About
I am a San Diego-based artist and community advocate working at the intersection of art, ecology, culture, and place. Through painting, illustration, digital media, public art, and community engagement, I create work that builds connection, stewardship, and belonging. My career has spanned feature animation production at Disney and DreamWorks, community-led educational initiatives, environmental stewardship, and the building trades. Across each role, I have focused on creating systems, stories, and spaces that strengthen communities and support future generations.
Practice
My practice weaves together environmental work, education, storytelling, and community-based action.
In Spring 2025, I returned to school to create greater opportunities for my family while developing hands-on skills to support tangible community impact. Rather than waiting for change, I wanted to help build it. In March 2026, I completed a Green Building Construction Certification through the Center for Employment Training.
I am also a UC Climate Action Corps Climate Action Steward (2022), where I supported environmental justice work with Mundo Gardens. Earlier, I trained in sustainable water systems with Greywater Action (2013), focused on practical approaches to household and community resilience.
Ecology, Learning & TEK
I studied Biology with an emphasis in biodiversity at Humboldt State University and continue to engage with Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), including knowledge passed down through my family.
I’m interested in how Indigenous knowledge systems and contemporary ecology overlap—especially around land stewardship, & water.
Animation, Design & Systems Thinking
My background in feature animation includes digital and technology operations, production support, and creative pipeline work at Disney and DreamWorks, alongside study in animation, concept design, and environmental design.
In 2019, I had the pleasure to learn from Yusuke Kozaki, while at a Concept Design Academy workshop; His art, in Pokemon Go, empowered 50 million users to play together in a matter of 19 days. I find the rate of network connectivity, reassuring as also exemplified within the fungi of the soil/ food web, so I remain optimistic in our people's restorative justice & climate action potential.
That experience deepened my interest in network systems—how people, ideas, and environments move together.
Focus Areas
Across my work, I’m drawn to the overlap between storytelling, ecology, and community systems, especially:
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Habitat restoration & biodiversity
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Environmental justice & access to green space
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Community-based conservation & education
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Regenerative land and water practices
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Indigenous sovereignty & TEK
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Collaborative, place-based stewardship
Current Work
Right now, I’m focused on parenting while staying engaged in community advocacy, conservation work, and collaborative projects across California and Baja California Sur.
Whether painting murals, supporting large-scale creative productions, writing grants, restoring habitat, or helping build community-led initiatives, I am committed to creating work that strengthens relationships between people, culture, and the natural world.
Climate Advocacy | Action | Community
2025/2026, Collaborations Continue...
Green Building Construction (GBC) Certified 900+ hours
Rather than waiting for change, I want to help build it.
2024/2025, Organized foundational support...
Community organizer and Resident Leadership Academy Certified Trainer (Live Well San Diego / CHIP)
2024–2025)
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Authored and secured funding for the "Celebrate Beautification: ¡Arte Sana! Art Heals!" community project supporting leadership development, native plant installations, and community engagement.
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Established partnerships with public agencies, sponsors, community leaders, and nonprofit stakeholders.
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Deliver leadership training and capacity-building programs empowering residents to address community needs and improve quality of life.
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Implemented project tracking and reporting systems that improved efficiency and increased time available for fundraising, strategic planning, and community engagement.
Carson STEAM Community School (2022–2025): President (2023–2024) | Vice President (2024–25)
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Led community engagement, fundraising initiatives, stakeholder partnerships, and volunteer coordination supporting a diverse public-school community.
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Developed and maintained public-facing websites, dashboards, and information hubs to support transparency, fundraising opportunities, and community participation.
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Cultivated partnerships with school district leaders, community organizations, local stakeholders, and public agencies.
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Helped secure a $5,000 Equitable Community Grant supporting a multigenerational cultural arts park, healing garden, and creative community space.
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Successfully advocated for donated resources including Little Libraries, educational materials, and arts supplies supporting literacy, enrichment, and community engagement.
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Expanded volunteer participation and community involvement through relationship-building, outreach, and stewardship efforts.
