About
ELLI (She/Her)
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Dr. Elli is the head of the Queer Climbing Collective (QCC) and works as a clinician at SDC Functional Neurology. She started climbing a year ago and has fallen in love with the sport and the community. She is interested in bringing more diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to the outdoor community as well as providing a space for the LGBTQIA+ community to connect. Currently accessibility is an issue for many marginalized communities, so she wants to focus on making climbing more accessible as well as mentoring those within the community. Through the QCC and the Intersections of Climbing events, she hopes to connect with more climbers in the area and discuss issues related to DEI within the climbing community.
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RED (He/Him)
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Red is a first generation immigrant originally from Quezon City, Philippines. He majored in Sociology: Social Inequalities at UCSD, and now works as a peer support specialist at the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital, using his lived experience with depression and anxiety to guide others through their own recovery journey. He has climbed more off than on since 2014, and recently picked up the sport again after finally obtaining his green card. Red hopes to build a supportive community for new climbers with the QCC, and help folks see the connections between climbing and their personal mental wellness.
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LEANDRA (She/Her)
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Dr. Lea is an ambassador for the QCC and has been climbing for the last five years. As an assistant professor in communication studies at Utah Valley University, she's passionate about creating radical and inclusive spaces in climbing and academic contexts. Utilizing intersectionality as her main life frame, she researches gender, sex, race, ethnicity, and more in health, media, and outdoor contexts. She has published one study on the ways in which the mass media frames issues pertaining to gender and violence in climbing and is currently writing a book that explores issues pertaining to access, diversity, equity, and inclusion in national parks and climbing crags. She also loves hosting both indoor and outdoor climbing events and spreading the stoke for all.
DENISSE (She/Her)
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Denisse grew up in Tijuana and San Diego and loves the outdoors. She started climbing in 2017 and has recently started lead climbing. Climbing has gifted her with a loving and supportive community and with great opportunities for physical and mental growth. Denisse is very excited to continue to create community through climbing and the outdoors.
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SYDNEY (They/Them)
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Sydney is a San Diego native and local eccentric. Moonlighting as drag king Leggs Benedict (he/him) you can typically catch them at the gay bar when not climbing. Bouldering for a year and sport climbing for about 6months, climbing has provided Sydney with an outlet for the excess of energy they usually have. Ultimately, building lasting connections with other gender fluid and non binary individuals is what they hope to accomplish in the near future.