Jesse Akozbek, The Feral Forager

Jesse is the creator of Feral Foraging. Feral Foraging is the culmination of three loves: foraging, photography, and teaching. Jesse knows that one of the biggest problems that the foraging community faces is the loss of natural habitat and his work is a response to this loss. His goal is to inspire and educate as many people as possible to develop relationships with the wild. His hope is that strength in numbers will allow us to begin to reverse our ever-shrinking natural wild spaces. Jesse loves to teach and often leads plant walks and foraging workshops in the Southeast region, particularly North Alabama. www.feralforaging.com.
 

Lisa Bedner, RN, RH(AHG), Pipsissewa Herbs 

Lisa is certified as a Professional Medical Herbalist by the American Herbalist Guild. She is traditionally trained, by her family, as a Native American herbal practitioner, following the teachings of Tihanama, Cherokee, Lenape, and other Nations. As a Medicine Woman and healer of the Tihanama, she practices many of the traditional ceremonies, including sweat lodges and the Healing Drum. Lisa has also studied Western Herbalism and has more than 30 years of experience as a Registered Nurse, understanding both the allopathic and alternative modes of healing. Pipsissewa Herbs grows more than 100 species of medicinal herbs, manufactures traditional herbal medicines, and the farm is certified as an endangered Medicinal Herb Sanctuary by United Plant Savers. www.pipsissewaherbs.com.

 

Yolanda Hatch, Community Herbalist

Yolanda Hatch is a Southern community herbalist, folk medicine practitioner, and healing food chef rooted in the traditions of her ancestors. Based in Costa Rica and Georgia, she blends Southern Black herbal wisdom, plant-based nutrition, and spiritual care to serve women, the homeless, and trauma survivors. Yolanda is a founding member of **ASHE: Aspiring Sisters in Herbal Education**, a grassroots initiative creating space for Black women herbalists. She is also the founder of **Back Home Herbal** and a member of the **Harriet Tubman Foot Clinic**, where she offers hands-on herbal foot care. Her work uplifts ancestral healing, land connection, and community resilience.

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Howl, Primal Provisions
A cunningman hailing from the Gulf Coast in Mobile, AL, Howl comes from a line of several rural South generations with predominate British Isle, Iberia, and Bavarian Alps European land ties before his ancestor’s migration to Turtle Island. He’s had the honor to call many places home from North Louisiana, Birmingham, New York City, New Orleans, Austin and the Pacific Northwest. While in these places, he learned from various mentors and masters of their crafts — mathematics, land husbandry, herbcraft, occultism, nature attunement, ancestral & survival skills, culinary arts, various fighting and physical arts, woodworking, among many others. All these influences allow him to approach each situation at the liminal space betwixt modern, natural, spiritual, and philosophical realms. Having dedicated himself to the Teutonic Nature Current, his main tools of the trade revolve around rewilding, nature focus, great temporal presence, relations with our other-than-human kin, folk healing, animistic living, and ancestral wisdom. He serves as co-founder and herbalist for Primal Provisions where he shares these threads via animal based folk medicine products and classes.

 

Mo Judith, Herbalist, Aura La Voura​

Raised closely to the natural world, Maureen (Mo) Judith was shaped by the quiet intelligence of plants, ecosystems, and wilderness from an early age. She became a life-long student of nature, she began to study herbalism in her teenage years. She left the country at 18 years old in pursuit of traveling to broaden her understanding of life and those who inhabited this earth. Drawn not only to local ecologies but also the ways life expresses itself across the globe. She spent around 5 years traveling and hitchhiking around the world, seeking to learn from the earth and those who still spoke her language. Today she runs Aura La Voura, a project, laboratory and brand dedicated to alchemical herbalism and right relationship with the earth. Their work scratches the surface of a new kind of research– one that bridges wisdom and soul with modern science and chemistry. She donates 3% of all her profits to foundations dedicated to reforestation and coral rejuvenation.

