ssammsvelazquez
Joined Atlas Obscura in 2026
Sarah Samms Velazquez is an essayist, poet, and community herbalist whose work focuses on destigmatizing the human experience. Sarah’s work has appeared in literary & news magazines across the country including Public Source, NBAP, The Pacific Sentinel, Pathos Literary Magazine, and even a community cookbook. Most recently, Sarah was awarded the 2026 Deep Ecology Artist Fellowship that will take place at the United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary.
Sarah studied creative writing at Portland State University, was awarded a diploma in western herbalism as a ‘master herbalist’ at ACHS, and studied tropical plant medicine in Manzanillo, Costa Rica at The Wild Ginger Center.
Sarah is the founder of The Medicine House, a community herbalism movement and aspiring urban herbal farm in Northern Appalachia. Sarah is also an avid hiker, a traveler of society’s underbelly, an explorer of the odd & curious, a music nerd, and an art dabbler.
