We were lucky to catch up with Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Felicia Cocotzin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I hope to ease the way for other people of color to openly practice their ancestor’s wellness ways without shame or secrecy. I’ve spent decades sharing on my own family’s healing traditions, which at its core are rooted in the elements.

I’ve witnessed indigenous teachings being taught by non-Native people for many years in the wellness space, and so it is beautiful to finally see that we are the ones sharing from our own lived experience. I’d like to think that I have had some hand in that.

Felicia Cocotzin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been on the path of the healer for over thirty years, first as a massage therapist and folk herbalist. Years later I incorporated food as medicine and that is how I really made a name for myself. People knew me as a kitchen curandera (traditional healer), which inspired the name of my business.

Making remedies, preparing wholesome foods, and sharing on holistic wellness became a large part of my platform and eventually led me to write the book Earth Medicines: Ancestral Wisdom, Healing Recipes, and Wellness Rituals from a Curandera. It was a pivotal part of my career in that it gave me the opportunity to participate on platforms that were not available to me in the past, such as being invited to speak at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Writing Earth Medicines also gave me the confidence I needed to fulfill my longtime dream of becoming a children’s picture book author. After submitting story ideas to my editor, I am happy to share that the first book in my series came out this summer and I am now working on the second book of that series with the illustrator. They are about food, family, and love.

When I look back at how I have evolved over the decades I recall so much magic! That makes me excited to see how my future unfolds. As for the present, I love being a guiding light for others on their healing journey by sharing what I have learned along the way.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I love the concept of ageless beauty and do my best to embrace it. The lens of beauty is slowly changing and I love that I am a part of that change with my long grey hair and laugh lines. Really feeling into the aging process has led me to new work ideas that I am currently working on.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

After my Instagram account was hacked (and as a result deactivated), I took a deep breath with the thought of having to start all over. However, it gave me the opportunity to pause and decide how I wanted to rebuild it. It also helped me rebrand.

With my old account I felt so much stress feeling the need to create content a few times a week. Now I share more organically, which feels good for me. People love when I speak from my heart and that is not something I can plan. And now that I am in the process of rebranding once again, I hope to share even more parts of me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kitchencurandera.com
• Instagram: feliciacocotzin
• Other: Kitchen Curandera on Spotify for public playlists

Image Credits

Nicky Hedayatzadeh (all images shared today)