Born in Korea, Mee Ok Icaro (pronounced “mēˈōk i’kä’rō”) was renamed “Mandy” by her white, evangelical parents who adopted and raised her in California and Arkansas. After narrowly escaping conversion therapy but unable to avoid sitting next to Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Spanish class, she attended Boston University to study philosophy and the classics, but ended up majoring in partying, sleep, and girls. Ten years later she graduated and worked at Harvard as a research assistant in an office next to Timothy Leary’s old digs, while taking courses in history, film, medicine, literature, and German.

After being diagnosed with scleroderma and given five years to live, Mee Ok was bedridden for three years until she began drinking ayahuasca, a shamanic brew from the Amazonian jungle, which gave her back her legs. She eventually obtained her MFA in Creative Writing, studying poetry, prose, and drama. Since then, she has been writing, pursuing the path of earth medicines, and trying to become the person she was meant to be.

PHOTO CREDIT: MCKENZIE JOHNSON