Herbal Reality is brought to life by the contributions of our authors, the support of The Earthsong Foundation, the guidance of the Herbal Expert & Research Body (HERB) team, and the vision, care and collaboration of our Herbal Reality team:

Sebastian Pole — Founder of Herbal Reality

I am a registered member of the Ayurvedic Professionals Association, Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine and a Fellow of the Unified Register of Herbal Practitioners. I qualified as a herbalist with the aim of using the principles of Ayurveda (the ancient art of living wisely) and the Herbal tradition to help transform health. I have been in clinical practice since 1998.

Having co-founded Pukka Herbs in 2001 I have become experienced in organic herb growing, practitioner grade quality and sustainable value chains. I am a Trustee of the FairWild Foundation, a Director of The Betonica School of Herbal Medicine and an Advisor to The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and The Sustainable Herbs Project.

Fluent in Hindi, a qualified Yoga therapist and passionate about projects with a higher purpose, I am on a mission to bring the incredible power of plants into people’s life. And that is why I started Herbal Reality and what it is all about.

I live in a forest garden farm in Somerset growing over 100 species of medicinal plants and trees. And a lot of weeds!

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Eve Brazil — Editor

I am an editor, writer, and medical herbalist in training at Betonica School of Herbal Medicine, currently living afloat along the London canals.

My pursuit of a healing practice formally began with a BSc in Biomedicine at King’s College London followed by an MSc in Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience in Bristol, where I first discovered the medicinal virtues of herbs with Herbalists Without Borders.

After working in academic publishing for Nature Communications journal, I encountered Aeon Books, and have edited their publications for several years now, on titles such as Plant Medicine, The Humoral Herbal, Physic, The Herbalist’s Guide to Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, The Tree Dispensary and many more. Since 2023, I have been writing for Organic Herb Trading, which has fostered a determination to raise our collective awareness of sustainability issues in the herbal industry and to respond to them responsibly as a community. With the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, I am also an editorial board member for the Power of Plants magazine. Earlier this year, I was delighted to join Herbal Reality as sub-editor, and now, as editor, I manage all of our publications.

Enchanted by how herbal medicine can connect, empower and heal, I aspire to imbue all of my pursuits with plant wisdom — to nurture our connection to plants, land, and community, and to inspire action that protects the health of people and the planet.

Feel free to connect on LinkedIn.

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Becs Collison–Walker — Assistant editor

I am a fourth year medical herbalist student at Betonica School of Herbal Medicine. Dedicated to the path of natural health and healing, I have worked in complementary health for over 10 years, spanning a variety of roles including practice and operational management, content creation and product development.

I am also the founder of Rebecca Botanicals, an independent business manufacturing and selling natural and organic beauty products. Initially fostered by a degree in anthropology, my interest sharpened to focus on the ways in which plants have been used medicinally by different cultures globally.

My passion currently lies in striving to empower people and communities to nurture health and wellbeing through herbal knowledge.

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Saskia Hawkins — Marketing lead

With over 10 years of experience in marketing, I’ve had the opportunity to work across various industries, from design and innovation to my true passion: natural health. Today, I support businesses in the health and wellness sector with strategy, digital marketing, and event management, helping them grow their online presence and connect with their audiences more effectively.

I’m also a trained acupuncturist and run my own practice in South East London, with a particular focus on supporting male and female fertility, women’s health and mental health.

As part of my work with Herbal Reality, I manage our social media channels and oversee project management. You can find out more about me on my website www.saskiahawkins.com, and feel free to connect on LinkedIn or Instagram.

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Jessika Thiele — Website coordinator

I am a creative at heart and have been with Herbal Reality from the first day, helping the website grow.

With a background in writing, I support a variety of charities and businesses with website management, copywriting, SEO, email marketing, social media campaigns, marketing strategy and project management.

I am based in Worcestershire and Herefordshire but with various B2C and B2B experience, I work for clients all around the UK. My professional certifications include a Certificate of Continuing Professional Development – Coding for Digital Professionals as well as Javascript and jQuery for Beginners. I am also PRINCE2 Project Management certified.

You can find out more about me on my website www.herbarycreative.com, and feel free to connect on LinkedIn.

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Rebecca Lazarou — Advisor and Herbal Reality author

Rebecca Lazarou is our science advisor here at Herbal Reality. She is currently completing her PhD at Kew Gardens and UCL School of Pharmacy in the medicinal plants and fungi of Cyprus. She is the founder of Laz The Plant Scientist where she sells sustainably sourced herbal medicines she has formulated, and is also a board member for the McKenna Academy.

She completed her degree in  Biomedical Science-Human Biology, always with the intention to study herbal medicines after. She then went on to study a master’s at UCL School of Pharmacy, in Medicinal Natural Products and Phytochemistry. Since then she has been a scientific researcher, editor for the academic Journal of Herbal Medicine, and pharmacology teacher at Betonica School of Herbal Medicine as well as other projects. Her career is an ecology of different disciplines spanning across medical science, ethnopharmacology, herbalism, holistic healthcare, cannabis and psychedelics.

You can read more about her work at www.rebeccalazarou.com and follow her educational content on social media @laztheplantscientist.

Read Rebecca’s articles on her author page.

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Simon Mills — Advisor and Herbal Reality author

I am a Cambridge medical sciences graduate and have been a herbal practitioner in Exeter since 1977. In that time I have led the main professional and trade organizations for herbal medicine in the UK and served on Government and House of Lords committees. I have written standard textbooks used by herbal practitioners around the world, including with Professor Kerry Bone from Australia.

I was involved in academic work for many years, co-founding the University of Exeter pioneering Centre for Complementary Health Studies in 1987 (where we built a complementary research and postgraduate teaching programme from scratch), then at Peninsula the first integrated health course at a UK medical school, and the first Masters degree in herbal medicine in the USA, at the Maryland University of Integrative Health.

Read Simon’s articles on his author page.