Where do you find your power? There is power in sharing your story. Meet trailblazers who have stepped into their calling by helping others, building community, and challenging systemic inequities. These profiles of resilience inspire, as well as offer actionable takeaways to create positive change in your community. This is Power In.

Yolo Akili Robinson

Founder & Executive Director, BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective)

Power in: Community Care

Nonbinary healing justice worker Yolo shares his journey and passion for collective healing, focusing on mental and emotional well-being while centering Black and marginalized communities.

The Power of Community Care
Yolo Akili Robinson shares how his organization the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective dedicates its time to the healing, liberation and wellness of Black and marginalized communities.
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“Self-care is great, but community-care is much better.”

Photographs by Christelle Castro

Wilma Mae Basta

Founder & CEO, DRK Beauty

Power in: Healing

Culture trailblazer and mental health advocate Wilma Mae Basta shares her own path to healing and the origin of her wellness collective, DRK Beauty. Centering healers and clinicians of color, Wilma has created a platform for womxn of color to create their own wellness toolkit.

Power in: Healing
Wilma Mae Basta shares how her challenges with mental health empowered her to offer free therapy to Black and Brown communities disproportionally affected by COVID.
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“You can be your own hero.”

Photographs by Christelle Castro

Dr. Joely Proudfit, Ph.D., Luiseño/Payómkawichum

Director California Indian Culture & Sovereignty Center 

Department Chair and Professor, American Indian Studies at CSU San Marcos

Founder and President, Naqmayam Communications

Founder, Native Media Strategies

Power in: Education

Dr. Joely Proudfit shares strides she’s taken to increase Indigenous representation, challenges facing the Indigenous community today, and her belief that education is the path to self-determination to self-esteem.

Power in: Education
Dr. Joely Proudfit shares her experience getting her doctorate and empowering American Indian and Alaskan Native students to pursue higher education.
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“Education gives you a sense of self-determination and empowerment that no one can take from you.”

Photographs by Christelle Castro

Isaias Hernandez

Environmental Educator and Creator, Queer Brown Vegan

Power in: Environmental Activism

Isaias Hernandez shares how and why he created a safe space for intersectional environmentalism, how veganism transformed his individual queer and Latinx identity, and how he encourages everyone to be an environmentalist.

Power in: Environmental Activism
Isaias Hernandez discusses how his platform QueerBrownVegan can teach people about environmentalism.
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“We cannot liberate our environmental crisis without our community.”

Photographs by Christelle Castro

Nicole Steele

Health Equity Program Manager, Social Justice Learning Institute

Power in: Food Justice

Nicole Steele, Health Equity Program Manager at the Social Justice Learning Institute, noticed health disparities in her Los Angeles neighborhood. So, she decided to plant over 100 gardens to increase access to healthy food. Her work emphasizes nutrition education and food justice.

Power in: Food Justice
Nicole Steele shares her story of building 100 Seeds of Change to change the landscape of food equity in her neighborhood.
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“I wanted it…to feel normal to walk through urban spaces and see food growing.”

Photographs by Christelle Castro

Javier Lopez

Chief Strategy Officer, Red Hook Initiative

Power in: Public Health

Javier Lopez, Chief Strategy officer at NYC’s Red Hook Initiative, discusses his perspective on challenges facing local communities today and the transformational change that’s possible when public health is addressed on both systemic and individual levels.

Power in: Public Health
Javier Lopez shares how the Red Hook Initiative addresses social health and economic inequities facing residents in public housing.
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“What gives me power in my work and in my passion is the fact that it can be done. Gains can be made.”

Photographs by Christelle Castro