Carlos Andrés Gómez

Carlos is an award-winning performer, trained facilitator, and experienced speaker who brings his multifaceted expertise to craft uniquely-tailored programming that centers belonging, equity, inspiration, inclusion, and actionable tools to live healthier and better lives.

Typically, Carlos’ engagements include one or more of the following: an hour-long performance (of poetry, storytelling, and audience interaction) followed by a meet and greet with attendees, a keynote speech addressing a specified theme or topic, one of his acclaimed interactive workshops (see Program Descriptions for details), a class visit, or a facilitated training (i.e. equity and inclusion, tools for mental and emotional wellness, leadership, and much more).

Carlos often does half-day and full-day (or multi-day) residencies that combine several of the aforementioned programming options, each of which can be geared toward students, staff, faculty, administrators, and beyond.

Testimonial:
“Carlos was by far the most engaging and inspiring poet I have ever seen.”
–Drew Donica, Lawrence University

Workshops

Antiracism as Action

(Minimum 2 hours; half- and full-day trainings available)

You care deeply about fighting and dismantling racism, but you have no idea where to start.
How can you (or your organization) be actionably antiracist and not just a performative ally? This interactive session will help you (and your organization) build a roadmap toward fighting anti-blackness and dismantling racism, both on a personal level (internally) and through your organization and out in the world (externally). Participants will learn the distinction between structural racism and interpersonal racial prejudice, interrogate examples and impacts of implicit bias, identify concrete strategies to unlearn and counteract individual racism, and will leave with five (5) actionable strategies to fight structural racism in your team, company, community, and beyond. Using history, intersectionality, and personal experience as frames for discussion, participants will collectively explore these and other concepts.

Mental Wellness & Emotional Resilience

(45-60 minutes)

In a time of intense isolation, grief, and stress, the need for strategies to promote mental wellness and build emotional resilience are more urgent than ever. With pressure building to find ever innovative and creative ways to serve those studying and working remotely, this session will be focused on ways to keep students motivated and supported. Join Carlos Andrés Gómez for this timely and interactive program focused on finding ways to navigate some of the most pressing challenges of our new normal. From routine building to evidence-based psychological strategies and more, participants will leave with practical tools and a resource list for how best to support mental and emotional wellness. (Highly recommended for all college and high school student leaders, educators, staff, and administrators.)

Reimagining Gender: Beyond Socialized Roles, Beyond the Binary

(60-75 minutes)

This interactive session will examine the ways in which we have been taught to think about gender. More specifically: what gendered expectations and assumptions have we internalized? And how do those ideas impact how we think about ourselves, navigate the world, and interact with each other? How are new paradigms subverting outdated clichés like the rigid gender binary and prescribed gender roles? How do our other identities (i.e. race, sexuality, socioeconomic status, nationality, religion, etc.) impact how we understand and experience gender? Using history, intersectionality, and personal experience as frames for discussion, participants will collectively explore these and other concepts.

Our Intersecting Selves: Diversity, Identity. Equity, & Inclusion

(60-75 minutes)

This interactive session will explore how our intersecting social identities impact how each of us experiences the world. We will interrogate historical legacies of structural inequity and the unearned privilege and access that accompany it. Moreover, we will investigate the ways in which some identities enable us to wield unearned structural power, while others, simultaneously, make us susceptible to systemic and interpersonal discrimination. Using history, intersectionality, and personal experience as frames for discussion, participants will collectively explore these and other concepts.

Writing Through: Storytelling toward Social Justice

(60-75 minutes)

This writing workshop will challenge participants to use personal experience as a means of grappling with social inequity and exclusion: whether it be as a means of identifying and bearing witness to examples of discrimination (interpersonal or systemic) or providing an opportunity to examine instances of being complicit with or responsible for prejudice and discrimination. This session will be generative and allow participants the opportunity to voluntarily share their work, with facilitated support and guidance throughout.

Reimagining Modern Manhood

(60-75 minutes)

Through storytelling, audience engagement, and poetry, Carlos Andrés Gómez shares his journey of growing up as a sensitive boy forced to navigate toxic machismo and restrictive gender stereotypes. A riveting combination of personal narrative and sociological excavation, Gómez guides the audience through his life story, from that tender-hearted and out-of-place little boy constantly moving and changing schools to where he is now: a father of two and husband, determined to reimagine how we all think about masculinity and gender—beyond preconceived social roles, beyond the binary.

Tailored Workshop for your School

(Adaptable for your needs)

We have a wide range of additional program offerings. Please tell us, as specifically as possible, what you would like us to address and what outcomes you are hoping for. From there, and with your guidance and input, we can craft a workshop that honors your particular vision during our visit to your school.

The Power of Latinidad in a Fractured World

(45 minutes. 35 minutes: Keynote experience (combination of poetry, storytelling, & audience engagement), 10 minutes: Audience Q & A)

In a time of intense social division, people of Latinx heritage–whose cultures and histories inherently complicate rigid notions of identity–reside along many of the critical fault lines that will define the landscape of our future. We emphatically refute the notion of a monolith, impossible to reduce or summarize through a singular dimension. Which is to say, an exploration of Latinx identity demands a discussion of our other social identities and how those intersecting selves complicate antiquated beliefs about binaries and anything less than far-reaching and ever-evolving continuums of identity. Through poetry, storytelling, and audience engagement, Carlos Andrés Gómez (award-winning author & speaker) will illuminate how embracing and understanding his Latinx heritage has taught him life-changing lessons about intersectionality, equity, and what it means to truly celebrate human authenticity.