About Our Founder

Hi. My name is Laura Yohualtlahuiz Rios-Ramirez (she/they), I am a detribalized Queer Mexican-born Xicanx community scholar, researcher, narrative & cultural strategist of Tepehuan, Guachichil Chichimeca, and mixed lineage trained in educational pedagogy, circle keeping, performance art, and cultural consultancy.

I am an alumni of the Southwest Folklife Alliance, Intercultural Leadership Institute and Highlander Research & Education Center as well as a member of Xinachtli Comadres Network, Women of Color in the Arts, Alternate Roots, Southern Movement Assembly and Wind & Warrior Institute focusing on participatory action research, popular education, and traditional healing arts. I co-lead Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin, an Anahuaka ceremonial group dedicated to re-tribalizing families through Anahuaka teachings, Mexica-Chichimeca danza, traditional medicine, & kinship building.

I’m a veteran Bgirl, Wife, Mami, Tia, and Madrina passionate about healing intergenerational & colonial trauma through Matriarchy, Cultura Cura circle keeping and folklife preservation. Calmecac In Lak’Ech is the culmination of my lifework as Matriarch for my community and I hope you find a home her, learning, growing and building the future we want to see for our communities and our future generations. I am committed to holding the tension of change, grounded in collective liberation as an Afro-Indigenous futurist.