Search Results
Kristena Prater
Kristena Prater is an indomitable force for the betterment of the human condition. As an activist, founder of the 501c3 Tessa Foundation, rescuer of women trapped in human trafficking, food provider for the hungry, front-line defender of immigrant children, advocate for youth opportunity, writer, and yoga teacher, she makes change happen.
After growing up in Colorado and New Mexico, Kristena studied art and psychology at the University of Denver. She has been a poet, artist, clothing designer, business owner, model, world traveler, and mother of four.
She has written a book and a screenplay about her daughter Tessa Marie Horan entitled Cracked Vessel. She is currently working on a series for television which examines the lives and challenges of multifaceted family histories with the theme of carrying a torch for Social Justice.
What largely inspired Kristena to carry forward Tessa’s many beneficial projects rose out of Kristena’s renewal from despair after Tessa died tragically from a shark attack while serving in the Kingdom of Tonga as a Peace Corps volunteer. That profound loss motivated Kristena to complete the Tessa Library, a recycling program, and a fresh water catchment system in the Tongan village where Tessa worked as a school teacher. Through the foundation this led to helping the underserved in other parts of the world where Tessa witnessed suffering.
One recent project where Kristena worked on the dangerous front lines was a foundation-sponsored rescue operation that paid-out indentured women’s “contracts” in Nepal and India. Once freed, the women and girls were then transported to safe houses to learn life skills and self-sufficiency.
On an earlier front, after her son suffered a car accident resulting in his paraplegia, Kristena became a Galileo machine technician and established access to the rehabilitation machine for others in the Santa Fe area. The Galileo is a vibrational therapy machine used for neurological and musculoskeletal treatment applications, from pediatric to geriatric conditions, as well as palsy and paraplegia.
Working also as a wellness consultant, Kristena teaches innovative “Chayo Movement,” a mindfulness technique that couples the physical and subtle bodies (see Kristena Prater, Linkedin.com). She teaches alternative methods for healing after any kind of loss, and discreet end-of-life advice.
Through multiple ongoing Tessa foundation programs, Kristena continues to devote much of her life to the oppressed, disabled, and hungry—especially those who want to be proactive in their personal recovery.
To this end, some of the recipients of the Tessa Foundation (tessafoundation.org) are:
-Women’s Foundation of Nepal
-Chahhari Hostel of Nepal
-Mayan Families in Guatemala
-Street kids in Oaxaca
-Goa Outreach/India
-Dayanolya School, Kumta, India
-Tessa Community Gardens around the world.
-Tessa Library, Tu’anuku ,Va’vau, kingdom of Tonga
-Native Americans
-Young Santa Fe Hispanic business owner during the Covid-19 Epidemic
