I am made of the memories of the earth and stories of my ancestors.
I am an expansive, multidimensional, complex human being seeking to live my life fully and with heart. I am constantly learning how to love myself better and create my life with love. I am a shape-shifting creature who has made a home of the liminal and in-between. I transcend binaries, boxes, and blocks in imagination. I am a child of the earth, sun, and stars. I am healing and finding my way back into my voice, truth, and power.
I am made of the memories of the earth and stories of my ancestors. In my heart is the vastness of the ocean, fields of wild flowers, and a sky full of stars. I take baths and lay in the moonlight to remember myself. And when my mind drops down into the space of my heart, I float through my own sea. I feel my own rhythms and waves. I feel the fullness of both my grief and my joy. And I continue to swim. I continue to make room.
My Background & Experience
Writing and poetry are belovedly central to who I am and what I do. I have been writing poetry since I was 11 years old and published my first poem at the age of 16. Since then, I have published and performed my work though the National Queer Arts Festival, the Poetry Project, RADAR Productions, and more. I received my MFA in Poetry from Mills College, where I attended as a Community Engagement Fellow and collaborated with local organizing projects such as Care Not Cops to bring reading, writing, and creating ritual with poetry into public space and political action. water/tongue, my first full-length poetry book, was a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist.
In addition to writing, my experience includes over 15 years as a creative and healing arts facilitator within anti-violence and gender justice movements, and youth, queer, and trans communities of color. I have designed and facilitated workshops on radical dreaming, writing with ancestors, and altar-making, and most recently, led a year-long monthly workshop space exploring grief through writing. I’ve provided donation-based reiki to BIPOC youth and survivors of violence, and have been giving intuitive / spiritual readings to people in my community for over 7 years. As a certified death doula, I hold grief circles for QTBIPOC people and offer grief support and ritual creation for people moving through various forms of change and loss.
Last, I have worked within the non-profit and philanthropic sectors, specifically in youth leadership development and gender, racial, reproductive, and transformative justice since 2008. Through this work, I have led and developed intersectional leadership development programs with a strong healing and creative focus as well as participatory grantmaking programs centering QTBIPOC youth.
As a queer, Mexican and Vietnamese person living with chronic illness and C-PTSD, I am healing lived and intergenerational trauma by writing a new story. I am grateful for the friends, teachers, and ancestors whose love, wisdom, and affirmation light the way.
Trainings & Certifications
In addition to a life long practice of intuitive and community-driven ancestor work and earth-based spiritual practice, the following training and certifications have equipped me with tools that I thoughtfully bring into my work:
UETF Resiliency Artist in Residence, 2024-2025
UEFT Resiliency Artist in Residence, 2022-2023
Grief Listening Line Training, A Sacred Passing, 2023
Death, Grief, & Estranged Relationships, Dougy Center, 2023
On the Movement to Pathologize Grief, Dougy Center, 2023
Becoming Grief Informed: Foundations of Grief Education, Dougy Center, 2023
Tending the Five Gates of Grief with Francis Weller, 2022
Intuitive Development with Nelly Reznik, 2022
Curandera Toolkit, Ancestral Apothecary, 2022
Conscious Dying Coach & End-of-Life Doula, Conscious Dying Institute, 2021
MFA in English / Poetry, Mills College, 2016
Reiki Teacher & Practitioner, 2012
Integrated Energy Therapy Practitioner, 2012
Intimate Partner Violence Counselor, Asian Women’s Shelter, 2008