Zoe Helene

Zoe Helene (born July 18, 1964) is an artist, environmental activist,^[1][2] and sustainability correspondent advocating for women's empowerment,^[3][4][5][6] animal rights,^{[7][8][9][10]} wilderness preservation,^{[11][12][13][14]} style and sustainability,^[15][16] and ethnobotany, mainly in the psychedelic sacred plant and plant spirit categories.^{[17][18][19][20]} The daughter of a scientist, Helene considers herself to be a “spiritual agnostic” and speaks out publicly against mistaking plant medicines such as ayahuasca as religions, stating that “many religions are inherently sexist.”^[21]

Zoe Helene is a recognized interactive media pioneer,^[2][22][23] known for creative integrative communications work fusing the arts, technology, and artificial intelligence,^{[24][25][26][27]} and for developing early social media ‘online communities’.^[28]

Work Medicine Hunter

Zoe Helene works and travels with her husband, Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham, a high-profile ethnobotanist, TV personality and author. The couple work and travel together,^[8][29][30] working with sustainable medicinal plant trade. Helene travels with Kilham on expeditions and conducts field research on the state of wilderness and wildlife, the arts of indigenous peoples, women and children’s rights, and sacred plants.^[17][31][32] As partner and 'co-pilot' in Medicine Hunter, Inc., Helene has traveled with Kilham on expeditions to the Peruvian Amazon, Peruvian Andes, Panama, Chile, South Africa, Vanuatu and Aotearoa (New Zealand), where she spent the years 9 to 19.^[33]

Helene often travels with media on Medicine Hunter expeditions and appeared with Chris Kilham on NBC Nightly News,^[34] and in twice in The New York Times.^[35] Kilham's most recent book, The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook - The Essential Guide to Ayahuasca Journeying,^[36] is dedicated to Helene.

Work with Psychedelic Feminism and Psychedelic Sacred Plants

Helene is an outspoken public advocate for the legalization of marijuana,^{[37][38][39][40]} and was featured in a Forbes article stating that she uses cannabis occasionally “as a tool for evolving and expanding my psyche.”^[38] She has spoken about cannabis as a psychedelic and ‘sacred’ plant for “breaking through self-destructive narratives, letting go of behavioral programming that no longer serves us.”^[41] She cites cannabis as her first psychedelic experience.^[21]

Helene is also a public advocate for Ayahuasca,^{[2][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]} a psychedelic Amazonian sacred plant medicine for mind/body/spirit healing and consciousness expanding.^[49] She has developed the Cosmic Sister Plant Spirit Grant,^[49][2][43] a merit-based financial scholarship for women to experience transformational, authentic, traditional ayahuasca ayahuasca sacred plant spirit ceremonies in safe, legal set and settings.^[50] She speaks about Psychedelic Feminism and the role of women in the Psychedelic Renaissance and the need for gender equity in the scene.^[1][51]

Two Psychedelic Feminism companion projects, Cosmic Sisters of Cannabis and the Cosmic Sister Women of the Psychedelic Renaissance^{[49] [52][53]} educational initiatives, supports Cosmic Sister Plant Spirit Grant recipients^[54][55]—and other women psychedelic thought leaders^[46]—as they educate the public about the benefits and risks of psychedelics and responsible use of sacred plants,^[47][48] including ayahuasca, cannabis and psilocybin, through articles, presentations and public outreach projects. The Cosmic Sisters of Cannabis and the Cosmic Sister Women of the Psychedelic Renaissance educational projects are supported by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies through a fiscal sponsorship.^[56]

Work with Animal Rights

Helene is a media advocate for the animal rights movement^[37] and has pitched, placed and published dozens of articles,^[57] interviews^[58] and curated lifestyle collections^[15][59] in support of America's Wild horses^[60][61] New Zealand's critically endangered endemic dolphin, the Maui's dolphin,^[7][8][14] and about the rights of America's native wild wolves, including the Gray wolf and the Mexican gray wolf "lobo",^[62] to live freely in their native habitat.^[9][10]

Through wildlife rights articles and expert interviews, Helene promotes awareness about wilderness as wildlife habitat,^[60] including the world’s rainforests^[13][57] and oceans.^{[11][12][62][63]} She writes about how an ever-expanding number of wildlife species struggle to survive due to increased destructive human activity and expansion into habitats they call home.

Women and Girls’ Rights

Through Cosmic Sister, Helene advocates for women and girls’ rights through her correspondent work pitching, placing and writing features and interviews in support of women and girl's empowerment.^[1][2] Her interviews of women thought leaders have included environmental activists,^[7][64] animal rights activists,^[65][66][67] style and sustainability^[58][68] experts, ethical artists and designers,^[6][69] master yogis^[14] and ecopreneurs^[70][71] and are developed in support of their work and voices.

Through her company, Cosmic Sister, Helene has been providing merit-based women’s empowerment grants for members to travel to the Peruvian Amazon to experience ayahuasca^[2][43][72] in a safe set and setting.^[73] Cosmic Sister also promotes cultural preservation by supporting indigenous women who work with sacred plants and by encouraging others to do the same.^[74]

Education

Zoe Helene holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Theatrical Design from the University of North Carolina, and a Master of Fine Arts in Theatrical Design from Brandeis University.

References

External links

• Zoe Helene website