Percy Zafar 

Session Title: Healthy Relationships for Unhealthy People

Percy Zafar is a final year Social Work student and an abolitionist sex educator drawn to care and relational work. Percy loves throwing themself into new experiences headfirst, whether that's running for office, premiering in an original play, or designing their own workshop!

Eric Garcia Él/Him

Session Title: The Interplay Between Substance Use And Interpersonal Violence

Eric Alejandro Garcia is from Donna, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley and currently resides in Austin, Texas working at ASHwell ATX, helping manage a SAMSHA grant and acting as their health researcher and educator. Eric studied Neuroscience and History at The University of Texas at Austin, writing his senior thesis on the extent of neglect, discrimination, and harm experienced by AIDS patients in the Rio Grande Valley during the AIDS epidemic. Eric is finalizing a five part chemsex series of presentations each focusing on a different drug class and harm reduction for specific marginalized populations. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Pharmacology, researching how common drugs of abuse interact with common prescription medications taken by trans individuals, people living with HIV, people who utilize drugs, and pregnant bodies.

Parisa Mahmud she/her

Session Title: Mutual Aid as a Protective Factor Against Violence

Parisa Mahmud (she/her) is a Prevention Advocate on the Community Education team at AFSSA. As a local Austinite and child of Bangladeshi immigrants, Parisa is extremely passionate about culturally specific work and connecting with Asian and immigrant communities in her hometown. Prior to joining AFSSA, Parisa attended UT Austin and worked on several political campaigns ranging from local to Congressional level, where she learned the value of community care and engagement. At AFSSA, Parisa now works with multiple populations in the Austin community from university students to AAPI creative spaces, giving workshops on topics through a cultural lens.

Dr. Lynn Chang she/her

Session Title: The Mele Journey: A Collaborative Storytelling Workshop for Community-Based Violence Prevention

Dr. Lynn Chang is a native Austinite, holistic career coach, yoga and meditation teacher, and founder of Career Zen. She facilitates healing-centered workshops that blend embodied grounding, narrative transformation, and culturally-respectful reflection practices. Her work helps individuals reconnect with meaningful work, life purpose, and impact. Lynn lives part-time in Hawaiʻi, where she leads wellness retreats for people to reset their nervous system and move forward with greater trust and direction. Her parents came to the US from China and Taiwan to attend doctoral programs at UT Austin, and got set up on a blind date in Zilker Park :) The rest is herstory.

Sandy she/they

Session Title: You Are Your Own Magic: Tarot for Self Empowerment

Sandy (she/they) is a queer Asian American storyteller. She is particularly passionate about creating stories that explore cultural identity, belonging, and healing.

Tâm Lê she/her

Session Title: Processing Pain Through Poetry

Tâm Lê is a Vietnamese American artist working across poetry, pottery, and painting. A native Texan shaped by years in London, Istanbul, New York, Singapore, and Saigon, her work explores culture, identity, and connection. Rooted in her Vietnamese heritage and sharpened by her global perspective, she examines self, history, and belonging. Poetry, her most intimate medium, reveals her inner world with clarity and conviction.

Sarah Seraj she/her

Session Title: Building our capacity for resistance: Why the work for liberation begins with tending to our roots

Sarah Seraj, Ph.D. is an outspoken psychologist, data-driven DEI Advisor, and the co-founder of A Better Force (ABF), a professional training and coaching organization that empowers individuals and companies to transform themselves through customized programs. Combining her expertise in psychology and data science with her lived experience as a woman of color and an immigrant, she aims to create more inclusive spaces for women, BIPOC, and other underrepresented groups by addressing systemic inequalities within organizations. Sarah got her PhD in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021.

Saamiya Seraj she/her

Session Title: Building our capacity for resistance: Why the work for liberation begins with tending to our roots

Saamiya Seraj, Ph.D. is a coach, consultant and community organizer, helping to heal harmful intergenerational patterns and racial trauma in our societies, and foster more equitable communities that center people's well-being over profit. With a background in engineering, organizational development, and advocacy, Saamiya co-founded A Better Force (ABF) to amplify historically marginalized voices in leadership spaces and drive a systems-based approach to transform workplaces. She leverages her technical expertise and lived experience as a South Asian Muslim immigrant and cancer survivor to challenge the status quo in leadership development and help organizations foster lasting change.

Cindy Nguyen she/her

Session Title: What We Choose to Remember: Personal Narrative Workshop

Cindy Anh Thư Nguyễn is an artist, educator, and daughter of immigrants, based in Austin, Texas. As Program Coordinator at GirlForward, Cindy's work centers around creating brave spaces for girls' leadership and community wellbeing. Her passion in environmentalism and storytelling informs her art practice, which takes the form of ink drawings, paintings, and collages that narrate her ongoing journey of nourishing her relationship to land, history, and heritage.

Carla Pelcastre she/her

Session Title: Intergenerational Wisdom, Self-Trust and Community Power

Carla Pelcastre, LCSW-S, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, board-approved supervisor, and the founder of Second Wave Counseling, a mental health therapy practice in Austin, Texas. Specializing in complex trauma, high-conflict family systems, chronic mental health diagnoses, autism, and neurodivergence. Carla grounds her work in vulnerability, authenticity, and lived compassion. Clients and clinicians alike experience her as both direct and deeply warm-a unique combination that fosters a sense of safety while providing meaningful challenge. Carla's own writing, The Second Wave, Crashing, inspired the name of the practice and continues to shape its mission. Her supervision style blends expertise and lived experience with mentorship and a steadfast commitment to developing clinicians who lead with humanity.