Hermanidad Circle Two is coming! Join us! Last time was tender. We named things many of us have carried quietly for years. It was heavy, honest, and necessary. This time, we’re shifting the energy. Circle Two is an Open Circle: a community-shaped gathering where you choose what you bring. A question. A story. A moment you want to unpack. We’ll place them in a shared basket and see what wants to be held together. No fixing. No pressure to share more than you want. Listening is enough. This is about choice. Voice. Co-creation. Come as you are. Bring what’s present. 🖤 Sunday, January 17 · 2–5 PM Casa Kindred **This circle is at no cost- although we will be asking for donations via QR code during/after circle. To join us please register- link in bio and story!

Seeing so many of you reflecting, honoring your journeys, and giving gratitude has been so inspiring… so I’m hopping on that train too. Because it is beautiful to pause, look back, acknowledge, and shout out everyone who has supported, trusted, and poured into us this year. So this is the first of two reflections and we’re starting with Casa Kindred. In September, we rolled up our sleeves and transformed upstairs into something sacred. Fresh paint. New furniture. Soft lights. Big dreams. We invested time, money, and a whole lot of heart..we’re deeply grateful to our community partners whose support allowed us to reinvest back into ourselves so Casa Kindred could belong to more of us. Thank you to everyone who exchanged energy with us, paid what they could, and helped keep the space accessible. That reciprocity is a blessing. Casa Kindred was also blessed by our families. They showed up, prayed over the space, and helped anchor love and protection into these walls. A special thank you to my mom — the Godmother of Casa Kindred — whose presence and care helped make this feel like home. To Fausto’s mom and dad — thank you for your blessing, encouragement, and reassurance that we weren’t “wild” for pouring time, money, and capacity into this dream. Your belief mattered. To the countless friends who helped host, worked the oven, welcomed people in, and treated this space like their own. thank you. You helped breathe life into this vision. October opened the doors with Ayurvedic Elements + Make Your Own Medicine, and The Art of Remembering. Casa Kindred took its first breath. November rooted us ..Praxis began co-working weekly, and we hosted our first Hermanidad Circle. December warmed the house : intimate gatherings, my sister’s holiday celebration, FLY Radical Therapy’s cozy café-style anniversary, Sacred Sound Studio’s first Listening in Color, and so many people saying, “I miss this… I miss house gatherings… I miss spaces that feel like home.” Casa Kindred has become that — a small-gathering home for connection, creativity, healing, and storytelling. And it’s only been three months! Please stick with us, we honor you! Ache e In lak'ech A la kin

🧡Reminder🧡 This Sunday from 2-6p.m. So honored to be gathering this Sunday for Listening in Color, the first session of our new Sacred Sound Studio series. This is Casa Kindred’s version of a listening party, where sound meets art-making, reflection, and healing circle energy. A soft, grounding space to be held by music, color, and community. If you have been craving slowness, creativity, connection, or simply a moment to breathe, this is for you. You are invited to listen, create, sit quietly, express freely, or simply be. All ways of showing up are welcome. If you plan to join us, please fill out the RSVP form - (link bio and stories) so we can prepare the space with intention and love 🥰🧡 We cannot wait to be in community with you.

So honored to present our new endeavor, 🎶Sacred Sound Studio🎶 A three part Kindred series shaped for those moments when we need to slow down, listen differently, and remember the parts of ourselves that only rise when sound and creativity meet. Sacred Sound Studio is a soft landing and a gentle awakening. It is a space to be held by music, by circle, by color, by the quiet wisdom that shows up when we allow ourselves to feel instead of rush. An invitation to return inward and create from truth rather than urgency. You are welcome to attend all 3 sessions or stop by to any! 🔊Session 1: Listening in Color-opens the door. We begin with shared sound and let it move through our creative process, noticing how it becomes shape, emotion, texture, release. 🔊Session 2: The Intentional Listening Party- deepens the practice. We listen with our whole selves and let music and story reflect what wants to be named, understood, or transformed. 🔊Session 3: Live Music Frequencies- brings us into an immersive closing moment. Live sound becomes the atmosphere- a collective heartbeat guiding the final arc of the journey. 🎵Sacred Sound Studio is for anyone longing to feel again, to breathe again, to create with honesty, presence, and liberation. You are warmly invited into this new chapter with us.🎵

