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Drupon Lama Dorje was born in Limi in the Himalayas and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 5 under the Drikung Kagyu lineage. Since 2009, he has been living in Chile, expanding the Philosophy of Life across Central and South America.Lama Dorje serves as the primary spiritual guardian for Dewachen to ensure Dharma principles of well-being guide our lives and choices on all levels: from personal, to project, to organization, to the global level. His root teachers are H.E Garchen Rinpoche, Drupon Jampa Rigzin Rinpoche, and S.S Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang.
Carolina has a degree in Cultural Anthropology and is the founder and director of Reviveolution nonprofit in Peru. For 10 years she has worked with indigenous cultures to expand ancestral knowledge and establish land-based sanctuaries. Drupon Lama Dorje deeply impacted Carolina’s life after meeting him at an intercultural gathering in Peru. She has since devoted her time and passion to learning and expanding the precious Dharma. She travels the world with Lama as his translator and assistant, serves as the director of Lama Dorje Foundation, and is happy to be in service to bring Lama’s aspirations into fruition.
Nicole’s has joined the team with years of experience in strategic planning, business impact, marketing and experience design at B2B Fortune 500 technology companies and global education programs. She is helping to achieve the Dewachen vision through development and experiential strategies with the ultimate goal to awaken and achieve happiness for all beings.
After years of content development, production and marketing management, Kelsy developed a career cultivating artisanal relationships for the NYC fashion industry. Combined with a background in anthropology, she brings a passion for sharing and preserving indigenous wisdom. Kelsy is excited to help the Lama Dorje Foundation establish a sanctuary for awakening the human consciousness and supporting intercultural dialogue.
Anthony is a jack of all trades. He has spent the last 12 years traveling the world teaching and working with nonprofits in conservation, agroforestry, community building, volunteer management, natural building, permaculture, and sharing the dharma. For the last 4 years he has served as a primary land steward, manager, and instructor for a Peruvian non-profit at their 4,000 acre nature preserve in the Andes mountains and is excited to apply this wisdom at Dewachen.
Katrina is an Ayurvedic Doctor and Kaiut Yoga instructor, an avid student of the Vedic Arts + Sciences, a food, medicine and flower farmer, and an artist. She believes in each person’s ability to heal themselves by incorporating medicinal plants and community collaboration. She loves to grow organic food, beautify garden landscapes, build compost, and cook delicious food. Most recently she spent 2 years running the food gardens for an indigenous wisdom retreat center in the subtropical Peruvian Andes.
From a young age, Jeff always knew he wanted to help others. However, it wasn’t until he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Psychology that he discovered he wanted to accomplish this by working with the human mind. Upon his first encounter with the dharma, Jeff immediately realized how he could merge the two together. In his own creative way, Jeff melds audio and visual recordings together to produce the educational content for the Lama Dorje Foundation to spread Buddhist philosophy to the world over. As media manager of the Dewachen team, he uses technology as a means of sharing the life-changing message of the dharma to a broader audience around the globe, distributing these sacred instructions to individuals seeking to further develop their own authentic practice and preserving the teachings of the Drikung Kagyu lineage in an accessible, online database.
Joseph is a Costa Rican native and our primary community liaison. His joyful open heart, positive attitude, and local insight are Incredible attributes to the team. He has a gift of vision and skillful means to connect deeply with local community and involve everyone in the process. He had the foresight Dewachen was coming 2 years before we were introduced to the land!
Leti and Chi are space holders, retreat organizers, and community builders working primarily with natural methods of healing. With extensive dedication to serving others through natural medicine and inner healing, they are honored to have the privilege to serve the Dharma and to share peace, love, and joy with all beings.
Mikiah is founder and steward of Dancing Tree Sanctuary, a center and community land project in the Pacific Northwest. He employs his skills as a natural builder to create sacred spaces for collective healing and awakening. A devoted student of life and nature, Mikiah has been a world traveler from a young age. He values experiences that bring him in touch with our shared humanity. Mikiah has been moved by the many faces of suffering, which have opened his heart and catalyzed his path as an aspiring dharma practitioner. Mikiah is honored to contribute his skills in land stewardship and community/project development as a member of the Lama Dorje Foundation vision council.
Richard has forty years of career experience predominantly building international businesses in the software and dotcom industries where highlights include being responsible for the strategy and execution for Europe's first dotcom to IPO on NASDAQ and leading the world's first omnichannel campaign featuring Web. He has also been CEO of a public cloud company and spent 10 years with SAP. He is currently responsible for the Middle East and Africa region of a Silicon Valley based company. A former Cold War aviator with the Royal Air Force, Richard has a business degree from Liverpool and an MBA from Bradford.After many years of fascination with Buddhist philosophy and investment in ecological concerns serendipity led him to meet Lama Dorje in 2021 and take his Buddhist vows. He lives near Manchester in the UK with a grown up family. He is a current member of The Woodland Trust and an early member of the Free Tibet human rights group.
Mehul works in the development of technologies that create change for the benefit of all. He and his team develop campaigns that cut to the heart of dominant culture and propel change, particularly in relation to indigenous lineages and climate change. He holds an MPhil in social innovation and is currently working towards his doctorate in Management Information Systems at The University of Cape Town. As our strategic advisor, Mehul brings experience in Costa Rica based projects, financial management and fundraising, as well as business positioning and branding.
Aaron is currently the Technical Lead at Cornell University’s ILR School, where he brings over two decades of experience in web application development. Aaron brings a passion for “technology as transformation” to his role as our technical strategist for expanding ancestral wisdom in the modern world.
Luis Quispe is a respected Pampamesayoq wisdom-keeper of the Q’ero Nation of Peru. He served on the Q’ero Nation council for 2019, and is a phenomenal reader of coca leaves.
Luis dedicates his life to sharing ancestral wisdom and traditional ceremony with humility and cultural integrity to ensure the wisdom of his lineage continues to feed the spirit of the Earth and benefits all people far into future generations.
Leticia grew up traversing the Andes mountains and learning about Inkan plants from the matriarchs of her family, her mom and abuela. She was the only child in her lineage who had a natural gift with plants and decided to dedicate herself to the medicine path.
She pursued higher education in nursing and became a certified nurse in her 20’s so she could have an understanding of occidental medicine. She determined that occidental medicine is very beneficial in many ways yet, in her opinion, also has its downfall in causing many unwanted side effects.
Leticia now bridges the best of both worlds dedicating herself to providing health care for her community through traditional Quechua medicines, plant walks, herbal therapies, and medicine making.
She is the Co-Founder and lead herbalist in Hampi Mama Botanical Sanctuary. Hampi Mama means “Medicine Mother” in Quechua. Her dream is to establish additional medicinal sanctuaries in both highland communities and the cloud forest to preserve the full breadth of Andean plant knowledge and habitats.
