Gina and Lesley met one fortuitous day in early summer of 2025, at a nature-based songwriting retreat that Gina was facilitating. Lesley arrived in time for the sunset jam around the firepit. As Gina shared one of her heart songs with the group, Lesley was instantly captivated by Gina’s beautiful offering and presence. Then Lesley shared a song, and Gina was struck by Lesley’s bright light and tremendous skill. And so, they agreed to meet up and explore their musical connection.  

A few moons later, the songbirds gathered in a park and, with great delight, felt an aligned calling to bring the power of music as medicine to others. They envisioned a nurturing container in which participants discover their own deep seeds of wisdom, and amplify healing potential through intentional sound and community.

 This is the origin story of two people, both profoundly moved and held by music, watering this gift into a blossoming tree that provides shelter and nourishment. May this offering awaken our innate expression as thriving, creative beings!

Gina Tang

​Gina is a poet, mother, song-catcher, and activist. She spent 20 years working as a content creator, program facilitator, and project launcher in the Health & Wellness industry before moving to an off-grid farm in the mountains of Northern California. Gazing at a million trees, eating from the garden, and getting nuzzled by goats on a daily basis reminded her that true wellness comes from connection with Original Design, Mother Nature, Life Itself.

In 2021 Gina founded Little Shepherds Nature Lab, providing outdoor educational enrichment to youth with an emphasis on world music, creative literacy, somatic embodiment, and earth science. Meanwhile, her personal music practice deepened in an unexpected way.

​While improvising and singing with the handpan drum, Gina began releasing stored emotional energy, unwinding decades of trauma from her tissues. She then discovered that offering this vulnerable space for others provided immense joy, healing, and connectivity. She launched Nectar Community Song Circles in 2024. Gathering several times a month, this container has held hundreds of people in therapeutic self-expression. 

Gina continues to harness the power of rhythm and words in her own journey of recovery, which has included eating disorders, drug addiction, alcohol abuse, toxic relationships, and seeking approval from others. Today, she enjoys an embodied freedom and wild peace. 

Gina is a Yoga teacher and Master Reiki practitioner. She received her certification in Music Therapy for Alzheimer's and End-of-Life from the University of New Mexico. She has published several books of poetry and prose, and is now recording her original songs.

Lesley Kernochan

​Lesley is a heart-centered singer/songwriter, mult-instrumentalist, and Board-Certified Music Therapist. The calling came early; the path has been deviously eclectic. After two awakening moments in early childhood when Lesley recognized the joyous bliss music brought to her, she vowed in humble reverence to be a part of bringing this magic to the world.

​At age 12, she fell in love with saxophone. In college, she received a B.A. in Music Composition at Lewis & Clark College. Then Lesley joined a host of wild Portland-based bands including March Fourth Marching Band and Vagabond Opera.

In her early 20’s, Lesley studied opera singing and took up the musical saw. Songwriting then beckoned on piano, guitar, and ukulele, leading to six original music records, signing to a European label, recording with brilliant musicians, and touring extensively in the USA and Europe.

Lesley then heard the call to become a Music Therapist: a three-year process of schooling, internship, and passing the board exam. This path has led to deeply powerful experiences offering music wellness in hospice, hospitals, special needs schools, senior homes, veteran programs, and community centers. 

Lesley’s own personal mental and physical healing journey continues to deepen this work through holistic practices such as meditation, yoga, chanting, inquiry, Internal Family Systems therapy, somatic movement, breathwork, and nature immersion.
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Lesley currently creates, offers, and prayforms music as the callings arise, guided by gratitude and joy.