Gabby Pavelko | Source | Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM) at Rootless

Gabby completed her Doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco, with a focus in women's health and fertility, and is a California Licensed Acupuncturist.

She also serves as Chief of Staff (and Dr. Gabby) to Rootless, using seaweed to help people, the planet, and communities thrive. She is excited to be sharing her passion and knowledge of TCM with more people with the hope that the potential to change the narrative of food as medicine not only for us, but also our planet becomes more mainstream. She joined Rootless after spending her career at the intersection of food innovation, plant-based medicine, community building, and women's health.

Based on her personal experience, it can be extremely difficult to navigate hormones and find balance, but her Doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine has definitely helped her understand this concept more clearly. After being put on hormonal birth control at an extremely young age due to horribly painful cramps and fainting during that time of the month, she spent most of her life covering the symptoms instead of treating the root cause. The few times she came off of the hormones, she experienced extreme mood swings with crippling fatigue and was recommended to try antidepressants by her doctors. Through lifestyle and dietary changes as well as TCM and eating seaweed daily, she is finally finding hormonal harmony and is on a mission to help all women do the same as they age.