Who We Are
The National Comadres Network is a group of committed Chicana/Latinx community leaders who have come together to create healing spaces for women and girls that embrace intergenerational, culturally rooted, indigenous-based healing practices and leadership development. The leadership development component focuses on a philosophy of healing self and healing others as a way to restore communities with wholeness and health.
The other component of the healing work is that it be led and designed by women of color, women of indigenous descent, and queer women of color.
Supported by the National Compadres Network, ten women from across the nation, initially invited by Maestro Jerry, formed this group and committed to facilitating the healing and well-being of women and girls through healing CĂrculos and retreats. In 2019, the Comadres formalized their role as the Advisory Committee of the National Comadres Network.
The Vision and Mission
The vision of the National Comadres Network is to:
1) Restore individuals and communities with trust, love, dignity, and respect
2) Transform systems and institutions to achieve equitable opportunities and outcomes for girls and women of color.
The mission of the National Comadres Network is to nurture healing-informed leadership among women through culturally-rooted practices and networks of mutual support.
Healing for Systems Transformation
Healing for Systems Transformation
Healing Self, Healing Communities, and Transforming Systems
The inextricable link between the health of an individual and the health of the community is undeniable. The focus on healing the self in order to heal the community is what centers the overall strategy for addressing systemic racism and other forms of persistent oppression that harm communities of color and indigenous communities. The work of the National Comadres Network is to achieve systems transformation by building the capacity of community leaders and organizers to promote healing and restoration, given what we know and understand of the interconnectedness of individuals and systems. Systems’ changes cannot happen if the leaders advocating for change are not working to heal themselves.
Values
The values guiding the work of the Comadres are:
CONFIANZAÂ Moving from the center or the home and then outward, with a secure foundation. Trusting the process and honoring the pace of the medicine.
CONECCIÓN Being guided by la Madre Tierra to come from a place of integrity, rooted in the sacredness of our ancestors’ teachings.
COMUNIDADÂ Working intergenerationally, expanding our ability to see the whole and expanding the web of healing relationships.
CONCIENCIAÂ Centering an indigenous-based healing-informed practice rooted in an antiracist and anti-oppression lens to decolonize our worldviews and ways of being.
National Comadres Network Advisory Committee Meeting, Sacred Circles, Whittier, CA., February 1, 2020.
Retreats and CĂrculos
Soon after its formal founding in 2019, the Comadres Advisory Committee began visioning and planning for activities that would support the healing and leadership development of women and girls. To this end, two major programs are offered; the annual healing retreats and the development of intergenerational regional CĂrculos (kinship circles).
Annual Retreats
The Comadres held their first formal gathering in September 2013 to plan the first retreat for women and girls in August 2014.  Every year since, the Comadres have held weekend-long retreats at Mission San Antonio in Jolon, California. The retreat focus is to provide healing spaces and ceremonies for women who are working as activists, healers, and community organizers all across California.
The primary role of the Comadres, in addition to developing and planning the retreat, is to ensure the retreat is held and facilitated in a way that honors cultural traditions and ancestral ways that have been passed on from generation to generation. To this end, the Comadres meet regularly to prepare for hosting the retreats as well as to reflect on past retreats to ensure they are hosted in a good way.
The Comadres host an average of 30 to 35 women and girls from across California and the nation for one weekend in Jolon, California. As the Comadres continue to develop their capacity over time, and given the overwhelming need for the Retiros, the hope is to increase the frequency of the retreats.
CĂrculos of Support
The purpose of the CĂrculo is to reconnect communities, one person, one family, and one community at a time. In doing so, women are reconnected to a community’s history, values, and traditions and revitalize the role of community elders who serve as wisdom keepers while also listening to the voice of our youth as the next generations of leaders. This tradition supports the creation of circles for connecting, sharing, storytelling and healing.
Advisory Committee Members
Susie Armijo
  Comadres Coordinator/Senior Training Specialist
  (213) 328-0144
  [email protected]
Susanna “Susie” Armijo
Susanna Armijo comes from a family of Mexican roots and raised incorporating traditional healing in her life. As the caretaker for her mother she learned as a young girl to use touch and massage as a way to communicate and soothe her mother’s ills. After graduating from high school, she was blessed to be invited to learn under the guidance of Maestro Florencio Yescas, a master teacher of indigenous Aztec Dance and ceremony from Mexico, and has performed across the world. Ms. Armijo, for over 30 years, has combined traditional music, dance and healing arts to work with people of all ages. In 2004 she performed in Rome for the Noble Peace Prize Laureates and was featured on the front cover of Native People Magazine.
In 2005 she co-founded the Sacred Circles Healing Center in Whittier, California, where she began her more formal process of serving the community in a healing capacity.  Ms. Armijo has utilized her therapeutic skills and experience by providing health prevention presentations and conducting healing councils to girls and women who were victims of trauma and relationship violence. In addition, and in conjunction with Jerry Tello and the American G.I. Forum, Ms. Armijo worked with returning war veterans and their spouses experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Ms. Armijo is co-founder of the Sacred Circles performance group, founding member of the Comadres Network, Healing Women’s Circle facilitator, and Project Coordinator at the Sacred Circles Center in Whittier, California.
