Nectar: life-affirming experiences for liberation

Home
United States
Alhambra, CA
Nectar: life-affirming experiences for liberation

Nectar provides political education and healing justice to support communities and movements. I knew I wanted to do political education.

Nectar envisions a future where everyone has safety, belonging, justice, and love. Nectar works to move us towards that future through teaching workshops, writing articles, speaking at events, and creating community resources. Nectar was born during a political moment and a political movement. Nectar was born in the middle of an ongoing, devastating pandemic that has put a spotlight on both the un

derlying systemic oppression of our current world and the liberatory possibilities of a new one. Nectar was born both before and after a rise in anti-Asian violence, showing us the pain of Asian erasure, the insidiousness of white supremacy culture, as well as the liberatory possibilities of deep solidarity and rejection of carceral solutions. Nectar was born into a climate crisis, witnessing decades of greed and human destruction of our relationship to our home, and witnessing the power of indigenous wisdom, leadership, and self-determination. Nectar was also born during my own healing journey that I now know will be lifelong. In December 2019, I moved to Los Angeles in search of Asian American activism, good food, sunny weather, and a place and a people that could hold my complexity as a generation 1.5 Chinese American and as someone who was largely politicized by her experiences in Latin America. I knew storytelling was important to me. So I looked for an organization that would give me the platform to do it. A few months after, COVID was sweeping through North America. As writer Arundhati Roy described, the pandemic is a portal, “a gateway between one world and the next.” The portal showed me that I didn’t need to search for an organization that would allow me to do this work. I would create my own space to invest in the work of liberation that is meant to be done right here, in community. On March 16, 2021, I carefully reviewed business registration paperwork for Nectar and gently placed the filing into a mailbox, whispering to the envelope “travel safe.”

Later that night, I would find myself crying on my living room floor upon hearing about the lives we lost during the shooting in Atlanta. Through heartbreak and pain and hope and love, I firmly believe that a liberatory world is not only possible, it is inevitable.

09/26/2025

Locating myself in coordinates of belonging: a (re)introduction

This summer, I have been taking a course from called Collective Recovery from Colonial Fragmentation Disorder, which has given me so many tools to think more deeply about our collective work. Inspired by this work, I have re-written the “about me” and the “work with me” sections on my website to clarify who I am, my purpose, my role, my commitments and responsibilities, and my offerings and requests. This is a (re)introduction.

Hello! My birth name is Shengxiao and my nickname is Sole. I teach political education, facilitate conflict transformation, and offer healing justice.

I come from ancestors who flourished on the floodplains south of the Yangzi River. They were raised by the gentle cradle and the powerful surges of the river waters. They built adobe houses, cooked in earthenwares, developed a system of writing on turtle shells, and created artwork and jewels using jade. They also gave rise to generations of descendants who eventually gave birth to me. My ancestors lived through droughts and famines, experienced wars and survived massacres, and just like the river waters, I carry their tenderness and power within me.

I have spent the majority of my paid, professional career working on intersectional community issues in philanthropy and nonprofit (industrial complex) spaces primarily in the U.S. and Latin America. I have worked with various organizations on community development, political and civic engagement, immigrant rights, global health, grant management, and policy advocacy. All of this work has affirmed for me, time and again, that all issue areas are connected, all our fates are connected, and the only way to move forward is to create care and safety for all.

I currently live and work on Tongva and Kizh land, colonially known as Los Angeles, California.

05/12/2025

On May 10, 2025, , cities, elected officials, community organizations, and businesses commemorated the fifth annual National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Day, a national day to raise awareness around mental health in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA & NHPI) communities.

According to data collected by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), AA & NHPIs have the lowest help-seeking rate of any racial/ethnic group, with only 65.3% of the 2.9 million AANHPI adults with a mental illness receiving treatment in 2023 (NSDUH, 2023). And, even though su***de is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, it is the leading cause of death for AA & NHPI youth ages 10-24 (CDC, 2023). The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated these problems, as increased racial violence and discrimination against the Asian American community increased the need for mental health services.

We believe we must continue to advance conversations around mental health in AA & NHPI communities to improve the quality of care. From mental health stigma reduction, addressing historical discrimination to current racial violence, data disaggregation, language access, workforce development, culturally competent services, su***de prevention, to supporting existing AA & NHPI community-driven resources and non-dominant ways of healing, we call upon Federal, State, and local health agencies to adopt laws, policies, and guidance to improve help-seeking rates for mental health services and overall community wellness and care for AANHPIs and other communities of color.

05/04/2025

Hello blue sky!

First post: One of the worst outcomes of the resistance movement would be reinforcing a multiracial liberal coalition. Progressive/leftists are being forced into defending liberal reforms like DEI that don’t address structural issues or defending rights outlined in a constitutional that never included us. I know we are losing so much right now but we cannot afford to simply go back to before Jan 2025. A multiracial liberal coalition upholds a (neo)liberal society that will continue to devastate populations in this country and across the globe. We gotta keep our eyes on the prize: collective liberation with no exceptions, collective liberation with no disposable populations.

07/24/2024

Facilitation is always co-creation ❤️❤️ Thank you for trusting me with this workshop and for giving me the chance to engage with your student leadership cohort. We talked about the impact of systemic racism and microaggressions, and how we can find power in our community.

