Meet The Groves
SantaLena Groves
BSW, RYT-200, Herbalist. Founder, Creator, and Alchemist of Heart Grown Wild.
SantaLena began her journey with plants at an early age. It wasn't until she went off to school in Western North Carolina that she truly began her connection and presence to the outdoors- finding solace on a remote mountain top, sitting in front of a cascading waterfall, or wading over river rocks. As a social worker, this practice helped her to stay grounded and open. During her career in Social Work, she became passionate about helping others find alternative therapies and practices outside of a pharmaceutical pill, often incorporating movement and connection to the outdoors while serving others. Following her 200 hour yoga teacher training at Back Bay Yoga in Boston, MA- she attended an event in Somerville, MA called Herbstalk. Inspired by this community of nature lovers and healers- She reached out to members of the Herbal Academy. The director, graciously offered an opportunity to write for them- and it was at this time that she took their herbal course online. While writing blog posts for their website it was requested that she write up a holiday gift box. She crafted her very first batch of all natural, herbal, skincare products. The mindful, self-care practice of a hot bath, a face mask, or a scrub with plants felt so grounding and therapeutic. Creating beautiful skin rituals with the plants became habitual. This was the seed, and Heart Grown Wild grew from there. After completion of her Herbal Apprenticeship at The Gaia School of Healing in Vermont, diving deeper into the world of plant spirits she was inspired to create based off of her connection to the plants. Following her completion of this deeply moving course, SantaLena made a radical leap to devote the majority of her time to the plants and making Heart Grown Wild a full time reality.
Tom Groves
B.S. Wildlife Biology, B.A. English Writing, New England Wild Society Fellow 2013. Loving Husband and Co-Founder of Heart Grown Wild
During a plant taxonomy class in college, Tom realized he was intensely interested in anything to do with plants. Seeking more information and opportunities for knowledge, he volunteered with the New England Wild Flower Society and eventually was awarded a fellowship position in the conservation department. Since then Tom has worked as a habitat restoration specialist, restoring conserved and critical habitat for various wildlife and plant species. This type of work has allowed Tom the forum to continually be learning more about native and non-native plants and their connection to wildlife, humans, society and the world.
Vision
- To create plant beauty products that act as a portal, transporting each person to a landscape in nature, so that no matter where you are, you can connect with the beauty and magic that surrounds us.
- To help revolutionize how green beauty products are made, specializing in simple formulations, educating the masses, that less can still be more.
- To prioritize quality local sources/businesses that share our vision, mission and values. We believe that we don’t have to “do it all”, and want to support each local businesses' unique expertise.
- To curate exclusive partnerships that are meaningful and stay ‘small’ as to not over saturate an area, maintaining the quality and integrity of our products.
- To create a platform to contribute to organizations that are socially just and sustainable.