Zoe Helene is a visionary artist, sustainability pro-activist and Cosmic Sister. Zoe is deeply committed to women’s rights, the arts and archetypes, wilderness and wildlife, and children as stewards of the future. She is married to Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham, who she works and travels with extensively, exploring remote regions of the globe working to promote medicinal plants, environmental protection, and cultural preservation.

Zoe is partner and co-owner of Medicine Hunter, Inc. She brings 20+ years of creative leadership experience to the table, most notably in performing and visual arts, and interactive, integrated and converging media. She has held award-winning positions as producer, director, designer and performing artist. As producer, Zoe developed and continues to evolve medicinehunter.com. She also works closely with with broadcast and media professionals, helping to communicate messages of sustainability and hope to a wide audience.

Zoe feels strongly that there can be no true sustainability without a civilized gender balance of power, worldwide. Towards this end, she is busy developing Cosmic Sister™, a collective venue connecting kindred spirit women on the path. The project is currently in development.

Zoe is the Style and Sustainability Correspondent for Organic Spa Magazine, the leading eco-lifestyle magazine in America. Zoe's work with Organic Spa showcases the finest conscious living brands. She has interviewed sustainability leaders such as environmental and humanitarian activist Trudie Styler, eco super model Summer Rayne Oakes, and Leslie Cerier, The Organic Gourmet. Through this work Zoe is able to help communicate positive messages about sustainable and ethical trade.

Children
“These beautiful children will steward tomorrow. What we do today can make a very real difference.” – Zoe Helene

State of Wildlife
“As long as there is demand for exotic animal products, suppliers will rise to meet the market. It’s really that simple.” – Zoe Helene

Women's Rights
“There can be no true sustainability without a civilized gender balance of power, worldwide. That starts at home, and we have work to do.” – Zoe Helene

Chris and Zoe
“Zoe and I also travel together on some of the Medicine Hunter field trips, and she has proven road-worthy, cheerful and helpful out there on the trail.” – Chris Kilham

Mothers
“I love meeting the mothers. There's just so much love there, and so much hope for a beautiful future.” – Zoe Helene

Americana
“No matter how remote a place is, Americana pop culture will have spread there. Is this a good thing?” – Zoe Helene

Career History

In 2002 Zoe chose to transition from serving predominately conventional Americana brands to supporting the Natural Products Industry. As an independent she worked with brands such as Annie’s (famous for their organic Mac & Cheese), Healthy Handfuls, and provided strategic consulting for The Organic Center, a non-profit organization providing scientific information proving the benefits of organics. It is during this time Zoe met Chris at an industry trade show. She will tell you he was, "Colorful amongst the colorful."

Zoe is a recognized pioneer in the interactive and converging media industry. She joined the Digital Revolution in 1994 and, in a previous incarnation, played a key role in developing the industry’s premier integrated communications solution, several influential early social media projects, and a variety of industry concepts and processes now commonly embraced. For over a decade Zoe held senior management positions at trendsetter companies serving blue chip clientele such as American Express, Allstate, the United States Senate, IBM e-business, Nike, Calvin Klein, Sprint, Hershey's, Ralston-Purina, The Dial Store and Unilever. Interactive strategies and solutions Zoe worked on during this period earned innovation awards from entities such as Discovery, Verizon, IBM, Lotus, Yahoo! and EPCOT Center, and were featured in media such as the The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Mass High Tech, Fast Company Magazine, Computer World, LA Times, Boston Business Journal, The Boston Globe and (a personal favorite) the MIT Technology Review turn-of-the-millennium cover story. As Chief Creative Officer, she also served as company liaison for top advertising agencies such as Wieden & Kennedy, R/GA, and Arc Worldwide. Zoe’s unique front-line experience in the futurist arena makes for a heightened perspective of the Digital Revolution, a global paradigm shift she believes offers unprecedented opportunities for positive change.

From within the corporate world, Zoe discovered she had a knack for persuading large companies to give back by funding the arts and sustainability. She was instrumental in procuring hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of support for organizations such as Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Defenders of Wildlife, World Music, Very Special Arts, the Guggenheim Museum (NYC), National Geographic's The Green Guide, American Repertory Theatre and many others. Zoe is an accomplished artist in her own right, and expresses fluently across several mediums. She is captivated by the depth and breadth of myth and archetypal psychology as the language of soul, a passion that informs much of her creative work.

Performing Arts

In her early career, Zoe was a professional performing artist, devoted to the craft. She is fully trained in method acting and performed in a full range of styles and genres in independent theatres and activist improv comedy venues for 15+ years. In addition to acting, Zoe has designed costumes and sets for numerous award winning full period pieces and modern dress shows. She also danced professionally for many years.

Education and Training

Zoe holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Fine Arts in Performing Arts from Brandeis University, where she was mentored by the legendary Patricia Zipprodt, one of the most influential theatrical artists of the past century and partner of 20+ years to director-choreographer Bob Fosse. At age sixteen, she was mentored for three years by master animator John Ewing, whose credits include several Disney classics and the original Spiderman TV series. Zoe believes teaching to be one of most noble forms of art, and is grateful for all the educators who have enriched her life. As a way of giving back, Zoe will on occasion mentor a gifted young person, if their calling is strong.

North Carolina School of The Arts

Zoe was born and raised in a multicultural environment filled with science, art, nature, progressive education and activism. As a girl she was a faculty wild child at the North Carolina School of the Arts where her father specialized in teaching science and mathematics to gifted performing artists, during the height of the counter-culture revolution. As a child, Zoe recalls being surrounded by gifted, bigger-than-life students and master artists who openly encouraged creativity, diversity, and personal growth. She also remembers sharing a studio with her mother, an accomplished visual artist, and joining her in marches for human rights, the women's liberation movement, and the environment.

Aotearoa, The Land of The Long White Cloud

Zoe spent the years from age nine to nineteen in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and was influenced strongly by the experience. When approaching the remote island by sea, New Zealand forms a graceful arch along a curved horizon. White clouds collect above the land mass, creating a strikingly beautiful visual. In awe of this, the indigenous Māori people named New Zealand Aotearoa, The Land of the Long White Cloud. When Zoe’s family first moved to NZ they traveled by sea. She likes to think her first memory of the island is like that of Māori, so many years ago. Zoe bonded with the island through the spirit of sweet Spring lambs.