Araceli Esparza
Araceli Esparza is a poet, author, transformational coach, and founder of Midwest Mujeres, a nonprofit that amplifies women's voices and economic power, particularly Latina and Black women. A first-generation Chicana from the Midwest, Araceli has spent more than 15 years using storytelling, poetry, and community-building to create spaces where lived experience becomes a source of connection, leadership, and action.
Her work is rooted in a simple belief: our stories are not just about where we've been. They can help shape where we go next. Through her writing, coaching, and community work, Araceli explores how the stories we carry can help us name injustice, reclaim belonging, build relationships, and imagine new possibilities together.
A twice Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and published author (Healing from Racial Discrimination, Ahora Que? Now What), Araceli brings her professional experience and lived experience into the spaces she facilitates. She believes some of our most powerful movements begin when one person is brave enough to tell the truth about what they have lived, and someone else realizes, “Me too.”
In-Person | PM Session 1
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
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Facilitated By: Araceli Esparza
Audience: Open to Everyone
From Story to Movement: Turning Lived Experience into Collective Action
Our stories do more than help us understand where we have been. They can help us identify injustice, build connection, create belonging, and move communities toward action.
In this interactive session, Araceli Esparza will guide participants in exploring how lived experience can move from personal story to collective strategy. Through storytelling, reflection, and small-group conversation, participants will examine how our individual experiences connect to larger systems and how sharing those stories can build trust, relationships, and momentum for change.
Participants will leave with a simple framework for moving from story → voice → connection → community → action, along with an opportunity to identify a story from their own life that could contribute to the movements and communities they care about.