Promotoras
Meet Lu Lu!
María “LuLu” de Lourdes Péres Centurión (photo by Talia Herman)
María “LuLu” de Lourdes Péres Centurión was born in Uruapan del Progreso Michoacan, Mexico. She is proud of her Purhepechas and Veracruzanas roots with Oaxacan embers. Maria is a promotora de salud (community health worker), birth doula and massage therapist. She has studied and practiced herbal medicine for over 20-years. Her practice includes specialization in indigestion; nervous tension; infant cranial therapy; womb and postpartum care.
Meet Samantha!
Samantha Perez
Samantha Pérez is mom, daughter to LuLu and community health educator. Samantha is from Mexico and is passionate about connecting with nature. Her focus is self-sustenance based on reducing our environmental impact and learning from the cycles and rhythms of Mother Earth. She specializes in DIY body products: watch for her workshops on making your own shampoo, deodorant, laundry detergent, makeup and more.
Meet Angeles!
Angeles Quiñones
Angeles Quiñones is a certified social worker and Promotora de Salud, dedicated to building community health that is connected to the land. She moved to Santa Rosa in 2004 from Torreón Coahuila, Mexico, where from an early age she learned to heal herself, her friends and family with the plants growing around her. In 2014 with Land Path’s Bayer Farm, she organized Farming for Health, a bilingual community group that gathers weekly to learn and share recipes and remedies for health from the garden. She is a certified YWCA domestic violence counselor and worked with the Salvation Army for three years connecting immigrant families to health services. The first time she visited Land Paths Bayer Farm in Roseland, Santa Rosa, she cried at the taste of a tomato off the vine. “It tasted like home.” Angeles is passionate about connecting people across generations, to the nourishment of the community garden found in nutrition, herbal medicine and friendship.
Meet Juliana!
Juliana Jimenez (Photo by Talia Herman)
Juliana Jimenez joins The Botanical Bus as a Promotora de Salud, with deep intergenerational knowledge and a desire to empower her community. Her personal testimony of the disproportionate impact of Type II diabetes in her home town and Indigenous community, is powerful and her leadership of our diabetes support group invaluable. Juliana's special interest in medicinal plants was born with her grandfather in a rural town of Oaxaca, MX, where she spent the first 21 years of her life. Her grandfather was well known for his medicinal herb practice and people sought him out to heal. From an early age she was immersed in learning about plants, teas and home remedies that her mother used on the recommendation of her grandfather to care for her family.
Meet Norma!
Norma Ricos Saavedra
Norma Ricos Saavedra is a Promotora de Salud who is deeply dedicated to promoting the benefits of herbal medicine in her community. Norma immigrated to Sonoma County 21 years ago from Mexico City, Mexico. Her passion for herbal medicine stems from the knowledge that her great grandmother and mother shared with her as a young girl. Norma depicts a time when she lived in “un cacho de terreno baldío” or a piece of wasteland with her great grandmother. Oftentimes her great grandmother, Mama Le, would ask her to bring her “un cacho de una planta” which she would use for aches and pains like headaches, knee pains, upset stomachs amongst other things. To this day Norma is proud to carry with her the knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation in her family. She is also very happy to share the love of medicinal plants with her husband who carries his own knowledge and appreciation for herbal medicine. Norma hopes to continue sharing her knowledge and experiences with her community to help others find alternative ways to reach their highest level of health through the use of medicinal plants. Norma strongly believes that although medicinal plants grow gradually and it’s benefits take time to take effect, one cannot deny the extraordinary power of medicinal plants.
Nayabei Barretto!
Promotora, The Botanical Bus: Bilingual Mobile Herb Clinic
Nayabei Barretto, who goes by Naya, is a nurse practitioner and advocate of lifestyle changes to promote long healthy living. Naya was born in Oaxaca City in Mexico where she lived for 15 years. She cherishes her experience growing up in this ancient city with its vibrant traditions in food, herbal medicine and art. Before becoming a nurse practitioner, Naya worked as a registered nurse in our local Sonoma County public health department providing education and support to first time moms and their families. She now practices providing diabetes and weight loss management as well as aesthetic treatments. She is passionate about the benefits of plant based nutrition and medicinal mushrooms.
Maria Rivera!
Promotora, The Botanical Bus: Bilingual Mobile Herb Clinic
Maria Rivera is a Parent Educator at CPI, Mind-Body Medicine Facilitator, Certified in Imagine You Activity and Reiki Practitioner. Maria’s commitment to this work is rooted in a desire to contribute, to build resilience in her community and to the well-being of all. María facilitates mind body skills groups and workshops, in these groups you learn and practice a variety of specific skills that help change the way you deal with stress, illness and life. Maria draws inspiration from her family and from being in contact and feeling connected to Mother Nature.
