Jillian Ashley is a local entrepreneur, bioregional chef and community herbalist with holistic knowledge in guiding conscious consumer experiences and stewardship of dynamic professional spaces. Over the last two decades she has refined her managerial and organizational skills building strong teams, employing holistic design practices & development of a transparent supply chain throughout the Americas to operate high volume elixir bars, tea counters & supper clubs everywhere from weekend retreats and large scale world festivals to local pop ups in Asheville, NC. 

She practices food as medicine, thriving most when she is connected to the ecology that surrounds her. She has forged loyal and long term relationships locally with farmers, herbalists, healers, chefs, wild crafters and mycologists to ensure her supply chain is clean and nutrient rich, free of chemicals and inhumane practices. In tandem she has a deep passion for waste management, ethical sourcing and permaculture with a focus in rain water. 

She operates in a zero waste mindset, meaning that she is mindful of consumption and waste in the kitchen and has created systems to divert 80% out of the landfill by buying in bulk to reduce plastic packaging, buying local to reduce emissions, choosing reusable serving ware over single use when sensible and up-cycling what is considered food waste into herbal broths, nutrient dense sauces and compost to enhance meal plans.

She founded The NOHM Collective in early 2015 realizing there was a deep intrinsic need in her community for more meaningful connection, conscious consumption and accessibility to self care. Over the years The NOHM Collective has successfully curated health & wellness services at events, hosted virtual and in person herbal education and has facilitated alcohol free bar installations nationwide and internationally in Costa Rica, Canada & London, UK. 

Jillian has been published in the news and magazine publications in New York City, Los Angeles, London and locally in Asheville for her innovations in alcohol free mixology, herbal DIY recipes and ethical sourcing practices of Cacao. More recently, Jillian has refined her craft in elixir mixology, bringing crowd favored formulas to the market as The Mertails | Elixirs as Mixers, which are available on the non-alcoholic menus of select bars, breweries and restaurants in town. You can support local and sip global by visiting these establishments and ordering a Mertail! And you can pull up a seat at the first non-alcoholic bar in Asheville, designed by The NOHM in collaboration with Asheville Dispensary in West Asheville, open seven days a week since 2018! You can also explore their herbal offerings at www.themertails.com.

Local businesses that carry The Mertails elixirs and The NOHM herbal lattes

• Dobra Tea Downtown & West
• Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse
• Harvest Pizzeria
• One World Brewing West
• Haywood Common
• Asheville Dispensary
• Mills River Brewing
• Salvage Station
• Mother Earth Foods
• Mela Indian Restaurant
• White Labs