[ID] 9 images of me, an East Asian femme wearing an orange dress, facilitating a workshop for a cohort of 14 AANHPI students in a conference room with a projected screen.

Photos by , courtesy of

07/20/2024

So honored to speak with my fellow panelists at the American Library Association annual conference. We presented, through the lens of settler colonialism and white supremacy, on the history of occupied Palestine and what it means to access Palestine from where we sit, in the imperial core known as the United States. We created a digital altar using words and art from our audience ❤️❤️❤️🫒🫒🫒🍉🍉🍉

[ID] 1. Photo of 4 panelists in front of a projected screen “Accessing Palestine”

2. A selfie of me, an East Asian femme, in front of an ALA sign.

3-5. Photos of index cards that are part of a digital altar.

02/08/2024

Excited to officially kick off my activist residency with by celebrating with friends new and old. Feeling so honored to be part of the larger legacy of campus activism to produce liberating knowledge for our communities.

Thank you everyone for coming to our reception and excited about what is to come!

[ID] 1. Photo of me, an East Asian femme, speaking at the podium. 2-8 Photos of me with various attendees of our activist in residence reception

01/12/2024

So excited to be part of the 2024 UCLA Activists-in-Residence cohort!! I feel so honored that is hosting me and supporting my work, and I get to be part of a larger community of scholar-activists. My research question focuses on the spread of mis and disinformation in Asian American communities. Shoutout to my amazing fellow writers and organizers Grounding in a power analysis, I want to understand more deeply how mis and disinformation fractures us and what is the power of healing justice practices to mend those fractures.

Our AIR welcome reception is on Wednesday, January 24 from 4-6 pm at Perloff Hall! Join ma nd my fellow AIR cohort Robert A. Clarke, & Narges Zagub!

[ID] Dark background with white text “2024 UCLA Activist-in-Residence Welcome Reception” along with photos of 5 activists and logos of sponsoring UCLA centers

11/10/2023

💔 Our Kin 💔

[ID] Red text on yellow background:

“Palestinians Dead, Palestinians Say”

Since the start of this round of devastating violence, major newspapers have been producing many articles.

Some headlines they wrote include:

As Israeli Military Retaliates, Palestinians Say Civilians Are Paying the Price

"No Safe Place": Palestinians Say Deadly Strikes Hit Gaza Hospitals, School

At Least 500 Dead in Blast at Gaza Hospital, Palestinians Say

When we strip away the details
These headlines read

Palestinians are Paying a Price, Palestinians Say

Palestinians Are Not Safe, Palestinians Say

Palestinians Dead, Palestinians Say

Slides show editing marks that show iterations of other possible headlines:
Palestinians Killed, Palestinians Say
Palestinians Killed, Eye Witnesses Say
Palestinians Killed, Humans Say
Palestinians Killed, We Say
Humans Killed, We Say
Our Collective Souls Killed, We Say
Our Kin Killed, We Say

Thank you for being my editor ❤️❤️

10/24/2023

We invite our Asian American community to gather and grieve in solidarity with P@lestine. We stand against the gen0cide and c0lonization of P@lestine perpetrated by the settler colony of I*rael. We gather knowing that we are stronger together and that in community with our global family, our liberation is always connected ♥️🇵🇸

The Intention for this gathering is not for education - please look to P@lestinian educators and reliable sources. This space is co-created for the processing of grief and our experience of this apartheid.

**There will be no video/audio sharing besides from the facilitators. Stay tuned for another space for sharing if the need arises.

🔹When:
Wednesday, October 25th
5-6pm PDT / 6-7pm MDT / 7-8pm CDT / 8-9pm EDT

🔹Virtual via Zoom

🔹Who: Self-identifying Asian Americans

🔹What to expect:
• Somatic-centered resourcing practice
• Guided journaling
• Time of silence and remembrance

🔹Donations: Sliding scale: $5-$35
All Proceeds will be donated to

🔹Facilitators:
- Malaysian Chinese immigrant + somatic trauma resolution practitioner

- Chinese American Art + Healing Facilitator

- 1.5 Gen Asian American + Political Educator

10/20/2023

“Who’s got the power?” WE’VE GOT THE POWER. “What kind of power?” PEOPLE POWER ✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

Being in the presence of the icon, the legend, the living movement ancestor Dolores Huerta gave me so much hope at a time where it’s so easy to let despair take over.

She is 93 years old and has dedicated so much of her life to build power and purpose for our communities. It is beyond my honor to have met her at the Just Future Summit.

I hope that I will always be guided by a moral compass that will make me accountable to people like Dolores. This is the activist lineage that I am so proud and humbled to be part of.

I shared with Dolores that I often teach the history of the Delano grape strike and the cross racial solidarity work she built with Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong.

Dolores has been in the trenches, struggling and fighting, and she carries with her a groundedness and peace that feel transformative.

May we all be nourished and refueled by our movement communities to keep on fighting.

09/23/2023

I feel so grateful to live in a place with access to this beautiful spoken word and community art space ❤️❤️ This summer has brought me an evolutionary journey with art and poetry, and I am so excited to have performed two of my poems at the recent Tuesday Night Cafe.

Address

Alhambra, CA
91801, 91802, 91803

Website

http://lifeaffirmingnectar.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Nectar: life-affirming experiences for liberation posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Nectar: life-affirming experiences for liberation:

Want your school to be the top-listed School/college in Alhambra?