My traditional healing practice is the culmination of many seemingly divergent paths in my life. Growing up in Syracuse, New York, I always felt a strong connection to nature and animals. My first “real job” was at the local animal shelter.

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While earning my Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Religion at Georgetown University, I worked at environmental organizations such as the Animal Welfare Institute and The Humane Society of the United States. I then worked at a veterinary practice before landing a job at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Zoo.

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For more than a decade I worked with endangered species of all kinds, rehabilitating and releasing wildlife, and conducting presentations to raise public awareness. In my spare time I studied medicinal herbs and organic farming.

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After moving to California to study dolphin and elephant behavior, I felt a yearning to reach a larger audience. I wrote conservation articles and worked in public relations for the San Francisco Zoo and the California Academy of Sciences. I found a deep satisfaction in helping the public understand complex issues around ecosystems, threatened species, and decreasing resources.

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Still, I felt that my efforts were not permeating to a deeper level of true change. Eventually it was my study of Plant Spirit Medicine that resolved my quest to find a way to contribute to healing the planet and its inhabitants—one human and animal at a time. This subtle yet powerful medicine has the ability to reconnect us all to our divine source and to our unique gifts.

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I completed my studies of Plant Spirit Medicine (PSM) in May 1998. For the next few years, I embarked on pilgrimages to sacred sites in remote regions of Mexico. These sites, along with my initiations into two ancestral traditions, continue to inform my healing work in a myriad of mysterious and effective ways.