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What is Awakening Creatives all about?

A queer-led company dedicated to uplifting collective liberation

Our inclusion statement is embedded in the intention of the business.

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We dream of a world where no one suffers, is seen as less-than, or incurs any added hardships based on an inherent trait that deviates from white, able-minded/bodied, cis-gender, heterosexual, middle-aged American maleness. We imagine a world that is inviting to and honoring of queerness and the intersectionality of marginalized communities. This is a world where people have access to the support, knowledge and power that they need to create an abundant, creative life free from oppression.

 

The actions of this business are intended to embody & live that vision.

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In the Awakening Creatives Community, we practice building co-liberatory, mutual & co-creative relationships to ourselves and others with:

  • Liberatory Pedagogy & Organizational Applications

  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy, Policy & Programming

  • Co-Liberatory & Mindful Learning Spaces

  • Empathic Communication Skill Building & Coaching

  • Queer Sensitivity Skill Building & Coaching

  • Inclusive Language Editing Support

  • Holistic Wellbeing Skill Building & Coaching

  • Creative Practice & Skill Building

  • Creative Services (Graphic & Web Design)

  • Mindful Online Conference & Meeting Tech Services

Awakening Creatives Logo featuring a group surrounding a spiral on a landscape with a sun and moon in a watercolor style

Awakening Creatives logo features rainbow text with a rainbow colored sun, moon and spiral surrounded by a diversity of small rainbow people with outstretched arms.

Liberty Gonzalez, owner and operator of Awakening Creatives and their baby

I was born and raised in the fertile lands of the Chinook and Multnomah peoples, often known as the Willamette Valley, but in 2018 I moved to the lands of the Cherokee, Iroquois, O’Sage, and Chickasaw people, land known as Cahokia, but later named St. Louis, Missouri by colonizers. I live south of St. Louis on a small homestead with my partner, child, 3 cats, 2 dogs and 2 rabbits.

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Currently, I am studying at Pacifica Graduate Institute pursuing a PhD in Depth Psychology specializing in community liberation psychology with a special focus in Queer Liberation. Liberatory community psychology has roots in indigenous psychology with a focus on decoloniality.

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I have engaged in extensive training to prepare me for my roles at Awakening Creatives and CONNECT: 
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  • B.S. in Liberal Studies at PSU with an emphasis integrating physical sciences and art for social change

  • M.A. in Depth Psychology, Community, Liberation, Indigenous & Ecopsychologies Specialization

  • Mindful Facilitator Certification with Lee Mun Wah of Stir Fry Seminars

  • 200 hr Yoga Teacher training at the Lotus Seed in Portland, Oregon (RYT 200)

  • Holistic Life Coaching Certification from Transform Coaching Academy

  • Mindfulness, Relationship and Embodiment training from the Hakomi Institute of Oregon and META

  • Creativi-Chi- creativity cultivation intensive with Michele Greco CPC, ELI-MP, PCC

  • 1 year of counseling training at Lewis & Clark including Expressive Arts Therapy, Critical Psychology and Diversity & Social Justice

  • Interrupting Racism Workshop with Resolutions NW

  • Institutional Racism Workshop at Activists Mobilizing for Power conference

  • Burning Times Never Ended intensive with Rain Crowe

  • Professional organizer training

  • Decolonizing Conference 2018

  • Opening the CONNECT Community Center for Wellbeing in 2023

When I was young, I survived the emotional violence of my household and isolation of suburbia by connecting deeply to the forest near my house. I marveled at its beauty and abundance, like a perfect work of art. I observed how everything was in a constant balancing act and beings used their niches to produce their unique artful phenomena. Since then, the line between art and nature, and therefore my creative process, blurred. A fellow artist, Binah Zing, encouraged me living life like a master art piece and to embrace the full color, depth and magic available to me.

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In addition to 15 years of experiencing organizing beautiful spaces for creative lives, I have 15+ years of experience as a community builder co-creating healthier communication and creative processes in groups. Through world travels, art business, organizing (homes, community spaces and grassroots efforts), performance and activism, I have supported many people and organizations to realize their dreams and full potential in fun, playful and creativity-infused exploration.

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I am particularly grateful for my service at MESD Outdoor School program, Occupy Portland University, and residency at Tryon Life Community Farm. Volunteer work at P:ear, a non-profit serving houseless and transitional youth, the Independent Publishing Resources Center (IPRC), and Respond to Racism in LO inspire me to provide quality and equitable service to people from all intersections of society. My work with the Truth Telling Project, Lee Mun Wah’s Stirfry Seminars and the Liberatory Library have deepened me into the realm of truth telling, reparations, decolonial education and mindful, inclusive communication.

My creative life and connection to the innate creativity of life and nature provides inspiration and motivation for my work. All beings are creative beings, and have a birthright to access that creativity. The traumas of the world and oppressive structures of the societies we live in prevent people having access to those creative faculties, and it is my mission to hold space for people to transform out of those barriers. I’m passionate about shepherding harmony within the inter-connectedness of all things and work closely with natural metaphors, ancient wisdom, and creative exercises to guide the coaching process. I allow the flexibility of creativity while providing structure for each client’s unique transformation.

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My art and music keep me fueled to do this work. My connection to rhythm and harmony in my body are what make it possible for me to resonate empathically, and stay in time with another person’s unfolding. I cherish the time I’ve been able to spend bringing beauty into the world.

Meet Liberty

Liberatory Community Psychologist,

Coach & Facilitator

As a white, genderqueer (they/them) and queer identifying Jewitch (Pagan Jew), this work is personal and cannot be separated from my own liberation. I have been guided through my journey as a coach, a counselor, an activist, an artist and facilitator, I’ve collected a wealth of tools for understanding and navigating the tension between cultural differences in communities. I use these tools to hold spaces that both equip creative change makers with emotional and embodied tools to transform themselves and their relationships, but also the knowledge to create change responsibly and within their most authentic creativity.​

A sunset over a silhouetted forest
My Creative Inspiration
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