DE AQUÍ Y DE ALLÁ

An antidote to “ni de aquí, ni de allá” and an invitation to explore where you come from, reconnect with the parts of yourself you've left behind, and discover what it means to belong to more than one world.

To be from here and from there.

We gather on Saturday November 14th, 21st, 28th, and December 5th, 2026

8:00 AM Pacific | 11:00 AM Eastern

Register Here

One payment of $397 or two payments of $219

For so long, many of us have carried the story of separation, of not being enough of one thing or the other, of feeling like we have to choose between the world we grew up in and the world our families came from.

But what if we don't have to choose?

What if the very thing that made us feel different is also what allows us to build bridges between worlds? What if we can honor the sacrifices, hardships, love, and legacy of those who came before us without having to recreate their lives or follow the exact paths they walked?

We can return to our motherland and still build a life somewhere else.

We can move between places, cultures, and languages.

We can create new traditions while honoring the ones we inherited.

We can belong to more than one place without having to prove ourselves to either.

And maybe this is part of what it means to become the new ancestor.

For Those Of Us Living Between Two Cultures.

You Can Carry Two Countries In Your Heart Without Having To Choose Between Them.

Our Ancestors Left So We Could Come Back.

You're here because one (or more) of these is true:

This is for anyone who feels that deep call to return to their homeland and reconnect with their roots.

♡ You feel like something is missing. You only know one part of your origin story, and not knowing the other half has affected your relationship with yourself, your family, and the world around you.

♡ You're first-gen or the grandchild of immigrants. There are stories you wish you knew and there might be no one left to ask. Assimilation may have been part of your family's story for generations, and you're ready to explore what was lost, what’s left, and what you want to reclaim.

♡ You're raising children between cultures. You want them to know their roots, embrace their heritage, and carry their culture with pride. Maybe you're learning alongside them, returning to your own traditions, or figuring out how to pass down something you didn't always have access to yourself.

♡ And of course, this is for my fellow Ecuadorians (hola ñañitos) who want to reconnect with their Ecuadorian roots, whether you grew up in Ecuador or somewhere else in the world.

♡ You might speak Spanish, not speak Spanish, or understand it but feel embarrassed to speak it. Maybe your family once spoke an Indigenous language that you no longer remember, and you want to begin learning, even if it's just one word.

♡ This is for men and women, creatives, people who hold space for others, and anyone who feels called to understand their story a little more deeply.

You don't have to speak a certain language, know any ancestral tradition, or have a clear idea of what reconnecting looks like for you.

You just have to be curious about where you come from and open to exploring what that means for who you're becoming.

This is what we’ll explore inside De Aquí y De Allá

November 14th – December 5th, 2026 · Four Saturdays · 90 minutes together · 8am PST | 11am EST

🩸WEEK 1 · NOVEMBER 14

The Stories We Inherit: Migration, Identity & Belonging

We’ll explore the worlds that shaped us, the stories we inherited, and how migration has influenced our relationships with ourselves, our families, and our sense of belonging.

Together, we'll explore:

Our family stories and histories of migration.
Assimilation, cultural disconnection, and the wounds migration can leave behind.
What it means to be ni de aquí ni de allá.
The different worlds and identities we carry within us.
The questions and tensions around who gets to reconnect with their roots, and what that reconnection can look like.

🩸WEEK 2 · NOVEMBER 21

Our Bodies, Our Beauty & the Faces of Our Ancestors

How have beauty standards shaped the way we see ourselves? What have we been taught to change, hide, or reject about our bodies in order to fit in?

Together, we'll explore:

Our relationships with our bodies, features, hair, skin, and beauty.
Eurocentric beauty standards and the pressure to change ourselves to fit in.
The ancestral features we may have learned to criticize or feel ashamed of.
How our physical appearance actually connect us to our families, communities, and cultural roots.
What self-acceptance can look like without prescribing how anyone should look or reconnect.

Practice: Reflect on the features you inherited and the stories you've attached to them. What might shift if you began seeing yourself through a different lens?

🩸WEEK 3 · NOVEMBER 28

Going back home, Wherever We Are

What does it mean to return to the places our families come from? And how do we reconnect when going back isn't possible, or when being there doesn't feel the way we expected?

