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Organizational Support Team
Lil Milagro Henriquez
She/Her
Founder & Executive Director
lilmilagro@myceliumyouth.org
Lil Milagro Henriquez, M.A. (detribalized Nahuat Pipil descent) is a movement leader and activist with 20+ years of experience working towards decolonizing education, environmental justice, food sovereignty, union democracy, and labor organizing. Her approach and dedication to this work is rooted in her own experiences as a young person. Born and raised in New Orleans, she served as a founding Board of Directors member for Planting Justice and The People’s Conservatory and was the founding Director of Organizing for Roses in Concrete Community School, a social justice-based K-8 school in East Oakland. Throughout her teaching career, Lil became aware of the impact that ‘climate anxiety’ (the compounding stressors and grief due to the realities of climate change and its impacts on our ecosystems, the environment, and survival) was having on the social, emotional, and mental wellbeing of her students. She also noticed how our public education systems and mainstream narratives were failing to support their experiences as young people growing towards an uncertain future. In 2017, she founded Mycelium Youth Network (MYN), an organization dedicated to preparing and empowering frontline youth for the realities of climate change.
Lil is also an avid gamer who loves using fantasy to imagine climate-just futures, and a mother of two small children who directly informs her work in the world.
"In a zombie apocalypse, I would love to have Katniss Everdeen level archery skills that will help us sustainably hunt when the supermarkets shut down. My hope is that will balance all of the amazing gardeners that I'm in community with at a larger level."
Kevin Simmonds
I specialize in power-building among community-based organizations, and my efforts have led to increased investments in the arts, international education, LGBTQ+ rights and reimagining the criminal injustice system.
I'd last five minutes in a zombie apocalypse because, despite all the cautionary tales of movie and TV, I'd try and reason with the undead. May I be remembered fondly.
Alissa Meleyco
They/Them
Strategic Advisor for Individual Giving
alissa@myceliumyouth.org
I’m honored for the opportunity to join MYN because I believe their efforts are
activating portals for youth to move into their power and harness the collective wonder,
awe, and courage necessary to invoke a cultural and systemic transformation for a just
and thriving future.
In the zombie apocalypse, I see myself using my gardening, creative play, and art
practices to inspire joy within the community around me.
Rachel Hunt
She/Her
Financial Manager
rachel@myceliumyouth.org
In a dystopian world full of pessimism, Mycelium Youth Network propagates hope for the next generation by providing and leading STEAM education while evoking and contending global warming. The culture of inclusivity, learning, and all-around fun at Mycelium is unparalleled.
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In a zombie apocalypse, my role would likely be someone that strategically locates and procures the best locations to build strongholds and shelters with optimal security for preservation and ample resources; such as water supply, proper soil for growing food and medicinal herbs, building stockpiles, and providing a safe space for survivors.
Jessica Levya
She/Her
Virtual & Administrative Assistant
admin@myceliumyouth.org
I love working with Mycelium Youth Network because I'm supporting an organization that focuses on teaching youth the importance of preparing for climate change and the impact that we each can make as individuals. We will continue to work united to take care of our beautiful planet and make a difference for the generations to come.
Education Team
Andrew Yeung
He/They
Educational Director
andrew@myceliumyouth.org
I'm excited to work with Mycelium Youth Network to co-create climate resilient futures alongside young folks, seeding today what other worlds are possible tomorrow. I'm excited to deepen our collective toolbox for and beyond survival, dreaming and building towards a tomorrow where land and liberation are inseparable.
My role in the zombie apocalypse would be a collector of stories, weaving together the memories, histories, songs, and recipes of our survival into a living tapestry that will warm our communities — and definitely cooking in a collective kitchen!
Kunal Palawat
They/She
Climate Research Organizer
kunal@myceliumyouth.org
I am excited to join the Mycelium team in order to co-create an anti-colonial way to engage with data, rooted in different Indigenous technologies, youth experiences, and community needs! I trust that we will cultivate an empowering experience connected to climate apocalypse, science, art, diaspora, and Land.
My role in the zombie apocalypse would be as a first responder to jump into action and protect the group in crisis! I like to think I'm quick on my feet and very competitive, but I am asthmatic, so who knows if I could beat a zombie...
Ashia Ajani
They/Them
Resilient Communities Educator & Resident Researcher
ashia@myceliumyouth.org
I'm excited to start this role because of the unique assortment of knowledge climate resilient schools has to offer Bay Area communities. I am particularly excited to dive back into my research bag and gather important, archival knowledge regarding climate resilience, adaptation and community organization.
My role in the zombie apocalypse would be as an anthropologist, retracing our steps and collecting important artifacts that need to be preserved for future generations.
