This weekend’s events:

• Local poet Anatalia Velez on Saturday April 15th at 2pm. Q&A Moderated by Kundan Chhabra
• Washington D.C. based Sami Miranda on Sunday April 16th at 3pm.

Meet the Poets featured at this weekend’s events:

Anatalia Velez:

Anatalia Vallez is a writer, actor, and creative alchemist from Orange County and roots in Guerrero, Mexico. Passionate about using art as a tool for creating consciousness and community, she has performed poetry, performance art, dance, and theatre, leading to travels to Texas, Arizona, New York, Tijuana, Mexico and all across California. Anatalia was first published as a teenager through Barrio Writers, an immersive youth writing workshop series founded by Sarah Rafael Garcia in Santa Ana, CA. 

In April 2020, in the middle of lockdown orders, Anatalia became the author of her first poetry collection, The Most Spectacular Mistake through an independent Texas publishing press, FlowerSong Press. With a virtual launch and being featured in the LA Times, LibroMobile and KPFK Radio’s Nuestra Voz, The Most Spectacular Mistake reached over thirteen states in less than a year of being published. 

Anatalia is currently finishing up her MFA in Television, Film and Theatre, acting option, at Cal State LA. In December she completed her culminating performance at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in a sold-out run of her own play, Las Sirenas, produced by Poco A Poco Productions. Las Sirenas received accolades from audiences for highlighting the role of Chicana revolutionaries throughout history and student activism. Anatalia is looking forward to expanding the play and working on her second poetry collection. 

She credits a big part of her success to her connection and commitment to community work and to the support of her family. 

Sami Miranda:

Samuel Miranda grew up in the South Bronx and resides in Washington, DC. He is a visual artist, poet, and teacher who uses his craft to highlight the value of everyday people and places. 

His work is heavily influenced by Puerto Rican culture and family history, interactions with his students, people he encounters in his travels, and DC locals. Much of his work is figurative and explores how the body and face illustrate the successes, hardships, and beliefs that people carry with them. 

He is the author of Departure, a chapbook published by Central Square Press; and We Is, published by Zozobra Publishing. 

He is currently working on collaborative projects with musicians and visual artists about the deep connections they can make through their artwork. Samuel’s artwork has been exhibited internationally in Puerto Rico and Madrid, as well as in New York and Washington, DC. 

Samuel’s artwork has recently been included in the Smithsonian’s new Molina Family Latino Gallery inaugural exhibition ¡Presente! His artwork has been included in university and private collections. 

Meet our moderator:

Kundan Chhabra (them/they):

​​Kundan Chhabra is the Creator of the Justice-Based Holistic Time Management Methodology ©️ Consulting and Coaching Journey to help inclusive creative leaders become more confident, clear and secure with strong stable boundaries without walls: in short, Kundan helps uprooted creative leaders become rooted again.

This includes reading your "Akaash", a multi-dimensional record of all your timelines to help you heal from the root causes of your self+sabotage patterns including "Soul Vows" & "Soul Contracts" from your past lives.

They grew up in Theravada Buddhist country Myanmar (formerly Burma) in South East Asia, raised in a family that practiced Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Two Buddhist monasteries were within walking distance of their home there.

The country was ruled by a military dictatorship. Simultaneously Kundan was educated in a school for the children of diplomats, ambassadors and Intelligence officers. This taught them a lot about power dynamics and manipulation tactics. This is why they now teach marginalized people on how to protect ourselves from them. 

Kundan posts on all social media sites including Facebook, Instagram & YouTube. Email Kundan about their programs "Reclaiming Boundaries", "Akashic Focus Accelerator" & the "Rooted" series of programs or business/publications inquiries at Kundan@RelationshipBoundaries.com"