I studied to become a therapist in order to advocate and work directly with people for change. In therapy, we do this together by looking at the main issue at hand. With gentleness, we address the context of the issue such as its history, the impact it's having, and the ways you'd like to see it changing.

Approaches we can use are mindfulness and problem-solving. We utilize curiosity, reframing, and iterating to practice new ways of thinking and doing. As a Latina, I also appreciate how cultural aspects of our family and community show up. However you define culture, we can explore its importance and impact on you.

I love storytelling and advocacy. Those are the two threads that connect my career. When I worked in the film industry we looked at characters and their motivations to move the action along. As a researcher, we listened to participants and tracked their patterns of behavior for insights. At non-profits, we received those in need and provide services.

Therapy is a way to be available for someone in need, hear their story, listen for their motivation to change by addressing patterns, and then provide guidance for accomplishing that change. It's a form of immediate gratification via connection with one another.

Three organizations that I love to support are Esquina Tango, Waterloo Counseling Center, and KCRW/NPR.

Esquina Tango is a non-profit that creates connection and community with dance and music. Waterloo Counseling Center provides affordable therapy with expertise for the LGBTQ+ community. KCRW is the NPR station for Los Angeles. They have rich programming and they especially have some of the best music that is eclectic and inclusive.

Over the last two years, I have discovered landscape design. One main rule is that there is no such thing as failure, only learning. So now I pick weeds and I throw mulch non-stop.

I've gotten back into yoga after a few years of a pause and there is nothing so refreshing as being a beginner again. This time around I'm enjoying the deliberateness of decolonizing aspects of how yoga has been presented in our western culture. I find space for both and continue to learn.

I have three huskies. I wasn't a dog person until 2015. We got our first husky and two weeks later the Humane Society called us to tell us a "funny story" that another dog, which had been found at the same time as ours, had babies that looked part husky. So we adopted one! Now we have three fun pups.