Since the age of 16, Oxford-born Tish Streeten has passionately worked with herbs and herbal medicines. It was much later that her studies and profession as an herbalist and a filmmaker made her travel across the world, and one of the destinations was India. On one such trip in 2000, folk herbalists in Rajasthan known as Gunis introduced Streeten to tulsi. Tulsi also happens to be the name of her adopted daughter from India.

"While thinking of possible names for my future daughter, Tulsi came to mind. But since when translated into English it is basil, which is a boy's name, I found it inappropriate. So you can imagine my surprise when after a year or two of the adoption process, the orphanage I was working with in Pune called me to say there was a baby girl called Tulsi who they had matched with me!" recalls Streeten in an email interview from New Jersey, USA, where she runs Queen Mab's Herbs, a community supported medicine healing centre for people and their pets.