Oral history interview of Leandra Hernandez, conducted by Tallie Casucci (audio and transcript)

Leandra H. Hernández (born 1986) grew up in Houston, Texas, in a tight-knit multigenerational Mexican-American family. At a younger age, Lea spent time roller skating, participating in organized sports, and reading. Lea attended the University of St. Thomas (undergraduate), University of Houston (Master), and Texas A&M in College Station (PhD) in health communication, journalism, and media studies. Lea discusses teaching military-affiliated students at Navy bases, specifically the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado (San Diego, CA) and Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS; Iwakuni, Japan). Lea taught at the Utah Valley University in the Department of Communication during this interview and started teaching in the Department of Communication at the University of Utah in Fall 2023. She discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and her personal life. While in San Diego in 2014, Lea and her husband did a REI outdoor climbing trip and eventually both started to consistently climbing. Lea discusses the role of the climbing for her physical and mental wellbeing, and really values the communities at the climbing gyms: Vertical Hold and Mesa Rim (San Diego, CA), Spooky Climbing (Otake, Japan), and the Front Climbing Club (Salt Lake City, UT). While in CA, Lea and her husband mostly did long multipitch climbing, whereas in Japan they transitioned to bouldering and have continued bouldering mostly. Lea recounts simul-climbing on Mt. Emerson with her husband and getting altitude sickness as a powerful learning experience. While in Japan, Lea learned climbing training techniques (finger health, power, weight lifting, etc.) from the Japanese climbers. Once moving to Salt Lake City, Lea immediately became involved with the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance with the Communications Committee, and eventually became a Board member and a member of the ad-hoc Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. As a queer, brown climber, with research on DEI topics, Lea was very excited for the JEDI Committee and encouraging SLCA towards intentionally viewing and implementing DEI practices. In Pride Month 2021, Salt Lake Area Queer Climbers (SLAQC) restarted and had 60 attendees, who asked for weekly meet-ups. At the event, Lea was asked to be the third co-organizer. Lea discusses SLAQC's accomplishments in the past year including partnering with SLCA, Color the Wasatch, Radical Adventure Riders (RAR), & Utah Rainbow Hikers, hosting DEI talks, starting a mentor program and gear/book lending library, and pitching a Pride photo shoot for Black Diamond Equipment. Lea highlights the local collaborative support network, including Black Diamond Equipment's outdoor climbing event support, and the gyms' weekly support for SLAQC, including food, guest passes, & gear for raffles.