Vethea Cerna Cole (they/them) is a Research and Evaluation Team (RET) Intern at NAPIESV. They were raised on California’s Central Coast and are now based in Oakland. Vethea received their A.A. degrees in Political Science and Social & Behavioral Sciences before transferring to U.C. Berkeley and obtaining their B.A. in Gender Studies in 2021. They are currently an assistant at Berkeley Law’s Center for the Study of Law & Society and are studying criminal law and family law in the Paralegal certificate program.
Holding a background in non-profit mental health care, writing, and harm reduction, Vethea’s contributions towards collective liberation are grounded in community care, abolition~anti-imperialism, and expanding accessibility– especially for survivors and QTBIPOC. Formerly an apprentice of Soul Flower Farm’s school of earth medicine, they are eternally a student of ancestral/Philippine herbalism and enjoy communing with nature + tending to the land in ways that honor and advocate for Indigenous stewardship.