The Team
Our Ethos
Miami Mushroom Fest is a series of community gatherings intending to increase awareness and education about the fantastic world of fungi, as well as provide experiences that bring people together to experience the magic of human connection.
In addition to the main festival, we will offer multiple single day MMF events throughout the year, so stay tuned for announcements!
Alan Epps
Alan Epstein’s history may make him seem like a bit of a jack of all trades, but that’s not really the truth. Alan holds a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he was awarded the Jonathan Weiss Award for Public Interest Advocacy and served as Research Editor of the highly-esteemed Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, long before he ever imagined he would have anything to do with arts and entertainment. Besides his short stint as a public interest attorney for Legal Services for the Elderly in Manhattan, he has been all over the place, in terms of career. Amongst his many jobs, he has been a national trainer for Prudential, spent 15+ years in the cosmetics and beauty industry in a family business, has supervised call centers for Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity and FEMA, but Alan primarily considers himself an artist, and made a name for himself as a locally-renowned, underground dance music DJ in the Miami area under his alias “Alan Epps,” and is also an award-winning poet, currently under alias “eltonbomB,” taking first place in Realistic Poetry’s 2015 “Saving Lives With Poetry” contest for his poem “Togethered.” In 2020, Alan got an itch to become an event planner and promoter. Alan had been introduced to a supplement called “Ultimate Shrooms” from Live Ultimate by botanist friend and fellow DJ, Bryan Huberty, and after experiencing several notable improvements to his health and well-being with an extended period of use, became inspired with the idea to create a mushroom festival to promote the many benefits of different types of mushrooms and fungi for humanity. He approached Bryan with the idea, and they spent countless hours creating the foundation for Miami Mushroom Fest. Alan and Bryan later invited Darryll Fish, the progenitor of event promotions group, Miami Grooves, (in which Alan is a partner) to partner with them in Miami Mushroom Fest. All three partners have had tremendous impact and influence on the shape and trajectory of Miami Mushroom Fest. They held their premiere, weekend, camping event in May 2021 at Gaia’s Hideout in Homestead, FL to great fanfare, partnering with Renato Moreno of Inti Fruits. The MMF co-founders look forward to creating many more, magical, fungi-inspired experiences for fun gals and fun guys. Alan remains an artist at heart, and his loves for art, music, poetry, gatherings and inspiring people are the guiding forces for his current life path, as well as cornerstones for his role in Miami Mushroom Fest.
Bryan Stone
Bryan Huberty aka “Bryan the Botanist” was born and raised in Madison, WI and has studied mushrooms and botany for over 20 years receiving his degrees in 2002 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Living full time in Miami since 2009, Bryan works as the botanist and events director for Live Ultimate, a Miami Beach wellness brand, and is the co-creator of The Ultimate Elixir, Ultimate Shrooms and other wellness products. Bryan is one of South Florida’s fastest marathon runners and has completed over 45 marathons, winning 4 of them including Fort Lauderdale twice and the Bahamas. With a personal best of 2 hours and 31 minutes (5:46/mile average pace), Bryan credits medicinal mushrooms like Cordyceps and Reishi with much of his athletic success and longevity. Bryan’s favorite festival besides Miami Mushroom Fest was Anjunadeep’s inaugural Explorations 2019 in Dhermi, Albania which was a life changing experience for him. Events production, planning, the creative arts and seeing people connecting and so happy in the moment are what makes him most happy. Follow Bryan on Instagram at “bryanthebotanist” to stay connected and learn more.
Darryll Fish
Darryll “Fish”, is a music, art, and mushroom enthusiast who can often be found grooving on a dance floor somewhere in Miami.
In 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic, he launched Miami Grooves in an effort to support the local scene by promoting DJs, venues, and events in the Miami area. He eventually decided to start hosting parties, so he partnered up with local DJ, producer and poet Alan Epstein and they began curating events together. After a few months of working together, Alan suggested that he join the Miami Mushroom Fest team, and that they use their Miami Grooves network to help curate the musical side of the festival.
As someone who’s life has been greatly affected by fungi, Darryll was thrilled to team up with Alan and Bryan and honored to help bring their concept to life.
