ANGELA JENSEN

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Devoted to her family and natural living, Angela Jensen is a Certified Aromatherapist and hobby herbalist; she has been a member of the Directors Guild of America since 2005. Angela holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema from Binghamton University and an Associates of Arts in Communication from Broome Community College; she brings her more than 20 years of experience in film, television and radio to Uncommon Scents.
Having spent almost a decade in New York City working as an Assistant Director on Feature Films and Network Television (One Life to Live, Gossip Girl, Ugly Betty, Golden Boy), Angela is well-acquainted with the film industry, production coordination, and the ins and-outs of navigating travel and location shoots.
When her first child was born, Angela took a break from the film world to focus on raising her son. Her interest in natural living and her curiosity about the potential benefits of crafting natural remedies for her family brought her to the world of essential oils—and she fell in love with their aromas and therapeutic properties. As she explored aromatherapy resources on the internet, Angela, like so many others, was confused by the conflicting information she found: recipes, safety information, and best practices were furiously debated in online forums.
Eager to have a credible education in aromatherapy that went beyond the muddied information on social media to ensure that what she was blending for herself and her family would truly be safe, effective, and holistic, Angela committed to a 200+ hour aromatherapy certification program grounded in best practices. Since receiving her aromatherapy certification, Angela participated in an aromatherapy teacher training program, taught aromatherapy workshops, and pursued continuing aromatherapy education with notable industry educators.
Angela’s family has grown and evolved as production of Uncommon Scents has unfolded. She welcomed her second son in 2015 just prior to the film’s inception. Once production began, Angela navigated her new role as a work-from-home mom with responsibility for coordinating shoots for an independent documentary film as she raised her two young boys with thoughtful attention and intention.
When Angela began to see differences in the way her oldest son behaved relative to his peers, she had cause to focus on how she could support his thriving in new ways. After many appointments with specialists and therapists, Angela learned her son was on the Autism spectrum and had several other neurodiversity challenges.
Angela knew her skills and experience as an aromatherapist, trained holistic health coach, and budding herbalist could support her and her children as they embraced what it meant to be a special needs family. Though she has had to step into her role as a mother and matriarch in wholly unexpected ways to serve as an advocate and ally for her son, Angela has continued to contribute meaningfully in her role as executive producer for her passion project, Uncommon Scents.
Angela is thrilled to have helped lead Uncommon Scents and is excited to be stepping into post-production with the team. She is eager to create and share an inspired, fact-based documentary film that brings the world’s most renowned aromatherapy experts together on screen to share their wealth of knowledge with the rest of the world and support the important message the film has for everyone invested in essential oils, natural medicine, sustainability, and personal responsibility.

KRISTINA

BAUER

Kristina Bauer’s love of nature was born in the wild and wise corners of Danish farms where she spent childhood summers picking berries, making jam, and chomping fresh baked sourdough at her grandmother’s side. It was there she discovered that chamomile in warm milk with honey lulls a restless body to sleep, that stinging nettles were a delicious, nutritious treat, that vinegar makes for streak-free window cleaning, and that summer fruits could be put by for winter delights. In Danish gardens, kitchens, pantries, and armchairs, she learned that there is medicine in your garden, beauty in simple things, and infinite reward in knowing how to create things from nature’s gifts.
After spending some years working and living on farms in the Danish countryside,  Kristina returned to the U.S.  to attend the University of Redlands. Through their Johnston Center, she created a personalized major (Empowering Women through Nature, Knowledge, Ritual, and Divination) that allowed her to obtain a bespoke education in a combination of women’s studies, liberation theology, and creative spirituality with express emphasis on folklore, mythology, pagan studies, Mother Earth chemistry, mythology, and symbology.
Kristina’s passion for social justice led her to volunteerism and non-profit work in the HIV/AIDS community of Southern California as well as fundraising and advocacy for survivors of rape and domestic violence in Santa Fe, New Mexico. During her 17-year career in administration and marketing with a natural/organic consumer packaged goods company in Santa Fe, she expanded her coursework and experience in permaculture, biodynamics, small scale farming, animal husbandry, and old world skills and wisdom.

When Kristina's role at the company came to an end, the complementary natural therapies, organic & biodynamic homesteading, and dynamic, creative life that Kristina enjoyed personally became her professional passions. In 2012, she launched her business, Untamed Alchemy, and began sharing stories and articles about aromatics, herbs, natural living, and inspired relationship with nature on her blog, The Untamed Alchemist. In 2014, Kristina and her husband moved to Northern Idaho to find their perfect homestead in order to sustainably steward animals, grow food and medicinal plants, distill/blend aromatics, and empower others to step into active relationship with their environment, their spiritual & literal medicine, and their community of plants and people.
When Kristina began refreshing her education in aromatherapy, herbalism, and folk medicine to inform her business in 2012, she was shocked to see how much the conversation around essential oils especially had changed. Appalled by the reckless use encouraged on social media and the shocking, hyperbolic claims undermining aromatherapy’s credibility, Kristina sought solace in the growing community of anxious and angry aromatherapists reacting to the impact of increasing multi-level marketing company influence. As she shared her impassioned pleas for common sense in engagement of essential oils in personal and guest blog posts and at personal appearances, Kristina was increasingly recognized as a well-informed and outspoken advocate of “real” aromatherapy.
In early 2015, Kristina was invited by her friend and colleague Angela Jensen to consider the impact a feature-length, fact-based, brand-independent documentary about aromatherapy could have in the field. After consulting with respected teachers and important mentors, Kristina committed to creating Uncommon Scents to both celebrate the modality she loves and protect it from encroaching greed and increasingly unethical practices. Since first committing to the project in 2015, Kristina has supported the film by running its crowdfunding campaigns, managing its internet and social media presence, conducting research, securing participants, leading interviews with industry experts, and outlining, writing, and narrating  the film’s story.