About Us

The Power of Roots began as an alternative approach to natural and holistic health and wellness. We symbolize a plant’s grounding abilities, strength, and resilience to adapt and grow in its surroundings. The Power of Roots symbolizes what it means to feel grounded within yourself. What it is like to seek strength from within the mind, body, and soul. The Power of Roots symbolizes the connection and the strength in one’s family. To achieve complete wholeness in the memory of your ancestors and the knowledge and traditions passed on. The Power of Roots symbolizes who you are, where you come from, where you’re at in your walk of life, and where you plan to go on your journey ahead.

One day as I was working with my grandfather outside in his orchard he pointed and said, “I want to show you something…look at the power of roots.” I eagerly stepped in his direction and found the trumpet vine tree root had moved a 300lb concrete step back from the greenhouse entrance. My grandfather and grandmother have created, helped, nurtured, and adapted wondrously to their surroundings. They have created a life worth living. Peace and harmony are second nature to all those who live on the land. This peace and harmony has not been granted. Yet it has been their life’s work…

It all began when our family’s ancestors arrived here off the boat on Ellis Island to escape Europe’s turmoil from the motherland of Hungary. My great-great-grandmother and her family traveled to America willing to take a chance on freedom. At last, freedom was granted to the working-class family that settled in a town called Birmingham located in Toledo, Ohio, on the east side of the Maumee River. My ancestors learned how to adapt and survive in the dynamic, robust, and ever-booming industrious city. My great-great-grandmother was a knowledgeable homemaker and gardener but with a language barrier. She could only talk to and with other Hungarians. My great-great-grandmother was described as “hardy” and “mean.” My great-great-grandmother had to be.

My great-great-grandmother had to yield a strength from within her when her husband had decided to leave her and their only child behind. He had traded a bus ticket and a Detroit Tigers game for a family he would never have the privilege of knowing again. This sting would never fade. Instead, it would be passed on to the following generations of women in my family. Each generation willing to walk through the burning fire. It transcended to my great-grandmother, Grace. Grace too had to maintain a working-class family. She like her mother, was a skilled homemaker and gardener. Grace bore a daughter named Carolyn.

Carolyn and Grace were the servers of church dinners. They provided home-cooked meals and uplifted spirits in their community. Communal outreach became second nature. Carolyn went on to pursue motherhood alike as she bore four daughters. Carolyn passed on the traditions, knowledge, and the fire within her. She proposed their family move out from the city and into the countryside to escape the refinery that plagued the air just outside their door. She worked in the home until her children reached the age where they could go to school. She was constantly occupied by the ever-changing needs of children, money for food on the table, and the challenge of instilling goodness and kindness in them.

She would continue on her journey of activism in this community. She sat on the school board while supporting her husband and his business venture in the insurance agency. She and my grandfather built the agency together. Doing what they could for their children while supporting other working-class families in the community. Values such as hard work, diligence, and respect for others became second nature. From there, my mother ascended and became everything that she could be. She graduated from Miami of Ohio University becoming the first generation of our hardworking family to be college-educated. She went on to find great success in her life and career. She had learned to adapt to her surroundings and yield the fire that burned within her.

Not only did she find herself as one of the few women brave enough to climb the corporate ladder. She found herself at the very top. She and my father went on to have a daughter. Her daughter is me. I have found myself. I have rooted myself to the city in which we live. I have planted and uprooted myself. I too have faced the fire and have walked through it. I too have had to yield the strength within me to make it out the other side. I graduated with a science degree in Forensic & Investigative Science from West Virginia University becoming the second generation to be college-educated. Always striving to be the best I could become, I took an Herbalism course that was not in my mandatory curriculum. At last, I had found something that resonated with my mind, body, and soul.In this new pursuit, I tended to my roots, both physically and spiritually. I paid homage to my living ancestors, learning what I could. I tended to the roots, planting a garden.

I found a calmness and grounding ability. I spent time with the great Mother spirit, Matricaria chamomilla commonly known as Chamomile. She nurtured my heartache, put my mind at ease, and uplifted my spirit. I, like my great-great grandmother was left behind by a man who did not choose the privilege of knowing this family, where we come from, and who we are. He did not understand the depth, the strength, nor the power of our roots. In the face of pain and agony, I turned to my beloved herbs. The knowledge and traditions passed on have allowed me to let this sting fade and to let the light shine from within. I have found a new way of living. This peace and harmony has not been granted. For it is my life’s work and I’ve only just begun… -Alexandria Herbal Entrepreneur & Scientist