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Leah Larabell, Clinical Herbalist, Owner of High Garden Tea 

*Conference Sponsor*

Leah descended from a long line of Celtic Cunning Folk and found her ancient gifts in the world of herbalism.  Leah has trained and practiced herbalism for over 20 years and has not only studied Southern Folk Medicine, but lives it.  She is a trained clinical-level herbalist and environmentalist.  Leah is the creator of High Garden Tea, PlantFolk School of Herbalism,  and Sipping Teas and Hugging Trees Podcast.  She is a forever student of nature. Learn more about her at www.highgardentea.com. 

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Phyllis D. Light; MA, RH (AHG), Founder of Appalachian Center for Natural Health

Phyllis D. Light is a fourth-generation herbalist who has studied and worked with herbs, foods and other healing techniques for 30+ years. Her studies in Traditional Southern Appalachian Folk Medicine began in the deep woods of North Alabama with lessons from her grandmother, whose herbal and healing knowledge had its roots in her Creek/Cherokee heritage. Phyllis’ studies continued as an apprentice with the late Tommie Bass, as well as other herbal Elders throughout the Appalachians and the Deep South. In addition to Traditional Folk studies, Phyllis has studied Traditional Western Herbalism, Nutrition, Exercise Science, Body Work and Energy Medicine. She has a Master’s Degree from the University of Alabama in Health Studies, is a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild and is on the board of directors of the American Naturopathic Certification Board. http://www.phyllisdlight.com.

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Joanna Mann, Herbalist, Farmer, Co-Owner of Walden FARMacy 

Joanna is co-owner of Walden Farmacy in Bessemer, AL where, alongside her husband, she has the joy of working with plants daily on their regenerative herb farm and homestead. Trevor & Joanna craft small batch herbal remedies with the belief that every person has the capacity to bring themselves into health and wholeness, and that when they do that health ripples out to everything they touch. They call themselves "holistically regenerative" because they grow their herbs in a way that heals the land they farm, believing the health of their community is tied to the health of the land they inhabit. www.waldenfarmacy.com

 

Trevor Mann, Permaculturist, Walden Farmacy

Trevor grew up in Hoover, AL, just across the railroad track and mere miles from the land that would become Walden Farmacy. Always a little different in his thinking, Trevor knew the conventional path was not for him, so he began saving for a cross-country road trip after high school. His travels shifted him and opened his eyes to his greater possibilities in life. Upon returning from his trip, Trevor pursued a spiritual path with a general idea that he was here to bring healing to the earth. When a friend introduced Trevor to permaculture a fire within him was lit that would soon take over and become not only his career, but also his passion. After meeting Joanna and pursuing market gardening for a year, an auspicious mushroom find yet again shifted Trevor’s focus into growing herbs. Trevor received permaculture design training from Spiral Ridge Permaculture and graduated from the family herbalist program at the Appalachian School for Natural Health. www.waldenfarmacy.com

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Jane Mayer, Rivers of Creation

Jane Mayer is a plant medicine woman, songkeeper, doula, and guide to the unseen realms. A keeper of song and a lover of mythos, her music and teachings are borne of the weaving of indigenous medicine from Peru, Hawaii and Ireland, the Christian mysticism in the deep South, and a depth of knowledge in the nervous system, subtle body, and the somatic experience of awakening. She holds deep trust in the wild intelligence of nature to guide all of Creation, and orients others to their deeper nature and innate gifts with sound, myth, dreams, plant, energy medicine and somatic integration. www.iamjanemayer.com

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Christy Miu, Yoga Instructor

When Christy started her own healing journey, she faced many challenges. She thought that yoga could not be for her: she was not flexible, she was stressed, traumatized and felt "unfit". ​ However, she discovered that you don't adjust your body to fit yoga; you adjust your yoga to fit your body! Christy has been a student in the field of yoga since the early 2000s. She has hundreds of hours of training through White Crow Yoga of Nashville, Sacred Awakening/Asmi Yoga of Oregon, Chattanooga Yoga Center, davidji Meditation Academy and Pranamaya studying functional and yin yoga under Paul Grilley. 