Recently I introduced Hermanidad, and today I’m opening the doors to our first gathering. You are invited to Session 1: Las Heridas Que No Decimos The Wounds We Don’t Speak About. A few months ago I attended @astamalciute workshop on sisterhood wounds, and something in that space stirred me. It gave language to things I’ve been hearing for years… and it touched something I had buried in myself. I reached out afterwards, shared what was moving in me, and asked for her blessing to build from that inspiration. She offered it with so much generosity, and I honor that deeply🙏🏼 Because the truth is this: so many mujeres, femmes, have quietly shared these stories with me. Stories of longing for sisterhood and stories of being hurt by it. Stories of comparison. Jealousy we never wanted. Betrayals we didn’t see coming. Distance that confused us. Silence that created ache. Friendships that shifted without closure. Sisters, both blood and chosen, who held us and wounded us in the same lifetime. And I’ve lived some of those wounds too. Held them quietly. Carried them longer than I realized. Missed people I’m no longer in relationship with. Held grief I didn’t know how to name. Hermanidad grew from those whispers. From my own longing. From our shared truths. From the desire to gather in a space where honesty and tenderness can coexist. In this first circle, we will explore these unspoken wounds together. We will cleanse. We will ground. We will set agreements that protect our hearts. We will create a space free of judgment and full of softness, care, and protection. It may feel tender. It may feel intense. It may feel like relief to finally name something you’ve been carrying alone. Hermanas… come as you are. Come open. Come curious. Come if something inside you says, “I know this feeling.” And for those asking about the name… Hermanidad is a word I made up. A blend of hermana and humanidad. A reminder that sisterhood and humanity belong together. Not a program. Not a curriculum. A circle. A space. A container of care we step into when the heart asks for it. Dec. 14 | 2–5 p.m. | Casa Kindred DM to reserve your spot. Link in bio and stories

A month ago I put up a poll on my stories asking if there was interest in a new kind of circle. Many of you said yes. As promised, here it is. Hermanidad was born from the in-between moments. The moments after Mujeristas ended. The conversations with women who still felt the pull to be held in circle. The quiet noticing that so many of us are carrying sisterhood wounds we never had room to name. This is the space I needed years ago and the space I still need now. A circle to come as we are. No performance. No pressure. No program to complete. Just an open door each month and a theme that meets us where we are. Hermanidad Circles begin in December at Casa Kindred. A soft space for femmes who want to heal and grow in community. Type 'hermanidad' in comment and ill send early regisration form!

Big news! ✨ Kindred has been awarded the RSSP Grant from West40 Safe Schools to continue our S.E.A.R.C.H. program for the 3rd year! AND we also get to introduce our new R.O.O.T programs! Stay tuned! Through creativity, healing, and story, these programs offer students space to express, reflect, and grow. We’re excited to deepen our partnership with West40 and keep building classrooms and communities rooted in belonging and care. 💛 Grateful to our partners, educators, and 🙏🏼most of all👆🏼 the youth who remind us why we do this! #KindredSchools #SEARCH #ROOT #West40 #SafeSchools #ArtAsHealing #HealingCentered #CommunityCare

🪬CASA Kindred presents: 🕯The Art of Remembering🕯 Join us for A Liberatory Arts Open Studio at Casa Kindred On November 1, Casa Kindred opens its doors for an afternoon of creation, reflection, and offering. 🧿We’ll gather to honor memory, lineage, and culture through art and community. Inspired by Guatemala’s barriletes gigantes and altar traditions, each room will hold a space for remembrance and connection and per usual we align to the elements: 🕯Fire – Collective altar by the fireplace 🕯Earth – Mini ofrendas and photo frames 🕯Air – Prayer flags and kite reflections 🕯Water – Writing as offering All materials provided Refreshments and light snacks included (Atole de Maiz, cacao, cafecito and more). Limited to 10 participants. Casa Kindred | November 1 | 2–5 PM Contribution: $33 or $44 RSVP through the link in bio. A gathering for remembrance, creation, and honoring those who came before us. #CasaKindred #TheArtOfRemembering #Barriletes #Ofrenda #Guatemala #LiberatoryArts #CommunityHealing #KindredCollective #DiaDeLosMuertos #ChicagoEvents #HealingInCommunity