Together, we'll explore:

Returning to our motherland and navigating the emotions that come with it.
Honoring where we come from while embracing who we are today.
Reconnecting through language, music, dance, food, and everyday traditions.
Exploring cultural rituals and practices
Building a practice to feel connected to our roots, even when we live far away.

🩸WEEK 4 · DECEMBER 5

Becoming the New Ancestor: What We Choose to Carry Forward

We can't always recover every story, tradition, or piece of wisdom that's been lost. But we can decide what we want to remember, reclaim, and pass on.

Together, we'll explore:

Our ancestors, family stories, and cultural inheritance.
The grief of losing elders and the wisdom that may otherwise go undocumented.
How to begin recording family stories, memories, and ancestral ways before they're lost.
The traditions we want to carry forward, adapt, or introduce into our lives.
What it means to become the new ancestor and create a different inheritance for future generations.
How to continue remembering and honoring our roots long after these four weeks end.

Hi! I’m Barbie

Let Me Tell You A Bit About My Reconnecting Journey

My journey began with a longing to belong to a place, to a people, and to feel accepted. Over a decade later, it's become a journey of accepting, choosing, and loving myself.

I was born in New York, and raised between Queens and Ecuador. My grandparents migrated to the States in the early '70s, so my mom grew up here, while my dad grew up in Ecuador. Even though my parents came from the same country, they grew up in very different worlds, with different relationships to their culture and different understandings of home.

I think that's something we don't always talk about. Sharing a nationality, a language, or even a family doesn't mean we've had the same experience. Where we grow up, the people around us, and the places that shape us all influence how we see ourselves and relate to the world.

When I returned to Ecuador in 2018 after being away for 12 years, I realized how much I didn't know. My Spanish wasn't as fluent as I wanted it to be, and even the everyday expressions and phrases I heard around me felt like a language I had never fully learned. I felt out of place in a country that was supposed to be mine.

In 2020, I went to live with my dad because I wanted to heal my relationship with him and with my land. We would spend hours talking about our family history, his relationship with spirituality and ritual, and the people who had walked this path before me.

What began as a desire to understand where I came from slowly became a journey of understanding who I was. Through reconnecting with my family, my culture, and the land, I began to see myself in the people around me. I remembered parts of my childhood I had hid away, and I started to feel a love for my country that I had spent years trying to push aside.

And this is when I finally realized that the wound of not belonging, of feeling different from everyone around me, would be the very thing that would eventually bring me closer to myself and to others.

Today, I get to live between Ecuador and New York. My heart in two places and I've come to understand that home isn't just a place. It's also the relationship we build with ourselves, our stories, and the people who came before us.

I created De Aquí y de Allá because it's the space I wish I'd had: a place to explore our roots, share our stories, and make sense of what it means to belong to more than one world. I've heard from so many people who have that same longing of wanting to reconnect with their homeland, understand their family history, reclaim parts of their culture, and pass their heritage on to the next generation with pride.

This is a space to explore that journey together.

The Questions You Might Be Asking Yourself Right Now…

Let's start the journey

All gatherings will be recorded and sent to you within 24 hours, so you can watch the recording even if you can't join us live.
Nope! De Aquí y De Allá is open to everyone. We all have roots, stories, and ancestors.
We'll meet every Saturday from November 14th through December 5th, 2026.
Each gathering will last approximately 90–120 minutes.
We'll ask everyone to respect the privacy of the group and keep personal stories and conversations confidential. Please don't share someone else's story outside the space without their explicit permission.
While we ask everyone to honor this agreement, we can't guarantee what other participants may share outside the group. We'll do our best to cultivate a space grounded in care, respect, and trust.

Not at all! Whether you speak Spanish fluently, understand it but struggle to speak it, or don't speak it at all, you're welcome here.
The investment for De Aquí y De Allá is $397 for one payment or two payments of $219. Click here to register.
No. De Aquí y De Allá is a guided space for reflection, cultural reconnection, and community. These conversations may bring up emotions or personal experiences, but this program is not therapy and does not replace therapy or other mental health support.