More on my roots

I was raised in a bilingual, interfaith home. My identity is woven of the practices, songs and community of my Eastern European ashkenazi Jewish lineage, and the language and culture of my father, who grew up in the black forest of Germany. It was clear early on that I was descended from both victims and perpetrators, and that none of these are fixed terms. So, as long as I can remember I have been devoted to the mission of healing intergenerational trauma and getting to the roots of racialized conflict.  Art, embodiment and compassionate presence have been my tools.

I started my vocational path studying trauma and resilience up close as a Harm Reduction Specialist supporting people suffering from addiction and living in the streets. I have worked with women, femme folks and mothers as a legal advocate for incarcerated mothers, a doula, and a rape crisis counselor. I then spent 6 years living in Berlin and working as a performance artist. That is where I encountered somatics. I brought what I learned about attending to the present experience into everything I did. I ended up traveling the world creating performance work, facilitating creative dialogue and community healing processes in Ethiopia, Vietnam, India, Italy, and extensively in Berlin, Germany. In Berlin, I worked as a community artist in schools, community centers and refugee homes with newly arrived youth and families during the heart of the “Refugee Crisis”.  I have now spent 8 years back in the US supporting communities, organizations and individuals to address racialized harms, release colonialism and domination logic from our bodies, lives and structures, vision change and move toward embodying those visions with love.  I have a BA from Hampshire College in critical cultural theory, and performance studies and an MA in Peace and Conflict Transformation from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.