Healing in Motion is here!!! Now we can finnally share it with you! Backstory/what is it: When Prevention First reached out to Kindred to collaborate on a project supporting youth who have a loved one impacted by incarceration or substance use, we knew it had to be something heartfelt, creative, and alive. This project hits close to my heart. Together, with Daniela Aguilar, we dreamed up a toolkit and video series that could bring healing-centered tools to life, blending art, storytelling, and embodiment in a way that youth and caregivers could actually feel. Thus, Healing in Motion was born. In this series, @mimi_movesyou , @lahtere , @simonejw , and I shared our own stories of healing the real ones, the tender ones. I am endlessly grateful to each of you for joining me in vulnerability and truth-telling. You continue to inspire me and remind me that storytelling is medicine. And yes, hearing myself in the video was a trip. In the beginning, I sound like I am about to cry, because I was. These topics are so close to my heart. But then you can hear me find my rhythm again, grounded, confident, and clear in why this work matters. In addition, I wrote up a 70+page toolkit of short intuitive arts based projects (that i have collected, been inspired by, done or searched up). Ive been wanting to do something like this for a long time. And this is just the beginning. Deep gratitude to my partner @slomo2.0 who always sees my vision and patiently endures my thousand edits, helping me refine the design aesthetic that makes Kindred feel like home. This toolkit comes at a time when we need more spaces for expression and deep healing. A small prayer, even if it is through social media: Spirit guides, please continue to align us with the spaces that heal us, where we can reflect, express, release, tell our stories, witness each other, and create counter narratives. We need us. Explore the full toolkit and video series here: https://www.prevention.org/youth-and-caregiver-resource-center #HealingInMotion #Kindred #KindredDesign #ArtAsMedicine #LaCulturaCura #CollectiveHealing #StorytellingHeals #HealingSpaces

Big news + big gratitude! We’re celebrating Chicago Youth Centers (CYC) @chicagocyc on receiving the Mielle Cares: Mispace Grant! Starting in October, Kindred will partner with CYC to do our part in growing spaces of healing and creativity for youth and staff. We’re especially excited to integrate the arts, identity, mind, body, and soul into our sessions. Together with our kinfolk — Mimi Macbeth (LCPC, R-MDT) with Creative Passages @creativepassages2healing and Simone Woods (LCSW) with Soul Well Collaborative, LLC — we’ll be offering group therapy and staff trainings in mental wellness. Deep thanks to @mielle.cares for investing in community care, and to CYC for always centering young people and possibility. 💙 #KindredCollective #wellness #mentalhealth #MielleCares #CYC #CommunityHealing @mimiyvonne @mimi_movesyou @simonejw @chicagocyc @mielle.cares @yaya_j_2.0 @praxisinstchicago @creativepassages2healing

Kindred family 🧿🪬 We want to introduce you to Casa Kindred🪬 Since 2022- our work has lived in schools, afterschool programs, and community spaces. We’ve carried Kindred wherever we were invited : circles, workshops, healing spaces, gatherings, pop-ups. Now, for the first time, we have a place of our own to root this work in addition to being out alongside you! Casa Kindred is not a storefront or an office. It is a home-like hub for community (Kindred 🪬), where what might have been a house party becomes a house offering😉. A space for wellness, art, connection, and the work of learning and unlearning.🙏🏼💙🧿 We are leaning into the process. Open to the flow as alignment and spirit takes us. Right now, we are in process: painting our walls, sketching our focal mural 😰 😉.. and shaping our first offerings. What we do know: in October we will launch our annual Ofrenda Series — offerings of herbs, circles, support, community, and art. Please stay tuned and stay patient alongside our easy pace.. for our new website launch, our Casa Kindred offerings, and our community-based offerings coming soon. With so much gratitude 🙏🏼🪬 thank you for staying with us as Casa Kindred comes alive. #CasaKindred #OfrendaSeries #HouseOfferings #KindredFam #HealingInCommunity

Kindred! We’ve been on a quiet summer break since July, resting, resetting, and letting the next chapter unfold slowly. Thank you for the love and support these past 6 months. Truly. Every circle, every message, every co-created moment has kept us going. We’ll be back in full flow come September… but August is for little glimpses of what’s been quietly brewing behind the scenes. Here’s your first peek..our new Kindred website Still in the works. Still soft-launching. But we couldn’t wait to share a little something with you. Special shout out to @studio.itzi @david.nala for his amazing vision 💜🩵 #KindredLLC #CasaKindred #intention #HealingThroughArts #SoftLaunch #IntentionalGrowth #HealingInCommunity

