Pride Staff Spotlight
At FEEST, we are committed to uplifting the voices and stories of incredible people who embody the values of love, justice, and community care. Today, we are thrilled to spotlight Ammara (she/they), a queer neurodivergent Khmer femme and child of genocide survivors raised in South King County.
Ammara’s journey and work inspire us all to recognize the power of storytelling, the importance of collective consciousness, and the transformative potential of love in action. Through their dedication to healing, justice, and youth, Ammara exemplifies the essence of what it means to build a world where every life is honored and able to thrive.
Learn more about Ammara
Ammara (she/they) is driven by deep love and care for life. A queer neurodivergent Khmer femme and child of genocide survivors raised in South King County, Ammara understands the importance of telling our own stories, building a politically activated collective consciousness, and embodying love as a practice.
To them, love is action; love is resisting the violence of disconnection instilled by colonial-imperial systems. Love is violence prevention. Love is healing trauma and generational wounds. Love is recognizing that our struggles and freedom are intertwined. Love is feeling our feelings, honoring our wholeness, witnessing our rage and grief as sacred. Relationships are central places of radical transformation, and Ammara values them as a frontline where we can practice justice, liberation, and alignment with ourselves, each other, and the land (thank you adrienne maree brown). This commitment to love is what inspires their work to nurture a world where every life is honored as sacred, and able to thrive; where everyone’s dignity and humanity is honored in its fullness.
They move through the world grounded in lineage, guided by indigenous ancestral wisdoms and healing justice principles, and are excited to continue cultivating ecosystems of care and building youth power with FEEST. As a space holder, a student of abolition, a witch-poet, Ammara finds joy in collective dreaming, and believes movements are most powerful when integrating wisdom from across all generations, informed and led by those most impacted, with community care at the forefront.
Outside of organizing work, you can find Ammara communing with plants and the water, making digital art at a cafe, binge-reading YA fantasy books, or spending time with their loved ones over a warm meal, tarot cards, and tea.
Ammara's Vision of Liberation
What Does Liberation look like, feel like, taste like, smell like to You?
To me, liberation is an ongoing practice and way of being. It is moving through the world in + as embodied love. It looks like holding multiple truths, tensions, and complexities with care and gentleness–holding abundance, reciprocity, and community over domination, control, and individualism.
It is ancestral memory helping us remember that the plants, the water, the skies, love us; all of us, made of the same stardust in this universe. Remembering ourselves beyond capitalist expectations, cis-heteropatriarchal violence, and ableist conditioning.
It looks like a world where everyone is cared for in dignity, honored in their whole humanity and multi-dimensionality, allowed to feel their anger, grief, jealousy, and the spectrum of feelings without shame. Living in liberation makes me feel rooted, soft, held, cherished, spacious, expansive.
Ammara's Radical Joy Offerings
At FEEST, we cherish the revolutionary power of joy, and Ammara (she/they) exemplifies this through their vibrant practices. We’re excited to share Ammara’s radical joy offerings, including four books they’ve gifted to our community, hoping they bring light, healing, and a deeper sense of togetherness.
I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World by Kai Cheng Thom
all about love: new visions by bell hooks
Be Not Afriad of Love: Lessons on Fear, Intimacy, and Connection by Mimi Zhu
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Ammara’s passion for cultivating ecosystems of care and empowering youth with FEEST shows just how powerful love and community can be. Their journey reminds us that love, in all its forms, is a force for resistance, healing, and transformation. Ammara’s radical joy offerings include four awesome books that they’ve shared with our community: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Be Not Afraid of Love by Mimi Zhu, all about love by bell hooks, and I Hope We Choose Love by Kai Cheng Thom. These books are like little treasures that bring us closer together and fill our hearts with inspiration.
Thank you for reading this Pride Month spotlight! Pride is about more than just celebration—it’s about community organizing and the fight for liberation. As we honor Pride Month, let Ammara’s story and their amazing book recommendations inspire us to celebrate our struggles and joys, nurture our communities, and lead with love. Stay connected with us at FEEST as we cheer on and support the incredible work of individuals like Ammara who are making our world a brighter, more inclusive place.
Show FEEST some love!
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