This work is deeply personal, and it is also political.
I believe it’s essential to be clear about where I stand. I feel a strong responsibility to name my values and the movements that shape my practice. I want the people I work with to know what I am committed to, who I’m accountable to, and what I’m actively working to dismantle and imagine beyond.
Statement on Justice, Power, and Practice
My work does not exist outside systems of power. It is rooted in and accountable to movements for bodily autonomy, queer and trans liberation, racial justice, fat liberation, and disability justice. I have been shaped by years of community organizing and by the collective wisdom of mentors, peers, and students who have challenged me to examine the roles of white supremacy, capitalism, ableism, anti-fatness, and carceral systems in shaping how we relate to our bodies and to each other.
As a white, mid-fat person, I hold privilege both in the body I move through the world in and in the systems built to uphold whiteness, thinness, able-bodiedness, and normativity. I honor and uplift the leadership, labor, and lived wisdom of superfat, infinifat, disabled, and multiply marginalized people whose bodies are most targeted, pathologized, and erased.
I recognize that movements for liberation have been built and sustained by the labor, resistance, and vision of Black women, trans women of color, immigrants, and Indigenous communities, often at great personal cost. I am indebted to those who have paved the way and remain committed to following their leadership, redistributing power, and amplifying their voices.
I believe in the principles of disability justice, which teach us that no one is disposable, that access is love, and that interdependence is a necessary and radical practice. I strive to create space that values access, slowness, care, and sustainability, not as afterthoughts, but as central to the work.
These fights for justice—queer and trans liberation, anti-racism, fat liberation, disability justice, Indigenous sovereignty—are distinct in history, impact, and need. But they are inextricably linked. None of us are free until all of us are free.
I am not neutral in this work. I am committed to actively confronting my own biases, unlearning harmful conditioning, and staying vigilant to the ways white supremacy, anti-fatness, ableism, and settler colonialism show up in me and around me. This includes naming where I hold power, making repair when harm occurs, and building a practice grounded in accountability, solidarity, and collective care.
Healing is not apolitical. Reclaiming our bodies is a form of resistance. This work is inseparable from the fight for liberation, for land, for life, for dignity, and for the right of all people to exist fully in their bodies without fear.
Free Palestine.
My Foundations
Here’s a little peek into the teachers and ideas that have guided me along the way. These are the experts and leaders I learn from and lean on as I do this work.
Sharing them with you feels like inviting you into the circle of influences that shape how I show up for you.
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The Center for Body Trust, for their transformative work on body liberation and weight-inclusive care.
Eli Clare, whose writing on disability, gender, queerness, and environmental justice invites a reimagining of body, identity, and interdependence beyond binary and ableist frameworks.
Sonya Renee Taylor – Through The Body Is Not An Apology, she connects radical self-love, body liberation, and pleasure with dismantling systems of oppression.
Liberatory thinkers and fat acceptance activists such as Virgie Tovar, Jes Baker, Lesley Kinzel, and Jessamyn Stanley, whose work reminds me that embodiment is not just personal, but also political and deeply intertwined with resistance, joy, and freedom.
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Deepa Iyer’s Social Change Ecosystem, a tool for identifying and understanding the many roles we can play in movements for justice.
Bobbie Harro’s Cycle of Socialization and Cycle of Liberation, tools for understanding and disrupting oppression.
Barbara Love’s Liberatory Consciousness Model for sustained anti-oppression work rooted in reflection and action.
Black Feminist Theory, through the writings of bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and adrienne maree brown whose work reveals the radical power of love, pleasure, intersectionality, and collective liberation.
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Layla F. Saad, and her work with Me and White Supremacy offers a clear, accessible, and deeply reflective guide to unpacking privilege and practicing anti-racism.
Tema Okun, for her work outlining the characteristics of white supremacy culture in organizations and how we can begin to unlearn them.
Lee Mun Wah for centering cross-cultural healing and racial justice within contemplative practices, guiding white people toward spiritual depth through anti-oppression frameworks.
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Mia Mingus’s work on access intimacy, care webs, and transformative justice which calls for trauma response systems rooted in collective accountability and interdependence rather than punishment and exclusion.
Dean Spade’s writings and activism around transformative justice, legal reform, and community-based approaches to safety and liberation.
Mariam Kaba, widely recognized for her leadership in abolitionist movements and her writing on dismantling oppressive systems.
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Francis Weller’s work on Grief as Ritual, Resistance, and Resilience, which deepens my understanding of communal grief and ancestral connection.
Birthing from Within and The Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death which have influenced how I hold space for transformation across the thresholds of life.
Breeshia Wade's work integrating Zen Buddhist chaplaincy, offering a grief-informed approach to dismantling systemic oppression and fostering collective healing.
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Transpersonal Art therapy scholar Dan Hocoy, who weaves together art therapy, transpersonal psychology, and anti-colonial Indigenous frameworks to reimagine healing as spiritual, political, and communal.
Angel Kyodo Williams’s work blending mindfulness, transformative justice, and decolonization, offering tools for healing intergenerational trauma and reclaiming collective liberation.
Winona LaDuke, Indigenous environmentalist and activist who connects land-based healing and spirituality with justice and decolonization.
Land Acknowledgement
I live and work on the stolen lands of the Dakota people, in Mni Sota Makoce—the place where the waters reflect the sky. I honor the Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples, who have cared for this land long before colonization and continue to do so today, despite centuries of displacement, violence, and erasure.
Land acknowledgments are just one small step. I believe in moving from words to action by committing to reparative practices that redistribute resources and build right relationship. As part of that commitment, I dedicate a percentage of my annual income to Indigenous-led organizations and cultural resiliency efforts in Minnesota.
When we resist colonial systems, we create more room for all oppressed communities to breathe and thrive. This is one piece of a larger vision where all people have sovereignty, safety, and dignity. It’s part of building a web of care, action, and collective liberation.
If you’re curious about how you might do the same, start by learning whose land you’re on and exploring how you can support Indigenous leadership through financial contributions, land taxes, mutual aid, and relationship building.