Served: School Governance Team (SGT), School Site Council (SSC), Executive District Advisory Committee (DAC)
Board Member | Community Grant Writer | Strategic Planning Contributor
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Spearheaded collaborative grant application efforts contributing to successful Community Schools funding initiatives.
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Led crafted successful Pipeline School Designation proposals supporting multi-year funding for educational and community programming.
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Coordinated stakeholder engagement among parents, educators, district leaders, and community partners.
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Expanded funding opportunities supporting tutoring, environmental stewardship, and family engagement initiatives.
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Coordinated grant-funded habitat restoration, native planting, and civic engagement projects connecting families, schools, nonprofits, and public agencies to local environmental action.
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Co-authored and supported successful grant applications for school and community programs.
2024, Community Living Schoolyard | Impact Snapshot
STEAM Garden Expanded: Footprint, Hours, & Inclusivity!:
* Footprint expanded to adjacent the library.
* Expanded & Enriched Learning Time & Opportunities afterschool with Parents’ Caregivers in the school as partners, leaders and learners
* Hours Expanded to include after-school options Monday thru Friday now, with additional varied dates.
* Composting & waste diversion from lunch is encouraged to increase harvest for integrated Student Supports enhances Mental/ physical health supports and social services via encouraging reflection on civic/ sustainable impacts.
* No. of Parent’s/ Community Volunteers continued to increase, interest and environmental stewardship grows within students, families, and multi-generational neighbor participation.
* Biodiversity grows exponentially with continued seasonal planting of crafting supplies like pumpkins, native flowers, and squashes. (Self sustaining forest slated in 3 years.)
* Increased garden hours has allowed parents and neuro-divergent learners space to meet, practice bilingual vocabulary, grow foods, as well as multi-generational neighbor connections.
* Plant sharing of our elders now includes, but is not limited to, beats, kale, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, nopales, and dragon fruit, potatoes, sweet pea shoots, fennel, and various pumpkins.
* Tracked +21 weeks of Salad Bar waste diversion from landfills, allows community opportunity to discuss civic duty in relation to sustainable climate stewardship, in addition to the increased soil fertility. Exemplifying Parents/ Caregivers in the school as partners, leaders and learners
Community School Parent Organization encouraged and supported to grow connectivities aligned with four pillars of a whole-child, whole-school model for equitable school improvements...
In 2022, I started amplifying local Climate Action for my son's school elementary school. As parents we are faced with the startling reality that although our children survived the pandemic, learning loss is exacerbated by Nature deficits, extreme heat exposure from blacktopped schoolyards, as well as sedentary excessive screen time. Health and wellness needs to be a priority as we continue to bridge intersectionalities & root causes to challenges. Our aim is not reinventing, instead resetting nature for the health and well being of our children, and ultimately our humanities. Creating space for nature, arts and culture is part of healthy lifestyles. It should go without saying, that it's absurd to think our youth have to clean up decades of land mismanagement, just to exist.
Why is my community facing disproportionately higher mental health crisis, generational trauma, over militirization, and incarceration rates?
Please join me in advocating for equitable tree canopy, starting with your local Schoolyard Forest.
Please see "Making the Academic Case for Schoolyard Forests"
Pictured is a Map tracking steps to advance Living School yard @ Carson STEAM Magnet_Community_School in Linda Vista, CA, in 2022.
Reference:
* Community Living Schoolyard Forest rationale:
https://www.greenschoolyards.org/schoolyard-forest-rationale.
* SDUSD recommended read:
Justice-Centered STEM Education
Asset-Oriented Framing Shifts from Deficits to Assets.
Grant Writer/ Volunteer Recruitment / Program Design/ Project Tracking & Reporting/ Event Setup & Breakdown, Workshop Facilitator, Nature Drawing, Community Clean-ups/ Meeting Facilitator/ Public Speaking & DIplomacy Meeting with Representatives & Community.
CA Proposed Budget Snapshots -- Green Corridor @ Palm Ave & Division St, National City, San Diego:
