Hi,

My name is Elizabeth DeCoursey and I like to: jay-walk; listen to outdoor concerts from just beyond the venue; ride my bike screaming all the way; go on dirty road trips; pick wild things; and lay around looking at clouds, eating candy in the park. Is there someone with whom you think I should cross paths? Pshah!

No really, I'm the owner, maker, designer, woman behind the scenes of Antidote Brooklyn, my true love. Born in the high desert in a small town on the western slope of Colorado, my return to all things natural and from the earth feels right, even if a departure from the writerly, filmic BFA background that still forms my core. Those things brought me to NYC, but it's the Colorado in me that lets me stay here in this town that I adore.

I've done a variety of things to make it by in NYC. But it was my time as a wine expert/buyer and the education I received to do that, which really made me start to recognize the synchronicity between different environments and their respective ecosystems of plants, herbs, insects, soil, animals. That odd reintroduction to the Earth really brought my fascination with that cycle of life and our relationship to it (degraded as it may become in a big ol city) into a mental frenzy. That and a loss of skin pigmentation on my face, heightened skin sensitivity at the mere sight of something that could give me a rash, and the realization that my family was fraught with many of these issues including endemic eczema.

My Mumsy had always predicted that I would be a doctor or something based on my childhood fascination with healing (mostly wounds and stuff back then since my family was very active and accident prone.) So, I heeded her word. I about-faced from slinging booze and dreaming of writing screenplays to the world of science. With new visions of being a naturopathic doctor in my head, I promptly went back to school to fulfill science pre-reqs that my liberal arts education didn't provide. I love learning about our anatomy, biology and minor chemistry, but just as I was applying to naturopathic medical schools, I realized that I just wanted to keep it simple. I just want to be an herbalist, a healer, work with what nature gave us. And I want to make things that will heal and never harm our precious skin.

So I simplified. I attended the master herbalism program at Arbor Vitae school of traditional medicine and there learned from Richard Mandelbaum & Claudia Keele. We also learned from the likes of Matt Wood, Tammi Sweet, Anne McIntyre, 7 Song and many more. I have been and will continue to study herbalism and our bodies for the rest of my life. I'll make healthy things that heal, or simply make my friends and family feel good for the remainder of my years. How can I stop? They rely on me now!