There was always something cooking in my grandmother’s kitchen.
Ferments, infusions, and tinctures lined the benchtop.

Between the scent of steaming rice and medicinal herbs, I first experienced healing — though I didn’t realise it until much later.

As a child, I struggled with chronic health issues. Summers with my grandmother taught me care without words. A skilled Taoist face reader, she simply knew and began to cook.

I still remember the bitterness of her mugwort omelette and her quiet knowing that it would do me good. Food as medicine — but more than that, love as medicine.

These early memories rooted me in the syncretic traditions of Southeast Asia and sparked a lifelong devotion to the healing arts. Over time, my studies in naturopathy, Vedic astrology, and yoga therapy gave form and language to what I had absorbed as a child.

Uma Collective is the continuation of those moments in my grandmother’s kitchen — a space of learning, healing, and nourishment. A place where ancient practices are remembered and woven into modern life to heal body, mind, and spirit.

Here we invite you to come home — to the wisdom of the earth, the stars, and your own spirit.

Stephanie Le