Dichela (she/they) is a Queer Belauan-Japanese community advocate born and raised in the Republic of Palau. She is the youngest of nine, and became an auntie at nine years old to her first niece, Liwai—a role that taught her early what it means to show up for future generations.
In 2014, she moved to Puyaləpabš land to live with relatives, becoming the eldest among her cousins (siblings) — an experience that continues to shape her understanding of care, kinship, and responsibility. In a new and unfamiliar space, she found grounding through a deepened commitment to community-rooted care.
She attended Western Washington University, where—through Fairhaven College—she curated an Interdisciplinary Studies degree focused on Indigenous History, Public Health and Law, Diversity, and Justice, with an emphasis on Education and Social Justice. Since then, she has served and learned in various community-centered roles, including with Brigid Collins Family Support Center, the Pacific Islander Health Board of WA, On the Road with Partner Cafe, and now as a Birth Keeper with Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services.
Rooted in Indigenous knowledge, Dichela views community-centered care as ancestral continuity in motion—a living tradition of cultural survival and collective healing. Care rooted in community is a powerful expression of how traditional knowledge continues to inform and shape modern caregiving— and she is committed to lifelong learning and honoring the interconnectedness that holds us together in kinship and care.
In her free time, you’ll often find Dichela in community— reading or yapping away, experimenting with new recipes, decoding music and astrology, or simply taking a moment to be in nature.
“Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion”
bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions
