My identity, my desires, and my convictions are a spectrum of ideas drawn from family stories, my own experiences, and the experiences of those around me.

As a descendant of Japanese American farmers who were forced into Internment Camps during WWII, I grew up with stories that formed a deep sense of justice and a love of land. As a mixed-race person who grew up both white and Other, I have a passion for conflict resolution, and acknowledging the complexity and contradiction in each human life. As an educator and activist, I have had wonderful opportunities to listen and learn: living on a CSA farm and working the land, working with youth in prison and homeless centers, re-defining activism through a Healing Justice framework with LGBTQ People of Color. Some of these experiences have left me with a sense of who I am, and who I am not. Some have also left me with a sense of separation, emptiness, and longing.

It is healing and self-reflection, physical and emotional inquiry that has kept me surviving and thriving, able to feel whole enough to participate in a world that holds so much pain and joy. It is organizing and activism that has kept me sane, giving me tools to create the change I want to see for all people to thrive. It is art-making that has allowed me to expand my identity beyond the bounds of what the world defines me as: to play with perception and who I am in each moment, to rediscover and redefine my capabilities, and to encourage those witnessing to reflect back on their own existence with a new perspective.

I have not always been able to ‘sum up’ my personal and professional experience. Like all organic structures, I am in constant flux and change, my identity and existence a spectrum. In the workforce alone, I have only ever held one full-time, non-profit job. This ever-changing landscape is part of how I engage the world around me: I have always been making, hustling, envisioning, reaching, striving for change. ​