SPEAKERS

Rocio Villalobos
Rocio is a Xicana Indigenous woman from Austin whose transnational childhood shaped her understanding of community, family, migration, inequities, and borders. For over 15 years, Rocio has been involved in social justice work, covering education, immigration, and the environment. In her role as the Immigrant Affairs Coordinator for the City of Austin’s Equity Office, she is creating a more welcoming and inclusive city for Austin’s immigrant residents. She also founded an outdoor adventure group that helps (re)connect women of color to the land and explore the history of the land on which they live and travel.

Dave Cortez is a 3rd generation El Pasoan now based out of Austin where he lives with his partner and 4 year old daughter. He grew up and learned organizing on the frontera, where industrial pollution, poverty, gentrification, racism and the border wall are seen as intersecting issues. Dave serves as the Director of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter, and has been organizing in the Texas environmental movement for 16 years.

The recent winter storm was the latest example of a crisis of multiple intersecting struggles. While Dave and his family were without power for about 60 hours and without water for several days, the trauma and stress of protecting his toddler daughter from the stress of the storm still lingers. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of Texans had much more traumatic experiences with the storm. Dave is supporting staff and volunteers across Texas who are organizing to center racial justice and equity in their work to win environmental justice, to expand clean energy, and to protect the land and resources so every Texan has access to clean water and clean air. 

Andy Escobar (he/they | el/elle) is a born and raised Houstonian from the northwest Cypress suburbs & identifies as a bisexual man of non-binary/gender non-conforming experience living with mental health struggles. They come from a working-class disabled Tejano Mexican American household and became a First Generation college graduate from The University of Texas at Austin with three majors. Passionate about anti-oppression, he has over ten years of facilitation, public speaking, volunteering, fundraising, community organizing/building, social justice advocacy, and progressive activism. Their background in fighting for equity consists of student activism for affirmative action, tenant & language justice organizing, youth voter engagement, reproductive justice power building, and anti-speciesism advocacy. A proud board member of the Houston chapter of Impulse Group International, Andy serves as the Director of Community Engagement & Advocacy to create a brave space to engage, support and connect gay men and lesbian, bi, trans, and other queer folks in a stronger & healthier community. He is a Taurus dog parent to two daughters, a stereotypical younger millennial, watches way too much TV, and has not eaten meat since 2007.

Tane Ward PhD is an organizer, author and educator based in Austin, Texas. He has held a number of roles as a director, manager, facilitator and trainer in various organizations and grassroots movements throughout North and South America. Currently he works as an Equity consultant. Tane earned his PhD in 2014 in Anthropology from the University of Texas. He writes poetry, nonfiction and fiction focused on mythology, mysticism, social justice and indigenous knowledge. His first book The Maze of Creation: An Alchemist’s Guide to the Center was published by Little Crow Press in 2019. Tane serves as Vice President to Nasaru, serves on the board of Casa de Cultura and manages Equilibrio, a decolonial organizing project.

Carmen Llanes Pulido
Carmen is a native of Austin, TX and second-generation community organizer working with neighborhoods and organizations in Austin’s Eastern Crescent for the last 15 years. After receiving an interdisciplinary B.A. at the University of Chicago in Environmental Studies with a focus on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its impact on Mexican communities and international food systems, she returned to Austin to work at home as an environmental justice researcher and organizer for People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources (PODER) in East Austin. She later ran a program at the nonprofit, Marathon Kids called the “Wellness Team Initiative,” which engaged parents and teachers at 18 elementary schools in Austin’s Eastern Crescent to increase fitness and nutrition opportunities in their communities; this program was the reason Carmen got involved in the Southeast Austin community of Dove Springs over a decade ago, where her current organization, Go Austin/Vamos Austin or GAVA, was founded. Carmen cares deeply about community relationships and intergenerational organizing, and participates in public health, anti-racist and anti-displacement networks in Central Texas and across the country. She chaired the City of Austin’s Hispanic/Latino Quality of Life Commission until July 2019 when she joined the City’s Planning Commission during a once-in-a-generation Land Development Code rewrite, and is an inaugural member of Austin’s first Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission which created single-member city council districts in 2014. She was also part of the inaugural Community Strategy Team at the Department of Population Health at the University of Texas – Dell Medical School, and is a 2019-20 Fulcrum Fellow with the Center for Community Investment at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Kizzy Hannibal Xolani is a devoted community member that is passionate about serving youth in finding their unique purpose and potential, creating accessible education, prioritizing justice, racial equity and community upliftment, fostering local intergenerational leadership and helping people maintain their personal well-being.

Kizzy is the Co-Founder of EcoRise and has played key roles in every department since the organization’s inception. In her current position, she manages programming in D.C. and California, where she supports K-12 teachers with their sustainability and environmental justice initiatives, is a co-collaborator of EcoRise’s Environmental Justice (EJ) curriculum and EJ Professional Development workshops, initiatives and outreach and co-leads EcoRise’s equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. She is also providing facilitation and development support for EcoRise’s year long Youth Climate Council programs in Austin and San Antonio and has over 20 years of experience in teaching, developing, and running youth leadership programs, training and mentoring facilitators and launching non-profit organizations and feels that collaboration and healing-centered approach is key to community engagement and transformation.

Starla Simmons, LCSW is a Clinical Assistant Professor who teaches Social Work Practice and Field Education at the UT Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She is strongly rooted in racial justice and liberation, with a passion for supporting the vitality, resilience, and collectivism of Black, Indigenous, and communities of color.  Starla has over a decade of experience as a school social worker, providing a range of direct care services to students, families, and staff. She worked as the liaison and coordinator for Austin ISD’s  School Mental Health Centers, providing consultation and operational support for school-based therapy services at 19 middle and high schools.

Starla is a skilled and experienced facilitator around racial equity, social justice and holistic practices such as mindfulness and eco-therapy. Previously, she served as Interim Executive Director for Black Mamas ATX, and Board Chair for Mama Sana Vibrant Woman. Currently, she sits on the Board of UT Elementary School.  In 2016,  Starla served as Austin leader for the national non-profit Outdoor Afro, which celebrates and inspires Black leadership in nature.  She is the faculty liaison for the Environmental Justice & Ecotherapy (EJET) student organization and Black Student Network at Steve Hicks School of Social Work.  

At home, Starla is mama Bear to her two children Maya and Langston and spirited partner to her husband, Thomas. She loves exploring natural swimming holes, sitting under trees, camping and creative expression.

Elder Marika Alvarado  is a Lipan Mescalero Apache. She is a direct descendant of generations of Medicine Women: traditional native healers of spirit and body, midwives, and plant medicine practitioners. Her mother, grandmother, and aunt handed the medicine down to her.

Her family and extended family were migrant farm workers. They traveled from Texas to the north and they always worked. Her family followed the seasons because it was their tradition to keep moving. Maestra’s family was raised to be in harmony with the Earth, the seasons, and the plants.  The plants provided their living and they healed them and those who traveled with them. The healers in her family tended the sick, the injured, and the women when they were with child and when they gave birth.

When she was five years old, her grandmother called her to her side and told her that she was the one to carry their Medicine forward. Maestra Alvarado had the spirit to teach future generations and those who had the spiritual dedication and heart to learn and use the Medicine to help others.

As a child, she was taught the traditional way , as her family tended those who came to them in need. She learned how important ceremony, prayer and intention is in the healing process. She also learned to listen to the Spirit of the plants around her. Maestra Alvarado grew up listening to the song of the Earth as she sang her wisdom to those who would listen and understand.

She is here to help in the healing of others and to pass on these teachings she has been given. She believes that she should teach all people who have the dedication and spiritual will to use these teachings as Mother Earth and the generations before her intended.

Elder Alvarado has been honored with a Lakota name, Pejuta Wakan Yuha Mani Win, which translates to, “She who carries the sacred medicine.” Being given a Lakota name is an honor, reaffirming the Condor-Eagle prophecy that says, when the eagle of the North and the condor of the South fly together, the Earth will awaken.

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