The Spoke N’ Heart Collective is a group of self-identified females who are committed to creating social change through bicycle touring.

Zahra Alabanza is in LOVE with life! She has a great passion for social justice, equality and humanity. In 2004 she obtained her MSW from Florida A&M University and shortly after moved to Chicago to work on behalf of the 2006 National HipHop Political Convention. Currently, she is Social Change Initiatives Manager for the Illinois Caucus For Adolescent Health (ICAH) and is extremely excited about the progressive work that ICAH is conducting. She is also extremely excited to be contributing to the RJ movement, She hopes that her knowledge, ideas, life experiences and passion will go a long way in the movement and is looking forward to all that there is to gain from the work she does and the life that she leads.

Elokin Cheung is a dirty hapa hard femme. You can find Elokin in the garden in high heels, or riding bikes from farm to farm in queer lil’ miniskirts. Food, soil, spokes and seeds inspire Elokin’s artwork and activism, combining to create living structures and edible installations. Elokin has taught bike education to youth and adults since 2003, and currently works with Cycles of Change in the East Bay as a board member/cheerleader. Elokin brings health and safety skills to the tour as a certified Wilderness First Responder and beginning herbalist.

Nora Dye thinks a lot about the ways that politics, power, and privilege combine to influence how people engage in activism, and she feels honored to spend her days working in the reproductive justice movement to create inclusive agendas and kick-ass organizing efforts. She loves riding Rhonda, her bicycle, pretty much more than anything else on the planet and has ridden across most of the United States by herself and with amazing allies talking to people about reproductive health, sexuality, and the structures that govern our lives.

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Paris Hatcher is a passionate, radical feminist activist dedicated to working for justice and liberation. As a life long Southerner, Paris has been organizing for over 10 years, on the community, campus, and international level. Her activism is rooted in an intersectional approach which validates the lived experience of individuals and communities and works to challenge all systemic oppression. Paris’ activist interest focuses on gender liberation, in particular movements, such as reproductive justice, gender and racial justice and equity, ending sexual violence, lgbtq communities of color, the South, and research that explores historical legacy as a motivator for current social movements. She has her Master’s in Africana Women’s Studies and is currently the Co-Executive Director of SPARK Reproductive Justice Now (formerly Georgians for Choice). When not grinding hard for justice, she loves to dance, read, laugh, give, cook, honor warrior women, the outdoors, home renovation, doggies, and to spend time with her family and community.

Erin O’ (a.k.a erhino or Pickle) began to consciously expand her identity at 16- first as a vegan, bicycle obsessed feminist in Dallas; next came college and advocating for environmental justice and civic spirituality in Vermont and North Carolina; and most recently through queer, sex positive art and reproductive justice organizing with Duluth Minnesota’s HOTDISH (Hand Over The Decision It Should be Hers) Militia. In these places, the things that fill her heart have built upon one another and she’s fallen in love with bringing people together in political, wild, and creative venues. Her challenge through it all has been taking ‘choice’ beyond white feminism while working to accept who she is. Erin believes in encouraging the expression of our radically soft parts. She likes to call attention to the fun, adventuresome spirit of sexuality and write about the deeply-creative, intrinsically brave possibilities that lie within reproductive justice. She feels most whole and human when she’s frolicking on her bikes, Loblolly or Yoko Sassafras, and the shores of Lake Superior.

Momoko Saunders is one of the founders and on board of directors for Bike Farm, a Portland-based bicycle maintenance collective, which teaches people how to fix their own bikes.  She is excited about sharing the empowerment of the DIY mentality with the world.  Along those same lines, she sees bike touring as one of the most empowering forms of travel available and she spent a month bike touring by herself around Europe.  Spreading this experience brings joy to her life.

Deepa Iyer

i love to be upside down, and put my hands onto the ground.
if i dont get dirty every day, i feel sad in some way.
when music plays i have to groove. with healthy food my moves improve.
children make me feel alive, like the sound of a buzzing bee hive.
i love the Earth in every way, can’t wait to cycle every day!

Elizabeth Sy is the tenth and sole American-born child in her Cambodian family. She is co-owner together with her mother and sister of a socially-conscious design company called LushOrchid an economic development project that works with sex workers in Cambodia, she is Program Coordinator for Banteay Srei (Ban-tia Suh-ray), an organization dedicated to supporting young Southeast Asian empower themselves and their communities. A mentor, an artist, and a lover of all things truffle, Elizabeth is certified in Wilderness First Aid and has had the pleasure of instructing an experiential learning backpacking program called the Wildnerness Leadership Training.  Elizabeth was awarded the 2008 Rising Peacemaker Prize from the Agape Foundation.

Jill Contreras: a cool, funny, goofy, queer, educator, spunky, funky, committed, passionate, dedicated; a bicycle freak, energy ball, a cooking machine, a water admirer; sometimes moody, stubborn, overboard talkative, a lil “know it all”; and an appreciator of discipline, student of life, lover of trees; simply a Jill-of-all-Trades (at least I pretend to be, muahahaha). Here to serve my people, the earth, and especially the youth! Living to grow and learn!

- From Jillster’s Pictionary