{"id":18,"date":"2026-09-10T19:22:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/?page_id=18"},"modified":"2026-10-08T21:23:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:23:42","slug":"meet-the-team-bios","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/meet-the-team-bios\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker + Presenter Bios"},"content":{"rendered":"

CRISOSTO APACHE \u2014 2026 Colorado Poet Laureate [Denver]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Crisosto Apache is the 11th Poet Laureate for Colorado (2026\u20132027), a recipient of the 2026 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship<\/a>, Montalvo Arts Center\u2019s Lucas Artists Fellowship<\/a>, a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and a board member for The Offing Magazine<\/i><\/a>. Originally from Mescalero, New Mexico, on the Mescalero Apache reservation, Crisosto is Mescalero, Chiricahua (Chair-a-cow-ah), and Din\u00e9 (De-neh), with maternal and paternal clanships in the Salt Clan and Towering House Clan. Crisosto\u2019s publications include the forthcoming 2nd<\/sup> edition of GENESIS<\/i><\/span> (South Broadway Press), Ghostword<\/i>\u2014which won the Publishing Triangle\u2019s 2023 Betty Berzon Emerging Writers Award<\/a> and was a finalist for the 2023 Colorado Authors League Award in poetry\u2014and is(ness)<\/i>, a winner of the Colorado Authors League Award, both published by Gnashing Teeth Publishing. For the past twenty years, they have advocated for the Two-spirit and Indigiqueer communities through local and national grassroots non-profit organizations.<\/p>\n

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Chris Allred \u2014 <\/strong>Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center [Boulder]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Chris Allred graduated from CU in the Spring of 2012 with a degree in film studies. During a Residential Academic Program course about Gandhi in 2010, a teacher made a recommendation to visit RMPJC to learn more about nonviolence. After an internship and a few years of volunteering, he began work in 2014 as a Nuclear Guardianship Coordinator. Over the past 11 years, this job has involved a variety of tasks including documentaryfilm and photography, coordinating internships, coalition and alliance building, administrative tasks, fundraising, research, campaign planning, and civic engagement with local, state, and federal government.<\/p>\n

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ROSY CAMPANITA \u2014 Photographer and Artist, Rebel Axolotl Collective\u00a0 [Austin]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Rosy<\/span> Campanita<\/span> (they\/she\/them \/he) is a queer 2-spirit artist and Axolotl midwife, born to a Mexican immigrant family, raised in the culturally rich barrios of Chicago. <\/span>Rosy<\/span> is a multi-disciplined artist using photography to document cultural life, land struggle, and resilience with a focus on Indigenous communities, immigration, and LGBT+ communities throughout the country<\/span>. <\/span>Recently, <\/span>Rosy<\/span> has turned their artistic focus to screen-printing their original photos onto fabrics and up-cycled apparel by creating the Rebel <\/span>Axolot<\/span>! Collective. They invite artists from Central Texas come together to co-create and educate the public<\/span> about<\/span> the cultural significance and lore around these special endangered creatures from <\/span>Xochilmilco<\/span>, Mexico, as a means to support the Axolotls in Austin Texas, where <\/span>Rosy<\/span> works and lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

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CHE CHRIST \u2014 Pii Paash\/Quechan, Poet and Hiphop Performer [Arizona\/Denver]\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Che Christ is a <\/span><\/span>piipaash<\/span><\/span>\/<\/span>quechan<\/span> <\/span>underground poet from the valley of the sun; a phoenix-born, Chicago-bred hip hop MC who uses his music and poetry to empower the people while documenting the struggles of community resistance to colonization on stolen lands. <\/span><\/span>His writing <\/span>form<\/span> strands between water protection, LANDBACK, and cultural revitalization efforts continent-wide. Che has been a director, writer, and story consultant on documentaries and videos, and provided the soundtrack for PBS\u2019s Crying Earth Rise Up. Che is published in Truthout, Waging Non-Violence, High Times, and self-published poetry books<\/span>.<\/span><\/span> <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/chechrist.bandcamp.com\/music<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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VALENTINE ESPINOZA – Citizen Soil Scientist, Suelo Sano<\/a> [Chicago]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Valentine (she\/her) is a citizen Soil Scientist and Educator whose work focuses on helping and educating communities on preventing soil erosion and nutrient loss, water conservation practices, carbon sequestration, and other factors that support a more resilient regional food system.\u00a0 Valentine grew up on the Northside of Chicago and has strived to expand Community Based Soil Health and Education Resources in her hometown, the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. <\/span>Valentine constructs rain gardens and green storm water infrastructures and collects, monitors, and analyzes soil moisture data to enhance water retention in urban depleted soils. Valentine is passionate about documenting her community and social movements through her work with Prairie Dust Films and the Waters Connect Us collective<\/span>. <\/span>When Valentine is not photographing or digging in the dirt, she enjoys learning about manmade events which impact the geology of an area or traveling to soil symposiums to expand her knowledge in the field. <\/span><\/p>\n

