Hello!

My name is Regina Angelique Baker. I go by Minister Gigi (they/them). I am the child of Paul and Jada Baker. I am the grandchild of Jeraline Trusedale and Reginald Jones (whom I was named after) on my maternal side, and the grandchild of Lewis and Elizabeth Baker on my paternal side. I am the oldest sibling of 4 children. 

I was born in Baltimore, Maryland and lived in Maryland until I was 9 years old. When I was 9, my parents migrated our family to my dad's hometown of Oak Hill, West Virginia. Living the rural, Appalachian, small town life in West Virginia is where my folk herbalism journey began. 

We lived with my Grandma Baker for some time and attended First Baptist Church of Harlem Heights where my dad was the pastor. I learned & sang gospell hymns and folk spirituals. When my grandmother would look after us while my parents were at work, she would teach me how to cook and bake from scratch. This is where I started to ignite a love for kitchen herbalism. I remember the first home cooked meal I'd ever learned how to make--potato soup. When my grandma would teach me she would say "anything with a root honey, anything with a root".

Many years and herbalism classes later, I learned that root foods can help ease body pains, inflammation, and calm the nervous system. My grandmother was so right, and I am so grateful to have had this foundation in my folk herbalism journey. 

At the age of 19 I decided to get out of the small town, rural, living and move to Chicago. Moving to Chicago allowed me the opportunity to collide paths with my spiritual mentors and tribe that remain to this day. I am so incredibly grateful for it. In Chicago, I very quickly fell into the healing justice space and began participating, facilitating, and eventually training youth on healing circles. Practicing healing justice work through the ritual of healing circle has shaped my lens and relationship to racial, gender, and reproductive justice. These experiences and practices have for certain shaped how I practice herbalism and the lens in which I see the world. 

In 2020, I found myself returning back home to Harlem Heights, West Virginia once a global pandemic hit. I was still living in Chicago, my housemates at the time were immune compromised, and Chicago was in the red zone. Everyone was trying survive to the dystopic moments of time, and it seemed that West Virginia was one of the safest places in this apocalypse. 

Going back home in the midst of a global pandemic was one of the most enlightening times of my life. I was shocked that at home I had access to food, and water, fresh produce, and fresher air quality. After living in intercity Chicago for years, I was surprised by how West Virginia was one of the few places that was able to preserve and sustain its resources. I was able to practice yoga on fresh grass, cook fresh produce, and even grow some of my own. I was reminded of how sustainable and grounding my rural Appalachian upbringing was. Not to mention the history and trailblazers that I grew up with. I am so grateful that I was able to be reminded of the path that shaped me into the person I was becoming. 

After this spiritual awakening, finally graduated my teaching program, and being weary of institutional work industrial complex, I decided to pack my bags and move to Thailand. I remember before leaving and saying my goodbyes to my community, my good friend said to me "this time in Thailand will be your apprenticeship for the healing work you will be doing". 

Six months into living in Thailand I inadvertently found myself deep within the plant medicine community in Chiang Mai, Thailand. About a year later I met my life partner and wife. Eventually we decided to move to her hometown to be closer to her family. So there I was living in my partner's home village of Chiang Dao and helping her family tend to the her Northern Thai family's legacy land. I learned so much about Thai herbalism and Thai farming while living in Thailand. Being in the Northern mountains of Thailand, and yet again living the small town rural lifestyle has been like living in a home away from home. Building a life where again I have access to fresh produce, clean mineral mountain water, and organic farming of my own herbs and produce, has traced this celestial connection between my hometown in rural West Virginia to the village of Chiang Dao.