Hello! My name is Kieran in English, Kique en español, and Kiki in drag.

I’m passionate about creating structures and systems that support innovative ideas and positively impact communities.

Going beyond my resume, the intention of this site is to demonstrate my strategic problem-solving abilities by summarizing three projects I’ve successfully executed:

  1. Seres Exótikes | Event Production | 2019 - Present

  2. Kiki’s Queer Readings | Performance Art & Design | 2019 - Present

  3. La Agroteca | Research & Programming | 2017 - 2022

Each summary is organized into three sections: The Opportunity | The Approach | The Outcomes.

I hope you enjoy learning more about me and my work!

Resume | LinkedIn | Email: kieranmurray3000@gmail.com

Seres Exótikes [Exotic Beings] (2021- Present)

An event series that celebrates unique and diverse styles of performance art

THE OPPORTUNITY (2021)

After admiring the art of pole dance for several months via Instagram, I decided to take a class. Once I took my first spin on the pole, there was no turning back.

And I wasn’t the only one. Pole dance was becoming increasingly popular in 2021, especially among the queer community in Puerto Rico, yet the only spaces for us to see dancers perform were at straight and cis-gender strip clubs.

As queer people, most of us have been shamed around our bodies and our desires, which is precisely why we need more communal spaces to visibilize and celebrate the movements of our bodies and the expressions of our desires.

THE APPROACH (2022)

I asked one of my queer pole dancer friends if they wanted to produce an event together — where queer pole dancers like us could take the stage.

As our imaginations ran wild with what that could look like, we also considered the many other types of queer performance artists in our community who do not have a stage on which to share their incredible talents — fire dancers, drag kings, etc.

With that in mind, our concept evolved beyond just one night of queer pole dancers and into an event series, Seres Exótikes [Exotic Beings],where unique and diverse types of performers can have a place to shine, and audiences can come to see consistently innovative and original work.

We pitched our proposal and budget to the owners of the biggest gay club in Puerto Rico, and successfully negotiated our first production.

THE OUTCOMES (2022 - Present)

Over 400 guests attended our first show, which featured 8 queer pole dancers of diverse gender expressions, body types, and experience levels.

Since then, our shows have received press from Vice and El Vocero (one of Puerto Rico’s major mainstream news outlets). Both of them celebrated our work for its liberating and empowering forms of expression.

As of 2025, we’ve produced six unique events featuring drag kings & queens, songwriters, fire artists, aerialists, acrobats, and more.

Kiki’s Queer Readings (2019 - Present)

One-on-one conversations that offer guidance and insight through either 4 everyday objects, or by drawing cards from The Slugqueen Oracle

THE OPPORTUNITY (2017-19)

As I transitioned away from my fundamentalist religious upbringing in favor of drag shows and tarot cards, there was still something I couldn’t quite replace from my Sundays at church.

The intimacy, vulnerability, and connection I had experienced through prayer with other church members was not something I could find in queer nightlife spaces, nor through individualized and esoteric spiritual practices.

THE APPROACH (2019)

There were three major questions that guided my journey* to encounter more deep and spiritual connections within queer community.

Social Events: ‘going out’ anywhere often leads to a highly extroverted, sensory-stimulating experience. Within a social environment, what if we could encounter a more intimate and reflective space where we’re invited to process our emotions, desires, and fears with another person rather than to escape or distract ourselves from them?

The ‘Sacred’ Canon: Many of us carry some level of baggage, skepticism, or triggers around particular religious and spiritual traditions. What if we could find a powerful language of archetypes and symbols to draw from, based on a selection of the physical objects that a person is already carrying with them?

The Drag Queen: rather than being an untouchable diva who shines on stage, what if the drag queen could empower the person in front of her to become the ‘protagonist’ of the performance?

