LIANA MANEESE

Brazilian born, Pittsburgh raised Liana Maneese is an award-winning activist, visionary entrepreneur, clinical mental health therapist, doula, and catalyst for creative engagement. She is the founder of The Good Peoples Group and The Center on Interracial Relationships where they use identity navigation as a key component and foundational tool toward building social justice and personal transformation. Growing up as a transracial adoptee, Liana learned early on that her difference would be a source of pain that she would have to transform if she wanted to live a full life. Liana is passionate about providing an educational process that enhances individuals and improves the culture of the world we live in. She believes that through building strong, equitable, and informed relationships, with ourselves first, we can begin to shift toxic societal narratives that have created cycles of trauma for far too long. Liana holds degrees in Marketing (FIDM, Los Angeles), Cultural Studies (Chatham University, Pittsburgh), and clinical mental health (Antioch University, New England), and is also a certified doula. As a social practice artist whose work centers around interracial relationships and her experiences as a transracial adoptee, Liana has won numerous grants and awards that have allowed adoption narratives to be considered in the art world. Always pushing her own boundaries of self-discovery, her story motivates many through speaking, creative projects and her commitment to understanding people, processes, and business.