Meet Rebecca Steele

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rebecca Steele. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rebecca below.

Rebecca, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.

Finding Strength Beyond Betrayal: Reclaiming My Voice and Vision
This past year has been one of deep reinvention. Many who know my work through The Well at Tecolote, or Tonantzin Botanicals may not realize that before building this space, I co-owned and operated a successful garden company for four years. It was a labor of love that allowed me to weave Traditional Ecological Knowledge, regenerative design, and native plant education into communities across San Antonio.
In 2024, that chapter of my life came to an abrupt and painful end. My former business partner, along with her uncle and an employee within the City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability (a person I had collaborated with many times while running our business), attempted to divert a grant that I had personally written, secured, and implemented for our company. Although we were listed as 50/50 partners, I carried the full weight of the operations, finances, and creative direction, while my partner repeatedly undermined or withdrew from projects that highlighted my leadership.
Their coordinated actions—designed to halt the grant’s progress and later reissue it under a new partnership—resulted in the city retracting the funds from our account. This not only dissolved the company’s financial foundation but also drove it into unmanageable debt, forcing its closure. The experience of losing my livelihood, confronting unethical behavior from people I once trusted, and navigating the resulting legal and financial consequences was devastating.
Yet from that collapse came clarity. The loss stripped away illusions and revealed what I truly stand for: integrity, reciprocity, and authentic relationship with land and community. I poured myself into reestablishing my herb company and non-profit. My happy place was working with herbs and the land while I was left to clean up a mess made not by my hands.
In the midst of heartbreak and betrayal, life placed extraordinary teachers and collaborators in my path—people grounded in Indigenous wisdom, ecological stewardship, and genuine spiritual practice. With their inspiring presence, I began shaping a new vision for The Well at Tecolote—a regenerative education and healing center that honors ancestral traditions, local ecosystems, and collective learning.
Through these partnerships, I have been invited to share TEK-based curricula with schools, lead water ceremonies, travel across the continent to exchange knowledge with Indigenous leaders, and deepen my commitment to Earth-centered education. They have kept me from believing that all people are inherently greedy and envious like my former work “buddies” were. These experiences have restored my faith in collaboration and reminded me that authenticity always finds its way to resonance.
Throughout it all, my guiding force has been my ancestors. Their voices, prayers, and resilience live in the rivers, stones, and plants that I work with every day. They are the ones who remind me to keep walking with grace even when others move with deceit. Their wisdom has carried me through the moments when human justice failed, showing me that real justice flows through lineage, through the earth, and through the work we continue.
I wanted to share this publicly, not because I seek sympathy, but because I know I am not alone. Many people of color and small business owners in San Antonio have endured similar harm—dismissed, stolen from, or taken advantage of by the City’s systems and their network of nonprofit CEOs masquerading as community leaders. It’s a pattern that thrives in silence, and I believe stories like mine deserve to be spoken aloud so that transparency, accountability, and true equity can take root.
While there has been no formal justice in reclaiming what was taken, I no longer seek validation from systems or individuals that thrive on gatekeeping and performative allyship. Like many people that embody colonistic practices, my former colleagues will never understand the depth of this ancestral guidance—the unseen current that sustains me and keeps me rooted in truth. The true justice is in witnessing The Well at Tecolote grow into a space of healing, empowerment, and community—a living testament that integrity, resilience, and ancestral purpose will always outlast deceit.
This past year has taught me that leadership is not about status, followers, or recognition—it is about consistency, courage, and care. My former colleagues as well as many apathetic COSA employees showed me what leadership is not. My ancestors, the land, and the people who continue to walk beside me show me every day what it truly is.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Rebecca Steele is owner of Tonantzin Botanicals, a TEK (traditional ecological knowledge) herb company and founder and President of The Well at Tecolote, a regenerative education and healing center. Her herbal work is ancestral, as her family is Otómi and Cohuiltecan. As an herbalist, she focuses on Meso-American Ethnobotany in order to blend culture and adapt for climate resilience. As a TEK educator, she works to build and teach curriculum to SA’s youth regarding the unique ecology of South and Central Texas. Both entities reside at the nature sanctuary in the medical center, TecoloteSA. Becca is the land steward here where she keeps demo gardens using regenerative techniques and practices conservation by leaving a portion of the land wild to forage our herbs and keep the wildlife welcome.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Public speaking skills are clutch when you are presenting content that you build yourself.
Teaching in ways or understanding how people learn. In education we call that modifying. When you can understand how people learn, you can teach an amazing array of skills with maximum retention.
Researching business and insurance law has been really helpful even without the legal obstacles I spoke about.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Building my board of directors as well as consistent volunteers is always on the top of my list for the Well at Tecolote. Self-starters and people who don’t mind getting dirty are characteristics I look for when I look to collaborate or bring on board.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Thewellattecolote.org
• Instagram: @thewellattecolote
• Facebook: The Well at Tecolote