Consulting Coaching Workshops/Classes FAQs
 

Justice Storytellers:

A Somatic, Practical Creative Writing Program 

Justice Storytellers is a biannual virtual program that fosters a supportive writing community for BIPOC folks whose work is rooted in justice and liberatory values.  This 6-part group program blends 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.

*Applications are closed for the Winter ‘26 session* Click here to express your interest in the Summer session or a future session, and to be notified when applications open for Summer ‘26 .

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

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 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 justice 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: Examining 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 approach rooted in artist agency and liberatory values.

  • 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 program 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. This program is for folks:

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

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

  • at any stage of their creative writing life

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

What’s involved?

  • 30-min 1:1 introductory call

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

  • 1 x 50-min 1:1 coaching session

  • Thoughtful feedback on your writing (in-workshop & written)

  • Assignments /prompts between sessions

  • Program buddyship to help you sustain creative practice and community 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 

  • WINTER SESSION: Currently in session; applications closed

  • SUMMER SESSION: June-Aug 2026: 6/6, 6/20, 7/4, 7/18, 8/1, 8/15

  • Click here to express your interest in the Summer ‘26 session/future sessions, and to be notified when applications open for Summer ‘26.

What’s the Cost?

Full Cost: $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+)

*Full/partial scholarships / payment plans / mutual aid options: if cost is an issue, please contact me to discuss ways that would make this program accessible to you.

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 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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