Acosta Institute

S2 Ep 1: Wounded Healing with Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, an award-winning Associate Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students. A sought-after speaker on issues of race, culturally responsive pedagogy, and diversity, Sealey-Ruiz works with K-12 and higher education school communities to increase their racial literacy knowledge and move toward more equitable school experiences for their Black and Latinx students. Sealey-Ruiz appeared in Spike Lee’s “2 Fists Up: We Gon’ Be Alright”, a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement and the campus protests at Mizzou. Her co-authored book, Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Toward Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces was published in May 2021. Her first full-length collection of poetry Love from the Vortex & Other Poems was published in March, 2020, and her sophomore book of poetry, The Peace Chronicles was released in July 2021. You can find Dr. Yolanda's website here [https://www.yolandasealeyruiz.com/] and learn more about her recent work here [https://linktr.ee/ysealeyruiz]. We want to thank Paper Monday for the interviews and portraits, Jo Barratt and Dike Godstime for the audio engineering and Maria Tan from House of Thriving for co-producing this podcast season.

S2 Ep 2: Wounded Healing with Justis Lopez

Justis Lopez (also known as DJ Faro) is the founder and Chief Enthusiasm Officer (CEO) of Just Experience LLC, an organization that strives to educate, entertain, and empower communities across the world. As a community organizer he focuses on ways to create spaces of radical joy, justice, & healing through Hip-Hop and the arts. He is currently pursuing his doctoral degree at Harvard in Educational Leadership, and recently completed his master’s degree in Education Entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania where he focused on creating Joy Labs with Project Happyvism [https://www.projecthappyvism.com/]. Before this role he served as the director of alumni affairs at the Council For Opportunity in Education in Washington D.C assisting with community outreach for the national federal TRIO programs. He began his career as a high school social studies teacher in his hometown of Manchester, CT and has served as a middle school and high school teacher in the Bronx, NY. When Justis isn’t teaching he can be found DJing or dancing down the street. He enjoys long hikes, funfetti cupcakes, and long walks on the beach. You learn more about Justis here [https://www.instagram.com/social_justis/?hl=en]. We want to thank Paper Monday for the interviews and portraits, Jo Barratt and Dike Godstime for the audio engineering and Maria Tan from House of Thriving for co-producing this podcast season.

S2 Ep 3: Wounded Healing with Maria Tan

Maria Tan is an educator and consultant who works with organizations, schools and individuals who are committed to serving communities through healing-centered work and education. She is a former Bronx high school science teacher where she helped lead a school-wide shift towards equitable practices including introducing restorative circles as an adult and student practice, facilitating racial affinity groups amongst staff, and teaching trauma-informed mindfulness daily to hundreds of students and adults. Maria’s direct experience of healing from teacher burnout through self-excavation inspired her to launch the Thriving Teacher Project in 2020 which created healing and restorative spaces for educators during the height of the pandemic. Through this work, she focused on mindfulness, social-emotional learning, and collective healing as tools to empower educators to show up authentically for themselves and their students. Maria is the founder and director of the House of Thriving where she works with healing-centered thought leaders and organizations to help nurture their vision and bring their ideas to life. Her experience includes designing and facilitating courses and summits, producing and hosting podcasts, creative and strategic visioning, and curriculum and program research, analysis and evaluation. As a passion project, she collaborates with her two older brothers to create workshops and guided meditations focused on intergenerational healing. You can learn more about Maria's work here [https://www.houseofthriving.co/]. We want to thank Paper Monday for the interviews and portraits, Jo Barratt and Dike Godstime for the audio engineering and Maria Tan from House of Thriving for co-producing this podcast season.

S2 Ep 4: Wounded Healing with Cory Greene

Cory Greene is a formerly incarcerated co-founder and Healing Justice Organizer with How Our Lives link Altogether! (H.O.L.L.A!). He is invested in developing, leading and implementing an intergenerational, youth-led, citywide and nationwide Healing Justice Movement [https://healwithholla.com/healing-justice]. Cory (39 years old) was born and raised by a single mother in East Elmhurst Queens, NY, during a time when many mothers and urban communities were impacted by the crack epidemic. His ancestors and elders hail from the struggles of delta Mississippi, and the historical reality of being Black in “America.” Cory’s experiences as a youth growing up in urban ghettos have contributed to his understanding of systemic inequalities. As a result, Cory has committed himself to a wide range of educational projects, healing, and grassroots movement building that seek to change existing conditions for youth of color and our communities. Cory earned his Associate degree in Liberal Arts Deaf Studies from LaGuardia Community College and his Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology from New York University. He earned his doctoral degree from the Critical Social Personality Psychology program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) where his research efforts analyze the praxis of grassroots pedagogy and healing-centered youth organizing within a process of radical healing.  Cory serves as a research associate and leader on numerous participatory action research (PAR) projects. Cory is an organizer with the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Family Movement (FICPFM), a national movement led by formerly incarcerated leaders to change the public policy landscape of criminal justice (punishment). He is also a national organizer with the Education Liberation Project, engaging in a national project to uplift Prison Abolition through an educational toolkit. He is a 2013 National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, 2013 Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellow, 2016 Echoing Green Fellow and 2017 Camelback fellow. Cory's organizing work, humanity and analysis has been featured in critical documentaries such as Ava Duvernay’s 13th [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8], From Prison to NYU [https://vimeo.com/49038747], and most recently, H.O.L.L.A!’s Healing Justice Movement Documentary “We Came to Heal.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ITejZrw6Y] Cory has been married since he was 21 years old, a total of 18 years. He attributes knowing how to love and understanding of the importance of interpersonal journeying to his wife. Cory is a father who attributes his work, motivation and success to his son’s existence. You can find out more about H.O.L.L.A here [https://healwithholla.com/]. We want to thank Paper Monday for the interviews and portraits, Jo Barratt and Dike Godstime for the audio engineering and Maria Tan from House of Thriving for co-producing this podcast season.

S2 Ep 5: Wounded Healing with Dolores Acosta

Dolores Acosta M.A, is a sister, daughter, friend, aunt, wife and a wellness activist. She was born and raised in NYC and both her parents are from the Dominican Republic. She is currently the People Experience Manager at Kinly, Consultant at Acosta Consulting and the co-founder of NYC Healing Collective. For 10 years she has worked in social services and human resources for various organizations. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Masters Degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology and has always had a passion to serve others. She also works to serve our communities by providing spaces for people to open up, release and heal. As she continues her journey, she is learning, growing and evolving every single day and looking forward to helping others in their journey. You can learn more about Dolores here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/doloreslacosta/] and find out more about the NYC Healing Collective here [https://www.instagram.com/nychealingcollective/?hl=en]. We want to thank Paper Monday for the interviews and portraits, Jo Barratt and Dike Godstime for the audio engineering and Maria Tan from House of Thriving for co-producing this podcast season.