AHG Staff and Volunteers
Staff
Christina Lynch: Trydent Consulting
Interim Executive Director
Christina Lynch is a community herbalist in Tallahassee, Florida and a first generation American of Barbadian descent. Christina is a graduate of the Florida School of Holistic Living (FSHL), studying under Emily Ruff and Maggie O’Halloran. She is a teacher at FSHL, focusing on the planning and operating of holistic businesses. In addition, she is the founding co-coordinator of Herbalists Without Borders – North Florida Chapter and the herbal & tea educator for Young Engineers Tallahassee. She serves her community primarily through education opportunities at local nurseries, children’s camps, farmers markets and at her herbal studio. Christina is the founder The Ginger Tea Company, a business focused on creating herbal products and services, and Trydent Consulting, a small firm focused on bridging business support and holistic practices to her clients and the community. Her background in herbalism and business has led to great impact to businesses, entrepreneurs and peers.
Devon Kelley-Mott
Operations Manager
Devon Kelley-Mott sprouted in the lush hills of Western Massachusetts and transplanted to the mountains of Western North Carolina in 2011 to study the vast biodiversity the Southern Appalachian region has to offer, while completing a B.S. of her own creation in Herbal Sciences at Warren Wilson College. Being a community herbalist for over 13 years, Devon has worked with multiple herb schools, on several herb farms, and has organized and hosted a plethora of herbal events. She operates an herbal product line, Apothefaerie: Adriatic & Appalachian Herbals, and is a graduate of various herb schools and certification programs throughout the country. Her work is further informed by her Croatian heritage and time spent doing ethnobotanical research along the Adriatic coast when visiting family. Devon enjoys medicine making, traveling to distant lands, reading mythology and folklore, botanizing, and loving on her sweet feline companion, Fizgig le Fae.
Nicolina Ruiz
Events Manager and Social Coordinator
Nicolina Ruiz is a community herbalist and healer of Panamanian descent. She is a graduate of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine in Asheville, NC. Nicolina is dedicated to promoting healing through practices rooted in Curanderismo and traditional folk medicine of Mexico and Latin America. She founded Casa Alchemista Botanica, where she creates handmade herbal medicines and works with her clients to support their energetic and spiritual well-being. She is also an experienced event planner and leads holistic events and wellness retreats across the U.S. alongside her South Florida based family of healers and musicians.
Nicolina brings her background in web and graphic design, which she uses to creatively contribute to the AHG and support fellow herbalists in the community.
Patricia Kyritsi Howell
Admissions Coordinator and Academic Coordinator for AHG Symposium
Patricia Kyritsi Howell, a Registered Herbalist since 1997, is the AHG Admissions Coordinator. In this role, she acts as the liaison between Registered Herbalist applicants, the Admissions Review Advisory Committee members, and AHG staff to facilitate communication and provide support to members pursuing RH membership. As the AHG Academic Coordinator, she oversees academic programming and the selection of speakers for the annual AHG Symposium. Patricia is the author of Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians and the director of the BotanoLogos School of Herbal Studies, located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of northeast Georgia.
Michele Marlow
Webinar Coordinator and Technical Specialist
Michele is a clinical herbalist based in Oklahoma on what was once the Kiowa Nation but is now the Kickapoo (Kiikaapoi) Territory. She has two bachelor’s degrees in Public Health and Alternative Health and finished her Clinical Herbalism Program at Kat Maier's Sacred Plant Traditions. She has been an herbalist for 22 years and a practicing clinical herbalist for 10 years. In addition to being the AHG’s webinar coordinator and doer of all things tech, Michele works for various other herbal schools, assisting and managing technical aspects related to websites, creating classroom content, and building and managing online classrooms. Michele also teaches herbalism classes and volunteers for various special needs support groups and charities in her community. Her favorite hobbies include collecting herb books for her bookshelves, collecting bookshelves for her herb books, collecting mason jars for her herbs, and collecting plants for her garden.
Hannah Spring
Office Assistant
Hannah Spring is AHG's administrative assistant with a passion for connecting with members and the general public. Hannah is a an Asheville native and mountain girl at heart. She studied psychology and business operations at UNC-A, graduating in 2018 and pursuing a career in the field of mental health administration before discovering the world of herbalism. Outside of work, Hannah enjoys spending time with her two cats, nature walks, and picnics with her grandfather.
Jay Bartel
JAHG Editor
Jay Bartel (they/them) is a white queer clinical herbalist and community health educator in Minneapolis, Minnesota (occupied Dakota and Anishinaabe land). Jay is a graduate of the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism (2019) and a contributor to the forthcoming Trans Herb Book. As a herbal practitioner, Jay strives to create a healing space that is welcoming, affirming, and grounded in principles of harm reduction and trauma awareness. Jay is inspired by autonomous community health projects that seek to build resilient communities in the face of societal repression, such as the community acupuncture programs initiated by the Black Panthers and Young Lords at Lincoln Detox Center; the Jane Collective, ACT UP, and much more.
Volunteers
Ruth Glass
AHG Chapter Coordinator
Ruthie Glass MA, is your AHG Chapter Coordinator! She is a Clinical Herbalist and Educator at Traditions Herb School in St Petersburg, FL. When she's not seeing herbal clients or teaching herbal program students, you can find her walking the trails with groups of children, families, and friends, making herbal formulations and recipes, or creating nature art for her business Forest and Hearth. Ruthie is also active with her local AHG chapter, the AHG West Coast of FL Regional Chapter. She is a devoted mother and wife and cares deeply for her many critters who live in her urban farm, Magic Grove.
Sabrena Gwin
AHG Chapter Coordinator
Sabrena is a traveling herbalist ever working towards understanding and helping connect people with plants. She has been a community herbalist for 10 years and is getting her clinical certification from Traditions Herb School in St Petersburg Florida. With her experience in business mentoring and developing training programs she has a passion for bringing people together and helping make learning more comprehensive and accessible. Her time is filled with learning all the things, medicine making, gardening, teaching and foraging!