Frances Smathers (Cutshaw) (she/they) is a Universalist follower of The Way. As a "Panentheologian," everything she learned about God in her early years came from the wild beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains first - the tribal lands of the Cherokee Nation. She believes that The Order of Hildegard develops leaders as antidotes to disconnection (from each other, Spirit and the wild) - disconnection caused by shame, power-over toxicity and the abuses of the patriarchal systems. As the founder of OH, her background includes pastoral ministry, social work, non-profit executive leadership, entrepreneurship, music, the study of Appalachian folk life/art, reconciliation (including formative months with Archbishop Desmond Tutu) and poetry. She loves to cook, spend time outdoors, write and travel. Frances is an Appalachian, Ukrainian-Jewish and French-English descended white cisgender queer Mama of beautiful adult kids.

"I will always be recovering from church trauma, and I will always live life to the fullest, loving the beauty of a wild God weaving her way through each of us, connecting us all, and all of our creation kin in a golden, breathing web of life.".