Johnnie Heider-Kuhn shared his story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Johnnie, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I begin each morning with movement – for the first 90 minutes, I practice Ashtanga yoga, swim, or lift weights. On rest days, I like to watch the birds in my garden or go for a walk around the neighborhood.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Johnnie, aka Cloudsong, the founder of Earth Medicine Apparel Co.™ We create wearable art with direct environmental and social impact. Rooted in art, conservation, and community, my brand weaves together graphic design (100% by humans), traditional Earth-based healing practices, and direct action with corporate social responsibility. Every design begins as original artwork inspired by Earth’s medicines – from plants and animals to ancestral traditions- and connects our customers to a specific environmental or social impact campaign. I created this brand as a means to share art, cultivate community around shared values, and generate networks of support from our supply chain to the wisdom keepers of Earth’s most precious medicines.
I have dedicated my life to studying traditional Earth medicines with North and South American elders, in classrooms and wild spaces. After a 10-year career in botanical supplements and herbal education, I started wondering how I could share the healing wisdom of the Earth through my art. Out of this journey, I created Earth Medicine Apparel Co.™ as a way to merge creativity with purpose.
What makes our brand unique is that we’re not just making clothing—we’re sharing sacred stories, uplifting 2SLGBTQIA+ artists, and directly supporting conservation and Indigenous communities. We take time to source garments that are produced in ethical factories with sustainable fibers and screen printed by domestic artists with water-based inks. Plus, a portion of every collection fuels scholarship funds and impact projects. Right now, our debut collection honors the late Maestro Jhonny Javá, an Amazonian healer whose legacy we’re helping support, alongside his family and community.
At its heart, Earth Medicine Apparel Co. is about the connection between people, the planet, and the medicines that guide us to wholeness.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
In 2022, I journeyed with 8 colleagues to the Peruvian Amazon. Our adventure was a two-fold cultural exchange: time spent in Matsés territory in the Loreto Region, as well as time spent with a Kichwa wisdom keeper living along the Napo River. From the moment the Amazon River took shape as our plane descended to Iquitos, through the end of this incredibly challenging journey, my heart was broken wide open. Seeing stacks of skyscraper-tall trees, freshly cut from the jungle by transnational corporations, witnessing animals in cages for trade, and seeing smoke plumes rise above the canopy felt like a gut punch. When we were with the Matsés at the time, they did not have the means to collect and filter water, so during the dry season, their water for bathing, swimming, fishing, cooking, and drinking was a chocolate-milk-toned pool of stagnant water. Despite this, you know what they did for us? They surprised us with a cooler of ice they boated and hiked many, many miles to their settlement so we could add ice to our filtered water. The hospitality from all of our hosts, the ways we connected beyond language and culture under shared values of Amazonian medicines and conservation, allowed life-long reciprocal relationships to form. This, combined with seeing the realities of late-stage capitalism and its extractive destruction in the Amazon, shaped how I see the world today.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
In 2010, I experienced a profound emotional trauma at the hands of a family member. For 11 years afterward, I lived on the rollercoaster of rejection, judgment, and ostracization. I sank into depression, numbed myself by partying too much, and blew through all my money right after college. The following year, I decided to start over in the Rocky Mountains. There, I poured myself into making art and began caring for my physical body by changing my diet and lifestyle.
Even with a decade of effort, the wound never fully healed. It stayed like a cold weight in my body, shaping how I showed up in relationships. Then, in 2021, I encountered the powerful Earth Medicine, Kambô. During my very first ceremony, I was confronted with both the trauma and the person who caused it. In that space, something extraordinary happened: where I once carried resentment, bitterness, and hatred, my heart opened. I found and deeply felt forgiveness.
It felt as if the pain was vacuumed out of me. As the medicine completed its process, I felt reborn. That wound, which had haunted me for over a decade, finally released its grip. Kambô gave me back my life, and that experience transformed me forever. Healing is complex and layered, so I will say I am also grateful for my therapist and yoga studio!
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I’m deeply committed to my current project, Earth Medicine Apparel Co.™, because I believe that beyond how we love, pray, vote, or live, most of us share common values we’re sometimes tricked into forgetting. When communities gather around those shared values, collaboration becomes possible, and lateral networks of support can flourish.
Today’s shoppers are more conscious than ever, seeking brands that truly walk the walk and align with their values. My mission is to meet that need by creating apparel with original, human-designed graphics that are responsibly produced using earth-conscious materials.
I have big dreams for the future of this brand, and I’m just getting started.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace when I get to be still in Nature. I love hiking, kayaking, camping, and snowshoeing. When I turn off my speaking voice, drop into my surroundings, and become fully present, I feel at peace.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.earthmed.clothing
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthmedicineapparelco/
Image Credits
All images © 2025 Divine Medicine Tees LLC dba Earth Medicine Apparel Co. All rights reserved.
