Meet Our Team

Tomillah is led by a team of educators, culture keepers, and community members who care deeply about where we come from and how we learn. Each person brings their own story, experience, and commitment to honoring Meso-American roots in everyday learning.

  • Co-Founder

    Originally from Denver, Colorado, Erica Padilla Saiz is a passionate educator and cultural practitioner rooted in Chicana and masewalli traditions. In 2021, alongside her husband, Erica helped purchase 1.08 acres of land in Valencia County to create a space where New Mexico’s Indigenous and Chicanx communities could reconnect with ancestral knowledge. Her work is guided by a commitment to land-based education, community healing, and disrupting colonial systems through cultural revitalization, ceremony, and Indigenous pedagogies. 

  • Co-Founder

    Born and raised in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico, LeRoy Saiz is a community advocate and co-founder of Tomillah. With deep roots in Chicano and masewalli identity, LeRoy envisioned the land in Valencia County as a space where people could walk an honorable path, plant seeds of knowledge and growth, and live with respect and balance. Through Tomillah, he works to support communities in reclaiming their relationship to land, language, and ceremony, creating a good life for future generations.