journey of a serendipitous sort and since then my herbal journey has taken a more deliberate shape.

I’ve worked in the natural health industry for many years, mainly in retail. As an advanced student in the East West Professional Herbalist Course, I plan on completing my clinical certification within the next year. I am looking forward to the privilege of attending the EW seminars and transforming my student membership in the American Herbalists Guild into a professional one. Recently my aspirations have grown beyond my original intention of simply creating a family legacy to planning to go into clinical practice. The idea of being able to help people every day is exciting and exhilarating. My confidence is growing each day as the building blocks of my career are laid: creating eastcoastherbalist.com my website, , working with my first clients, living the day-to-day life of an herbalist. East West has given me the foundation and tools to build a career that I didn’t even know I was looking for. With their education and guidance I hope to influence and guide not only my daughter but her generation and generations to come in a relevant and helpful way. My 30th birthday is the first day of March and being honored as Student of the Month at East West is the best gift yet – one I believe is a wonderful omen in this prosperous and possibility-filled Year of the Horse.