Today we’d like to introduce you to Kora Goodman.
Hi Kora, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In 2015, I studied Herbalism in Philadelphia under Maia Toll, an incredible teacher, storyteller and medicine woman. Her approach was not only around the chemical constituents and medicinal properties of plants but their mysticism and folklore too. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania where my mother taught me about the land, how to garden, how to feel the spirit of different plants, and to cohabitate with them as stewards of the land. I wanted to utilize this oral tradition and use my newfound knowledge to share with the community through workshops and creativity.
I moved to Portland, Oregon in 2017 and launched Kore Herbals. I taught workshops to the community about herbal skincare, and rituals for self care, and released a full product line for ceremonious bathing. By 2018, I was honored to be invited to teach on the local Television Series: The Portland Today Show, as well as work with hundreds of students attending the workshops, eager to learn how to handcraft their own body care products. I found that when people came together and began crafting with their hands, their hearts would open, and stories would begin to be shared. I loved how this lead to deeper connections with each other as well as reverence for the natural world. People began to see the connection to peace and joy through creativity and nature connectedness.
For some of my students, there was a longing to go deeper into mysticism and folklore, so I began offering Intuitive Sessions and Workshops. The focus of these more inward teachings was around communing with nature, whether it be witnessing the pollinators in your garden, or tuning into the deeper needs of your companion animal. With a background in equestrian therapies from my hometown, I continued offering Intuitive Readings for cats, dogs, and horses as an Animal Intuitive.
Expanding these offerings to the community by teaching herbalism, animal communication 101, and nature connectedness workshops, I’ve witnessed countless clients benefit from the wisdom nature has to offer.
Now as a resident of Salt Lake City, I’m delighted to be of service to the community, who clearly loves the outdoors so very much. I believe Kore Herbals has a little something to offer everyone; whether you want to learn how to handcraft herbal products for self care rituals, deepen your relationship with your companion animal, or delve into the intuitive world for holistic wellness, I’m excited to be of service to Salt Lake City.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Some challenges and obstacles have been the competition of the beauty industry, claiming to be “clean beauty”, but are not. I have high standards for my ingredients, where they are sourced and how they are sustainably produced. I believe that preservatives and chemicals used in the big box beauty stores do not belong in our skincare or food. I think the conditioning around plant-based products having an abnormally long shelf life (through chemicals) has made it hard to educate customers about true green beauty. Clean, green beauty products are meant to be used within a few months because they are alive. The aliveness of the ingredients is what feeds your skin and makes it glow. This can be a hard sell for retailers who want a stable shelf life for the products they carry. This is one of the reasons I’ve had to get creative and offer “made to order” skincare. I wanted to begin focusing on herbal products that are handcrafted for your needs now as a self care tool for what is happening in your life currently. The Beauty Bar Workshops that I teach is perfect for this, because students can customize, learn, and handcraft what they need in the moment, and then go home and use it. I encourage students to always use their intuition when crafting, and I purposefully don’t label the herbs at the workshops. This way, students can feel what they want using their senses of smell, touch, and sight. It’s the first step to an intuitive practice into nature connectedness and re-wilding ourselves with nature as a guide.
Another obstacle has been moving into a virtual platform after Covid-19 hit. There was a learning curve in working with people through a screen, versus in person. After troubleshooting and learning new platforms, I do believe it has been a benefit in the long run for my business. I am able to reach people from all over the world virtually to do intuitive sessions, workshops, and educate a larger community about nature connectedness and intuitive practices for wellbeing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Kore Herbals?
Kore Herbals is a wellness hub offering intuitive services, workshops, and intentional products for living ceremoniously with nature. A return to nature-connectedness is being asked of us. What we love and truly understand, we cannot destroy. Through intuitive services for pets + people, workshops, and herbal products, our mission is to encourage realignment within ourselves to meet the natural world in balance.
Kore Herbals services and products have been featured in publications and productions such as The Seattle Times Magazine, The Portland Today Show, Natural Horse Magazine, and The Shaman’s Notebook Podcast, with clients testifying to restorative benefits for themselves and the animals they share their life with.
What sets Kore Herbals apart from other herbal businesses is the intuitive approach for wellbeing. Each service and product is created with healing and wellness in mind. Not just for the participant but the land they live upon, the animals that share their home, and the community they interact with.
