I grew up among the golden hills and oak-filled outskirts of Los Angeles, breathing in the briny sea breeze, infused with scents of sage and the unmistakable magic of Southern California. Spending my youth embedded in queer punk, roit grrrl, skate, and surf culture, I was quickly drawn to the arts, becoming immersed in woodworking and playing classical guitar. The communities of folk music and punk rock surrounded me with makers and mentors, instilling an early appreciation for the unique expressions art can have on the world.

Even before graduating high school, I began touring internationally with metal, hardcore, and emo bands, playing excitedly on makeshift punk venues all the way up to arenas. By selling 7-inch records, handmade zines, and t-shirts, I extended my personal relationships into an interconnected and supportive and inclusive DIY scene, making lifelong friendships and playing a tiny, passionate role in the DNA of the underground music community.

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While on the road, I was lucky enough to be exposed to self-studied intellectuals and a kind of brilliance only gained through deep engagement with a dynamic sea of ideas and experience. I consumed Le Guin, Nietzsche, Lao Tzu, Adrienne Rich, and Alan Watts in the back of dusty vans and on motel floors, exposed to ritual magic, esoterica, Buddhism, and Taoism. Somewhere between tours, I took classes in philosophy at Moorpark College, and though it would be years before I put touring behind me, those rigorous inquiries planted the definitive seeds of my future.

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By my late twenties, perhaps influenced by my parents—one a professor from Ecuador, the other a German therapist—I recognized a gift for listening deeply to people’s desires. My time in music had trained me to be keenly attuned to others and to collaborate effectively. As I aged, I was drawn to academia, and after my mother passed away from cancer, the sublimity of loss and the unexpected explosions of kairos inspired me to enroll and finish my degree at Antioch, a college founded on radical thought and mutual aid. There, I immersed myself in Eastern wisdom traditions, American Utopian movements, and post-modern philosophy, traveling eventually to sacred sites across Mexico, Spain, Japan, and South America to conduct fieldwork and write paper in the intersection between anthropology, sociology, wisdom tradion, and folk practices.

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After receiving my B.A. in philosophy, I started the non-profit Rogue Scholars, a radical experiment in pushing experiential learning to its zenith. I ran the group for two years, utilizing a non-hierarchical model to facilitate in person gatherings towards interpretation of critical works by figures like Maggie Nelson, Susan Sontag, Noam Chomsky all the way to Guy Debord and Jack Halberstam --- committed to making challenging, free-thinking ideas accessible regardless of scholarship level. I'm honored to say many rogues attended these encounters at my home in South Central LA. This project cemented my commitment to systemic thought and collaborative illumination. I returned to Antioch for my Master’s, finding profound alignment with Michael White’s Narrative Therapy—which drew its ideas from anthropology and critical theory. I combined these ideas with an interest in the humanistic core of Carl Rogers work in relational Gestalt therapy. Yet, it is the Taoist tradition, Lao Tzu, Lieh Tzu and Chuang Tzu, with their wild subversion of language and beautiful potentials, all embedded in rich poetry, that remains the primary influence in my practice.

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I interned at the Southern California Center and Narrative Counseling Center, and upon completion, I opened my own practice, which is now running for its 13th year. Through this rich and varied journey, I moved away from writing about obscure cults and religious outcroppings and instead moved my thought towards the vital intersection of ecology and psychology. I’ve hosted the scholarly podcast Shoot The Dancing Bear, led workshops on psychedelic psychotherapy, and trained talented therapists. All of these threads—the collaborative punk stage, the contemplative wisdom of the Tao, and the rigor of philosophy—inform my work as an LMFT, where I am devoted to illumination of the intricate systems that hold your life in place.