Bringing this moment back into the light. El Encuentro Mujerista was our soft launch and it felt like a full bloom. Thank you to everyone who showed up with love, curiosity, and truth. This space rooted in ritual, altars, and femme connection was rare and so needed. So what is a Mujerista She is rooted and rising Soft and bold Tender and unafraid I’m proud of what we created and excited for what’s next Mujerista Cohort 2 is blooming this fall! Reach out if you feel the pull!!! #ElEncuentroMujerista #MujeristaMagic #SoftBoldUnafraid #AltarsAsMedicine #Cohort2ComingSoon

6 months in and 2025 has been a year of deep initiation, expansion, and realization. From a vision seeded during the Art Xpress and Venus Collective days to what Kindred is now becoming, this work has always been about weaving. Weaving story and space. Weaving healing and creation. Weaving personal and collective transformation. This year we continued building out the Ofrenda Series, a collection of community offerings rooted in sacred exchange. @ayurvedic.elements Cristina opened us with Learn the Language of Your Body, and from there Mujeristas emerged as a living, breathing part of the series. It has become a dream that keeps on giving. We have been growing in all directions. Murals. Liberatory Arts Pop-Ups. Kindred Little Creators. We are shaping what Kindred Design and Kind(red) Sports will look and feel like as we continue to grow. Our website is also receiving a glow up. It reflects our belief that art is not a luxury but a practice of self-expression, storytelling, and transformation. At Kindred we interweave social-emotional learning, movement, healing, and community care to create spaces that are educational, liberatory, joyful, and rooted in exchange. We are thankful for every conversation, collaboration, and moment you have shared with us. Thank you for sticking beside us! Here is a glimpse of what we have and continue to offer: • (2) 5 week school-based Kindred installments at west40 (love @mlhopper27 •We secured 2 new school pop ups and projects • Arts integration workshops •liberatory arts open studio @positivespacestudios • Kindred Design offerings including flyers, conversation cards, banners, logos, T-shirts, toolkits, and lesson plans Mujerista cohort 1 Learn the language of your body led by @ayurvedicelements Murals Kind sports sessions What is incubating: ♡Mujerista cohort 2 ♡3 other affinity spaces (i.e.Hermanidad circles) ♡More liberatory arts sessions ♡Healing in Motion series What else would you love to see from us in the rest of 2025 and beyond?? We are listening. We are creating. We are so grateful. #KindredInMotion #OfrendaSeries #Mujeristas #HealingInCommunity #LiberatoryArts #ArtAsMedicine #

⚘️El Encuentro Mujerista 🌹 Still soaking in the magic. To everyone who came, showed up with open hearts, and shared their stories, art, altars, and medicine, thank you. It’s not every day that femmes come together like this. With softness and power. With vulnerability and vision. The space we created was out of pure love. And we can only hope that it was received. So… what is a Mujerista? She’s a creator. A disruptor. A tender force of transformation. She’s someone who leads from her roots and reclaims joy, voice, and story on her own terms. This was the soft launch, and still-it felt so full. We are proud. humbled. And lit up by what’s possible. We are so eager to see how this blooms next. We captured so many beautiful moments..and while there’s so much more footage to come, here’s a glimpse into the magic: 🌹 Opening Circle – Rooted in ritual, intention, and rose petals. 🌹Workshop A – Where Mujeristas shared their wisdom through art, storytelling, and movement: ⚘️Finding Your Art in Leadership – Jessica Vann ⚘️History as Inheritance– Mayra Almaraz ⚘️Awakening the Inner Wisdom Woman – Cristina Salgado 🌹Workshop B – A second round of sacred offerings, deep reflections, and creative expression: ⚘️The Art of Connection: Susy ortega ⚘️A Meditation for Collective Abundance – Veronica ⚘️Reframe and Remember– Elizabeth Rodriguez 🌹Closing circle: We honored Mujeristas past and present by inviting attendees to name an honorary Mujerista and place rose petals on the altar. The night ended with a collective blessing, Mujerista certificates, and a walk through the altar gallery. 🌹Closing Altars – Built by each Mujerista as a reflection of their journey..holding memories, prayers, and their unique offerings to the collective. 🌹 Final Blessing + Photos – A moment of joy and gratitude shared with our soft launch guests—chosen family, friends, and community who showed up with so much love. This was more than an event. It was a remembering. A reclaiming. Un Encuentro. And this is just the beginning. 🌱 #Mujerista #ElEncuentroMujerista #FemmeHealing #AltarsInBloom #SoftLaunchSacredGathering #TenderAndTrue #CollectivePower

