I began my career in the world of design and technology, working in Silicon Valley and later as a software designer in cybersecurity. From the outside, I was on a clear and successful path. Internally, I was barely holding my life together with a web of addictive coping strategies to keep unresolved trauma, crippling self-doubt, and shame at bay.
I felt a growing understanding that I was not well, and that something essential was missing from my life.
That knowing led me to seek deep spiritual and emotional healing, beyond what talk therapy could help me access. After years of meditation, yoga, energy work, and nutrition-based wellness protocols, plant medicine unexpectedly came knocking at my door.
During my first journey with Ayahuasca in 2017, I felt reconnected with my essence… almost like I remembered who I really was underneath all of the shame and trauma. And for the first time in my life, I felt connected to my soul's path.
After my first journey, I wanted to learn as much as I could with indigenous teachers who were open to teaching me this incredible technology and art of collaborating with healing plant spirits.
So in 2018, I began traveling to the Amazon Jungle in Peru to study within the Shipibo tradition with my teacher, Ricardo Amaringo, head shaman and co-founder of
Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual, a renowned retreat and training center in the Amazon Jungle.
Ricardo has over 45 years of experience with Ayahuasca and is widely regarded as a leading expert in the field. You can learn more about him and Nihue Rao in Dr. Joe Tafur's book
The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor's Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine, an account of his life and journey co-founding Nihue Rao with Ricardo and Canadian artist Cvita Mamic.
Over the last 8+ years, I've completed many trainings (known as
dietas) in the jungle with Ricardo, including a 13-month
dieta.
I’ve also been training in integrative Western modalities like somatic healing and parts work to ground and support the process.
With my teacher Ricardo after completeing my 13-month dieta in Peru
Since 2023 I've been guiding and coaching dozens of people through the full experience of plant medicine healing, from preparation to integration.
In addition to my deep experiential training in the Shipibo tradition with dietas and many hundreds of ceremonies under Ricardo's guidance, my ongoing experience as a client in psychotherapy and somatic healing sessions inform the way I work with people. I also have certificates in trauma-informed psychedelic facilitation and integrative trauma healing, and I continue to seek Western training and ethical supervision.
My background in design and storytelling also helps me guide clients towards seeing the full picture of their lives and in crafting new self-loving and empowering narratives about their experiences.
