The Aware Project (www.awareproject.org) hosts a series of monthly Psychedelic Awareness Salon events in Los Angeles and San Diego. We are creating a connected and educated community that feels passionately about balancing the conversation about psychedelics.

Psychedelic Justice: BIQPOC Voices Matter

Time: 5pm-7pm PST
Talk and showing starts promptly at 5:15 pm


Place: Zoom link to be emailed to event registrants prior to event


TALK DESCRIPTION:

Black, Indigenous, Queer, and People Of Color (BIQPOC). Why is there such low representation in public spaces of the psychedelic community and how we can make it a priority to elevate these voices and listen to their perspective? How is the experience of psychedelic journeywork different for someone who is non-white, gender non-conforming, or other identities outside of the dominant culture and social norms? In the age of psychedelics becoming more mainstream, what does justice look like for the psychedelic community, and what is our role in bringing it about? Please join us for a panel—with four individuals representing various intersections of these identities—to delve into conversation about such questions regarding race, equity, justice, BIQPOC inclusion, and more, as it pertains to the psychedelic experience and community.


BIOS

Oriana Mayorga(she/her/ella) is a born and raised New Yorker, community organizer, harm reductionist, artist and seminarian. She is a daughter of Caribbean and South American involuntary migrants who inspire her daily to fight for justice. Oriana is dedicated to dismantling structural oppression, promoting racial justice and ending the war on drugs as well as building healthier, accountable communities. This fall will mark a decade of her active involvement in psychedelic communities.

Oriana is passionate about ensuring that psychedelic medicines are accessible for all marginalized communities, specifically BIPOC. In 2018-2020, Oriana was the Director of Community Engagement for Psymposia. Her most recent contribution to the Psychedelic Renaissance was the co-creation of Empyrean; the first POC conference on Psychedelics by women of color for people of color in the NorthEast region of the United States. Currently, she is the Vice Chair of the board of directors for Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Oriana received her bachelor of science from Fordham University in 2014 and a graduate certificate in Harm Reduction Psychotherapy from the New School of Research in 2016. In 2022, she will graduate with her Masters of Divinity with a concentration in social ethics from Union Theological Seminary/Columbia University. When not challenging power structures, you can find Oriana painting or on the dance floor.

Sabrina Frometa, daughter of Calixto Frometa and Ana Rita Ventura, who both migrated from Kiskeya is the Founder of YAYA. YAYA is an ecosystem of creators, organizers and dreamers committed to black and POC liberation. With wonder and responsibility at our core, we have activated ourselves towards content creation, psychedelic power building, and a general commitment to ecological justice, leadership and joy. She also serves as Director of Equity, Operations and Culture for SPORE, the Society for Psychedelic Outreach, Reform and Education. She is also writing this bio as an emerging healer, laugh queen and proud, latch-key kid.

Ethos de Leon has been embarking on a spiritual and healing journey since 2016. Since giving themselves permission to take the time to heal and develop self-love, the amount of infinite possibilities and opportunities opened for them. Ethos began as a social justice warrior, co-creating and advocating for movements, such as Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ, immigration, and indigenous rights activism in Washington DC; they have also created an interactive art exhibit for the Burning Man Camp, TransFOAMation, in 2017; served as the Art Director of Catharsis on the Mall for 2017, 2018 & 2019; has been elected to the Board of Directors for Catharsis on the Mall by the Catharsis community; founded a podcast titled, "Shifting the Narrative Through Psychedelic Healing & Storytelling"; served as the Event Operations Director for Catharsis on the Mall for the 2018 and 2019 events; and continues to create spaces and events with the intention that everything is medicine for those who come into those spaces.
Ethos loves to help remind those who interact with them, that they are Creators and the most innate thing to being human is to feel and to create. Ethos is inspired to also help shift the narrative of the way that we speak to ourselves, to others and to Mother Gaia. Every day, Ethos is active in setting intention, determination and action to help guide the shift and awakening of the Earth and the living beings within it.

Evita Sawyers is a psychedelic enthusiast, aspiring psychedelic facilitator, and advocate with a passion for creating safe spaces for black, LGBTQ, and other marginalized groups to have safe access to psychedelic experiences and healing modalities. After embarking on her own journey with psychedelic medicines, she began to research the history and application of psychedelics and noted the severe lack of POC voices in the psychedelic community. Recognizing the importance of the perspectives of having those voices represented, she seeks to be a vocal member of the community to amplify the experiences of marginalized people in the psychedelic sphere. She is an active volunteer for The Aware Project San Diego.


Jarrod Cory Ekengren is a public health professional and psychedelic community leader who works at the individual, community, and systems levels to transform human suffering and move towards thriving. He has worked in harm reduction spaces for injection drug users and psychedelic journeyers alike. He received his Master in Public Health from Columbia in 2018, focusing on mental health and substance use and currently works on Behavioral Health System redesign for San Diego County and runs the Aware Project San Diego Psychedelic Society. Jarrod envisions an informed, connected, and heart-centered psychedelic community that is representative of and accessible to all.


TICKETS:
Event is pay what you can.

Please send contributions via Paypal to awareprojectsd@gmail.com. Money to be used for Aware Project monthly overhead ($120/month), payment for use of Zoom account, and payment to the event panel participants. Please contact Jarrod at awareprojectsd@gmail.com if you wish to volunteer your time instead of money.

REGISTER HERE:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/112863092548

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This group is being designed as a secure space. It is not a place to seek, encourage, or participate in the procurement of controlled substances. Do not bring, buy, sell, transfer, or arrive on any illegal substances, or swap information on how to buy them. Members who violate these basic house rules will be removed from the group and will not be allowed to attend future events.