In 2008, Dr. Richard Twiss laid hands on me and said I needed to press into my heritage as an Afro-Indigenous person. Those words launched me on a journey of ethnic identity that included learning how my people, both the African ancestors and the Choctaw ones, helped people by engaging the land around them. I quickly got involved with gardening. I had the honor of learning from Master Gardeners like Mr. Allen Keesee, a Lumbee, and others who had garnered a lifetime of wisdom about how plants work. As I grew in my own understanding, I began looking for ways to help people with this knowledge.

Naturally, herbalism was the next step. I greatly enjoyed mixing plants, making poultices, and brewing tinctures for any and everyone that I could. I felt as if I was honoring my ancestors by keeping alive the traditional knowledge of how people could use natural means of healing, as complimentary modalities to Western medicine.

In 2020, shortly before the pandemic hit in full force, my wife asked if I wanted to attend a webinar by an author friend of ours, Sundee Frazier. She introduced me to essential oils, know that I enjoyed the powerful aspects of plant medicine. I was astounded at their potency, and the wide range of plants that I could have access to that I wouldn't have had otherwise, not to mention that they were much cleaner than harvesting the plants themselves. At first, I was only using them for myself and my family. It wasn't long until I discovered that there was an entire field dedicated to the use of essential oils: aromatherapy. The more I learned, the more I realized was out there and the more I wanted to dive deeper.

In February of 2021, I made a decision. I was going back to school...again. I found Essentria School of Aromatherapy, a school dedicated to the field of clinical aromatherapy. As I began studying, writing papers, and conducting case studies, I realized that this was how I wanted to help people; I would give people the power to make informed self-care decisions. People needed to know that there is support for optimal wellbeing found in creation. I would help people to learn about it.

Today, I run Wallace & Wallace Healing Center with my wife, Achlaï, a psychotherapist. Anyone seeking help towards healing, physically or emotionally, will find it in these two healing modalities that typically aren't juxtaposed. I believe, however, that my journey has helped pave the way for others to receive all that they need.