JKBKitchen

Ethnobotanist • Herbal Mentor • Mother

Founder of JKB Kitchen

For over two decades, I’ve devoted my life to the study, practice, and teaching of herbal medicine — blending modern science with ancestral wisdom to help families reconnect with the healing traditions that once lived in every kitchen.

I hold a background in Ethnobotany from the University of Hawai‘i, where my studies centered on the cultural relationships between people and plants, traditional healing systems from around the world, and the living medicine that grows all around us. Over the past twenty years, I’ve worked alongside traditional medicine practitioners, herbalists, and plant stewards from diverse lineages, gathering the knowledge and practical experience that now form the heart of my teaching.

Today, I’m the founder and teacher behind JKB Kitchen and the Kitchen Medicine Mentorship, where I guide thousands of women and mothers through the art of kitchen herbalism — transforming everyday ingredients into effective remedies. My work bridges folk tradition and modern understanding, helping women feel confident, capable, and deeply connected to their own healing wisdom.

My approach is hands-on, heart-led, and entirely accessible. I believe herbalism belongs in our daily lives — stirred into soups, sipped in teas, and steeped in honey. Through courses, eBooks, and mentorship programs, I teach families how to make medicine simply, safely, and joyfully from their own kitchens.

More than anything, my work is about education as empowerment. When women learn how to care for themselves and their families with herbs, they find freedom — freedom from fear, from dependence, and from the idea that healing has to come from somewhere outside of us.

I live on Kaua‘i, where my husband and I raise our children close to the land, garden year-round, and watch the ocean remind us daily of nature’s rhythm and resilience. Every recipe, lesson, and teaching I share is inspired by this life — rooted in the seasons, the garden, and the everyday magic of plants.