The work we do today to build soil health and plant fertility will not only create reciprocity with the earth <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

but will ensure future generations inherit a healthier planet and future. \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

DAVID FARRELL \u2014 Associate Professor of Music, Ruminant: Bison Carcass Soil Project [Denver]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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David E. Farrell (he\/ him) is a composer based in Denver, CO. David\u2019s music has been performed by ensembles across the United States. His works have been featured at the SCI National Conference, The Electroacoustic Barn Dance, DomeFest West, The Playground Ensemble\u2019s Colorado Composers Concert, and many more. His music can also be heard on Meerenai Shim\u2019s album The Art of Noise<\/i>, The Playground Ensemble\u2019s 8-Bit X-Mas<\/i>,\u00a0and Patricia Surman\u2019s New American, Vol. 1<\/i>.\u00a0David studied at the University of Illinois and at Indiana University\u2019s Jacobs School of Music, where he earned a D.M. in Composition. He is currently Associate Professor of Music at Metropolitan State University of Denver and a longtime member of The Playground Ensemble.<\/p>\n

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GISELLE HERZFELD \u2014 Campaign Coordinator, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center [Boulder]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Growing up in an activist family, Giselle has been protesting for justice and collective liberation for as long as she can remember. As a teenager, when asked what she wanted to do when she grew up, Giselle would jokingly answer “I want to tear down Wall Street, the Fossil Fuel Industry, and the Military Industrial Complex.” Eventually it stopped being a joke. For over a decade, she has organized against the polycrisis that includes climate change, nuclear development, war, imperialism, racism, exploitation, and genocide. Through a lens of art and music, she hopes to inspire and fuel radical revolutionary action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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JOHN IBARRA\u00a0\u2014 Executive Director \u2014 Que4 Media Network [Chicago]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Chicago native, John Ibarra operates on the belief that a community reaches its fullest potential when its members are equipped to share their own narratives. With over two decades of background in event support and live sound production, he established the Que4 Multimedia Network in 2005 and continues to serve as its Executive Director. Through Que4 LLC, he delivers full audio, video, and stage infrastructure tailored to community events of all scales, alongside practical training in digital production and show engineering.<\/p>\n

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MATO WHITE PLUME \u2014 Organizer, Oglala Lakota Indigenous Youth Council\u00a0 [Pine Ridge]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mato White Plume is a Oglala Lakota Organizer from the Pine Ridge Reservation. He\u2019s been a part of multiple campaigns, successfully mobilizing his Oyate (People) to put their moccasins on the ground to assert Treaty Rights, defend Sacred Sites and strengthen Lakota sovereignty.<\/p>\n

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ANNE YONCHA\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 MSU Denver Art Faculty, Ruminant: Bison Carcass Soil Project [Denver]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Anne\u202fYoncha\u202f(US)<\/span>\u202fis Associate Professor of Art at Metropolitan State University Denver. She was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. After earning her MFA at the University of Montana in 2019, she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship at the Natural Resources Institute Finland, working with restorationists on art-science work about former peat extraction sites outside Oulu. Her practice combines digital sensing technology, such as biodata sonification, and analog, traditional processes including painting with ink she makes from locally sourced plant matter. Her ongoing research with the HAB (High Altitude Bioprospecting) working group began in Fall 2019 at Field Notes, a residency of Finland\u2019s Bio Art Society in subarctic Lapland, where she worked with artists, biologists, and programmers to detect high-altitude microbes using a heli-kite. Outside the studio she can often be found doing another kind of environmental \u201cresearch\u201d via bicycle.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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CRISOSTO APACHE \u2014 2026 Colorado Poet Laureate [Denver]   Crisosto Apache is the 11th Poet Laureate for Colorado (2026\u20132027), a recipient of the 2026 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, Montalvo Arts Center\u2019s Lucas Artists Fellowship, a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and a board member for The Offing Magazine. Originally from Mescalero, New Mexico, on READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":925,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions\/174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/nurturingroots\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}