Ariana Hee
She/Her
Climate Resilience & Leadership Educator
arianna@myceliumyouth.org
I have been thinking about what this moment is demanding of us, who we are worldbuilding with, and what networks of solidarity are necessary to resist complacency in order to live the world we believe we can achieve. I am grateful for the possibility to continue confronting these questions and learning alongside Mycelium's team and Youth Network.
As an uninvited guest in the home of the Ramaytush Ohlone people, stewarding land has offered me many invitations to pay close attention to cycles of living and to the networks of interdependence embedded within our ecosystem. In a zombie apocalypse, I would ground myself in these lessons learned to grow food with my comrades. I would help weave networks of shared resources that would allow us to depend on one another for our collective survival. I would make little zines that documented our transformations as a form of remembering.
Maya Salsedo
She/They
Curriculum & Evaluation Manager
maya@myceliumyouth.org
What excites me about my work at Mycelium is the opportunity to center indigenous knowledge, and plant medicines while troubling the binary of nature and people. I look forward to uplifting indigenous and transformational pedagogies through development of curriculum which honors the great resilience of youth, the resilience of our earth systems, and the equally great challenge posed by climate change. Through an intersectional lens I am hopeful to assess program impact and educational equity in Mycelium Curriculum design and implementation.
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My role in the zombie apocalypse would be to grow food, pick food, cook food, tell jokes and instigate little games. And of course quoting Octavia Butler.
Jomar Rodriguez Ventura
He/Him
Climate Resilient Communities Coordinator
jomar@myceliumyouth.org
I am excited to work with Mycelium Youth Network because we are approaching climate change readiness through youth engagement and leadership. I also enjoy teaching about gardening, reconnecting with traditional ancestral knowledge, and climate change science.
My role in the zombie apocalypse would be fruit and veggie gardener for building community and self-sufficiency.
Sandhya Nath
She/They
Youth Leadership Educator
sandhya@myceliumyouth.org
The thoughtfulness and groundedness in the organization makes me excited to make my mark and also grow within the org. I believe my radical imagination can thrive here resulting in nourishing the youth I work with. Thus in turn resulting in a symbiotic relationship of growth and trust.
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My role in the zombie apocalypse would be a community organizer and urge my group of trusted friends and family to stick together. However, I might end up actually being a zombie and then infect my community so we can survive as zombies!
Gaming for Justice Team
Marcy Brown
She/Her
Lead Storyteller & Game Designer
marcy@myceliumyouth.org
I am excited to work with Mycelium Youth Network because of the harmonization of climate science, practical resiliency skills, and joyful visioning of the future that the Network achieves. We can connect through distance and time with stories, and when we weave narratives with each other, we can create powerful bonds that inspire creativity and curiosity.
In our campaigns, players navigate through new and strange worlds while working together to confront injustice, organize action, and create genuine connections within the party and with characters they meet along the way. The adventures center around environmental justice topics such as community care and protection, food deserts, pollution, industrial development, health, and more.
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My role in the zombie apocalypse would be as a mender and recycler. I would help people patch/repair clothes and gear as well as uncover new uses for items found by the gatherers of the community.
Sebastian Ellington Flying Eagle Ebarb
He/Him
Gaming for Justice Artist
Sebastian Ellington Flying Eagle Ebarb (Choctaw-Apache) is an Associate Professor at Northeastern's Art + Design department, as well as an award-winning graphic designer. He is an avid Dungeon Master and battle map maker. He lives with his family near Boston.
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In the zombie apocalypse I would be the hunter-gatherer finding and growing food to keep the team strong and healthy.
Tao Qi
They/Them
Gaming for Justice Storyteller
As an educator, I believe adults have a sacred responsibility to support kids in their basic human need to play. I'm so grateful to be working at an org that takes this responsibility as seriously as I do. Through play, kids try on futures and see how they feel. Through play, they imagine themselves taking bold and compassionate action.
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Our adventurers live in a far flung fantasy future. They grapple with the material and spiritual consequences of planetary devastation. The adventurers travel through earth's memories to heal the traumas of the past and weave a new harmony between all the life beings of earth.
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My role in the zombie apocalypse would be mediator, facilitator, healer with a shotgun.
Zhanne Easter
She/Her
Gaming for Justice Artist
Zhanne is an illustrator with a lifelong dedication to the visual arts. She has used her creative and unique aesthetic to give a voice to diverse and underrepresented groups. Zhanne aims to create spaces for love and understanding with her bright and bold illustrations and is excited to forward a new generation of social and climate champions.
My role in the zombie apocalypse would be to start an orphanage and school to make sure education continues.