MY STORY

I am a queer, two-spirit, Coahuiltecan arts educator, rooted in the borderlands. I am of Indigenous and settler descent: my father is an Indigenous (Coahuiltecan) man born in Mexico and adopted into El Paso, TX, and my mother is white European-American raised on Haudenosaunee lands (Central New York). I grew up on the Tohono O’Odham Nation reservation, and later in Central New York. I returned to my ancestral homelands in 2012, where I earned my MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from the University of Texas at Austin. I earned a BFA in Theatre Performance and in English Studies, summa cum laude, from Niagara University. I am certified in Women's and Gender Studies  from the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies and in Arts and Cultural Management and Entrepreneurship from the LBJ School of Public Affairs. I am currently the Assistant Director of Pop Culture + Media at IllumiNative, a Native-women led nonprofit initiative working to increase the visibility of – and challenge the negative narrative about – Native Nations and peoples in American society. Simultaneously, I serve in the Leadership Circle of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, as Culture + Communications Pīlam.

I am a former classroom teacher and educator with ten years of experience. I am a former middle school theatre educator at a school in Austin, TX. Teaching students in grades 5-8, my curriculum focused on building multilingual storytelling skills, collaboration, improvisation, vocal and physical performance, creative writing, and design/technical theatre, through the lens of culturally-sustaining pedagogies.

As an educator at Bowling Green State University, I taught four courses in the Fall Semester and four to six courses in the Spring Semester. Courses included THFM 1410 The Theatre Experience (Intro to Theatre), THFM 3600 & 3610 The Treehouse Troupe (Theatre for Young Audiences Tour), THFM 3400 Creative Drama, THFM 2750 Arts Management, THFM 3750 Arts Management II, and THFM 4950 Digital Storytelling.

As a community-based educator and organizer, I have worked with the Indigenous Cultures Institute (an organization led by my elders), the Performing Justice Project, Camp Mosaic for Isma’ili Muslim youth, Con Mi Madre, ZACH Theatre, Teatro Vivo, Travis County Juvenile Probation Department, Hays County Juvenile Detention Center, Niagara University, Voices Against Violence, and Children's Theatre Workshop, among others. I lead workshops and courses in digital storytelling, creative drama, acting, improvisation, and applied drama and theatre with young people and adults in community and institutional settings. In the summer of 2017, I co-organized the March Against White Supremacy in Maumee, Ohio, the hometown of Charlottesville white supremacist James Field, Jr.

Before my time at Bowling Green State University,  I taught courses at the University of Texas at Austin. I also served as the Director of Education and Outreach for the Indigenous Cultures Institute, and as Program Manager for Urban Roots, a youth development and food justice organization. 

I am a former Advisory member and Steering Committee member of the National Steering Committee of the Latinx Theatre Commons, and the former Champion for Café Onda, the Journal of the Latinx Theatre Commons. In January 2019, I produced an international theatre festival, the LTC Theatre for Young Audiences Sin Fronteras Festival and Convening in Austin. I also served as the Board Chair on the Board of Directors of Teatro Vivo, Austin's premiere bilingual theatre company.