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. Holly and her now ex-husband built a log cabin and it was here, with the help of a midwife, she 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 the little herbal company Sweet Cicely Herbs; and she 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.
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 where her husband was offered a job in timber framing. Here, Holly expanded her herbal company and renamed it 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 launched The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine, where she hosted retreats in Costa Rica and Canada and was invited to speak 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 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.
In her 30 years, Holly has learned that her purpose and mission is to support women as they find their strengths and create positive legacies in the world. She is the founder of The Selle Entrepreneur Network, a welcoming community where business women connect. Clients rely on Holly to teach meaningful and detail-oriented botanical therapeutic courses, to lead empowering and soul-connecting retreats, and to coach business owners and nonprofit organizations with purpose and impact.
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