February 21-23, 2024
Hyatt Orange county, CA

We are in the planning stages of our upcoming annual conference, and we can’t wait to see you all in beautiful Orange County, California! The agenda is coming together, and our featured keynote speakers have been confirmed.




featured keynote speakers
From Barrio Boy to World Champion
From his Abuelo’s garden to the struggles of homelessness to the scholarship that saved his life, in this impassioned keynote, award winning teacher and World Poetry Slam champion, Joaquín Zihuatanejo will take you on an inspirational journey that is equal parts keynote, poetry, and verbal fireworks meant to inspire those in the audience. Be prepared to lean into his voice and accept the challenge to see the greatness that exists in you, in all of us. Come to listen…be prepared to leave inspired to think and write and live more deeply. This is the inspirational and true story of poet Joaquín Zihuatanejo’s life in all its strife. In all its beauty. In all its poetry. A brown boy’s scholarship story that starts in poverty and ends in all of his wildest dreams coming true. All because he believed in two words: scholarship and education.
Joaquín Zihuatanejo is an author, poet, spoken word artist, and award-winning teacher. Born and raised in the barrio of East Dallas, Joaquín expertly captures the duality of Chicano culture.
He’s captivated thousands with his honest depiction of barrio life.
He’s authored a number of books including the critically-acclaimed “Arsonist”. Joaquin is a highly sought educator for his writing workshops, especially college and scholarship essay sessions.
Leadership in a Time of Collective Traumas and Uncertainty
How do leaders cope, role model, and recover during a prolonged period of stress and uncertainty amid multiple pandemics? How do they continue to lead when they may not have “the answers,” are still figuring out how to manage themselves and their health, and support employees at the same time? How can leaders sustainably function during continued social injustices that deeply affect our campus communities? This session will use a trauma-informed approach to better understand why things seem, and may actually be, more difficult than ever to accomplish. Participants will be asked to explore how their own values might help them better attune to their needs in the service of enhancing their own leadership practices with their campus communities.
Jan E. Estrellado, PhD is Associate Professor in the PsyD program at the California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, San Diego campus. Dr. Estrellado’s research areas examine race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity in trauma therapy. Dr. Estrellado’s scholarly interests connect multicultural psychology and trauma psychology, with the goal of providing quantitative and qualitative evidence for effective, culturally-informed supervision and training of graduate students. Dr. Estrellado was a Leadership Fellow with the Asian American Psychological Association and an alum of the Minority Fellowship Program with the American Psychological Association. Dr. Estrellado runs a private practice dedicated to trauma recovery and is also a consultant to the Avellaka Program, a federally funded anti-violence program serving the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians.
Centering Intersectional Justice In Leadership: Facilitated Guided Journey & Participatory Community Experience
We look forward to your presence in this closing keynote which has been designed as an energizing participatory community experience. Be prepared to center guided journeys to inform the shaping seeds that harvest our embodiment & approaches to leadership. Guiding questions will include: who taught you and shaped the values that inform your leadership? Do you still agree with the values and leadership practices you were taught? What is making your leadership experience healthy and sustainable? What is making your leadership experience unhealthy and unsustainable? What are the healthiest, most generative, joyful, and fulfilling values and practices to shape our leadership ahead?
Ruben E. Canedo (he/they) was born in Indio, California, USA and raised in the border valleys of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, Imperial Valley, California, USA, and Coachella Valley, California, USA.
He was raised in a mixed-status household with a mother who was a first-generation college graduate from U.N.A.M. in Mexico City and a father who was the Captain and later Coach of the Mexican Karate Federation National Team.
Ruben was awarded the Regents & Chancellors Full Scholarship to UC Berkeley. He was selected into the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, published his work, and represented the university in its national team. After graduating (2012), he was recruited and led national efforts with the Emerson Collective’s – Immigration and Higher Education Team.
After a year (2013), Ruben was recruited and returned to UC Berkeley where he has been part of institutional and systems change efforts. These include: expanding the eligibility policy for EOP students, co-founding the Undocumented Student Program, and co-leading a state and national movement to improve college student basic needs.
Outside of higher education, starting in 2007, Ruben has served as an advanced facilitator, trainer, and public speaker. He is consistently sought after for small to large audiences and private to public settings. Collaborators include local organizations to large-scale foundations such as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Ruben is trained in healing, disability, and transformative justice and is a daily practitioner of emergent strategies centered in love & wisdom.