Our Team

Nocturnal Medicine is a collective of artists, healers, activists, scientists, therapists, and designers working to regenerate our cultural relationship with nature.

Larissa Belcic

FOUNDING DIRECTOR

Larissa (any pronouns) grew up in northern New Jersey on the urban-industrial edges of New York City. From childhood, she has been a student of the area’s polluted grounds, wandering the shadows of its heavy infrastructure. Born into Italian-American and immigrant Croatian communities, Larissa’s background is informed by the tapestries of the NYC region and the rural culture of Croatia. Raised Catholic, her spiritual practice is informed also by nature, dance, and self-guided attunement to the divine.

Art, expansive thinking, and community work have been cornerstones of Larissa’s journey. After earning a BA in Linguistics from Boston College, Larissa joined the NYC Service Corps, working in community engagement while making and exhibiting paintings in the grassroots pockets of the NYC art world. She then earned her Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, going on to work as a designer in renowned experimental practices like OFICINAA and TerreformONE.

She now teaches landscape architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. Deeply sensitive, neurodivergent, and intuitive, Larissa remains a student of the self, the world, and its deeper mysteries, and brings this commitment to her work with Nocturnal Medicine.

Michelle Farang Shofet

FOUNDING DIRECTOR

Michelle (she/her) was born and raised in Los Angeles, and from an early age was drawn to the city’s underworld of oil fields. The daughter of Iranian-Jewish immigrants, Michelle comes from a close-knit immigrant community and navigates the world from within a complex intersection of identities. Deeply feeling and drawn to the arts, Michelle has woven expertly through DIY and institutional creative scenes in her work to tune into and express the intricacies of the human soul.

She earned a BA in Art History and City Planning from UC Berkeley while composing and performing music along the west coast. She went on to earn her Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, and later worked as a landscape designer at internationally-renowned firm Snohetta. She has been a fellow of Humanity in Action, conducting grant-funded research on memory, place, and identity in Poland. She now teaches climate & design at Parsons School of Design.

Throughout, she has explored and expressed her personal relationship with the divine—through communion with nature, dance, and exploration of the psyche. She brings all of this to bear in her work with Nocturnal Medicine, plumbing her own depths to serve as a powerful guide for others.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Dr. Sean Connelly

PRESIDENT
Sean (they/them) is a Pacific Islander American artist born, residing, and working in Honolulu, Kona, Oʻahu. Sean's multifaceted practice encompasses sculpture, installation, film, design, and cartography, frequently integrating experimental methodologies.
Their work delves into the interplay with the built environment, intersecting oceanic intellect and futures in contemporary practice, spanning both tangible and theoretical domains. This exploration is informed by cultural, ecological, historical, material, water, food sovereignty, and land justice themes.
Dr. Dani Gelardi

SECRETARY
Dani (she/her) is the Senior Soil Scientist and Climate Coordinator at the Washington State Department of Agriculture, where she leads soil and climate efforts for the agency including the Washington Soil Health Initiative. She is also Adjunct Faculty at Washington State University in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
Dani received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Soils & Biogeochemistry from UC Davis as a Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) Fellow, and her B.S. from UC Berkeley. Her research program encompasses soil health, biochar, conservation practice adoption, agricultural climate resilience, and carbon accounting in working lands.
Larry Joo

TREASURER
Larry (he/him) is currently working in the healthcare industry, with experiences in managed care contracting at Mass General Brigham and Gold Health Strategies in the Boston and NYC regions respectively, where he was responsible for payer negotiations, financial modeling, and contract review for his clients.
His previous roles include stints at NYU Langone Health in the finance/accounting department, as well as at Ernst & Young, LLP. He earned his Bachelor's degree with a double major in Accounting and Philosophy from The College of New Jersey and a Masters in Health Administration from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.