As a young teenager, I was initially drawn towards medicine. I wanted to improve the lives of people who struggled and I passed through a number of potential careers as I learned more about the diversity of the field. From neurology, psychology, to pharmaceutology, I was increasingly drawn towards perspectives that acknowledged the greater context of health and the importance of the various aspects of wellness. Following the human services track in high school, I was matched to social work by a career aptitude test and pursued that degree with the hopes of becoming an addictions recovery specialist. 

While studying social work at Pacific University, I shifted my focus onto an issue I had more personal experience with--sexual violence. Inspired by Half the Sky, I began to take action to change the culture I lived in, hoping that my contributions could shift the narrative on a societal level via public education, advocacy, and political involvement. 

This passion led me to the Master’s program at the University of Pennsylvania, where I was introduced to critical race theory. Realizing how my personal ignorance on the issue would lead me to perpetuate inequity in my work (as per the Pedagogy of the Oppressed), I again altered my course. Rather than seeking power of my own to try to mold society into what I thought was better, I challenged myself to seek and understand the ways that racism, classism, and later ableism, show up in my thoughts, choices, and relationships. Over the last ten years, I have focused on developing myself as a person who centers nonviolence, equity, empowerment, and consent. I’ve worked to support nonviolence communication, deescalation, compassionate activism, and restorative justice in spaces of ideological conflict. 

Recently, I’ve realized that I have an opportunity to bring something unique to the grassroots community table. After a decade of watching myself and my comrades and community members exhaust and overextend themselves, taking on physical pain and suffering and experiencing personal traumas in the fight for justice, I knew I had to take a different approach. I realized that while I can’t force people to feel empathy, to confront fear, or to change their minds, I can empower people to break free from the cycles of abuse and dependency that dominate in schools, workplaces, and in colonized (Western or “Big”) medicine.

As I learned more about massage therapy, I uncovered more about the body’s healing mechanisms and the fantastic capacity for growth that humans have at all stages of their lives. I learned how massage can offer freedom from pain, relief from anxiety, and the fortitude to imagine your own path. I came to see how this form of ‘alternative medicine’ can uplift and help people shift their perspective on what is possible. Now, as a massage therapist, I understand bodywork as a tool of empowerment in its own right--to revalue self care, to build the capacity to connect, to relieve suffering, to share love. I'm excited to share my journey with you as collaborative partners in rediscovering the power of touch and your Self.