2025 Lineup

Speakers

William Padilla Brown

Founder and CEO of MycoSymbiotics, William Padilla-Brown is a Multidisciplinary Citizen Scientist practicing social science, mycology, phycology, molecular biology, and additive manufacturing. William founded MycoSymbiotics in 2015, and has since developed it into the innovative practical applied biological science business it is today. William holds permaculture design certificates acquired through Susquehanna Permaculture and NGOZI, and a certificate from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in algal culturing techniques. He has published the first English-language books on cultivating the cordyceps mushroom and regularly leads courses on their cultivation. William’s research has been sponsored by several organizations and his work has been featured in multiple publications, including Fantastic Fungi and VICE. He also founded and manages MycoFest, an annual mushroom and arts festival, now on its tenth year!

 

Neşe Devenot

Dr. Neşe Devenot (they/them) joined the University Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University in 2023. Their courses have explored interdisciplinary topics including drugs in society, bioethics, comparative literature, and transdisciplinary collaboration. They received their BA in Philosophy and Literature from Bard College and their MA and PhD in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory from the University of Pennsylvania, where they received the Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching. 

Before joining JHU, Dr. Devenot completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Research in Sensing, Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Bioethics, and the University of Puget Sound’s Humanities Program. They are currently working on a book project titled Chemical Poetics: The Literary History of Psychedelic Science, which was supported by the Zora Neale Hurston Writing Fellowship from Bard College. Their background in public humanities has included writing and editing for Psymposia, a psychedelic harm reduction nonprofit organization where they are a board member. Dr. Devenot’s psychedelic bioethics research has included a collaboration with JHU’s Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research. Their psychedelic ethics research has appeared in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, JAMA Psychiatry, Journal of Psychedelic Studies, Frontiers in Psychology, and Anthropology of Consciousness. They received the European Romantic Review Article Prize in 2020 and the inaugural award for Best Humanities Publication in Psychedelic Studies from Breaking Convention in 2016. 

As a psychedelic expert, Dr. Devenot has been featured on the Dr. Phil show and quoted in NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, STAT, Vox, Business Insider, The Austin Chronicle, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Hill, Wired Magazine, Rolling Stone, Vice News, Haaretz, and Quartz, among other international outlets. 

Michael Weese

Michael Weese, founder and sole owner/operator of MushroomLife, is an autodidact in every sense. A well-rounded educator and humble lifetime student of the biological world, an international innovator, expert, and all around enthusiast within the field of mycology (which is a highest joy in supporting the advancing of) and a true proponent of sovereignty, and self empowerment. Through sustainable practices such as permaculture, wild crafting, and tribal revival, which he feels is a well integrated and multi-faceted way of embodied networking with people, skills, and resources, on all levels. Michael’s life is normally invested between the forest, the lab, the garden/yard, and the kitchen while always juggling the powerballs of inspire, immerse and apply. His life’s work is a mixed application of areas from permaculture consultation and design to full implementation with project oversight, laboratory alchemy to taxonomy, extraction to chemistry, bio-prospecting to product development and formulation, body sculpting and fitness training to meditation and mindfulness practices. An eclectic and highly adept life coach and mentor that has supported in 1000s of people making lasting shifts for the positive. With more than three decades of biological and fungal, herbalism, bodywork and wellness (western, eastern, ethno, entheo-botanical), and spiritual experiential knowledge and insights, Michael is one of those rare gems that has a way of making people feel at home while exploring new frontiers.

 

Justin Knaub

Justin Knaub is Lifetime forager turned extraction artist after experiencing the power of Mushroom medicines. Since 2017, Justin has focused on receiving his medicines from his foods.

 

Mike Holcomb

Hi, I’m Mike, founder of Baltispore. After a tumor diagnosis that left me without an upper humerus bone and many major surgeries, I turned to medicinal mushrooms as part of my healing journey. What started as personal recovery became a passion to share their benefits with others.
At Baltispore my team  I grow and create potent mushroom tinctures, coffee, and grow kits with a focus on quality and sustainability. More than a business, it’s my way of helping people discover how fungi can support health, connection, and resilience.

Naadiya Hutchinson

Naadiya has been practicing yoga consistently since 2015 and decided to take the dive into teacher teaching in the Fall of 2019. Trained in antigravity fundamentals, antigravity aerial yoga, antigravity restorative yoga, trauma-informed yoga, yoga for all, yoga nidra, vinyasa yoga, yin yoga, reiki level 2, and sound healing, Naadiya ebbs and flows between these practices to provide her community with a sense of love for themselves and for the ever expansive world around them. Naadiya is the founder and a member of #ResyEasyBby a Black wellness collective of practitioners committed to healing justice.
Naadiya recognizes that every time we breath we deep intention, we have the opportunity to better understand ourselves and thus better understand how we are one with the earth.

Dylan Moran

Dylan is passionate about regenerative agriculture. Raised on an organic farm in Asheville, North Carolina, farming has been a constant thread in his life. He has managed non-profit farms in Baltimore City and Harford County. Since 2015,  he has learned among community, taught farm volunteers, and hosted log inoculation workshops. Dylan gets jazzed about partnering with fungi to create new growth from the cycle of decomposition. He draws inspiration from nature’s power to heal and connect.

