Eloísa is an award-winning policy advocate, liberation and food activist, educator, and artist. Her path toward activism and collective liberation started early in life. She was raised by centenarians who lived off the land, taught her to be self-sustainable, and passed down much ancestral knowledge to her. This shaped her views of justice and empathy for all Beings, protection of our sacred home (Earth), and the belief in the healing power of plants, sharing, and community.
As an AfroIndigenous woman from Abya Yala, she approaches liberation praxis with an anti-colonial framework to raise awareness of how Western colonization has and continues to affect the plight of human and beyond-human persons (animals). And how it has changed the food system and our relationship with each other, the land, and every part of the natural world.
She is the Executive Director at Chilis on Wheels, where she works to make healthy, climate-friendly food accessible to communities in need through direct food relief, policy, education, and mentorship. And founder of Vegan Activist Alliance, a systems change-focused, community-driven, anti-speciesist, anti-colonial organization founded on the belief that all Beings have a natural right to autonomy and live free from oppression regardless of species.
In addition, Eloísa works with various coalitions and organizations as an advisor to develop community-informed strategies and policies to transcend poverty, mitigate climate breakdown, and transform our food system. Previously, she worked at The Economist Feeding the Future Campaign. She has over twenty years of experience in food systems, advocacy, and activism.
Her favorite food is fruit, and she currently resides on the ancestral and present lands of the Munsee Lenape, Canarsee, Rockaway, Wappinger, Manahatin, Reckgawanc, Unkechaug, Matinecock, and Haudenosaunee Peoples, commonly referred to as New York City.
