Nature as Self is at the core of Vanessa Chakour’s work. Her teaching and work experience spans herbalism, competitive boxing, nature connection, writing, and visual art. Practices that have helped her heal, peel back layers of conditioning and connect more deeply to her animal nature. A fierce advocate of Earth, she founded and led Sacred Warrior from 2014-2024, a program dedicated to ecological literacy, offering herbalism courses in Brooklyn and collaborating with the Wolf Conservation Center in New York, the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica, and Alladale Wilderness Reserve in the Scottish Highlands.

After early trauma and physical challenges—including chronic asthma and a serious car accident—Vanessa rebuilt her strength through disciplined training, creative expression, and reconnection to Earth. Boxing became a central part of this process. She trained as an amateur and professional fighter at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn and spent more than a decade coaching others.

Vanessa’s writing and work have been featured in Orion, Terrain, The Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation, Psyche/Aeon Magazine, Yes! Magazine, Psychology Today, Ravenous Zine, and more, and she has been invited to share her work as an inspirational speaker at the United Nations, Brown University, the Muhammad Ali Center, and Harvard University. A life-long activist, Vanessa created events & non-profit initiatives on behalf of luminaries such as The Dalai Lama and Hip Hop Legend, KRS One. She is a long-time member of United Plant Savers, is on the external advisory committee of the Program For Evolution of Spirituality (PES) at Harvard Divinity School, is a 92nd St.Y Women In Power mentor, and an Artist Ambassador for Project Coyote.

Compelled to work on behalf of wild neighbors who cannot speak for themselves, she collaborates with wildlife organizations, speaks on behalf of the wild, and consults with organizations who want to improve regenerative practices and ecological literacy. She recently founded Wild Voices Collective to amplify voices of artists and wildlife organizations she collaborates with. Her memoir, Awakening Artemis published in 2021 by Penguin Life in the US and UK, and Ullstein Press in Germany, shares her journey of healing through the lens of 24 medicinal plants. Her second book Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature (Penguin 2024) explores inner and outer landscapes through the lens of wild animals. 

Now based in Western Massachusetts, Vanessa weaves boxing, herbalism, embodied ecology and writing together at HEX Boxing Club. She is working on her third book I Can’t Live Without You about rewilding attachment theory.