09/04/2026
Before Synergy: From Home to Brick and Mortar
In the last chapter of this story, I shared how I began taking more structured herbal courses and seeking out mentors. I knew enough to know that I didn’t know enough; I wanted to identify the holes in my education.
In 2014, I formally started seeing clients from my home. One person became many people with their stories and success as they learned how to support their health along the way.
They taught me things that I never learned from books and study. I had to listen, pray, and look beyond symptoms. This was not about recommending an herb. It was about seeing the whole person and helping them become active participants in their own wellness.
As my practice grew, I made the decision to pursue recognition as a Registered Herbalist through the American Herbalists Guild. There are no state or federal licenses that make someone a clinical herbalist, and many different educational paths exist within herbalism. I respected the traditional knowledge and lived experience that had brought me this far, but I also wanted to hold myself to a recognized professional standard.
With years in the medical field, I understood the importance of education, clinical experience, documentation, ethics, and accountability. If I was going to ask people to trust me with their stories and wellness concerns, I wanted them to know that I had taken my professional calling seriously.
You do not take an herbal course or two and become an RH (AHG). The application process requires extensive documentation of herbal education and hundreds of hours of clinical experience, and over 100 consultations. It includes detailed case histories, assessments, many professional recommendations, and a review of my work by a panel of experienced herbal practitioners.
I understand that a registry or title does not make someone a good herbalist. Wisdom, experience, humility, and the ability to listen are not measured by the letters after my name. Pursuing the registry was about adding legitimacy and accountability to the work God had called me to do. Registry with the American Herbalist Guild was a tangible way that I could demonstrate this was not just an interest or a hobby, but a professional practice.
Eventually, I moved from seeing clients at home to a room that I rented with a massage therapist. These steps gave me more room to grow, serve people, and understand what my calling might become.
I began to see how difficult it was for people to find the things I suggested. Forget about whether they were high quality. People in the community needed access to quality botanicals. and a place where they could ask questions, learn, and be treated as individuals.
That was when the idea of Synergy began to grow beyond a consultation practice. I definitely wasn’t setting out to build Tennessee’s largest apothecary. I was trying to be faithful and do what came next.
An apothecary involves much more than putting herbs on shelves and making products. There is an entire side of the business that I had to learn as I went.
I had to be registered with the FDA (A requirement for any practicing herbalist) and understand FDA labeling requirements. Then there was the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, a Certified Public Weigher license………………
There were labels to create, ingredients and suppliers to document, inventory to organize, and systems to develop for tracking products from the herbs we received to the preparations placed on the shelf. Every formula needed a name, a label, a price, and a record of what went into it.
It seemed that every time I completed one thing, I discovered three more things I had not known I needed to do, all while studying, seeing clients, blending formulas, ordering herbs, creating labels, tracking inventory, and learning how to operate a retail business at the same time. Unfortunately, no established system or guide explained how to put all the pieces together and make them run. Although this was not new to me since it has always felt like I was tilling fallow ground, it was a lot.
Anything I made went right back into the business. One consultation helped purchase the next order of herbs. One product sale helped buy another jar, label, shelf, or piece of equipment. I reinvested everything so that I could offer more of what people needed.
Synergy grew a little at a time because my clients and customers continued to believe in what I was doing. They purchased products, returned for consultations, shared Synergy with their friends, and supported a small business that was still finding its way. Every purchase helped me put another herb on the shelf and every consultation helped me take another step forward.
By 2019, Synergy had outgrown the spaces that had held it. New doors divinely opened, and in October of that year, we opened the doors to the first brick-and-mortar storefront in Sparta, TN.
I did not know then what Synergy would eventually become. I could not see hundreds of botanicals, a manufacturing operation, employees, or all the people who would one day walk through our doors.
I could only see another scary next step and confidently walk through the door. The clients and customers who supported and continue to support us are the ones who made that growth possible.
They weren’t just shopping at Synergy; they were building it alongside me and my dreams.
Photos by Emily Bohannon