Foray Leaders

Ashley Laman

Ashley Laman is the owner and operator of The Rural Mushroom, a small business dedicated to mushroom education, sustainable foraging, and community outreach. Certified in Mushroom Food and Safety by the state of Pennsylvania, she teaches identification and foraging classes that emphasize safe practices and ecological awareness. Ashley is also passionate about the culinary side of fungi, from cooking with wild harvests to developing creative recipes that showcase their unique flavors. She is an active member of several mycology groups and contributes to community science projects documenting the diversity of fungi in the region. Whether through guided walks, kitchen experiments, or sharing fungal curiosities, Ashley aims to spark curiosity, creativity, and a deeper connection with the natural world.

Samantha Eff

Samantha Eff is a naturalist, gardener, teacher, artist, forager, mushroom and plant nerd, and a constant student of all of the wonders of the forest. She is the owner operator of a small mushroom focused business in Hanover, PA called The Mushroomworks. This connection with the forest has lead to a rebirth of her mind, body, and spirit, and she wants nothing more than to spread that joy.  She has taught both low tech and traditional mushroom growing techniques,  mushroom identification, weed walks, botanical illustration of mushrooms, spore print art, and natural/mushroom dyeing. When not walking in the woods, she can be found teaching art in Baltimore, or working on the never- ending list of homestead projects.  She can be found on Instagram, and Facebook under The Mushroomworks

Holly Burke

Since 2017 Holly has been leading plant walks in the Piedmont region and teaching workshops with a goal of actively building a relationship with the living world around us. On the walks, Holly discusses a range of topics such as what are edible plants and mushrooms, natives and invasives, and medicinal plants? Holly’s experiences have led to her deepened love of nature and a call to share it with others.
Holly uses she/her pronouns but considers herself to be gender fluid and diverse like the mushrooms.

Musicians

Harmony Works/Nicholas Tomaskovic-Devey

An Acupuncturist, sound and light healer, vocalist, musician, Chinese Clinical Herbalist, body worker, certified Katonah Yoga Teacher, and the founder of Harmony Works Inc. It is his great joy to work for collective and individual Harmony on Planet Earth. He is committed to bring the confluence of vibrational medicines together, for the sake of the people at large and for our planet. As a leader, he wants everyone to shine, as a practitioner, he relies on the keen mixture of intuition and time-proven methodology given to him by exemplary teachers crossing cultures and paradigms from around the world.

Sophia Wise One

A professional Medicine Caller for over 20 years, a singer, speaker, and sound healer she is trained in over 20 healing modalities and is a Reiki Master Teacher, Holistic Pelvic Care Provider TM, and Sacred Sexuality Educator. Host of 3 internationally top-ranking podcasts listened to in over 120 countries. She is a conduit of activating and integrating frequencies to clear, awaken, align, and optimize your soul and body wisdom for deeply fulfilling relationships with your self, partners, and the Divine. A mentor for Medicine Callers stepping into the potency of their power. You can listen to all of her podcasts, purchase her Wisdom Deck, and find out more at Sophiawiseone.com

Josie Baltimore

Josie Baltimore is a singer/songwriter and multidisciplinary artist from Baltimore, MD. Her style blends sounds of classic country, blues, rock & roll, doowop, and early ’60s pop. Viewing music as a particularly powerful medium for connection and communication through and across time, she encourages her audiences to participate and sing along. The “Johnny Appleseed of hugs,” she has had the pleasure to play regularly in the Mid-Atlantic and entertain audiences in Belgium & France.

Marian McLaughlin

Marian McLaughlin is a musician, visual artist, naturalist, and educator. She toured extensively in the United States and the U.K., released three studio albums, and performed an NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. She was a Strathmore Artist-in-Residence in 2015 and led an ensemble for the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage series in 2018.   McLaughlin was a featured guest for WTMD’s Baltimore Hit Parade and recorded a live set in their studio. Always inspired by the arts, McLaughlin has worked for over a decade curating and presenting community events. From 2014-2019, she helped run the Holy Underground Arts Collective and hosted multi-genre concerts, puppet shows, small theater events, poetry readings, workshops, and art exhibits.

Sahffi

Sahffi Lynne (they/them) is a veteran singer/songwriter with over 25 years of performance experience. With a degree from The Peabody Conservatory of Music, performances from New York City to Peru, a #1 house music song in South Africa (with over 2 million streams on Spotify), six independently-released albums, a 2015 Individual Artist Award in Solo Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council, and a 2022 Baker Artist Award nomination, Sahffi offers their channeled Music Medicine to Illuminate Your Connection to our divine inner knowing.

Dave Heaumann

Dave Heumann is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer based in Baltimore, MD USA. Known for his work as the founding member of the band Arboretum as well as many other projects, he has been active for over two decades as a bandleader and collaborator, writing, recording, and performing music in North America and Europe.

Crankie Artists

Foxfire

Foxfire is a crankie making duo! Robin Gunkel, the Creator & Director of Mushroom City Art Festival, and Sean Conroy, a life-long, multimedia artist, have joined crankie-making forces to tell enchanting and otherworldly stories to entertain audiences- young and old alike!

Martha Simon

Martha Simon is a mixed media artist who enjoys instigating creative projects that are free, public, and inclusive.  She organizes the annual window solstice illuminations in her Butchers Hill neighborhood, established a weekly grassroots “chalk night,”  piloted a collaborative crocheted and knitted mural around a construction site as well as other offbeat projects. Martha is a member of the Firefly Collective, an eclectic group of crankie artists in the Baltimore region. You can find her work on Instagram at StellaMarthaSi.