Janet C. Mendoza Stickmon is a professor of Humanities at Napa Valley College and teaches Africana Studies, Filipina/o-American Heritage, and American Mind I and II.  She is the founder and facilitator of Broken Shackle Developmental Training and a member of the Napa Valley Ethnic Studies Advocates, the Filipino-American National Historical Society, and Philippine American Writers, and Artists, Inc. Stickmon’s memoir, Crushing Soft Rubies, has been used in courses at several colleges and universities across the country.