Get the strategies and support you need from an open, welcoming, kinda goofy group of caregivers ready to hold space for your unique challenges.
Join our small group workshop of parents, caregivers, and educators igniting the next generation of kind and courageous leaders..
It is such an honor to be a part of this.
When I discovered Raising Luminaries, it seriously felt like the world shifted, like there could be hope and optimism (and goofy-ness and fun) balanced with reality and hard work amidst the experience of life we all find ourselves in. Count me in, giddy, nervous, and truly grateful to commit to this.
Rachel G.
Parent, Early Childhood Mental Heath Research Scientist
Do you feel out of place in traditional parenting spaces?
Feeling confused and drained by all performative activism and saviorism in advocacy spaces?
Want to integrate social justice into your family's everyday from the roots up?
Welcome to the Winter Incubator Collective.
Learning how to de-center yourself while juggling guilt-driven advocacy has left you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and confused. You're ready for a brave space to be seen as a whole person.
You're done taking responsibility for others' failure to show up and are ready to set boundaries with your collaborators and the people who benefit from your labor.
You're tired of playing the model minority and token friend - and are ready to start identifying and centering collective joy and liberation over the comfort of those in power.
If you're not sure whether you'd be a good fit for our community - ask us!
Let me know your hesitations so we can help you figure out if we're the right community for you.
“The people who belong here aren’t sure exactly where they fit in and what their next step should be. More than being perfect or having everything solved, we care more about figuring out how to show up in the world in the way that’s the most benefit and the least harm for others.”
“At the beginning I felt like I was the imposter in this group. And everybody’s like, ‘No, I totally feel like the imposter.’ Having this group of really cool people – people that we look up to, all different levels of activism – and everybody is like, ‘Wow, I also wonder if I’m doing this right.'”
“Before the incubator, I struggled with priorities, how to let go of things, and how to step out of my protective chrysalis and actually do something. I was also wondering, ‘Do I belong here?’ That ‘Am I worthy?’ feeling. I see all the cool things that everyone in this group is doing, and I think, ‘I’m not doing that.’ But I am doing impactful things, and the Incubator has helped me see that.”
“I used to think I wasn’t doing anything special or that I was just doing what everyone does. And because I didn’t have anything tangible to show, I’d feel guilty when I was tired or overwhelmed. But now I realize building relationships is real work! All those meetings, all those connections—it all lays the groundwork for community change. I knew that intellectually, but it really clicked for me during this collective.”
“I would recommend the Winter Incubator to anyone feeling overwhelmed by life in late-stage capitalism—and isn’t that all of us? Ashia asks insightful questions and guides discussions adeptly. The sessions and resources help you explore what’s exhausting you and how to find rest, while still making a difference in your family and community.”
“100% YES, I would recommend the Winter Incubator to my friends. Ashia’s guidance in this space is so strong and what many of those around me (and those I don’t even know!) could benefit from being a part of. I’d recommend it and say to anyone interested that being in a small, guided community can be transformative.”
When I signed up, I was nervous about the time commitment. I’m a single parent who home-schools, I couldn’t be busier!
I was struggling with narrowing my focus and balancing what interests me with what I have the capacity – or ability – to do. Without the Incubator, I would not have been able to take the time or encourage myself to take the time I needed to learn and grow with other adults.
Bellamy S.
Founder of JoyPost & Beautiful Pie, Unitarian Universalist Community Program Director, Homeschooler & Single Parent of 2
“As an autistic person, my words have been misinterpreted so many times – I’ve learned to be very careful. I fully expect people to read things into my words that I didn’t mean. I think people in general have become very cautious about being vulnerable for fear of saying the wrong thing, especially in social justice spaces. There’s this sense of ‘I might say the wrong thing, so I won’t say anything,’ or ‘I’ll only say what I think the teacher wants me to say.’ But in the incubator, Ashia creates this ‘brave space’ where we can be open. They frame things from a place of curiosity and growth.”
The way we used Marco Polo [chat group] was brilliant. The weekly questions, allowing people to answer on their own time. The questions themselves were really spot on for getting us all thinking a little more deeply on what we bring to the table, and what our perspective is so that we could understand one another more easily.
“I liked the Marco Polo discussions. I could participate whenever it worked for me, and so could everyone else. We could really interact this way, without the pressure of time.”
“I want to thank everyone for being so vulnerable and so open in our hangouts. It’s not something I’m accustomed to, so thank you everyone for making it a place for me to be able to do that.”
“It’s about not feeling selfish for taking time to do what’s important to me. Being around like-minded people makes that easier. I really admire how you set boundaries and say, ‘I need to do this to function.’ Hearing that from you helps me set my own boundaries and realize how important they are.”
The Winter Incubator absolutely helped me prioritize. I feel like I belong. Not in the sense of ‘Now I know how to do everything,’ but in the sense of ‘This is where I should be. I am doing things that matter.” The whole idea of spiral praxis is so helpful for me because that’s how learning works, right? That’s how growth works in everything. You learn something in math, and the next year, you build on it. So I don’t have to have everything figured out this first time. It’s just the first level, the first step. Very helpful.
I haven’t tried a huge amount of parenting activism spaces because it’s been really intimidating. A lot of parent activist groups are results-focused. Like, we’re gonna learn how to BE RESULTS! But I don’t… I don’t know if I can… RESULT.
The Incubator was different from other parent activist initiatives. There wasn’t any expectation that I should be, like, all energized and ready to go. I didn’t feel that there were all these expectations for who I should be coming into it as, and who I should be going out of it.
We’re all coming at it from different areas. We’re all gonna get different things out of it – but we’re all doing it together, and traveling together, and learning about it together.
Della M.
Founder of Della Reads, Parent of 3, Community Volunteer, Author
Ashia Ray [they/them]
Hi, I’m Ashia Ray—an Autistic multiracial (Chinese/Irish) settler raising two kids on Wampanoag land. I started Raising Luminaries because I couldn’t find a space for social-justice curious caregivers who feel like misfits in parenting & activism spaces. We’re the misfits who have to juggle parenting, community care, and our survival in a system that asks for everything and gives very little back.
Raising Luminaries has been a space for parent collaboration since 2014. Along the way, we’ve learned how to build honest, trusting relationships with our kids while equipping them to advocate for themselves and show up for others. Through workshops, toolkits, and thoughtful conversations, I support caregivers in untangling the pressures of modern parenting—judgment, privileged guilt, and the expectation that we must give until there’s nothing left. Instead, I focus on helping you care for yourself and your community without perpetuating cycles of saviorism, martyrdom, and burnout.
In Raising Luminaries spaces, root our learning and advocacy in transformative justice, disability justice, and relationship-based collective liberation. As a multiracial, neurodivergent class migrant who’s navigated life at the intersections of targeted and privileged identities, I know how to hold space for complexity: for parents who are powerful in some ways, targeted in others, and still trying to figure out how to survive. Together, we’ll focus on growth over perfection and create a world where you can show up, recharge, and ignite the next generation of kind and courageous leaders.
Still curious?
©2024 Ashia Ray of Raising Luminaries™. All rights reserved.