Our Intentions
We are grateful to be in service to this emergent and generative space and to the many beings that are working to bring it's potential to fruition.
In our supporting role, we seek to educate users, offering a source of reliable information and safe, supportive tools. We advocate for mindful engagement with these substances, understanding that each individual's journey is unique.
Allies stands as a non-discriminatory beacon in the psychedelic movement, honoring the diverse reasons people turn to these agents. Our goal is not to direct the journey but to provide the support of other time tested plants to engender a safer, more informed, and more meaningful experience for everyone who chooses to embark on this transformative path.
Hearts & Hands
Ben Zappin, LAc
Lead Formulator & Co-Founder
Ben brings his formulation, extraction, and clinical expertise to Allies. Ben has worked as a Western and Chinese herbalist for over 25 years, practices acupuncture, and is co-founder of Five Flavors Herbs.
As a clinician Ben has focused on integrative mental health which has present unique opportunities to work at the intersection of psychedelic medicine, recreation, and harm reduction for the entirety of his career.
While operating a community herbal apothecary in Oakland for a decade Ben was present for a unique zeitgeist in public interest in psychedelic medicine that informs his sensibilities of how to nurture the intersection with herbal medicine.
Pluma
Sales & Partnerships
Pluma is leading up our Sales and Partnerships as a community builder and interpreter of dreams. Her offerings have been showcased at festival events, intimate workshops, ceremonial gatherings and international retreats. Her allyship of the plants and their molecular derivatives is informed by years of personal initiation and group exploration spanning a variety of core shamanic modalities, native technologies and yogic lineages.
Pluma is a 5th Generation Californian who immigrated to the island of Maui in 2017, following her love for ocean and wild Earth. Her work as a freelance producer of conscious-centered programming and cultural media, specializes in the curation of mystical experiences that support wholistic wellbeing and transformational practices, with a gift of bringing ideas into form for visionaries and thought leaders in Art, Film, Medicine, Music, Ritual & Yoga.
Recently, she devoted 4 years apprenticing under the mentorship of Divine Nourishment founder, Mary Lane; author and spirited herbalist.
Mathew Gerson
CEO & Co-Founder
Partner to Colleen and father to Willow with 25+ years of social impact entrepreneurship experience, Mathew brings a lifelong passion for building brands, products and teams that see and act on opportunities to make a difference.
Best known for his work in the sexual wellness and natural products sectors, his companies have had a primary focus on human flourishing and wellbeing in taboo areas of culture with significant opportunities for transformation.
Most recently he was Creator & Co-CEO at Foria, a Cannabis and Hemp focused wellness brand celebrated for its innovative plant based products that addressed underserved challenges in the bedroom and beyond.
In addition to his work with Allies, Mathew recently founded Greybeard Mentors to support emerging entrepreneurs in navigating the complexities of brand-building, leadership, and purpose-driven business.
Colleen Gerson
Formulator & Educator
Colleen is a Mother to Willow, National Board Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach, Community Herbalist, Co-Formulator and Educator for Allies. Previously she was also the Botanical Formulator and Educator at Foria. With almost 20 years studying and working in Functional Medicine, Nutrition, and Herbal Medicine, she brings an integrative and compassionate approach in guiding us back to ourselves and healing through the heart of nature.
She is passionate about women's health, conscious parenting, hosting nourishing mother circles and workshops, and weaving the wonders of natural plant allies to support her community.
Alex Carelli
Storytelling & Education
Alexandra is an artist, writer, speaker & teacher. She is a current doctoral student of Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University with a research concentration in dream studies, shamanism and eco-psychology.
Along her journey, she has studied with masters of the metaphysical healing arts in yoga, Ayurveda, tarot, astrology, divination, and sacred ritual practice woven with an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy. Alexandra's work and words act as a transpersonal bridge between the cosmos, nature and the human world to spark inspiration, introspection, and collective healing.
Yogi Prateado, PhD
Storytelling & Vision
A doctor of Environmental Philosophy, Yogi’s work at the intersection of nature and health has been nurtured both by academic and traditional plant medicine traditions. With commitments to ecodelics, biosemiotics, and indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Yogi brings fearless devotion to the beauty way for our fellow travelers of all species. As a ceremony musician and movement teacher, Yogi attunes to the interplay of compression and expansion at the heart of psychedelic experience.