Founder Dr. Robyn Rodriguez

Dr. Robyn Magalit Rodriguez is a highly accomplished researcher as well as a beloved educator and mentor who left her career as a university professor to establish SLE. Shortly after founding SLE, Dr. Rodriguez also founded Remagination Farm, a farm, learning center, healing & arts space. SLE and Remagination are not-for-profit social enterprises that are sibling organizations to the Amado Khaya Initiative, which honors the activist work of the late Amado Khaya Canham Rodriguez, Dr. Rodriguez's eldest son, who passed away at the age of 22 while serving indigenous communities in the Philippines. More about Dr. Rodriguez can be found on her website, drrobynrodriguez.com.

Senior Instructor Christy Tonel

Christy Tonel, MPH, RYT (she/they/siya) is a public health strategist, community wellness advocate, and cultural healing arts practitioner. With ancestral roots in Aklan, Western Visayas and currently based on Nisenan Land, Christy brings over 15 years of experience mobilizing $50+ million in funding for black, brown, queer, and rural communities. Christy is particularly passionate about trauma-sensitive systems of care, alternative social economies, and indigenous cultural preservation. Their newest offering, Reimagining Resources: A Path to Justice and Abundance, is an online community coworking lab for social changemakers, grassroots organizers, healers, and dreamers to unlearn harmful funding practices and reimagine resource movement rooted in compassion, creativity, and collective liberation. Christy invites us to embody a new way of living as we move toward a post-capitalist future.

Senior Instructor Jeannie Celestial

Jeannie Estella Celestial, Ph.D., M.S.W. (she/her/siya) is a licensed clinical psychologist and AAPI Women’s Leadership Coach with over 20 years of experience in facilitating personal and collective healing. Dr. Celestial integrates evidence-based modalities (such as, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy [CBT], Acceptance and Commitment Therapy [ACT], and Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing [EMDR]) with approaches rooted in Filipino culture and attuned to bodymindspirit. Dr. Celestial earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Palo Alto University with emphases in Clinical Neuropsychology and in Meditation and Psychology. Dr. Celestial was awarded The Dr. EJ Nichols Foundation for Cultural Competence and Leadership Grant (2024) and the American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship (2013) for her commitment to serving global majority communities/BIPOC. She helped establish community-driven coalitions to empower and educate the Filipino community about mental health called the Filipinx/o Mental Health Initiative (FMHI-Solano/Napa and FMHI-San Francisco). Passionate about culture and holistic wellness, Dr. Celestial co-authored The Filipino Instant Pot Cookbook (bestseller, Rocketships & Wonderment, 2019) and is the co-editor/co-author Clinical Interventions for Internalized Oppression (Cognella, 2023). Dr. Celestial was born on Guåhan/Guam to Cebuano and Caviteño families. She is a settler on Lisjan and Miwok lands in Northern California with her asawa Art, anak M.J., aso Choco, and intergenerational families. Connect with her at drcelestial.com.

Senior Instructor Adrienne Esguerra

Adrienne Hidalgo Esguerra (she/her) is a mama of 5, educator, community organizer, founder and daughter of generation 1.5 immigrants born and raised on unceded land of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples (San Francisco). She has worked in public, private and pediatric school settings, non-profits and grassroots organizations. Adrienne is a product of public education in San Francisco Unified School District. She attended San Francisco State University and holds a BA in Liberal Studies, emphasis in Children and Family Studies; Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and Master’s Degree in Education focus on Curriculum Design. Raising her systems impacted family in a multigenerational home left her seeking responsive, liberatory and accessible parenting education support that did not yet exist. This intersectionality birthed Raising Ancestors, LLC an education platform for parents, caregivers, educators, and providers. For 20+ she has served students and their families inside and outside of the classroom. This season Adrienne is building with folx who are reimagining what education can look like outside of the institution. Because we are not giving the next generation what they need to thrive in THIS world...we are giving them what they need to create a NEW world. @raisingancestors raisingancestors.com [email protected]