Justice Storytellers:

A Somatic, Practical Creative Writing Program 

Justice Storytellers aims to foster a supportive writing community for BIPOC folks whose work is rooted in justice and liberatory values.*  This 6-part group program will blend practical guidance with embodied, emergent processes to help you connect more deeply with the story you’re longing to tell, and navigate obstacles to wholeness in your creative and justice work. In the last two sessions, you will share and read each other’s work using a Liberatory Feedback Model. The program is limited to 12 participants. 

*This includes, but is not limited to, people working in sectors such as social justice, healthcare, arts, education, etc.


Core Objectives

  • Foster creative community among BIPOC storytellers with liberatory values

  • Provide tools for developing a sustainable writing practice

  • Facilitate advancement of your narrative project or idea

  • Foster a sense of balance, self-trust, and joyful discovery in your creative practice

  • Provide supportive, liberatory framework for sharing and giving feedback on each other’s writing


I'm interested
 
 

 Why This Program?

Your stories matter. Your voice, wisdom, and perspective matter. 

I believe that: connecting to the stories we’re longing to tell—in all their messiness, complexity, and specificity—helps us connect to our purpose and our wholeness. Investing in these stories enriches our activism and our communities, offering validation, insight, connectedness, and hope. 


I believe in: the importance of creative community. As an author and nonprofit leader of 15+ years, I know firsthand how isolating and challenging it can be to nurture a writing practice while doing cause-based work, and striving to mindfully meet the needs of others. I know how transformative it is to build a supportive creative community that shares your liberatory values, helping each other embody wholeness and develop and sustain our practice as writers. 

 
 
I'm interested
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 Sessions Overview

    • Setting the Foundation: Building a supportive space for connecting and sharing experiences– including hopes, needs, and concerns for being on the journey together. Learning about the program's core values of emergence, somatic awareness, and wholeness. 

    • Connecting:: What brings you here?  What are you most excited about/unsure about? What question are you bringing into this space? What are your hopes and goals for yourself+your project by the end of the workshop?

    • The Stories We’re Longing to Tell pt.1: Articulating our story projects, the narratives we’re challenging, and the obstacles we’re facing. What resources do you have? What do you need?

    • Self-narrative: Exploring the narrative(s) we have about ourselves–what about this narrative is helping or hindering you when it comes to connecting to the story you’re longing to tell?

    • The Stories We’re Longing to Tell pt.2:  Delving more deeply into story projects and addressing hopes, questions, obstacles. Revisiting, refining goals from session 1.

    • Creating a “Personal Ecology” Map by exploring your current relationship to creativity & activism, and how these interact with other aspects of your life. 

    • intro to “Narrative Ecology” Map by exploring the broader context in which you/your stories exist. What existing narrative does your story challenge? What new narrative are you creating?

    • Nurturing Your Writing Practice: Sharing current/past practices, reflecting on conditions that allow for/hinder creative flow, and learning how to create and sustain a writing practice rooted in liberatory values that works for you.

    •  A Liberatory Approach to Feedback: Learning to give and receive feedback using an artist-centered approach.

  • Workshop pt.1: Discussing project summaries/written excerpts using liberatory feedback model.

    • Workshop pt.2: Discussing project summaries/written excerpts using liberatory feedback model.

    • Reflecting on the Journey: Acknowledgement and gratitude for yourself and the group.

    • Setting Intentions: Reflecting on what you and your project need most moving forward, and setting intentions to honor them.

    • Continuing Community: Creating a plan for continuing support through this group and beyond, including resource kit.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this for?

This workshop is for you if 1) you’re doing justice and liberation-rooted work, 2) you have a story you’re longing to tell, and 3) you identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or a person of color. Ideally, you:

  • have a specific narrative project you want to work on (can be at any stage of development, any format or genre)

  • are seeking support for balancing your institutional/movement-based work with your individual creative needs and desires

  • consider yourself earlier in your writing life and/or sometimes find it challenging to see yourself as a writer 

  • are seeking creative, confidential community through sharing of experiences and communal growth and learning


What’s involved?

  • 30-min 1:1 introductory call

  • Six 2-hour virtual group sessions (held bi-monthly)

  • Optional 50-min 1:1 coaching session (additional cost)

  • Reflection questions/prompts between sessions

  • Resource kit (session links, tailored exercises, additional resources for sustaining creative practice & community)


When & Where?

  • Online (Zoom)

  • Saturdays @ 9-11 am PST / 12-2 pm EST 

  • Jan-March 2026: 1/10, 1/24, 2/7, 2/21, 3/7, 3/21

  • Summer 2026 dates coming soon! Sign up here to be notified of future offerings.


What’s the Cost?

Pay it Forward: $3,000 for individuals paying out of pocket/whose organization is paying for the program (budget $2M+) and want to help create access for others with fewer financial resources

Supported: $1,500 for individuals paying out of pocket/ whose organization is paying for the program (budget <$1M+)

Community: $750 for individuals paying out of pocket/whose organization is paying for the program (budget <$500k)

Optional 1:1 Coaching Session is sliding scale: $450/$300/$250

If cost is an issue, please contact me to discuss payment plan options

Apply

 What People Are Saying

I feel reinvigorated and have greater clarity around the story I am hoping to tell.
— Joyce C., DEI Consultant
I loved all parts of this program. I was especially moved by the liberatory model for the group feedback process.
— Karen T., Immigrant Rights Advocate
(Mimi is) a highly skilled facilitator and storyteller who holds space with compassion and wisdom for individual minds and bodies and the collective spirit. The program kept me accountable, and helped me give voice to vulnerable parts of my story that I was afraid of sharing.
— Sasanna Y., Transformational Justice Activist
I struggled to call myself a writer before this program. The group’s feedback, and Mimi’s coaching, helped me realize that I can write, and that I need it in my life as part of my justice practice.
— Program participant
It reminded me of the power of the process of creation, and of the joy of creativity in writing. I’m feeling more hopeful, more ready to start.
— Leisy A., author, professor of Chicana/o and Central American Studies
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