This is an interview with René Benavides conducted by Lydia Hooper.

**Image Description:** Peach background with teal lines framing a circle that is slightly skewed to the right. Teal arrow points to text in circle and Purple arrow overlaps with circle on top right. **Text in White Circle Reads:** "I think that that's part of my work, to live into being visible and sharing my story. Creating narratives for myself and not allowing others to do that for me." -René Benevidas

How do you think about yourself and your place within the field of design justice?

I appreciate you opening with that, because in getting prepared for this interview I was nervous. I was like, I've never done this before. I think that that's part of my work, to live into being visible and sharing my story. Creating narratives for myself and not allowing others to do that for me.

I identify as a queer disabled body of culture living in the Bay Area. I am a parent, I’m a partner, I’m an avid nonfiction reader and love the outdoors. I am a coach, a facilitator, and designer who is super passionate about redesigning social systems towards a more inclusive and equitable future where people thrive.

I’ve spent much of my career working at the intersection of mental health and education. I think in terms of the landscape of design, I identify as someone who's designing social systems and really find my role to be one that attempts to transform power through my design work.

What does the phrase “design justice” mean to you, in one sentence if possible?

For me design justice is owning the responsibility to critically assess whether design is truly liberatory, in both process and in impact.

**Image Description:** Peach background with black and yellow lines framing a circle, that is slightly skewed to the right. Pink arrow points to text in circle in the top right and bottom. **Text in White Circle Reads: “**"For me, healing means coming home to ourselves, over and over. We have a whole lot of wisdom and resilience inside of us." -René Benevidas””

You talked about how you identify as a facilitator. Can you share with me about how you practice self care and/or how you bring that ethic of care perhaps into your facilitation work with groups?

I am actively thinking a lot about self care. I think there's many ways in which that term is used to pathologize people and put pressure on individuals to do more. I've heard folx talk about self care by telling others they need to do ‘x’ better or they need to care for themselves or try on this strategy to cope with what they are experiencing. For me, what I am up to is really trying to challenge folks to think a little bit differently about that. What we know is that many of us, myself included, are unwell as a result of the way systems are designed. And what I want to be creating are spaces for folks to really put down the narrative that they need to do more of something else and instead affirm people in being inherently good, as they are. For me, healing means coming home to ourselves, over and over. We have a whole lot of wisdom and resilience inside of us. Each person has a right to their own self-determination of wellness. Ultimately, our state of well being and ability to experience that aliveness in an embodied way directly impacts our design.

Something that I'm super conscious about in the ways that I facilitate space to design for wellbeing are: paying attention to pace, modalities, access. Intentionally designing for experience as opposed to just outcomes. Beginning to feel into what freedom feels like now, in my body. And creating spaces where others are in that discovery too. That's a start of the way I'm intentionally designing experiences.

**Image Description:** Peach background with teal and purple arrows/lines framing a white circle, that is slightly skewed to the right. Pink, Teal & Purples arrows frame the text from the top and right. **Text in White Circle Reads:** "One of the challenges that I've experienced in putting the principles into action has been doing a lot of really intentional “trying on” of different processes, but feeling somewhat disconnected to other groups of folks who are trying similarly, so not a whole lot of learning spaces to really share and talk more about and be in practice together. " -René Benevidas””

I'm wondering if this ties in at all to anything you're working on right now?

I am super excited. Two things that I'll share…

One, I am thrilled to be joining a national design collaborative called Design x Emergence (D4E). It's an amazing group of experienced designers from across the country, mostly folx of color, with an emphasis on leadership with an emergent strategy. I’m not only excited to learn from these really dope people, I'm also eager to bring my skill set into that space. I can’t wait to see what emerges with such a diverse group of people, as we think and create together.

One of the challenges that I've experienced in putting the principles into action has been doing a lot of really intentional “trying on” of different processes, but feeling somewhat disconnected to other groups of folks who are trying similarly, so not a whole lot of learning spaces to really share and talk more about and be in practice together. So it's actually one of the things I’m excited for about this opportunity.

Additionally, I would say I am thrilled to be putting more energy into my own business, Vision to Action (VTA) Collective. Part of this work will include launching a private practice, in person, fingers crossed, with COVID. I’m ready! I think while COVID has challenged us to really create more access because we're online, I really feel like my spirit is calling me to do more intimate work with folks right now in an in-person space, both individually and in small groups.

I’ll also be dedicating more intentional time towards my dreams. Designing towards embodied health and wellness. I want to challenge myself and others to imagine a world outside of the medical industrial complex to create localized solutions that center community care. I’ll be organizing, designing, and creating with local practitioners and statewide networks to organize together. I'm eager to create spaces to bridge, dream and create together.

Wow, that's awesome. Are there any other challenges that we didn't talk about that you feel like are worth mentioning? I resonate a lot with what you shared about how often in this work we’re too separate when we're doing it, and I think sometimes just naming what is hard can help people feel a little less alone with what their struggle is.

I hold a deep passion for this work and feel responsible for considering impact. I want to be intentional in what I'm doing - there's a cost for trying on new things, right? And sometimes that can hold me back from actually trying or testing or prototyping or creating.

And also sometimes I wonder “Hey, am I doing the thing?” Especially when I’m without the partnership or collaboration of others to calibrate with or to be in practice with. Because it is practice, right? It's unlearning and learning, and I think especially as a person of color, there's not a whole lot of space to “fail safely.” Without a place to practice, I’m left to wonder and create in isolation.

So for me, what I've tried to do is to create as many opportunities and connections and build community with other folx who are trying to move in similar ways and do a lot of learning and expose myself as much as possible to design or these principles, even if it means in different industries, to just experience things. But that requires access and not everybody has that.

One more point which is really connected to the other pieces that I'm pretty passionate about comes from my experience with processes that are designed from an ableist perspective. As someone with a disability, I’m rarely able to fully access design processes or tools that allow me to demonstrate all my creative power. I often feel limited by the process or tools that are created, the pace by which folx move through content. It can feel very inaccessible, and for me I want to create spaces where creativity or power isn’t taken away because of how the process is designed. It's been necessary to find other folks who have similar intersecting identities with me to design with.

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You can learn more about René by visiting www.thevtacollective.org and/or following @rene.benav1des / @vtacollective.

This interview was conducted and written by Lydia Hooper, who can be reached through www.lydiahooper.com.

Would you be willing to share your experiences with the Design Justice Network? There are no prerequisites (including a traditional design background), and past stories have featured members working in a variety of fields such as social work, community organizing, and handicrafts. We make the process easy for you (no writing involved!) and will only share what/how you consent for us to. We are particularly interested in hearing from members outside of Europe and the North American East Coast. If you have questions or interests, please contact designjusticenetwork@gmail.com.