Arts integration is one of our favorite workshops to lead. Every time we facilitate this session, we’re reminded how powerful it is when people slow down, create with intention, and connect through shared practices. @yaya_j_2.0 and @mimi_movesyou have been co-facilitating for years, and this one continues to hold a special place for both of us. Arts integration doesn’t always get the respect or attention it deserves. It’s often dismissed as an “extra” or something soft. But for us, it’s a methodology rooted in relationship, culture, and healing. It helps move emotion, build trust, and support expression in ways that traditional approaches often miss—especially in youth work. This workshop invited folks to engage with a variety of hands-on stations and movement practices: -Movement activities like SIFT, affirmation-based stretches, and Mimi even taught us a bit of boots on the ground line dance ! It brought a moment of lightness and joy to all of us trying so hard! Swipe to see.. lol -Paint-by-number fans that invited people to return and reengage over time (take home) -A collaborative mural that can be done anywhere while still keeping the aesthetic and the purpose/benefit (pro social building) -Ojo de Dios weaving to ground and focus and engage in culture /story telling -Scribble exercises and storytelling prompts using Choose-Your-Own-Adventure cards We don’t just talk about the arts, we practice them. As tools for emotional regulation. As invitations into deeper connection. As ways to support reflection and community. This workshop was held with love by Kindred LLC . And if you’re curious about how arts integration could support your team, youth program, or school, we’re always open to building something together! Thankful to @chicagocyc ESI team for inviting us and beibg so engaged and down to try all the stations! #ArtsIntegration #HealingCenteredEngagement #CreativePractices #YouthWork #RestorativeEducation #EmbodiedSEL #TraumaInformedCare #CommunityWellness #LiberatoryLearning #EducatorsWhoCreate #MovementMatters #StoryAsResistance

Today we paused the hustle of the accelerator to come back to center. We opened in circle taking time to connect, to witness each other, and to show up boldly in community. Deep gratitude to @csalgad1 and @mayra_almaraz12 for leading us with so much care and intention. From there, we shifted into creation mode. We began building our altars!! honoring the parts of ourselves that are ready to be seen, celebrated, and offered forward. These aren’t just art pieces. They’re reflections. Reminders. I’ve been dreaming about hosting a Create Your Own Altar workshop for a while now and today was the perfect start, as part of our soft launch for El Encuentro. Each Mujerista began creating her altar today after months of incubating intentions, dreams, and visions. My heart is full and my mind is buzzing with ideas. The magic is unfolding… and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to see how our altars evolve and to share them as part of the Mujerista Encuentro soft launch! We’re not just making altars. We’re becoming them. #ElEncuentroMujerista #MujeristasCreate #AltarsOfOurselves #CircleAndCreation #softlaunchmagic

#Backatit with @west40isc students today, bringing our mural to life! With new @novacolorpaint in hand, our #Kindred young artists are pushing through the end-of-year hustle to co-create a collective art piece that will carry them into summer and beyond. #Staytuned #YouthVoice #CreativeYouthDevelopment #YouthPower #InProgress

New logo, who dis? After months of incubation, the accelerator is in full force. This evolved mark holds the softness, boldness, and stretch we’ve been living. Each mujerista is crafting their offering. This carousel holds their names, their essence, their magic! This isn’t a final product-it’s a living process. A soft launch. a collective becoming. Gracias for walking with us. This is mujerista. This is kindred. #Mujerista #KindredLLC #SoftBoldUnafraid #EnergyExchange #HealingInMotion #sacredfeminine #sacredspace #IncubatorAndAccelerator @essence_555 @mayra_almaraz12 @csalgad1 @enexcesoo @itsme.jessv @suortega0608 @yaya_j_2.0

Mother’s Day Cards: Never Too Old to Make Them! Today at #KindredSchools at West40, we brought a little love to life with a special focus project: creating Mother’s Day cards! And because choice is everything at #SEARCH, students also had the option to dive into Open Studio, exploring their own creative paths. The ones who chose to however, poured their creativity into heartfelt messages and designs, celebrating the people who mean the most to them. Art, self-expression, and a space to create — that’s what we’re all about. #SEARCH #KindredSchools #MothersDay #CreativeExpression #OpenStudio