New Zealand born co-founder and co-director – Dr Corin Storkey has over 15 years of academic and research experience, specialising in medicinal antioxidant chemistry, oxidative diseases, cellular protection and health. He holds a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Melbourne, Australia and the Heart Research Institute – Sydney, Australia. He has previously struggled with and overcome chronic fatigue syndrome and believes that there is currently a lack of holistic management in the conventional Western medical approach to health.

These experiences led him to establish Seleno Health as a means to provide people with education and tools to manage their own health more effectively. His area of expertise is stress disorders and non-specific inflammatory conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME), fibromyalgia, Crohn’s, Psoriasis, Alopecia, UC, IBS, Lyme disease and similar auto-immune issues.

He currently leads the New Zealand based Maca and cacao research program that studies Andean and Amazonian plant medicines and substantiates their traditions through biochemical analysis. His latest projects include biochemical mapping of macamides in different cultivars of Peruvian Maca, comparisons of bioactives in different Maca preparations and substantiating traditional uses of ceremonial cacao by Peruvian shamans through biochemical mapping of active metabolites.

Co-director Sally Huapaya is a native Peruvian of Andean descent, with a Bachelor in industrial engineering and ancestral knowledge of traditional Peruvian medicinal plants. She has a passion to bring the sacred plant knowledge of her people to the world and promoting respect and acknowledgement to the indigenous farmers and communities that produce them. In Peru, Sally and Seleno Health create authentic Organic Farm to Table Maca and Cacao directly with their local farmers following ancient ancestral traditions. Sally also manages the social responsibility program and Amazonian and Andean retreats in Peru.

Sally is proudly the authentic life and soul of Seleno Health and brings her combination of industry experience, processes and production skills, cultural and ancestral knowledge to create authentic and high-vibrational specialised health-enhancing products for consumers around the world. She currently is training facilitators and healers in New Zealand and Australia to better connect to the indigenous plants of Peru and use them in ceremony or as healing modalities.

Florencio and Yraida are maca experts who specialise in the cultivation and production of premium medicinal Maca following ancient ancestral organic farming techniques. Their farm and farming techniques focus on preservation of ancient spiritual practices and respecting the energetics of la Maca, pachamama (mother earth) and her environment. Every batch they produce is made with love, passion, care and intention to help and to heal. They are some of only a few traditional farmers left in Peru who keep their ancient traditions surrounding Maca and produce in artisanal ways.

For both Florencio and Yraida, Maca is a way of life, a spiritual connection to Pachamama and to their roots as Incan descendants. They work incredibly hard to produce their amazing crops and their attention to detail is second to none. We are blessed to have them as part of our team at Seleno Health and to be able to assist them to share their medicine with the rest of the world.

As a family they spend a lot of time assisting their local community to improve the way of life for all others in their village. They are also an integral part of our social responsibility program and help with the allocation of funds and identification of local needs for development. You can come and experience life as an Incan farmer with them every July in Peru at their farm as an eco-tourist at one of our Andean retreats.

Growing up in Jaen - Northern Peru, known as the birthplace of cacao where it was first domesticated some 7500 years ago, Arturo learnt about the sacredness and medicine behind this special master plant. His dream was to be able to grow cacao in an ancestral way with reverence, love, respect and tradition to bring this medicine to the world. He now spends his time crafting the world's finest ancestral cacao in his farm near Tarapoto, Peru. He is a plant specialist and has incredible ancestral knowledge of the flora and fauna that surround his cacao. A true bushman who thrives in the jungle environment and has such a passion for connecting to Pachamama (mother earth). His cacao in honour of the tribes of Jaen and central Peru is called Uturunku - meaning the jaguar, named after the middle world of the Andean-Amazonia trilogy. Each block is crafted with love following the ancient traditions of his people who were the first in the world to domesticate cacao. It is a powerful medicine that embodies us into the present, connects us to the natural world and allows us to journey inwards to reconnect and re-birth ourselves.

Rolando is a native Peruvian from the Amazonian jungle who is proudly dedicated to the production of organic and fair-traded cacao. He is pioneering the resurgence of traditional cacao growing and production in the area of Peru previously heavily affected by drug cartels and the illegal cocaine industry. Rolando has applied his skills and expertise to promoting the image, production, transformation and quality of Peruvian cacao to put Peru on the world map with artisanal cacao and chocolate production. His push for social sustainability and environmental harmony with cacao farming is bringing big change to an industry that has previously struggled with exploitation of farmers, communities and the Amazon jungle.

Rolando's cacao represents the courage and perseverance of many farmers who decided to sow the best, finest cacao in the world in the face of adversity. They have found in this boldness the hope of transforming their lives through love, working in conditions of equality, justice and a passion for biodiversity and the environment.

"This love is the main ingredient in their cacao."

We 100% support the mission of Rolando and his people to Rescue Cacao in Peru and return the love, respect, environmental protection and culture that has been lost through global commercialisation and corruption in the industry.

Juan Alonso has spent over 56 years crafting beautiful hand-made molinillos (cacao whisks) for use in traditional cacao ceremonies and preparation. Like his father and grandfather before him, he continues this ancient tradition of bringing cacao to life with constructing intricate wooden whisks that can emulsify the fat of cacao and create creamy elixirs. From Santa Maria del Rayon - Mexico, known as the home of the molinillo Juan Alonso has created a family business that aim to protect and conserve the ancient traditions of cacao that date back thousands of year. He and his sons work day in and day out to craft each piece from a single block of sustainably produced Andean alder tree. Each piece is unique and made with what he calls, "hands, head and heart".