Laura Yohualtlahuiz Rios-Ramirez is a Mexican-born Xicana scholar-practitioner of Tepehuan, Guachichil Chichimeca, French and Spanish descent trained in educational pedagogy, circle keeping, performance art, and community organizing. They are recognized for their canon of healing-informed praxis intersecting performance art, ancestral knowledge systems and restorative/transformative justice practices as tools for personal and collective transformation.
She holds a BA in International Relations and Latin American Studies and a MS in Organizational Leadership and is a Southwest Folklife Fellow focusing on Participatory Action Research and an Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow focusing on interculturality in the field of arts & culture. She co-leads, Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin, a transnational inter-tribal group of families preserving Anahuaka teachings and participate with the Wind & Warrior Sacred Waters Pilgrimage to heal colonial trauma through ritual solidarity across Black/Indigenous diaspora. She is a veteran Bgirl/Hip Hop dancer, a wife, and most importantly a Mami passionate about healing intergenerational/colonial trauma through matriarchal leadership and resiliency.
Laura is a Co-Founder and Visionary behind De Corazón Circles, a consulting and capacity building firm that envisions a safe and equitable world where restorative interactions transform individuals, relationships, communities and systems through the prevention, repair and deep healing of harm.