I am a twice immigrated two spirit person who has lived many lives. I am a former freight train conductor, farmer, mediator and homeless service provider, as well as a non profit director and now a city commissioner. I am also an artist, musician, and proud parent to two cats and a puppy.
After several years of being unhoused, I became the inaugural director of the first Housing Program for Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people in San Francisco; Our Trans Home. I then founded and opened one of the first TGNC specific shelters in the country, called the “Taimon Booton Navigation Center” – named after a two spirit youth I supported who passed away during the pandemic. Taimon’s loss made me passionate about working at the intersections of race, gender, age-specific services, substance use and crisis response. As a Commissioner on the San Francisco Homelessness Oversight Commission, I work to support BIPOC, LGBT, formerly incarcerated people, youth and elders.
I am endlessly grateful to be a part of the team at AMRF – a foundation that is pushing the envelope to provide equitable trust based support to community leaders. It is a dream come true to be able to provide the support that I would have benefitted from during my hardest times to our grantees. I hope to use my experience to uplift the leaders who provide care, healing and belonging to our most marginalized communities.