the team
Elizabeth Couse
Elizabeth is an environmentalist and food justice advocate who has been community organizing in Latin America for the past decade. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in International Agriculture & Rural Development and minors in Education and Community Food Systems. She has worked for a diverse range of nonprofits and community projects to advance the movement for food sovereignty and farmworkers rights. She founded Liberation Agriculture, a storytelling platform aimed to uplift marginalized voices in the environmental movement and support a power shift. She previously owned a farm-to-table restaurant in Costa Rica and loves all thing creative whether that be cooking, photography, painting, or dreaming up ideas for a new world!
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Joshua Kwaku Asiedu
Raised within the fast pace of the Western world, yet guided by a deep call to the land, Joshua has spent nearly a decade living close to the way of the Earth. From farming, foraging, building and learning from rural and indigenous communities, he has researched and studied across five continents.​ Joshua's journey brought him back to his great-grandparents’ ancestral land in Ghana, where he has crafted with his own hands a simple yet functional, off-grid eco-village deep within the tropical forest. After establishing his life in the forest, Joshua began sharing his knowledge through immersive workshops and retreats in natural building, off-grid living, sustainable farming, herbal medicine, traditional pottery, natural food processing, and more, on his ancestral land. Joshua now shares the Earth-centered way of life with a global audience, guiding others toward a land-based revolution rooted in self-reliance, simplicity, and harmony with nature.
Cristina Chan
Cristina is a movement practitioner born and raised in San José, Costa Rica. She holds a degree in Marketing and has spent over 15 years training in ballet and contemporary dance. She brings a deep connection to place as well as an embodied approach to creative expression. After moving to Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast in 2021, Cristina began exploring somatic movement as a way to support emotional awareness and self-expression. Her work is grounded in the belief that movement can be both a personal and collective practice and help people reconnect with themselves and the world around them. Cristina is also a trained doula and is passionate about supporting and uplifting women and carries this passion through all of her work.
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The Zuniga Family
Javier and Raquelle founded Villas Mastatal in 2007 and have nearly two decades experience in permaculture, off-grid living, and hosting international groups. They have transformed their 50-hectare property and inspired thousands who have passed through the farm all while raising their two beautiful children, Andres an Ayanara. They have deep roots in Mastatal with Raky's 9 siblings all still residing in the community and running other projects in town. Javi is a master permaculturist and has reforested their land which was formerly a barren cattle pasture, while creating a thriving and abundant food forest. Raky primarily runs the kitchen, with years of experience cooking farm to table meals for large groups. You can read more about their story here.
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