Humans of Chaffey

Giana Cicchelli has many unique qualities she is eager to share. Professor Cicchelli teaches at multiple Southern Californian Colleges such as Chaffey College, Fullerton College and Golden West College. Cicchelli has also been trained as a high priestess of an eclectic Wicca tradition and a healer in the Peruvian Q’ero shamanic tradition. She works hand in hand with the nature spirits of Peru which are her main healing agents.

I met professor Cicchelli in 2018 during my first semester of Chaffey College in a women studies class. She opened my eyes to different views within women studies and truly changed my life for the better. She helped me gain confidence as a woman by allowing students to have a voice. I then decided to take her sociology class the following semester, and I loved the perspective of life and opened me to new ideas and viewpoints.

Cicchelli grew up in a religious household at Orange County, California; all her life, she lived as middle class with her parents and sister. With bible studies and religious events, Cicchelli recalls always making her decisions with the influence of her relationship with God. When she was just eight-years-old, she came across a movie called, "The Worst Witch" and instantly fell in love with the concept of magic. Her parents immediately shut down the idea of becoming a witch, but the hope of magic stayed with her throughout her life. At 10, she started looking for jobs because she always felt the need to work and look after her family. She successfully got a job being a newspaper delivery girl for two years. A year later, her parents got a divorce resulting in her father buying a house across the street to stay close. Cicchelli remembers her parents constantly trying to put her in the middle of arguments and by the time she was 18, she confronted her parents and got a moment of relief from doing so.

Her family's socioeconomic status made it difficult to pay for her college education at a university, therefore she decided to attend a community college. During her first year of college, she was a computer science major, but did not connect with her major or classes. She mentioned taking five classes at the time and how it was probably not the best choice and decided to take a break from college. She felt that had not experience enough in her life, and now was the time to do so. She also couldn’t deny herself any longer and came out to her family and with doing that, she knew she could no longer stay with her religion as a Christian. After this, she chose to study witchcraft.

While taking a break from college, she decided to backpack across Europe with her girlfriend, but shortly the relationship ended on the train on their way to Paris, France. Cicchelli laughs and says:

“That’s a poem, we are going to the city of love and we break up."

One day, as she was sitting outside of the classrooms smoking, while looking at other professors she realized that she wanted to pursue that career. This worked in Giana’s favor because for her witchcraft studies, it is required that you are able to step out of a consensual reality. She needed to be able to question reality and sociology helped her do that.

When she finally became a sociology professor like she had hoped, she found it to be fulfilling. She says she feels as if her life has purpose and it is really rewarding to her to know that she changes her student’s lives and perspectives. Every end of semester in her classes, she assigns a reflective journal assignment in which a student writes about a life situation utilizing the concepts of sociology to interpret said situation. She mentions that sometimes at the end of these journals, some students will often write little thank-you notes and I remember being one of these students. I really do feel like I am open to new ideas because of this class, and her teachings. Cicchelli finds herself consistently refining her skills and finding a balance of freedom of expression in her class.

While nearing the end of interviewing Cicchelli was asked:

"If you were to go back in time to talk to the younger Giana, what would you tell her?”

She says, “Shh you are definitely gay, don’t even worry about it."

We laugh, but she also mentions not to worry about anything because things will get better.

HoC: Professor Giana Cicchelli

Humans of Chaffey