Photo Credit: Adam Ogard

SARA YUKIMOTO-SALTMAN

Sara Yukimoto-Saltman (she|they) is a queer, mixed-race, Asian-American, Nisei Japanese and Anti-Zionist Jewish facilitator, educator, and artist supporting individuals and groups striving towards anti-oppressive and values-aligned practices. Sara’s childhood born and raised with class privilege as an Asian settler in Honolulu, Hawai’i, on unceded Kānaka Maoli land, fortified her lifelong commitment to dismantling systems of white supremacy.

Sara first cut her teeth as a student organizer in St. Paul, Minnesota, rallying around the retention of adjunct faculty and staff of color. Since then, Sara has spent almost the last decade engaged in political education and facilitation work in various settings including non-profits, college writing centers, grant-based popular education spaces, and schools. Most recently, Sara was a founding member of a high school Ethnic Studies department, developing and implementing a literary curriculum that centers the voices and narratives of BIPOC femmes and trans / GNC authors. Her many years as an educator have honed Sara’s ability to craft engaging learning environments that support others to find alignment between their daily living and their deep political commitments. Sara is currently a facilitator and collaborator with AORTA, the Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance. Her approach to facilitation combines warmth and rigor as she supports individuals and organizations through transformation.

In addition to her consulting work, Sara organizes as a part of an Asian / Asian-American peer counseling collective to provide community-based, sliding scale mental health care for people of color, centering queer and trans folks in its practice. Her experience organizing in a non-hierarchical, consensus based mental health collective has deepened her interests in supporting other groups to create values-aligned, sustainable structures to support their own visions. Through this and other community-held care practices, Sara has strengthened her skillsets in supporting individuals with warmth and tailored support, and visioning and building towards the world we imagine possible.

As an artist, Sara has varied artistic practices spanning dance, visual art, and most recently digital art. As a graphic recorder, Sara utilizes artistic recordings as a tool for political learning and consciousness building. She believes that art can propel consciousness building through captivating visual storytelling.

Sara currently lives in Brooklyn, New York on unceded Lenape Land.

EDUCATION

Masters of Arts in Education, Dominican University, Chicago, Illinois.

Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, Minors in American Studies and Psychology, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota.

SELECTED TRAININGS

Basic Mediation Training, New York Peace Institute

Facilitating for Freedom, Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance

Full Spectrum Doula Training, Ancient Song Doula Services

Movement Trauma Healer Training Program, TRACC4MOVEMENTS 

Patterns for Decentralised Organising for Self Organising Teams, The Hum

Peer Counseling and Active Listening, Asian American Peer Counseling Collective

APPROACH

STRONG POWER ANALYSIS

I bring an intersectional analysis to understanding systems of oppression. My approach is attentive to racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and other systems of oppression, and attuned to how these systems are experienced by individuals navigating the world.

ATTENTION TO INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE TRANSFORMATION

My approach is undergirded by a belief that individual and collective transformation is possible and necessary for us to build the world we imagine. I believe that supporting and affirming individuals as they engage in transformation through political learning has a net positive effect on communities and our movement ecologies.

COLLABORATIVE

My approach honors the wisdom in the room, and relies on each of us to move through conversations, conflict, and change. In learning spaces where I am a facilitator, participants are affirmed for the knowledge and perspectives they bring to the table.

TAILORED TO SPECIFIC NEEDS

My approach is deeply attuned to a group’s preferences, goals, and pre-existing norms and style. I design tailored facilitation experiences that provide multiple entry points to join in the conversation, and I attend to the many ways people process information.

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