Stephanie Naftal lives in Red Lodge, Montana, on Apsáalooke, Lakota, and Northern Cheyenne lands, at the edge of the Beartooth Mountains, roughly sixty miles from Yellowstone National Park. She carries Portuguese and Irish ancestry on her mother’s side, and Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Polish ancestry on her father’s side—lineages that inform her deep respect for land, tradition, and lived wisdom.

 

When she moved to Red Lodge, she did not anticipate that she would one day establish a botanical business, though in hindsight it feels inevitable and deeply aligned. Today, Stephanie creates eighteen hand-crafted, small-batch botanical products made with high-quality ingredients. Her work extends beyond herbal formulations to include abdominal and womb-focused therapies, spiritual and energetic healing, wellness consultations, educational classes, and guided plant walks—all rooted in fostering a deeper relationship with the living world and our place within it.

 

Her path as an herbalist began in the 1990s, born from a personal search for natural relief from chronic sinus issues. Years of hands-on experimentation with herbs, tinctures, salves, and remedies led to a deep, experiential understanding of plant medicine. In 2003, she began making what became known as Stephanie’s Miracle Salve for herself, loved ones, and her dogs. Over time, the salve developed a devoted following, with many sharing stories of relief from eczema, psoriasis, burns, and other persistent conditions when conventional remedies had failed. Creating products that genuinely support healing and improve people’s lives remains at the heart of her work.

Stephanie believes that effective, health-supporting products do not require long or complicated ingredient lists. Her formulations are intentionally simple, nourishing, and thoughtfully made. Wildcrafted ingredients are harvested ethically, with gratitude and respect for the plants, and her commitment to minimal packaging reflects a broader reverence for wholeness, abundance, and ecological responsibility. Through her work, she hopes to inspire others to simplify—not as a sacrifice, but as a joyful and life-affirming choice.

 

Before becoming a massage therapist in 2004, Stephanie earned a degree in Wildlife Biology and worked on field projects across the United States, including wolf research in Minnesota, the Southwest, and Montana; studies of river otters and white-tailed deer; bison research at the National Bison Range; and plant ecology work in South Dakota. These years immersed in wild systems deepened her love for plants and reinforced the interconnectedness that continues to guide her work.

 

Beginning in 2018, her path expanded through multiple journeys to Belize and later Guatemala, where she studied abdominal therapy, advanced womb-centered work, and spiritual and energetic healing. She was deeply influenced by teachers including Rosita Arvigo, gone yet cherished Don Elijio Panti and Miss Hortense Robinson, Amanda Porter, Eva Sengfelder, Denise Barrios, Andy Rocca, and Nana Lucy Kulum—a Tz’utujil healer and herbalist whose lineage spans countless generations. Stephanie also continues to study the sacred Mayan calendars, including the Cholq’ij, and ceremonial practices under the guidance of Mark Elmy.

 

Stephanie holds profound gratitude for her many teachers over time—from early mentors with plants such as Sandy Geffner, with whom she studied throughout western New York and beyond, to coworkers, supervisors, and, always, the plants themselves. Each step along her path has felt unmistakably guided, reinforcing her devotion to this work.

Today, Stephanie offers herbal and wellness consultations, abdominal and womb-focused therapies, spiritual and energetic healing, and a range of classes centered on digestive health, women’s health, medicinal plants, and plant wisdom. Her work is a celebration of abundance, health, family, friendship, and the generous, living world that sustains us all.