I grew up in a collective Hispanic family in a small town in Texas where I felt like an outsider and for a long time, I didn’t have a strong sense of who I was. For so many years, I adapted to an identity that I now know was to help me feel safe. I was afraid to exist as a woman of color so I internalized messages about my brown skin and what it means to be a Mexican-American navigating life through the lens of a white world. I came to a point in my life where I felt exhausted from living life with a mask on. As someone who has once, and still sometimes does, struggle with wanting familial validation while walking my path, I know how isolating it can be growing up in a collectivist culture; many other layers accompany isolation, such as rejection, guilt, and disconnection, which may lead to shame, perfectionism, and masking your identity. Cultivating safety within myself has allowed me to proudly take up space and use my voice that for so long was silenced.

We tend to tell ourselves stories about who we are based on systems that aren’t meant for us to thrive in. Sometimes these stories empower us, and sometimes they may limit our abilities. When we are in a place of suffering, we tend to turn away from ourselves, creating distance and distraction. Let me help you take a you-turn and look inward. We cannot heal if we cannot confront the silenced parts of us.

• Latina

• Cisgender Woman

• Fat

• Person with chronic illness

• First-generation college graduate

• Bicultural family, Mexican & Jewish

• Wife

• Familial invalidation in a collectivist culture

• Generational trauma

• Childhood abuse

• People impacted by a loved one on death row or incarcerated

• Cultural/ racial identity & oppression

• Religious trauma

• Body image & self-compassion

• Grief & loss