ABOUT US
Built from Trust, Not Templates.
Raquel Wynn Jonnson:
Founder & Executive Director
Location:
Loma Partida, Panama — since 2018
Raquel Wynn Jonnson is a wellness practitioner and community builder from Nashville, Tennessee. In 2018, she relocated to Loma Partida — a remote Ngäbe-Buglé island community in Bocas del Toro, Panama — and never left.
​
What began as relationships with neighbors became something bigger. Raquel saw children missing school because they couldn't afford the boat ride. Women with enormous capability but no economic opportunity. Youth with no structured space to grow. And a community with deep resilience that didn't need saving — it needed partnership.
​
"This is not a fly-in operation. This is home."
​
UMeUs Live was formally established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2021, but the work started years earlier. Every program — from school transportation to the solar restaurant — was built from daily presence, trust, and listening to what the community actually needed.
Today, UMeUs supports 20 students with daily school transportation and lunch three days per week, engages 40+ Indigenous women in leadership and livelihood programs, and has completed four community infrastructure projects across the islands of Loma Partida and Cerro Brujo.​​​
Timeline
2018 — Raquel relocates from Nashville to Loma Partida full-time
2019 — Begins supporting school transportation and supplies for local children
2021 — UMeUs Live established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
2022 — Off-grid community restaurant launched, first infrastructure projects completed
2024 — 20+ women engaged in empowerment programs, 4 infrastructure projects complete
2025 — Expanding programs to Cerro Brujo, building institutional funding partnerships
What Makes Us Different
​We live here. Our founder has been in the community since 2018. This isn't a fly-in organization — it's a neighbor-led one.
​
Programs come from the community. Every initiative reflects priorities set by the families, women, and youth we work alongside — not by outside agendas.
​
We build for sustainability. From the solar restaurant employing Indigenous women to school lunch and transportation programs, everything is designed to last.
​
We're transparent. UMeUs Live is a registered 501(c)(3) with a GuideStar Seal of Transparency. Our budget is public. Our EIN is 87-2260699.