Vision
Our vision is to realize collective liberation through our daily lives; we imagine a world where our core ways of relating are not limited by patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism. We envision a queer transfeminist ancestral future in a world where we live in alignment with our true nature and in a belonging rooted in our connection to the earth.
Mission
Our mission is to break with colonial programming that lives in our mind, body and spirit and to transform stress, suffering, and trauma as we reclaim our power as forces of change in the world. We live our mission as a practice of honoring all life and working to uncover root causes of inequality as they manifest in our most intimate relationships.
The Equipx Estelar
Melissa Rosario, Ph.D.
Founder, Co-Director & Nebula
Melissa (she/they) is a third-generation Nuyorican mixed race non-binary femme who has been living and working in Boriken since 2016. She considers herself a rogue anthropologist, having left the academy after finishing her doctorate to work directly for our collective liberation. Today, as a cultural worker, she curates, co-creates and facilitates radical learning spaces and encounters in community anchored in healing justice practice, decolonizing and transforming inheritances, patterns and traumas that we carry as colonized or marginalized peoples. She is committed to transforming cultures of resistance and supporting activists, healers and artists to deal with root causes of domination, separation and inequality so that they may build power from the point of loving acceptance of our differences. She works across various mediums–principally in sound, the written word and the body to: (re)connect, (re)member, (re)cover, (re)claim (re)define and (re)imagine. She is finalizing her first book manuscript Another Country: A CounterHistory of Puerto Rico in Crisis.
Gaby Sanchez Deniza
Brazo Conectivo
Gaby Sanchez Deniza is an artisan, interdisciplinary artist, archivist, and agroecology advocate. Gaby is a cabuyera (fiber weaver). Their practice interweaves art, land, and ancestral knowledge through a spiritual and collective approach. For them, weaving is an act of memory, healing, and resistance.
Their work at CEPA involves caring for the conuco and nurturing its relationships with the surrounding environment. They serve as a community liaison and a bridge to our conuco. If you have ideas, want to volunteer, or wish to collaborate—or conspire—in the conuco, Gaby is the person to reach out to.
Gie Echevarría
Brazo Espiral
Gie joined CEPA in 2024 as the Brazo Espiral, or Spiral Arm. They are responsible for caring of the conuco, the botica, and holding monthly brigades here in CEPA.
Past Collaborators
Lau Pat RA
Co-Founder, Co-Director & Electrostatic Force
Lau Pat Ra (they/he) is a multidisciplinary Afro-Indigenous artist, activist and independent Caribbean filmmaker. They are an evolving trans-masculine Two-Spirit creator from Humacao, Boriké (Puerto Rico). Founder of Gueykaraya Productions since 2019, co-founder of CEPA, a healing justice & decolonization organization, since 2017 and co-director until 2026. Graduate from the School of Plastic Arts & Design of Puerto Rico, EAPD, in 2016 with a BFA in Design and Digital Art, concentration in Image and Movement. They are also a firekeeper-in-training with the Yuké Tribe of Coabey, Jayuya, in Boriké.
He was awarded Best Cinematography at the Suncoast Student Emmy Awards in 2016, won a National Agricultural Department design competition and has exhibited in the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico’s permanent collection titled Puerto Rico Plural with the collaborative piece En-Cierro by Awilda Sterling Duprey.
MJ Carpena Melero
Llamarada Solar
MJ Carpena Melero (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist and academic who works primarily as a researcher, writer, director, and actor. They graduated from New York University in 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, double majoring in Theatre and Latin American Studies with a minor in Media Production. Before that, they began their journey in theatre and filmmaking in Borikén—where they were born and raised—commonly known today as Puerto Rico.
Their work focuses on decolonial and decentralized narratives about Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Latin America, exploring themes such as self-sovereignty, the decolonization of identities, participatory knowledge and cultural production, collective autonomy, and anticolonial resistance throughout the archipelago. Their filmography is deeply shaped by Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Taíno history and culture, as well as the storytelling traditions of the family they grew up with. Some of their works include Georgina, Mareas a la deriva, Recolonization of Puerto Rico, and Espiral Sagrado.
They also collaborated as a member of the communications team at CEPA, a decolonial and healing justice organization in Puerto Rico. When not reading, filming, or writing, MJ enjoys spending time with their loved ones, playing sports, cooking, learning a little bit about everything, watching Meryl Streep movies, or spending time at the beach or river with their Puerto Rican doggo, Eli.
MJ recently completed their graduate studies at New York University, where they were an FLAS Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Looking ahead, their purpose is to continue creating, learning, and working collectively in and toward the liberation of Borikén, the Caribbean, Abya Yala, and the Global South.
Steph Stoddard Cortés
Viento Solar
Along with the growth of our project and programs, we have also seen our Stellar Team grow. This year, we welcomed Solar Wind, Steph, to our communications team. Their creative work and contributions to CEPA have already been incredibly impactful, in just a short period of time.
Maribel Caro Cruz
Celestial Satellite
Maribel (she) apprentice of life. In a continuous process of deepening her connection with the Unlimited Source of Everything and her relationships with other beings. Committed to the healing and liberation of all people. Passionate about the internal development processes of people and organizations and accompanying these processes with tenderness, openness, flexibility, a sense of justice and solidarity. Enjoy collaborative work and creating networks of love aimed at the common good and expansion. Seeker of balance and well-being.
Xiommy Rohena Rodríguez
La Gravedad
Xiommy Rohena Rodríguez (she/they) is a queer caribbean herbalist, student of plants, activist and educator from Borikén. Throughout the years life has guided Xiommy to a path of reclaiming traditions as a form of colonial resistance and liberation. She uses her platform and life project Yerba Bruja to share knowledge of Caribbean medicine and Ayurvedic applications and also to share botanical creations. Her life project focuses on bringing awareness about plant medicine and its versatility to encourage sovereignty and autonomy of our bodies.
Maite Reyes Faberllé
Meteoro
Maite (she/they/it) Born in '93 in SJ, coexists in their alternative fairy post-punk boricuir fluid bilingual lifestyle homeostasis mentality. She is a multimedia artist, with a BFA in Digital Design and Art with a concentration in Image and Movement. Exploring video art, sound art, animation, and textiles. Their medium is constantly fluctuating, yet revolves around the sublime and simplicities of life, the everyday, the humorous, the political, and the paradoxical. She is intrigued by technology, the relationships around these objects, human connections, the individual process, and the collective interconnectness. A philanthropist by nature, they reserve their sacred time and energy for those who value it. She believes in the power of collectivity as a force to unlearn ways of being to create new worlds that are based minimum on trust, respect, and safety.
Yinamalía Suárez Vélez
Brazos Espirales
She/they, Caribbean woman, my roots lie between Boriken and Colombia, graduated nurse (BSN,RN) anticapitalist, Wilderness First Aid instructor in remote areas (WFA), I am a companion in environmental education and leadership processes. Enthusiast and expert in medicinal plants and native and endemic trees of the archipelago. Creator and advocate of sustainability and justice processes with our communities. Master's in CSR and sustainable leadership.
I seek and work for justice, "el buen vivir,” objectivity, and a touch of romanticism.