Who I Am
Welcome! I am following the call to cultivate and share what I have to offer the world. I’ve tried to ignore it for too long. I’ve been through the ringer of academia and have a PhD in anthropology and history from the University of Michigan and MA in social sciences from University of Chicago. My dissertation research in Angola, which explored the micro-level social dynamics of an anti-colonial uprising, was funded by a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship. I worked in a hybrid admin/academic position for almost four years before leaving in July 2021 to pursue a path that’s more aligned with my values, because despite my academic success, I no longer felt at home in a university context.
I decided the feeling in my bones was screaming out to me. The world feels too fragile and too precarious to go along with the relentless and often mindless push for normative “productivity” any longer. It’s time for us to help each other, and to liberate ourselves in the process. Capitalism, rooted in the hateful and destructive logics of colonialism and white supremacy, has driven us to the brink of societal collapse. I want everything I do with my time on this earth to reflect the preciousness and sacredness of the human experience, and to help people find more balance within their daily lives.
I am ready to bring my unique combination of experiences and gifts (and abundant love!) to the world through my own unique form of care work. I want to reimagine what support, therapy, wisdom and guidance can look like in a world that desperately needs reimagining. I have worked as a nanny, a team leader, a teacher, an administrator, and a researcher in Brazil, Angola, Portugal, and Mozambique. I’m fluent in Portuguese, proficient in Spanish, and adept at cross-cultural connection and understanding. Healing, writing, teaching, and facilitating are my gifts—I work hard to make others feel seen and heard. I don’t plan to stop learning and growing for as long as I live.
From April-December 2021, I trained in somatic therapy and guidance for clients working with expanded states of consciousness, including psychedelics. In 2023, I completed a 60-hour Somatic Attachment Therapy course, which focused on the ways our attachment patterns and styles impact our somatic experience. On an ongoing basis, I am reading, learning, listening, and developing the tools to hold a powerful healing container, and will be engaging in various trainings to enhance my offerings. I am developing the skills to offer psychedelic integration. The Guiding Presence is one of many training resources I incorporate into my work with clients. I am also certified in Reiki Level 1, and have a deeply intuitive sense of people’s energy. I’m building my knowledge of astrology and tarot and can bring elements of these knowledge frameworks into our sessions. I believe in the power of sound healing, and have two crystal singing bowls I can play for you. I am learning elements of Slavic witchcraft and traditional magic as I connect more deeply to my Ukrainian roots. I have also been practicing vinyasa yoga for over 12 years. Yoga was the beginning of my somatic journey, though I only realized it years later!
I ABSOLUTELY LIVE to witness, hold, and support diverse people in all their precious beauty, complexity, and suffering. Sometimes all we need is for someone to see us. I make it my mission to see you in your fullness, your vulnerability, and your power as a human being.