Two Spirit; non binary 🏳️‍⚧️🪶
Vegan 🌱 animal ally
LGBTQIA2S+ 🏳️‍🌈

Tau! That means “Hello” in Borikenaiki; our Taino native language.

I’ve traveled for years by hitch hiking and volunteering/working abroad. I love to share my culture and am passionate about kindness, fairness and equality.

The Couchsurfing community has been such a big part of my journey and I’m so grateful for all the friends I made, families, individuals who took me in on cold, rainy days, and travelers who trusted me to be their safe space when I could provide a home or a warm meal.

🌏 I’ve traveled to about 50 countries over the last 7+ years and have plenty of stories to share, but I still prefer to listen and learn from the amazing university called life. Something I love to teach is that we all have ancestors and can connect to our roots, which extend to so many parts of the world.

📣I give talks on decolonizing our lives and cultural appreciation vs appropriation. I also studied Complementary and Alternative Medicine, nutritional science, and culinary arts. Aka food and plant medicine is another passion of mine, although I haven’t specialized in any one modality. 🩻🌱🍋🥙

WHAT IS TWO-SPIRIT?

Let’s talk genders pre colonialism. In our culture, we have many genders including male, female, maorrocoti, biawaisa, naguakios, and biyama koyaha. As there are no words to translate or describe these genders in other languages, we say 2 spirit.

Two-Spirit is a neo-native umbrella term for ancient teachings among indigenous people which reflects gender diversity and sexual identity, and how they connect with spirituality and ancient wisdom. Gender roles and the binary were imposed upon us by European colonisers who believed that any nation with more than 2 genders were less human/more animalistic and could therefore serve as slaves.

👣 The genocide of the Tainos and other indigenous groups resulted from these beliefs as well as religion, greed, and colorism. But we’re still here. We are the 2S in (LGBTQIA2S+) and we are the teachers, healers, judges, leaders, front line warriors and care takers among our tribes. Hundreds of queer and intersex plants and animals (it is indeed natural) and we serve very important roles in our communities (such as historically caring for children who are orphans or were abandoned).

ABOUT

I was born in SF, California (Ohlone stollen land).
Tainos are natives of the Caribbean and descendants of the Arawak tribe originating from Argentina. Boriken (now Puerto Rico) is Taino stollen land.

Not “Indian” - Indigenous. Indian is a word imposed on us by the oppressors who saw our “red” skin and thought they had arrived in India vs the Caribbean. When they realised they hadn’t, they didn’t see us as human and didn’t care to correct the name.

I am a student of life, currently learning about plant medicine and cultural traditions. I also enjoy hosting talks, workshops, and spaces to hold conversations for queer people of all kinds.

I love to explore new places and share my ideas and passion for all things living and truly alive. I love literature, plants and animals, bees and above all, people; for traveling would be nearly meaningless without the interaction of the locals.

I like psychology, board games, food tours, bees, and Latin dance (mainly salsa y bachata).

Interests

I really love dark chocolate and refined, simple pleasures like park swings, the taste of a good extra virgin olive oil, and the smell of cinnamon. I'm always down to share a good book, contemplate art, dance, or enjoy the art of conversation. I also enjoy sleeping and psychedelics.

When in other countries, I inquire about the health care system, education, local views on politics and the progression of feminism and LGBTQIA+ rights. This helps me to understand the modern culture​ there and gain a broader perspective of my own country as well as others.

• arts
• writing
• books
• tattoos
• dancing
• cooking
• baking
• board games
• zip-line
• psychology
• activism
• museums
• graphic novels
• dark chocolate

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC

Dance and cultural music, Latin, modern, jazz, musical or movie soundtracks...I'm pretty eclectic.

MOVIES/SERIES

Sense8! Cartoons and documentaries including mini series. I love Black Mirror, psychological thrillers, and queer content such as Pose, L Word Gen Q, and Heart Stopper.

BOOKS

I love dystopian fiction like Brave New World and Animal farm, poetry or short stories like Milk and Honey and Gender Euphoria, informational or self help books like Polysecure or ikigai, and some classics like Gatsby and the Importance of Being Earnest. I recently read The Hate You Give and it was quite a powerful, anti racism book.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Activism for queer rights globally

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Malta, Puerto Rico, Spain, Turkey, United States