Healing Through Storytelling with Esperanza Mendez

<p>On this week's episode of the pod, Kayla chops it up with Esperanza Mendez!</p> <p class="">Esperanza is a Mexican-American feminist, activist, writer, and photographer. She started Hello Esperanza to more intimately explore the complexities and intersectionalities of feminism, motherhood, and the beauty of her culture. Throughout her career, she's had the privilege of sharing the stories and protecting the rights of women, youth, people of color, and other marginalized communities. With over a decade of experience in facilitating, training, and organizing folks around social justice issues, <a href="mailto:helloesperanzablog@gmail.com" target= "_blank" rel="noopener">s</a>he's working to help workplaces navigate complex issues around race, feminism, access, equity and more.</p> <p class="">Her work can be found on internationally-renown sites like Aljazeera’s <a href= "http://youtube.com/watch?v=WwdEUXOPAVE">AJ+</a>, Univision’s<a href= "https://fusion.net/author/esperanza-mendez/"> </a><a href= "https://fusion.net/author/esperanza-mendez/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Fusion</a>, <a href= "https://apracticalwedding.com/i-hated-my-wedding-day/" target= "_blank" rel="noopener">A Practical Wedding</a>, and <a href= "http://www.adiosbarbie.com/2017/01/7-self-care-tips-trump-era/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adios Barbie</a>, and was recently featured at the <a href= "http://noemontesblog.com/post/165807400249/i-am-working-with-the-palm-springs-art-museum-to" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palm Springs Art Museum</a>. </p> <p>We also talk about:</p> <ul> <li>The impact that motherhood has had on her storytelling</li> <li>Why the first step to telling a good story is giving yourself permission </li> <li>The importance of journaling and storytelling as it relates to healing as women of color</li> <li>A few journaling prompts for you to start telling your story</li> <li>What the inner work means to Esperanza and why it's important to do the inner work for your storytelling </li> <li>The impact of representatio