MY STORY

The thread of my work is a focus on shifting narratives to support decolonization movements (#LandBack) and Black liberation. Whether it be through community organizing, consulting and trainings, education or research, the consistent pull is contributing toward movements that support Indigenous sovereignty and liberatory futures for Black communities.

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 Director of Research + Action at IllumiNative, a Native-women led racial and social justice organization working to increase the visibility of – and challenge the negative narratives about – Native Nations and peoples in American society. In this role, I lead the Indigenous Futures Survey (the largest Native-led survey of Native peoples, for Native peoples) and the Native Visibility + Power Project, a multi-pronged public opinion and strategy setting study of non-Native peoples opinions about Native Americans. Previously, I served as the Assistant Director of Pop Culture + Media at IllumiNative. In this role, I led training partnerships with Netflix, Apple, Disney, National Geographic, AGBO, NBCU, Warner Media, and Lionsgate, among others. I also led multiple research projects, including a study with the USC Norman Lear Center analyzing the impact of Native representation on scripted television. I also lead the development of an industry guide focused on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Crisis. Alongside my team, I developed and delivered multiple programs, including: the IllumiNative Producers Program in partnership with Netflix, Warner Media Discovery Early Career Access Bootcamp, Netflix Animation Foundations Program, and the Indigenous List. I served as a consultant on multiple film, television and media projects. Previously, I served on faculty at Bowling Green State University, and have guest lectured at The University of Texas at Austin, Vassar College, Brooklyn Public Library, and New Jersey Performing Arts Center, among others. For several years I also served in the Leadership Circle of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, as Culture + Communications Pīlam.

Beginning in 2020, with the blessing of my elders from the Miakan-Garza Band of Coahuiltecans, I began leading a multi-million dollar initiative to establish an Indigenous Cultures Center in Hays County, TX. The first #LandBack initiative in Central Texas, this center would also be the first of it’s kind in the state of Texas. Returning land to our community would conserve our lands, protect our waters, and provide a permanent educational and ceremonial space for local Indigenous communities and future generations. With the collaboration of many, we created a formal proposal for County bond funding to be presented in front of the Hays County Parks and Open Spaces Advisory Commission. As of today, we have secured $5 million dollars from Hays County toward construction, and negotiated a land return from Texas State University to bring the project to life (#LandBack). You may read about our initiative to establish an Indigenous Cultures Center in the press.

Additionally, I have been leading and organizing the fight against the University of Texas at Austin seeking the return of three ancestors that were unearthed from our ceremonial grounds (#AncestorsBack). Formally, I serve as a member of the Repatriation Committee for the Miakan-Garza Band of Coahuiltecans. A huge component of this work is narrative disruption and on-the-ground organizing. By educating the public about the law, and organizing counter-narratives to disrupt the misinformation spread through the press by UT, we continue to fight against the most powerful institution in the state of Texas. More here

In addition to narrative change work to support Native self-determination, I have been an organizer supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in Austin since 2013. In the summer of 2017, while living in the midwest, I co-organized the March Against White Supremacy in Maumee, Ohio, the hometown of Charlottesville white supremacist James Field, Jr.

As a community-based educator and organizer, I have worked with MindPOP, the Indigenous Cultures Institute, 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, and Voices Against Violence, among others. Before my time at Bowling Green State University,  I taught courses at the University of Texas at Austin.

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 multilingual theatre festival, the LTC Theatre for Young Audiences Sin Fronteras Festival and Convening in Austin. I also served for several years as the Board Chair on the Board of Directors of Teatro Vivo, Austin's premiere bilingual theatre company.