Get Interviewed: Heather Roma Wicks - Building Community, Wellness + Ranch Life in Morongo Valley

Heather and I met more than a decade ago, when we were both entrepreneurs making things happen in West LA.

It's funny looking back now because somehow, years later, we both ended up out here in the Morongo Basin and when I look at the life and businesses Heather has built here, it feels like there was a through-line all along.

Back in my LA days, I used to produce wellness events on this huge property in Malibu with what felt like a million animals, a yurt, a teepee and all the things you would expect from a slightly wild Malibu wellness festival at that time. Heather would help me with those events, and I remember how much she loved being there. She loved the animals. She loved the land. She loved that ranch lifestyle and would make little comments about it that didn't necessarily mean much at the time.

Now I look at her on ten acres in Morongo Valley, surrounded by kids and animals, hosting women's circles and retreats and sending rescue burros off to events, and think: of course this is where Heather ended up.

Honestly, I can't picture it any other way.

Our friendship has lived through a lot of different versions of both of our lives. We used to meet for hikes in Tuna Canyon. When I first knew Heather, she was living in a yurt with a baby and her then-husband. I was there through her divorce; she was there through my breakup and health issues. 

And Heather has always had this incredibly calming presence.

I genuinely don't think I have ever heard her raise her voice, which is saying something for someone who has navigated a blended family, lots of kids, animals, businesses and all of the responsibilities that come with them.

There were times when I was going through something and Heather would simply make space for me. She'd put on music or a meditation and let me lie there in her place in Topanga with her son Hendrix nearby and cry until I could regulate myself again. There was never a big production around it. She just knew how to create a space where you could land.

So when I see her doing that for women now, it doesn't feel like a business persona she created.

It's just Heather.

And while I don't have kids myself and haven't always been the target audience for some of the motherhood-centered spaces she's created, I've watched what she's been building from the outside. I hope she knows how clearly I see it: she has taken something that has always been part of who she is and built businesses and community around it here in the desert which I am so proud to see. 

From West LA Entrepreneur to Morongo Valley Ranch Life

Entrepreneurship itself isn't new for Heather. She says she's had that spirit since she was five years old, and true to her Gemini nature she's never been interested in doing just one thing.

Before moving to the desert, Heather ran a digital marketing agency. But after years of building community through screens, she found herself craving something much more tangible: real people, real connection and a life closer to the land.

Eventually, that became four interconnected ventures operating from her 10-acre property in Morongo Valley: Sacred Woman Collective Hi Desert, Lupasamama, Beer Burros & Brands, and Morongo Valley Ranch.

Each looks different on the surface, but they all make sense together when you know Heather.

How It All Began

Sacred Woman Collective Hi Desert began after a friend visited Heather's newly purchased property and immediately saw its potential for retreats.

For Heather, the idea wasn't entirely new. She grew up attending retreats with her dad, so creating that kind of gathering space herself felt familiar. After spending a couple of years hosting for the original collective, she eventually opened her own Hi Desert branch.

Lupasamama grew from Heather's connection to self-care, wellness and earth medicine. Its name translates to "earth to mama," drawing from Heather's Filipina roots. The work is centered on helping women ground themselves through nature, wellness practices and different forms of earth and equine medicine.

Then came perhaps the most unexpected branch of the Heather universe: Beer Burros & Brands.

After adopting three burros from an equine rescue, Heather recognized a gap in the Southern California event market and found a way to combine entrepreneurship, events and the animals she loved.

And then there is Morongo Valley Ranch itself: the ten acres where all of these different pieces come together.

The ranch is home, gathering place, animal sanctuary, business headquarters and a location available for photo shoots, film shoots and private retreats.

Women's Circles, Retreats + Creating Space to Connect

At the center of Sacred Woman Collective is something Heather had been craving herself when she left the digital marketing world: actual human connection.

The community hosts women's circles, retreats and wellness experiences designed to give women a place to gather without competition or judgment. Somewhere conversations can go beyond small talk and people can form real relationships.

Heather's monthly Sunset Circle is one of the ways she brings that philosophy directly into the Hi Desert community. Each month, she partners with a local co-host, creating an opportunity to introduce women to another local wellness practitioner while continuing to build connections between people who live here.

There are also offerings for mothers and children, including Mommy & Me experiences and Rising Men for moms with preteen boys.

Lupasamama expands on that work through self-care and holistic wellness, incorporating plant, equine and earth medicine into experiences intended to reconnect women with themselves and the natural environment around them.

And Then There Are the Burros

This may be the business that requires the least explanation once you see it.

Beer Burros & Brands brings rescue burros to events wearing tiny saddlebags and serving beer, kombucha and other beverages to guests.

Yes, really.

For events that want the animals without beverage service, there's Party Animals, where the animals simply mingle with guests and predictably become the center of attention.

The concept has expanded far beyond the Hi Desert, with teams serving Southern California, Texas, Mississippi, Colorado, the Four Corners, and Central and South Florida.

Back at Morongo Valley Ranch, Heather also hosts Brunch Burros, giving people a chance to experience the animals in their own desert environment.

Beer Burros & Brands also creates custom branding for weddings and special events, including personalized logos, event tattoos and keepsakes.

What You Can Experience

Across the businesses, there's something for nearly everyone:

• Monthly women's circles
• Women's retreats
• Earth medicine ceremonies
• Self-care and wellness offerings with local Hi-Desert facilitators
• Brunch Burros
• Beer Burros

Who These Businesses Are For

Sacred Woman Collective welcomes all women, local or not, including mothers and daughters through its Mommy & Me offerings, and moms with preteen boys through Rising Men. Lupasamama is open to any woman seeking self-care and wellness. And Beer Burros & Brands has become a go-to for people planning birthdays, weddings, corporate events, and private brunches.

A Fun Fact

Before any of this, Heather ran a digital marketing agency. When she moved to the desert, she craved human connection over screen connection, and that's exactly what she's built. Still, she hasn't left her marketing roots entirely behind: she still loves growing community on social media, creating content, and promoting brands that align with her values.

Giving Back to the Community

One of Heather's favorite things to return to each month is the Sacred Woman Collective Sunset Circle. She always partners with a local co-host to spotlight their wellness offerings, joining forces to build lasting, authentic connections within the community.

The Full-Circle Part

One of my favorite things about doing this interview series is getting to tell the stories of people whose businesses aren't separate from their lives. They're extensions of them.

Heather is one of those people.

I knew the woman who loved the ranch in Malibu long before she had one of her own.

I knew the woman who could create a calm place for one friend going through a breakup long before she was formally creating spaces for groups of women to gather, connect and feel supported.

And I knew the entrepreneur before all of these individual businesses had names.

More than a decade later, we somehow both traded West LA for the Morongo Basin and built very different lives and businesses out here.

Watching Heather's unfold feels especially full-circle because so much of what she's doing now was already there.

The land and businesses are different. There are definitely more burros!!

But the woman at the center of it is the same one I've known all along.

And I think that's what makes what she's built feel so distinctly hers.

Find Heather

You can follow along and find every offering through Heather's personal Instagram, @wadingwhitehorsewoman, or through her link-in-bio page at stan.store/heatherromawicks.