Kore Herbals offers a network of intentional information with hopes to have a ripple effect of humanity recognizing the true spirit of nature. Nature operates cyclically and in a divine balance. We too are meant to live this way, but many of us have forgotten or been conditioned against it. Living into this natural state of balance with nature as our guidance system starts with self awareness and acknowledgment of the living things around you.
Kore Herbals is known for creating products, teaching workshops, and offering services for ceremonious self care. These offerings are nature-centric and intended for ongoing healing and wellness.
Some of Kore Herbals’ clients are loyal to the herbal products, while others come to receive insight and intuitive guidance for themselves and their pets. Our Intuitive Pet Reading Service is the most popular. People love to know what their animals are feeling and thinking, as well as learning how to tune into them over time with practice and intention.
Our most popular workshop is the D.I.Y. Beauty Bar. During these workshops, Kore Herbals come to you offering a pop-up beauty setup for you to handcraft your own skincare products for wellness. Bachelorette parties, Corporate events, Celebratory Events, and Retail Shops all love the Beauty Bar Pop-up! It is a unique, customizable and super fun way to engage your customers, guests, or friends. We have worked with companies such as Nike, Revanesse, Travel Portland Magazine, and many more.
What I’m most proud of with Kore Herbals is the versatility of this brand. As a woman-owned and self-run business, I wear many hats. I myself love spontaneity and variety in my life. I see how Kore Herbals models that by giving the community access to many avenues of fun through nature connectedness.
Kore Herbals started in 2017 with a $100.00 visa gift card from an old friend, and with that investment, the first ingredients for our product line and flyers for our first workshop were printed. Looking back five years later, there is so much it has accomplished for the community, and the nature we live amongst.
I always tell my students and clients, if you walk away from our time together today with one new piece of knowledge or inspired information, my job has been done. I believe storytelling encourages deep connection where we can all feel at home and find ourselves seen and heard in one another.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Maia Toll, Herbalist, Writer, and Teacher. I met Maia at a Women’s Herbal Weekend Retreat in Pennsylvania. She was of Jewish descent, grew up in the Northeast, and had lived in Ireland– all things we shared in common. She taught a storytelling style, sharing her experiences and knowledge of herbalism. By the end of the weekend, I had signed up for her Herbalism Program: Sage School. She taught me how to connect into the sensory experience of working with plants, as well as allow them to commune with me through dream time and meditation. She encouraged us to sleep with herbs under our pillow and allow the moonlight to awaken our deeper knowledge to the connectivity we all have with nature. She helped me embrace the word “witch”, simply stating that a witch is just a woman who knows her place among the seasons. Something I always honored, revered and felt connected to. I’m forever grateful and in awe of this knowledge, and have gone forth in continuing to teach what I learned to my own students now.
Rose Scherschel, Mentor, Intuitive, Teacher. I met Rose while I was living in Kauai, HI. I was writing music, living off the land and eating what I found growing among the fruit trees. Rose met me at an event, where she told me that she held Women’s Intuitive Groups at her home in the hills of Kauai. I came to the first one and ended up attending weekly for another three years. Eventually, we began working 1:1 together, learning how to cleanse my auric field, tune into my higher self and release energy in my body from past traumas. We have been working with one another for a decade, and now are good friends. Living in Santa Fe, NM now, she hosts Women’s retreats and continues offering 1:1 sessions for women committed to spiritual growth.
Jennifer Riley, Money Consciousness Coach, and Oracle. Jennifer is an Intuitive who works with the Akashic Records, Oracles and Guides around Money Consciousness for Women. I have been attending her group workshops for almost two years and have learned how to heal my relationship with money as a woman in business. She teaches that money is meant to be our ally, and when we create a harmonious relationship with money filled with trust versus fear, it becomes our willing servant, and we can do great good in the world with money on our side.
I’m incredibly grateful for these women as mentors, healers, and guides for me as I’ve done the inner work to be a resource now for others.
Pricing:
- Intuitive Pet Reading $165.00
- D.I.Y. Beauty Bar Pop-Up starting at $44.00
- Intuitive Reading and Self Care Ritual for People $122.00
- Herbal Skincare 101 Virtual Workshop $65.00
- Herbal Apothecary Products starting at $12.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kore-herbals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kore.herbal/?hl=en
Image Credits
Juniper and the Sea Photography
Tanya Pavlov Photography
Karra Leigh Photography
Shelby Brakken Photography