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Noah Proudfoot, Songwriter and Musician

Born with a deep passion for music, poetry, and the planet, Noah Proudfoot has been crafting songs and melodies that resonate with listeners across the globe. With a sound that blends folk, soul, and electronic elements, Noah's music takes listeners on a journey through the soundscapes of his imagination- exploring themes of love, transformation, and the bittersweet adventure of this Earthly experience. With an emphasis on composition and evocative story-telling, his influences range from classic songwriters like Paul Simon and James Taylor to modern indie-folk artists, giving his sound a timeless yet contemporary feel. Currently, Noah is recording his third studio album, continuing to evolve his sound while staying true to the roots of storytelling that make his music so compelling. With a growing discography and an ever-expanding audience, he remains dedicated to sharing messages of strength and hope through the universal language of music.

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Michelle Rigling, PhD, Transpersonal Counselor & Sacred Medicine Guide, The Cavewoman Way

Michelle is the founder of The Wild Medicine Conference and The Midsouth Women’s Herbal Conference. She is a doctorate-level Transpersonal Counselor, Certified Eco-Therapist, and Trauma-Informed Psychedelic Facilitator. Her Private Practice, The Cavewoman Way, is based in Chattanooga, TN and offers soulful retreats and counseling. While Michelle has completed a variety of trainings and apprenticeships, she considers a childhood of playing in the woods, looking for fairies, hearing magical stories and finding belonging among the trees as her most important “training”. www.thecavewomanway.com.

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Gina Rivers, River 'Seng Herbalism, Host Defense
Gina is an herbalist, formulator, and an educator, currently serving as a science educator and formulator for an internationally recognized mushroom supplement line. Through her work with the world-renowned mycologist, Paul Stamets, Gina has traveled the country and overseas educating practitioners, retailers, and the public on the health benefits of medicinal mushrooms. She also is the owner and founder of River ‘Seng MycoHerbalism, a clinical practice focusing on complementary strategies using
mushrooms, herbs, education, and lifestyle modifications to help her clients achieve balanced and radiant health. Her lifelong love of herbs sprouted at a young age when she apprenticed under a German naturopath with several herb shops in Birmingham, AL. As a young nursing student, Gina continued to deepen her herbal roots while planting a path as a community herbal consultant. Gina’s formal coursework involves Dr. Christopher’s School of Natural Healing, The Natural Healing College, and UAB School of Nursing. Additionally, she has studied with Dr. Jan McBarron MD, ND and Clayton College.

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CoreyPine Shane, Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine

CoreyPine Shane is the director of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine and has been helping clients and teaching people for 30 years, artfully blending Chinese and Western herbal traditions. His book “Southeast Medicinal Plants” covers how to identify, ethically harvest, and use the wild plants of the Southeast.

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Ruth Shelton, The Empirical Herbalist 

*Pre-Conference Program

Ruth Shelton, The Empirical Herbalist, has been studying, working and playing with plants for over 20 years. She loves to learn and teach people about the nuances of the plant world, hoping to inspire people to not only use them but to develop a deep (er) relationship with them and bring them more into their lives. At this year's Wild Medicine Conference, she will be creating and crafting Thursday's Feast celebrating Beltane, wild community, and herbs of the seasons. www.theempiricalherbalist.com.​

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Abigail Warner, Artist, Fae of ilaria

Abigail is an artist based outside of Chattanooga, TN. With Mother Nature as her biggest inspiration, Abigail has found a deeper meaning to her artwork through herbalism. Combining her passions has lead to teaching others about the importance of taking care of our precious Earth. Her hopes is that she can teach people through her artwork to live harmoniously with Mother Nature and reawaken where we came from.

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