Herbalist Holly Bellebuono is known for taking complex subjects in chemistry and anatomy and making them easy to understand—and especially for relating how our beloved edible and medicinal plants can be used to benefit a wide range of ailments and issues. Holly is a proponent of tonic herbs and nourishing support, meaning she advocates supporting health using gentle herbs and foods. And when gentle herbs aren’t enough, Holly teaches the skills needed to apply more active plant medicine in powerful and supportive ways to achieve results for both acute and chronic conditions.
A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Holly grew up in the Appalachian mountains as the daughter of a pharmacist and a nurse. She moved to Boone to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Administration/Environmental Policy, where she married and homesteaded a six-acre mini-farm in an extremely remote wilderness valley on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. While in North Carolina, Holly was mentored by Appalachian “elders” who taught her about edible and medicinal plants from valley meadows to the deep forests. It was here, with the help of a midwife in their log cabin, Holly home-birthed two babies and raised them as close to the land as possible. Holly and her young family raised chickens and goats; grew vegetable and herb gardens; canned and preserved everything from yogurt to jams to tomato sauces; launched her first herbal products company; and taught at North Carolina Herb Association conferences. She studied in a certificate program through Welsh herbalist David Hoffmann diving deep into anatomy, physiology and chemistry.
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After 8 years, Holly and her family left their homestead and trekked from the backwoods of Tennessee to the ultra-wealthy resort community of Martha’s Vineyard. Here, Holly launched her second natural products company Vineyard Herbs Teas & Apothecary LLC, and within a few years was selling tens of thousands of organic, hand-crafted and wildcrafted herbal products retail and wholesale. She soon opened The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine, where she hosted retreats on Martha's Vineyard and in Costa Rica and Canada and spoke to audiences at conferences and universities around the world.
Holly has been a speaker at the Michigan Herb Association, The New England Women's Herbal Conference, The Southeast Wise Woman Healing Conference, Botanica 2018 at the University of Sussex--England, Walden Forum, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, The Association for the Study of Women and Myth, the Open Center of New York, and many more. She has shared her herbal knowledge through publishing 7 nonfiction books on herbal healing and women’s empowerment.
In addition to teaching about herbal medicine for more than 30 years, Holly is a business coach and consultant especially for natural and organic product companies. She teaches everyone from startups to CEOs and covers business essentials to leadership. She has been a nonprofit executive director and is an entrepreneur and business coach who has directed award-winning businesses including an apothecary, an herbal medicine school, and environmental and educational nonprofit organizations where she has served as Executive Director and Program Director.
Her published books include Women Healers of the World, The Essential Herbal for Natural Health, An Herbalist’s Guide to Formulary, Llewellyn’s Little Book of Herbs, and The Healing Kitchen. Holly has lectured about healing and women’s empowerment in Canada, Costa Rica, England, and across the United States.
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