Debra Camarillo
  Senior Manager, Women & Girls’ Initiatives
  (408) 484-4373
  [email protected]
Debra Camarillo
Executive Director, The Latino Commission
Debra Camarillo, the daughter of Esteban Leos Camarillo and Anita Figueroa, has worked in the field of substance abuse and transformational healing for over 30 years, motivated by her personal experience of addiction and incarceration. She is a Certified Addictions Treatment Counselor and has a MA in Theology with emphasis on Latino Leadership.
Ms. Camarillo continues to serve as the Executive Director of The Latino Commission in San Francisco, California. She has led and managed Substance Use Disorder and Dual Diagnosis Treatment facilities and has comprehensive knowledge and sensitivity to issues of diversity, traditions, and cultural norms of the Latino population. Debra has extensive experience working with the criminal justice population and has developed cultural programming based on “La Cultura Cura” philosophy and methodology.
She is the founder of the statewide Latino conference “Strengthening the Roots” and trainer with the National Comadres Network where she promotes transformational healing for young women through Xinachtli, a coming of age program that is based on indigenous principles. She is humbled and ever grateful to the Creator and to those on who’s shoulders she stands, her partner, family and dogs!
Patricia Cardenas
  Board of Directors Secretary
Patty Cardenas
Patty Cárdenas is a first generation Chicana, born in Los Angeles and raised in Santa Ana.  She attended the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she earned a degree in Chicana/o Studies. For over 25 years, Patty has worked with at risk youth, victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.
In 1992, Patty and her family experienced the devastating effects of homicide when her 20-year-old brother Alex was murdered. She currently works at the Riverside District Attorney’s Office, Division of Victim Services advocating for families whose lives have been affected by trauma and victimization. In April 2017, Patty was the speaker for the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, where she shared her family’s story and spoke to the healing capacity of the Riverside County’s yearly vigil.
Patty’s search for personal healing has extended to her community and melded with her lifelong interests in culturally based spiritual traditions including; curanderismo, healing circles, prayer, meditation and danza as a form of healing.  Patty and her husband are members of Xipe Totec Danzantes Aztecas in Los Angeles, founded by Maestro Florencio Yescas and currently directed by Virginia Carmelo.
As one of the founding members of the Comadres Network and a trained Xinachtli facilitator Patty has led Xinachtli groups for young women at Sacred Circles Center in Whittier. Patty’s resolve to promote the NCN Mission comes from her firsthand experience with transformational healing methodologies and the belief that individuals carry the cultural wisdom to heal themselves and each other. It is Patty’s goal to facilitate accessibility to NCN programs and philosophies to her family, her community and to future generations.
Patty is a blessed and happy Tia to 3 nephews and 4 nieces and shares this journey with her parents, Otilia and Alejandro Cárdenas, her husband Victor Hugo Muñoz, her brother David and the memory of her brother Alex Cárdenas.
Alicia Chavez-Arteaga
  Member (2014 to present)
Alicia Chavez-Arteaga
Director of Operations, Izcalli Incorporated
Alicia is a first-generation college graduate who earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and a Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from San Diego State University. She is a co-founder of Izcalli, a cultural arts community-based non-profit in San Diego that bridges the arts, education, and community involvement. Alicia serves as the Director of Operations overseeing internal functions including fiscal management and resource development.
She brings over 20 years of experience in program administration and direct services with underserved communities as an Arts Administrator, Educator, and Social Worker. Alicia is a Fellow of the California Arts Council/CORO Southern California Arts Leadership Program and in 2013 received the Union Tribune San Diego Latino Champions Award for “Artist of the Year” for her work with Izcalli.
Alicia is also a founding member of Teatro Izcalli, a Chicanx comedy troupe and has performed for audiences throughout the United States since 1995. Teatro Izcalli’s original work centers on the traditions, challenges, and opportunities related to the Chicanx/Latinx community and for the past several years has focused on teaching teatro to the next generation of social justice storytellers in San Diego. Through her work Alicia has witnessed the powerful impact that the arts have as a conduit for healing, empowerment, and community engagement. Alicia integrates this purpose in other endeavors including the facilitation of healing circles for women that embrace ancestral healing traditions.
Valerie Garcia
  Comadres Administrative Assistant
  (408) 484-4296
  [email protected]
Valerie Garcia
Valerie Garcia is the proud daughter of Robert Garcia and Rosie Martinez. She has served the community for the past 20 years in different capacities and has worked in various fields, including mental health, substance abuse, and education. Ms. Garcia serves as the Comadres Administrative Assistant for NCN. In addition to working on her Bachelor of Arts with a major in Psychology, she is a Consumer Family Member Consultant for Behavioral Health Concepts throughout counties in California, providing a voice and advocacy in mental health and substance abuse.
