Agency to Change.

A Personal Story by Saint Solaris co-funder Leonina A. Z.

Considering creating a new business venture was not in my five year plan. Thinking of surviving and providing for my family has been my main focus for two years after closing my last business venture, Art Mart, an art gallery and QT POC safe space in the heart of Downtown Fredericksburg and moving. Here, in Richmond, Virginia I learned about agency, in terms of my body and mind. The paths I choose to walk on, the boundaries I choose to build and upkeep around myself and my family in order to move from a place of surviving to a place of thriving and the way I create my life are all tied to this concept of agency.

I worked many jobs since then and even more before owning my own gallery. Being undocumented for most of my life here has given me experience in a number of jobs and gigs. I have memorable jobs were the people I worked with and for became like family. I also wasted a lot of time and skill at jobs that payed me nothing or gave me outright abuse as compensation for my excellent work ethic.

As an employee, overall, I never had agency.

Even in the space of being a business owner, I never felt the least bit content with the way decisions were made and how money was managed, the system of capitalism forces people to yield to power and abuse of it…