*For more of my story, check out my interview with The Creative Independent: “On Listening as Performance”

THE OUTCOMES (2019 - Present)

Over the course of 2019, I developed Queer Readings as one-on-one conversations that offer guidance and insight through either 4 everyday objects the querent is carrying with them, or by drawing cards from my original Slugqueen Oracle Deck.

In December 2019 I held my first tarot residency, giving readings for one week at NO BAR in The Standard, East Village. I wrote a followup editorial piece, Kiki’s Queer Guide to Spiritual Growth this Winter, with highlights and takeaways from that experience.

Shortly after the COVID-19 lockdown began in 2020, I launched Kiki’s Snail Mail and sent out handwritten Queer Readings via physical mail to 30+ different recipients.

To date, I have given over 1,000 readings at events and residencies hosted by House of YES, Susanne Bartsch, Bushwig, The Standard Hotels, Kin Euphorics, and more. I even gave one to Lil Nas X at New York Fashion Week (with tabloid coverage and all).

Since 2023, my drag persona “Kiki” has been in hibernation — but I continue to offer my ‘queer’ oracle and tarot readings at weddings, festivals, hotels, corporate events, and more.

La Agroteca (2017-22)

A resource library for farmers in Puerto Rico with tools, seeds, and educational materials.

THE OPPORTUNITY (2017-8)

While I was living in NYC, I frequently visited Puerto Rico. When Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017, I reached out to a local community organizer to see how I could support. Together, we wrote a grant proposal for a program that would bring direct support and resources to farmers on the island who had lost their livelihoods.

Our grant proposal was funded in 2018, and with it came an opportunity for me to operate and implement its programming. I decided to leave my tech job in NYC, and moved to Puerto Rico to co-found and co-direct a nonprofit organization, El Departamento de la Comida.

For several months, we operated the “Solidarity Bus” across Puerto Rico — a van full of tools, supplies, and volunteers that visited a different farm every week to support with reconstruction, cooking, and replanting.

One year after the hurricane, we began to imagine what it would look like to continue providing long-term support for Puerto Rico’s sustainable agriculture movement.

THE APPROACH (2018)

Organizing Principles: In collaboration with my co-founder, we developed our mission, vision, and values to establish the long-term, strategic foundation for our work.

Community Outreach: In addition to analyzing the data collected from the Solidarity Bus program, I interviewed and surveyed over 25 farmers from different regions of the island to understand their current challenges and needs.

Industry Research: I studied different types of nonprofit organizations, community libraries, and mutual aid networks to understand what models were already having high impact, and what we could learn from them.

Prioritization, Programs & Proposals: When I synthesized my research and studies, the highest priority program that emerged was a tool lending library. I wrote grant proposals to seek funding for this program, including budgets, timelines, and measurable impacts.

THE OUTCOMES (2019-22)

Within 6 months, we were awarded $75,000 from PRxPR, World Central Kitchen, and Projects for Peace. This enabled us to launch the Agroteca: a resource library for farmers with tools, seeds, and educational materials. Here’s a virtual tour of the Agroteca that I shot & edited as part of a design lecture through Cooper Hewitt’s DISEÑO series.

In 2019, we organized over 100 volunteers to contribute 1,000+ hours of labor to food projects around Puerto Rico with tools and seeds from the Agroteca. This volunteer labor was performed by local community members as well as institutional partners like Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and National Geographic. 

In 2021, we were invited to create an art installation of the Agroteca as part of The Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico’s exhibit, El Momento del Yagrumo — highlighting post-hurricane recovery, but also the urgency for deeper changes in our relationship with nature.  

We also became the first Puerto Rican organization to receive a Community Food Projects grant from the USDA, which enabled us to develop a new program — La Cocina — which includes a commercial processing kitchen to increase crop sales for farmers, minimize food waste, and provide more access to local foods.

In 2022, we were awarded a grant from the Mellon Foundation to purchase the building that houses all of our programming — a major achievement for ensuring the long-term impact and sustainability of our work. This was the final proposal that I worked on before amicably parting ways with El Departamento to pursue another opportunity.