Hi, I’m Chrissy.
A somatic empowerment coach, chemistry PhD, and someone who spent years trying to earn my worth instead of remembering it.
I spent years in high-achievement environments. I know what it’s like to be successful and still feel empty inside.
I care deeply about helping people come home to the self that existed before conditioning taught them that love and worth are found externally.
My story.
I know what it feels like to live in survival mode—chasing “good enough” until you forget what you truly want.
I was trained to be independent. To push harder. Earn my rest. Compete instead of connect. Exist in pressure instead of pleasure.
And it got me the degrees. I hit every milestone I was “supposed” to hit. On paper, I was incredibly successful.
But I felt empty. I couldn’t feel joy or revel in my success.
Halfway through my Ph.D. in chemistry at UC Berkeley, I had a serious bike accident.
Because prioritizing myself had never felt like an option, I pushed through the pain, trauma, physical & emotional stress, and ignored every signal my body gave me to rest, nourish myself, and heal.
When I graduated in 2020, I had all the publications I could want. But I was burnt out. No amount of sleep helped. Nothing sparked my joy. Life felt so flat.
My transformation happened in layers:
I grieved the version of success I'd been chasing.
I found love for the parts of me who learned that worth was conditional.
I grieved all the versions of me that did what they were “supposed to” instead of what I actually desired and needed.
I forgave myself for all the times I put myself last.
I faced the truth that chasing success was only trapping me in self-abandonment.
I learned that freedom comes from choice & redefined what success means for me.
I learned that resistance doesn’t always look like pushing harder. Often, it looks like softening. Resting. Choosing joy on purpose. Trusting your needs and desires, despite what society deems “normal”. And, living unapologetically as the worthy human you inherently are.
My professional evolution.
I founded Reflecting Equity after my Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, where I designed and led a multi-year initiative that measurably transformed my department's culture. I published all of my work, and it became the foundation of my consulting practice.
What I kept noticing—inside STEM organizations, academic departments, and high-achieving institutions—was something that lived beneath the systemic patterns I was being hired to “fix”. The individuals engaged in this work were struggling to sit with discomfort in their body—discomfort with change, with the harm that systems cause those most marginalized, and with the feelings of rejection or not being “enough” that academic systems foster.
My clients understood the data. They could name what needed to change. But they didn't yet have the internal capacity to stay regulated, present, or in connection when things got hard.
Without supporting individual change, I could not transform communities.
So I deepened my training with a 600+ hour somatic, trauma-informed coaching certification and began working 1:1 with clients too.
Reflecting Equity and my coaching practice are two sides of the same coin. One works with systems. One works with the people inside them. The methodology is the same: build safety first, then transformation becomes possible.
That's what I bring to every session—whether it’s with a client, an organization, or leadership teams.
My credentials.
BS in Chemistry, University of Washington
BS in Neuroscience, University of Washington
PhD in Chemistry, UC Berkeley
10 years of training in medicine and surgery (Harvard, Yale, University of Washington, India, Mount Sinai)
Teaching and mentoring certification, UC Berkeley
Founder of Reflecting Equity
600+ hour VITA Sex, Love & Relationships coaching certification (in progress)
Trained in somatic embodiment & trauma-informed practices, rooted in Tantra, Taoism, and Anti-Deficit Frameworks
I bring intellectual rigor and emotional attunement to my work. My background in science and medicine grounds me in a deep respect for the nervous system and science of thriving. Through my own journey of shedding shame and reclaiming my worth, I intimately understand the liberation that comes from integrating knowledge with somatic work.
Positionality & cultural safety.
As a queer Latina, my understanding of power, identity, and marginalization is lived and learned. I move through the world with a deep awareness of how systems of power, oppression, and social inequity shape our conditioning and sense of safety.
I know some of these structures intimately through my own experience; others I’ve come to understand through my work as a scientist and agent of cultural change through Reflecting Equity. I have seen firsthand how institutions overlook, dismiss, or unintentionally harm the very communities they claim to support.
All of this shapes how I hold space for the transformation of others.
I know that for those of us who hold marginalized identities, reconnecting with our bodies and stepping into our power can feel risky—especially when the world has taught us to shrink, stay alert, mask, or overperform to survive. Empowerment isn't simple when your nervous system has learned that visibility or authenticity can be dangerous.
While I will never have your same lived experience, I promise to listen deeply to the ways your reality differs from mine. I will honor your identity, lived experience, truth, and boundaries without question. I will meet you with the level of care, respect, and grounding your nervous system needs to feel safe and learn what thriving can feel like.
I will co-create a space with you where you can soften, explore without judgment, and build the internal safety that allows you to come home to yourself without minimizing any part of who you are. A space where you can cultivate the power, resilience, and self-trust to move through the world with courage—not because the world has changed, but because you feel supported enough to inhabit yourself fully.