I was born and raised in the East Bay, CA, and identify as a biracial (Mexican-American and white), queer/bisexual, cisgender woman. I am currently studying to get a Masters in Social Work at Smith School for Social Work. As an abolitionist and as someone whose family has been impacted by the U.S. criminal legal system, a part of my journey also includes challenging the field of social work’s complicity with the carceral system and uplifting alternative responses to harm that create true safety and wholeness for all communities. I have spent much of my adult life working in Bay Area restorative justice organizations helping to create healing spaces for women of color survivors of sexual harm, currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, and youth in Oakland and Richmond school