Trip Leader Assistant Puglia + Ibiza

Maika Lindsay is a portrait photographer born in West Los Angeles to Japanese and American parents. As a result of her family's background, her home life has expanded to include Tokyo and Hong Kong. This exposure to cultures and traveling has instilled in her a deep respect for the diverse world around us, and given her the ability to travel fearlessly and adapt wherever she goes. When not in the studio or on location, Maika can be found in or around the water, planning her next adventure and exploring the California coastline or the Mojave with her rescue pitbull, Mochi.

Trip Leader Assistant Guatemala

Mafer Hernández is a Guatemalan artist based in Antigua Guatemala. She creates visual experiences on color, light, space and movement using photography, installations, books, natural dyes, botanical pigments, and sculptural elements. Mafer holds a BFA in photography and printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute (2018). Her work has been presented at La Fototeca and Mesón Panza Verde in Guatemala, and Root Division and Arion Press in San Francisco, California. Her work is included in the de Young Museum Collection and the Latin American Collection of the Stanford University Libraries. Mafer is the founder of GRACIA a cultural exchange project and artist residency program based in Antigua Guatemala. In the past three years she has hosted artists in residence from across the world and has facilitated community-based art workshops in various cultural institutions and independent spaces in Guatemala and Spain.

Trip Leader Cuba

Kasia Trojak is a Polish-born, Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker. In her photographic practice she explores ideas of authenticity, a sense of belonging and mis/placement. Her extensive work in Cuba crosses into fashion, documentary and candid moments of daily life on the street. In 2020, she was recognized by the British Journal of Photography and Vogue Italia as one of the twenty “Female In Focus” photographers. Her photographs have been exhibited in multiple group shows in Europe, Los Angeles and New York City, with two solo exhibitions in Havana. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Zero Photos and Women Street Photographers.

Oaxaca Trip Leader

Cat Coppenrath (she/her/ella) is a photographer & social worker living in Oakland, CA. For Cat, photography is a deeply relational endeavor and an opportunity to bear witness. Cat’s personal photography practice has focused on curious, creative collaborations using freedom of expression and embodiment to explore our relationship to ourselves and each other. Cat also owns a small photography business, Rainbow Road Studios, and photographs human relationships in all of its forms. Cat has lived in both the US and Mexico and traveled to 22 countries, including Cuba with Women Photo Tours in 2022. Cat received her Masters in Social Work from New York University in 2015 and has worked as a clinical social worker and teaching artist in a variety of community mental health and arts based settings throughout New York City, San Diego, and San Francisco. Cat is rooted in the belief that healing happens in community and that creativity can be a powerful container for growth, tenderness, and transformation. Cat nerds out on books about prison abolition, is obsessed with her Tijuanense cat Yoko, and can be found throughout the week at her local dance studio.