PRAISE
Working with the We Rise team is always such a joy. They embody the true nature of community care and collaboration. Every We Rise project I’ve worked on with has been intentionally planned, building on community work and connections, and ensuring the content reflects the work
and politics of the organizers. They also create a space for connection building
and learning. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and learn from other community
organizers because of how they curate creative space and build out new
episodes and series. Working with the team is not simply being interviewed
or sharing your experiences. You become part of building a larger narrative.
With the changing times, we as organizers have had to adapt how we
organize and how we communicate our messages to the world. Cat and Nicky
have gone out of their way to help produce and promote audio programs that
we have used for car caravan throughout COVID. Their willingness to provide this
invaluable resource without asking for anything in return has not gone unnoticed.
This is what makes We Rise unique. This is not just a production company.
It is a community of people working to create change and build a space that is supportive, collaborative, and resilient.
- Diyala (she/her),
We Rise is value-driven, through and through. They talk about and are about embodied, collaborative, communicative, non-hierarchical, accessible, radical media work. Their values, their commitment, their presence is so clear and so important.
In my experience as a cultural producer and an artist, I have felt intimidated by and a real barrier between the organizing, care, and cultural work that happens on a grassroots/person-to-person level and the digital sharing out of that work.
What's so beautiful about We Rise is that they break through that barrier so graciously, so that making a podcast, recording an interview, editing an audio piece suddenly feels possible. They amplify community-based work in a way that is so welcoming and warm.
- SK Kerastas (they/them),
theater worker, artist, cultural producer & collaborator of The Real Work podcast
Wow, the podcast is so beautiful and tender. You did such a great job of capturing moments, perspectives, and really explaining what the piece is! I’m so amazed. Thank you two for making this piece!!!
-Be Steadwell, queer pop artist
A Letter To My Ex...the queer breakup musical, We Rise Episode 22
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Collaborating with Cat and Nicky is an experience of creative wonder, precision, expansive vision and skillful strategy. They hold incredibly supportive space to nurture ideas, cultivate their growth and give them shape. We Rise is a vital greenhouse for transformative community visions, voices, analyses, imagination and dreams. Their range of offerings, their embodiment of their values, and the deep care that infuses their process, are necessary nourishment and amplification of cultural and political work that is lighting up the paths of collective healing and justice.
- Zara Zimbardo (she/her), Co-Founder of Partners for Collaborative Change
& Adjunct Lecturer at California Institute of Integral Studies
Working with We Rise is like finally finding a group project where not only does everyone work hard together, but they are thoughtful, constructive, and empowering in their work. Nicky & Cat are able to create an environment and a camaraderie that makes social
justice storytelling into an experience of empowerment for everyone involved.
In my time collaborating with them as a playwright and now podcast-writer, We Rise has enabled me to take back the narrative of my family line, call out the truths in our stories of oppression and celebration that both unite and divide us, and found a path to healing by their facilitation, art-making and support. I would have faltered without their support, and pulled back from creating a beautiful project born out of a difficult beginning. They know how to take the time to develop ideas and story so that they take root and strengthen into powerful narrative. I hope everyone gets a chance to work with We Rise and the transformative artists in their orbit; their fight for peace and justice is contagious and filling.
- Noelle Viñas (she/her), playwright & podcast-writer of Abuelito
Working with We Rise has been so motivating. When it comes to creating a platform for the voices that are most vulnerable and that need to be uplifted, We Rise really knows how to do this and how to adequately capture our words and our stories. It's been such a pleasure working with them over the years and we are eager and excited to see what our future will look like together. We know that we can always count on We Rise to support our ideas and dreams.
- Maisa Morrar (she/her), Palestinian Youth Movement
#Right2Resist: The SFO Muslim Ban Protest...One Year Later, We Rise Episode 10
My time with We Rise in a consciousness rooting circle was transformative. They held a space that was compassionate, humanizing, thought-provoking, and has increased my ability to show up in anti-oppression work. Working with We Rise is like working with your thoughtful and inspiring best friend.
- Max (he/him), participant of
Being interviewed by Cat & Nicky was a truly warm and uplifting experience. The conversation flowed with ease and I felt like I was asked questions that lended themselves well to allowing me to open up, and talk candidly.
I appreciated the energy Cat & Nicky brought to the table and would love to sit down with them anytime and talk and harmonize! ✨✨✨
-Luca Page (they/them), Founder of Radically Fit
Radically Fit with Lindsey Page, We Rise Episode 21
Since the recording of this episode our guest changed their name to Luca.
I FINALLY listened to the whole show, uninterrupted (which is a feat these days!) and Cat I just wanted to say I am so blown away. The show came together so powerfully. You are really gifted, Cat. I felt so moved to get to hear all our voices together in this way and feel/realize in a new way the power of what the Buen Vivir Fund is. (When I’m so in the weeds every day I don’t often get perspective-shifting moments like this.) Thank you so much Cat for the invitation and opportunity, for all the care and hard work you put into producing, and for this super amazing tool we now have to help others understand the soul and substance of what we’re doing!
- Joanna Levitt Cea, Director of the Buen Vivir Fund
I want to thank you for your beautiful handwritten note. It arrived in the mail with another set—several issues of women in power magazine, from 1986 to summer of 1992. (Why did I not have my own copies back in 1986 and 1992?? OMG). Your note is a manifestation of the titular phrase of those mags: women in power. The incredible work you are doing inspires and thus empowers me to strive to do my best work. Thank you for being my teacher. Your vision and work spark immense joy and stir up my deepest chthonic lady fires.
- Kris Malone Grossman, writer, mother, organizer,
collaborator in Consciousness Rooting Group Dialogue & Zine