03 Jan Melissa Fuller
Melissa Fuller is a second-generation Mexican and Irish herbalist, esthetician, and the founder of Gatherwise Skincare. Her work is rooted in a lifelong relationship with the land and a deep reverence for plants as wise, living collaborators. Guided by ancestral teachings of listening, patience, and respect for the natural world, Melissa approaches plants not as ingredients to be extracted, but as relatives to be tended, honored, and worked with in relationship.
She stewards a quarter-acre herb farm in the Pacific Northwest, where she grows, harvests, and steam-distills many of the plants infused into her skincare line. Each season is shaped by observation—learning when to harvest, when to wait, and how to care for both the land and the plants so they may offer their benefits fully and generously. This slow, intentional process informs both her products and the workshops she shares.
Melissa studied herbalism through Vital Ways in Portland, Oregon, learning from a diverse lineage of herbal teachers and plant practitioners. She is also a CIDESCO-trained esthetician, having completed the world-renowned program to gain a holistic, full-body understanding of the skin. Her path into skincare was deeply personal, shaped by decades of navigating psoriasis, eczema, and autoimmune conditions, which led her to seek gentler, plant-centered approaches to healing and care.
For over twenty years, Melissa has worked with skin and herbs, cultivating her own herbal garden for seven years and formulating Gatherwise Skincare for the past eight. Her work—through products, workshops, and shared rituals—is an offering of connection: between people and plants, body and land, care and reverence. Teaching is one way she continues these relationships, inviting others to slow down, listen deeply, and remember that caring for the skin can be an act of self-respect, ancestral remembrance, and belonging.
Melissa will be offering: Where The Forest Meets The Skin – Plant Distillation & Forest Facial