Jennileen is obsessed with Ayurveda and Herbalism because she understands that without physical health, it’s hard to achieve what matters most. Our true hopes and dreams, joys and passions will always benefit community as well as us personally. Part of the work of Ayurveda is to help clear the cobwebs of pain, disease, and inflammation so that we may see ourselves and our lives more clearly, gaining strength, courage and clarity to live fully.

Jennileen brings herself as a Rroma* woman into how she approaches all aspects of herbalism and Ayurveda, encouraging people to understand healing from a lens of relationship to land and community. The stories of plants and people are intertwined, as they have grown alongside one another since time immemorial.

Jennileen received her bachelor's degree from New York University in US History: Origins and Effects of Intergenerational Trauma.

Jennileen is a graduate of the Clinical Herbalism I and II programs, as well as the Ayurvedic Studies program, from the University of New Mexico. She apprenticed with Herbalist and Ayurvedic practitioner Sonia Masocco for several years, where she focused on herbal pharmacy, teaching, and working one-on-one with clients. She also studied with Ecological Herbalist Dara Saville.

Before becoming a practitioner, Jennileen was as a domestic worker for over 30 years. She is the founder and former director of the Massachusetts Alliance of Professional Nannies and co-founder of the Massachusetts Coalition for Domestic Workers.

Jennileen taught Herbal Medicine and Food as Medicine courses at the Albuquerque School of Healing Arts. She is currently a plant medicine instructor at the University of New Mexico, as well as Albuquerque Herbalism.

When she is not busy tinkering in her apothecary, Jennileen can be found going full tilt in the kitchen, making soups and healthy sweets for her family and friends.

*sometimes people know the Rroma peoples by the name ‘gypsy’