Rosa González
  Member (2014 to present)
Rosa González
Director of Capacity Building, ACTION Council of Monterey County
Rosa González is the founder of Facilitating Power, a consultancy designed to cultivate the practice and pedagogy of a living democracy. She aids organizations, foundations, and collaborative initiatives to build the capacity for culturally rooted, collaborative leadership and to advance whole systems solutions to close equity gaps through fundamental shifts towards health and balance at all levels from the personal to the structural. She wrote the Framework on Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning, in collaboration with climate justice leaders from around the country and is working to deepen collaboration between the public and private sectors at the local level through multiple city-based initiatives.
Rosa has a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of San Francisco, and a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from Stanford University. She is currently working on her first book, in collaboration with NationBuilder titled: SEED, HARVEST, WEAVE Facilitative Leadership for a Living Democracy.
Lauren Padilla‑Valverde
  Founding Member (2013 to present)
Lauren Padilla-Valverde
Program Manager, The California Endowment
A seasoned leader in the field of race equity and systems change, Lauren’s vision for healing and racially equitable systems transformation is influencing the field of philanthropy and government. Lauren is senior program officer for The California Endowment where she oversees the grantmaking strategy in the Salinas Valley and Monterey County as part of the foundation’s statewide 10-year initiative known as Building Healthy Communities. To address the structural root causes of health and other life inequities at the grassroots and systems level, Lauren brings a healing informed, racial equity lens framework to support the leadership of those most impacted by systemic inequities. Lauren brings over 15 years as a primary care clinician and academic practicing family medicine, homeless and farmworker health as well as deep expertise in health sciences and health workforce development.
Prior to The California Endowment, Lauren was professor, director and chair of the Joint Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies, Master of Public Health Program at Touro University-California. There she oversaw the development of a dual degree graduate program in medicine and public health that trains health care providers with a focus on increasing health professionals of color who are from disinvested communities in California.
Lauren is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, Stanford University and Pace University.  She grew up in rural Monterey County, California and is the proud daughter of Braulio Natareno Padilla and Ilsia Sanchez Vela, Guatemalan immigrants who came to the United States in 1969 and who worked in the first winery ranches of Monterey County.  Lauren and her husband Jeremy are proud parents of Stella Magdalena.
Ysenia Sepulveda
  Project Coordinator
  (408)-484-4120
  [email protected]
Ysenia Sepulveda
Ms. Sepulveda is a Fellowship Circle Keeper within NCN’s La Cultura Cura Fellowship Path 2 Services Program. She graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and with a minor in Mexican American Studies. It was through her studies at San Jose State that she was introduced to Joven Noble. Since then she has facilitated Joven Noble and Xinachtli CĂrculos in San Jose.
Ms. Sepulveda was born and raised in Hayward, California, and is grateful to come from working class parents and of Mexican and Filipino heritage. She lives in Hayward and has one brother.
Laura Tinajero
  Founding Member (2013 to present)
Laura Tinajera
Laura Tinajero was born and raised in Salinas. She has been actively involved in her community by helping youth make positive changes in their lives through organizations and programs such as 2nd Chance, La Cultura Cura Network, National Compadres Network, and the Building Healthy Communities Initiative.
She is a founding member of the National Comadres Network and is currently the Healing Informed Practices Coordinator with East Salinas Building Healthy Communities. Ms. Tinajero has been facilitating Joven Noble and Xinachtli leadership groups since 2010 and is a planning-team member and mentor to young women through The California Endowment’s statewide Sisterhood Rising Leadership Retreat. She continues to provide guidance and support to youth and adults utilizing the La Cultura Cura philosophy.
Ms. Tinajero received her Bachelor of Arts in Social and Behavioral Sciences with a minor in Social Work at California State University Monterey Bay in 2018. She continues to be a positive role model in her community by bringing healing and understanding to all her relations.
Dr. Susy Zepeda
  Board of Directors Member at Large
Dr. Susy Zepeda
Dr. Susy Zepeda was born in Monterey Park, California to two Mexican migrants from El LimĂłn, Jalisco and ChĂnipas, Chihuahua. Raised primarily by her Mexicana mother, tĂas and tĂos, and prima/os along with her two sisters in the Los Angeles area, she learned since childhood the importance of supporting community and holding matriarchal relations sacred in times of crisis and healing. Susy remembers as a child often climbing the cerro and visiting el rio in her mother’s hometown in Mexico with instruction and guidance from her abuelita, Rosario. This journey infused Susy’s path of walking in prayer and armonĂa con la madre tierra.
In 2014, Susy joined the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of California, Davis as an Assistant Professor. As a self-identified queer Xicana IndĂgena her scholarly work is intentionally interdisciplinary, decolonial, and feminist in a community-centered and grounded way. Her research and teaching focus on: critical race and ethnic studies, Xicana IndĂgena spirit work, critical feminist of color collaborative methodologies, queer of color and Indigenous communities, decolonization, oral history, and intergenerational healing. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Sociology with designated emphasis in Feminist Studies and Latin American & Latino Studies, a CLAD Teaching Credential from California State University at Dominguez Hills, and her B.A. from California State University at Long Beach in Sociology and Women’s Studies.
