I was born/raised on the traditional homelands of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’, Tséstho’e and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ and +48 Indigenous Nations, aka Denver, CO. My ancestral lineage is Mexica, Totonaca and Spaniard. I identify as Mexican-American, Xicana and Latina and use She/Her/Ella pronouns. I am first generation to hold U.S birthright citizenship; first gen to earn a BA, an MA and now a PhD.

Because of my personal and familial lived experiences, I am intimately aware of intersecting societal systems that marginalize and oppress BIPOC communities historically and contemporaneously. At age 15, I became involved in Youth Organizing at Denver West High School, working on issues of educational justice and immigrant rights at the federal, state and local level. I have been a community organizer, non-profit leader, and a state employee charged with implementing state law won by grassroots campaigns.

I seek to decolonize and re-Indigenize the field of youth organizing and engage BIPOC youth in healing, power building, and collective action. I believe in the power of intergenerational imagination to usher us toward a future of abundance, liberation and relationships of balance with human and more-than-human relations.