Vanessa Bolin (Saponi, Tsalagi, Chahta)
she/her
Sexual freedom to me means being able to choose not only my partner but how I respond to them. It means either with a partner or own my own, to honor and except gratification of an orgasm of pleasure. It means that I am a whole person with or without someone stimulating me to make me feel complete and beautiful and whole. I am enough, I am powerful and I own my sexuality in every way.
Vanessa Bolin is an Indigenous artist, activist, street medic/ trainer, and founder of the Eyes Wide Open Project, Richmond Indigenous Society, River City Medic Collective, and Community Roots Garden. She sits on the board for SANTOS which is dedicated to providing bail funds for the undocumented community. She studied Paramedic Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. Vanessa served as a medic in Standing Rock ND during the No DAPL movement and in Charlottesville on August 12 traveled to Houston after Hurricane Harvey and acted as a street medic where she served and cared for the flood survivors. She established a Mutual Aid Disaster Relief warehouse in Robenson Co after hurricane Florence and has taught street medic trainings across the country. She is deeply passionate about preserving the environment for her grandchildren and the next 7 generations. She spends her time in multiple communities helping to build and support grassroots organizations. She works and provides training in marginalized communities educating about food sovereignty, decolonized and integrated medicine, transformative justice, environmental racism, and raises awareness about murdered and missing Indigenous Women among other topics. Believing that it is everyone’s responsibility to defend this sacred earth she sets out each day to make the world a better place and is striving to help build the world we all want to live in.