BIO
Belinda was born in Denver and comes from Western roots in Colorado and New Mexico. She grew up in the barrios of West Denver. She graduated from St. Joseph High School in Lakewood, California and attended the University of Colorado. While in college, she went back to her Westside barrio and started a school, Escuela Aztlan. She moved to Ojo Caliente, New Mexico with her husband Condo Garcia, whom she married on the San Juan Reservation. They have two children: Adrienna Corrales and Manuko Geronimo Lujan Garcia. After Condo passed away in 1976, Belinda moved to Gallina, New Mexico, where she received an Associate’s degree in carpentry from Northern Community College of New Mexico (which she put to good use when she built her own home).
She later graduated with a B.A. in Education from New Mexico Highlands University. After returning to Denver, she started several programs, including the Multicultural Arts program at the Auraria Community Center, and became the Teatro (Theater) director for the Westside Youth Team. In 1989, she and her daughter Adrienna Corrales started Sisters of Color United for Education in Denver, which also operates in Walsenburg, Colorado and in Mexico, Guatemala, and Kenya. She lives in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, where she teaches students to create larger-than-life murals that honor Mother Earth.