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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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