[7] Her mother, Ewanna Castanas, is a retired artist, gallery curator, and restaurant entrepreneur of Greek descent from Karyes (Arachova).
[9][10] Helene left New Zealand at age 19 to attend college in the United States, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre at Brandeis University under mentor Patricia Zipprodt.
[10][11] During the 1990s, she was a high tech creative executive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she helped combine the arts and artificial intelligence and led a creative team of artists and engineers in developing early interactive media campaigns for Fortune 500 clients.
Many of her advocacy efforts are for education about gender equity in the psychedelic field and industry, and the benefits and risks of ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms and cannabis as well as their legalization.
[18][3][4][19] She is also a wildlife advocate who has published about animal rights and critically endangered species such as Mexican gray wolves and New Zealand's Maui's dolphin.