At MARCO, our mission is to strengthen and support Minnesota’s recovery community by elevating peer-led organizations, building connections, and expanding access to recovery support across the state. This year’s Community Recovery Summit theme, “Back to Our Roots: Recovery in the Community,” reflects what we see every day: recovery is built through relationships, shared experience, and community.
In this keynote spotlight, we’re honored to feature Carolina Ayala, Founder and CEO of The Happier Life Project—a leader who brings this reality to life, emphasizing the power of lived experience, connection, and community-centered recovery support.
MARCO: What does “going back to our roots” mean to you right now and why is it so important?
Carolina Ayala: Going back to our roots means remembering that recovery has always been built in community, before systems, before funding streams, before clinical models. It started with people sitting across from each other, sharing honestly, and choosing to walk together.
As recovery becomes more integrated into larger systems, it’s important that we don’t lose that foundation. For me, going back to our roots is about protecting the spirit of peer support, mutuality, lived experience, and real human connection.
We can build systems that scale, but if we lose the heart of community, we lose what makes recovery possible.
MARCO: As RCOs expand into mainstream systems, how do we stay rooted in community and lived experience?
Carolina Ayala: We stay rooted by being clear about who we are and what we bring.
Peer support isn’t a lesser version of clinical care, it’s people helping people in a way that feels real, human, and grounded in lived experience. That’s our strength.
As we partner with healthcare and government systems, we have to be intentional about not losing that. That means continuing to hire from the community, invest in peer leadership, and ensure decisions are shaped by people with lived experience.
True partnership isn’t about being absorbed it’s about alignment. We bring something essential, and we have to continue to lead from that place.
MARCO: Can you share a story or moment that reflects the power of community in recovery and reminds us that we do recover?
Carolina Ayala: One of the most powerful moments I see is when someone walks into a peer space for the first time often unsure, sometimes guarded—and begins to realize they don’t have to explain themselves.
I’ve heard people say, “This is the first place I’ve ever felt safe just being me.” That moment when someone feels seen and not alone is where everything starts to shift.
It’s not always a big transformation. Sometimes it’s someone staying five minutes longer than they planned. But that’s how recovery begins through connection, one moment at a time.
MARCO: What would you say to someone who feels disconnected from community or early in their recovery journey?
Carolina Ayala: You don’t have to have everything figured out you just have to take one step toward connection.
Recovery doesn’t happen in isolation. Even if it feels uncomfortable at first, being around people who understand can make a difference.
Start small. Find one space, one person, or one moment where you can show up as you are. You don’t have to prove anything.
And if trust has been broken before, take your time but don’t close the door completely. Community might look different than what you’ve experienced, and it might be exactly what you need.
MARCO: What is one message of hope or call to action you want people to carry with them right now?
Carolina Ayala: Our stories matter and they save lives.
There is real power in people with lived experience not just participating in systems, but helping to lead and shape them. The future of recovery depends on community-based, peer-led spaces being recognized and supported.
My call to action is to invest in connection, whether that’s showing up for someone, supporting a local peer organization, or simply listening without judgment.
Because at the end of the day, people don’t recover alone. They recover when someone sees them, believes them, and stays
