Born and raised in Queens, Ariel Estrella is a Latinx scholar who focuses their advocacy on fostering beloved communities, particularly for people of color in urban spaces. 
 
Ariel has worked with Groundswell as a youth participant, Marketing Intern, and now as the Communications Associate. Their responsibilities include press outreach, social media management, design work, and website archive maintance. Before joining the staff, they graduated from Macalester College as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow with a B.A. in English Literature and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. 
 
In addition to their work at Groundswell, Ariel is a writer specializing in personal essay and poetry. For three years, they headed a column for their college newspaper, The Mac Weekly, on intimate health, queerness, surviving violence, and the politics of love. Their work has been included in several publications, including The Remedy: Queer and Trans People on Health and Healthcare, The Wandering Song Central American Writing in the United States, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal, TQ Review, and #Trans: Trans People and the Internet.
 
Ariel uses they/them/their pronouns.