Acacia started Ethnic Ties as an effort to put her language skills to sustained use. After years of traveling and building on her linguistic knowledge and working to empower various community groups, she realized how useful combining all her passions was. Thus, in 2015, she founded Ethnic Ties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Acacia is a classically trained linguist and economist, and has travelled and lived in various international locations, including locations in Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America She has participated in international programs hosted by the University of California, service organizations like Global Brigades, and the US State Department. Her goals include growing the business, providing language and culture-based economic development for those with the skills and expanding the scope of language and areas Ethnic Ties gives classes and trainings for. She currently resides in Oakland, CA and works with recently arrived refugee students from Central America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.