I am an engineer, #earthmedicine maker, educator and founder at Nova Health Synergy.  This company was born out of my passion for health and wellness and I’m really excited to share my journey with you!

I am a voracious reader and am devoted to continuously researching medical breakthroughs using botanical medicine.  It is my God-given calling to empower you to transform your health and alleviate your suffering.  The truth is, most chronic illnesses are preventable and reversible.  There is always hope!

Growing up, I always wanted to be healthy.  I was very aware of “healthy food” and “fattening” food (lol).  We ate a typical southeastern NC diet filled with home grown vegetables and plenty of pork, fried chicken, chicken and pastry (we pronounce it “paster” or “pastuh”) and calabash-style fried seafood. And there was always fried cornbread or biscuits.  At my grandmothers’ homes I would occasionally eat deer hash, squirrel, rabbit, stewed doves with dumplings or fried fish roe. There was always pound cake, layered chocolate cake or banana pudding for dessert! 

When I was 10 years old, I started working out using the self-guided workouts you would find in magazines.  I practically lived outside, always playing with the neighborhood kids.  Think “Wonder Years”; that was my neighborhood.  And I was the only girl, so I learned how to hang tough.  So yes, I was definitely a tomboy.  In junior high and high school, I was an avid tennis player; I absolutely loved the sport. 

Both of my parents were educators and they both smoked. They would buy cigarettes by the cartons. My dad and I would ride to the store and while he waited in the truck I would walk in and buy his cigarettes for him. Back then they let kids do that! Looking back, I’m quite certain the reason I had chronic bronchitis and strep throat every year is because of my parents always smoking in the house. When I was in 7th grade my mother quit smoking the day her coworker, a fellow smoker, died from lung cancer. She made my dad start smoking outside. She started making more nutritious choices with our meals and we no longer ate fried foods. We started eating baked chicken, fresh salads and lots of fruit. This was in line with my own personal goals and passions.  My dad struggled with smoking for the rest of his life.

Eight days before my 19th birthday my mother was tragically killed in a head-on collision during a sleet storm. My dad was also in the car and suffered a lot of trauma. He had to have surgery and spent several weeks in intensive care. I spent my 19th birthday in his hospital room at Duke University Medical Center.

My 20s were tumultuous to say the least! For many years I struggled in life after my mother’s death.  Looking back, I now realize I had raging PTSD.  It was in my early 20s that I started smoking, working my way up to a pack a day in just a few months.  I loved smoking even though I knew it was bad for me. It calmed my nerves and helped me think. Smoking felt very natural for me. I had been primed for it my whole life. I smoked a pack a day for 11 years.

It was during these years that I bought a few books from Rodale Institute about herbs and home remedies and became really fascinated with “alternative” medicine.  I continued buying books, reading and learning everything I could about natural medicine.  I became vigilant with my diet and supplement regimen.  I joined a gym and worked out regularly, all while still smoking a pack a day.  My interest in natural health was just “my thing”.  It made me so happy. 

When I got pregnant with my first child in my mid-30s I became obsessed with doing everything I possibly could to grow a beautiful and perfect baby.  I quit smoking cold turkey while on a vacation to Alaska.  Being responsible for another human’s life took me to another level of living a healthy lifestyle. It was during these years that I stopped drinking cow’s milk. I also started using organic food to prepare our meals.

When I was 38 my father died from congestive heart failure.  He was in the hospital for almost six months, and I watched him slowly die.  It was during this dark period that I realized how broken our current healthcare system is.  My dad’s death completely destroyed me.  I cried every single day for nine solid months.  I quit my job and my family and I moved into my childhood home and lived there for two years. 

In the deep throes of grief, I was lying on the couch one night sobbing, just looking up at the ceiling, feeling lost and dysfunctional.  I whispered to God “I want to do something important.”  A month or so later, I had a life-altering dream.  The dream was simple and yet had deeply profound meaning for me.  It was of gently rippling water and the word “Healer” floating across the rippling water.  I woke up and realized what I was put on this earth to do.  This was the point at which my interest in holistic health became my purpose in life. After that dream I bought the website domain www.healthsynergyguide.com with the intention of creating an online holistic health business and digital magazine.

In 2012 I had an idea for a congestive heart failure formula.  I was working in New York at the time, and I decided to share my idea with my Project Manager.  We formed a partnership and I got busy with building out the formula, contacting suppliers and other tasks.  To make a long story short, the partnership did not work out and my congestive heart failure formula flopped.

The next several years were filled with a lot of growth in my personal and professional life. In 2014 I created my engineering consulting business under the name “Synergia Consulting LLC” and started working as a sole proprietor. I was blessed with good jobs at major Fortune 500 companies and saw a lot of technology in a short period of time. It was a windfall of learning, nerve-wracking at times, but exhilarating.

It was also 2014 that I bought my first high-speed blender and started experimenting with smoothies. Over the next several years I phased in and out of vegetarianism and veganism. It was a flurry of activity towards the ultimate holistic lifestyle, and it felt so right to me. You name it, I tried it! I continued to learn as much as I could and started taking notes and creating different formulation ideas. To this day, a smoothie is my breakfast of choice, almost daily. And I have started experimenting with raw veganism.

In 2015 I created a Health Synergy Guide Facebook page. For a few years, I hired a marketing agency to help me grow the page. I was doing so much reading and researching and posting during this time. My following steadily increased but my engineering job was all consuming. It became harder and harder for me to devote so much time to reading and researching. 

In 2019 I was tinkering with a muscle and joint pain cream formula and shared some with family and friends and received positive feedback.  But in 2020, the Pandemic hit, and I made some Immunity Tonic to help protect me and my family.  The rest, as they say, is history.  I put all my focus into creating a distinctive formulation that was my own unique twist on a traditional herbal remedy. In the spring of 2022, I made my first official batch of tonic and decided to change the name of my holistic health business to "Nova Health Synergy.” I went all in and registered with the state of NC and created my second LLC.

Nova Health Synergy was founded with the intention of shifting conventional healthcare using ancient forms of Indigenous medical botany.  My ultimate vision is to offer a wide spectrum of plant remedies, integrating several traditions from around the world that I’ve studied over the years, such as Native American plant medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and South American tribal herbalism.   It is of vital importance for my company to support true fair-trade practices, small organic farmers and regenerative agriculture, ultimately helping to preserve Indigenous lands and support local economies.

Please feel free to contact me to say hello or speak with me about herbs and healing!

Warmly,

Necia