Jonathan Gonzalez and Kapi'olani Laronal, Guests

Jonathan Gonzales was born in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico and grew up in southern California. He has spent the last 12 years learning earth living skills and ancestral ceremonial ways with many teachers and elders, combined with participating in Indigenous, earth-based ceremonies along with a quest to connect more deeply with his ancestral lineage, which is Indigenous Taino from Puerto Rico, Chinanteco from Mexico, and African.

Kapi`olani A. Laronal, MA, Ed., is a descendant of the Haida (Eagle Clan, Sgwaa Gitanee, People of the Tall Grass), Tsimshian, Native Hawaiian, and Filipino. Kapi’olani’s experiences working with Native communities on ocean and land restoration projects, cultural preservation, and protocols have significantly shaped her academic and professional life. She is an educator, athlete, life coach, and consultant. Kapi`olani brings years of professional experience in secondary and higher education institutions supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and policies centered on college student outreach, recruitment, and services for traditionally underserved and low-income communities of color. Her work specializes in Indigenous and First Nations community-centered partnerships.