Sponsored by Zellerbach Family Foundation, NALAC Fund for the Arts and Ford Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund.

Biographies

Siomara Bedoya is a biology and preschool teacher who grew up in Bogotá Colombia and moved to San Francisco 12 years ago. She believes that all of us have a gift to offer and encourages her students to manifest this gift in the world. She is an active part of the Colombian community in San Francisco often helping with events and fundraisers.

Ruby Bhattacharya moved to the US in 2005 from the UK. While living in San Francisco she took a career change into digital arts. Ruby specializes in Digital Art, including Photography, Graphic Design, Website Design, Photographic Manipulation, 3D Environmental Artist and is just completing her degree in Animation and Visual Effects from Expression School for Digital Arts in Emeryville. She also freelancers as a Photographer, Graphic Designer, Web Designer and also interning at Funk1ind.com,  an underground Bay Area Animation company where she creates realistic 3D worlds and environments.”Everything i do involves my first love in Photography”

Wanda Kruda Cuesta

Maria Machetes, one of the funders of borderOut collavorative, began singing ranchera at age four in her home town of Uruapan Michoacan, Mexico. She performed in regional cultural festivals, and peñas (art cafes) in Uruapan as well as Morelia. In the Bay Area, she has performed in the National Queer Arts Festival, Quelaco, MAPP, International Women’s Day celebration at Plaza 16, Amor Sin Fronteras, Noches Bohemias and Galeria de la Raza. Maria has worked with immigrant youth and their families, organizing community arts events, and facilitating workshops about prevention of sexual violence with a number of community organizations in the Bay Area.

Gaston Mazó is an Argentinian dancer, choreographer, and circus performer. He started his career at the age of 6 in Buenos Aires. Trained in Argentinian folk dance, fitness and personal training, he performed as part of many companies in Argentina. He was a dancer, backup singer, circus performer and percussionist in “La Malamaña” Art Group, a San Francisco performing troupe for two years. Currently, he is performing with local bands such as Rupa & the April Fishes, LoCura, Antioquia, experimenting with the magic of Flamenco dancing.

Maria Medina is a Puerto Rican percussionist, composer and spoken word artist who has been playing professionally for over 30 years. She has played with many different musicians and bands both locally and throughout the U.S.

Joel Molina is an actor and circus performer from Habana, Cuba. He graduated from Instituto Superior de Arte in Cuba and went on to teach several courses and perform in a number of international festivals in Cuba, Italy, Mexico and the United States. In Cuba, he founded “Somos la Tierra” and “Giganteria Ambulante” theater projects and since immigrating to the U.S., he has taught youth stilt-walking as part of Loco Bloco and founded La Malamaña artists group. He has performed with Rupa and the April Fishes (including the recent Catapulta! Show at Brava Theater), at International Women’s Day at The Women’s Building, at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, in SF Carnaval, at the Red Poppy Art House, and in “Urban-Circus-Party!” at the Independent Theater. Joel currently works with developmentally disabled youth at a school in Oakland.

Alma Muñoz is a photographer from Guadalajara, Mexico. She graduated from University of Guadalajara with a degree in Fine Arts and her work has been shown in a number of exhibitions in Mexico, Ohio and San Francisco. Her photographs have been published in books, magazines, and newspapers in Mexico and the U.S. Since immigrating to the U.S., her work has focused on her experience as a woman, as an immigrant and as a lesbian, through intimate self-portraiture. Alma worked for 8 years as Bookings Coordinator at the Women’s Building and now works as Development Director at San Francisco Women Against Rape.

Adriana Sanchez Nieto was born in Bogota, Colombia. She has a B.A. in Dance, Music, Arts and Theater from CENDA University of Bogota. She is Choreographer, performer and actress. She has been teacher and choreographer at colleges, community centers and business companies for 22 years. She studied ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, tap, and flamenco.  She studied Colombian folklore at Academy Superior of Dance in Bogota with Jacinto Jaramillo, Nicolas Murillo and Guillermo Abadia Morales. She studied theatre at Academy Superior of Theatre and El Teatro Libre de Bogotá. In 2004 Adriana traveled to New York to study dance. Living there she formed the dance company Colombian Soul out of a necessity to express and to share who she is, where she comes from, and what she lived each day in Colombia. Through Colombian folkloric dance and short pieces of theatre Adriana explores idiosyncrasies, dreams and traditions of Colombia. Colombian Soul has performed throughout the Bay Area in different festivals such as San Francisco Carnaval, Festival Chileno, BorderOut Performance Show, Fresh Meat Productions’ Transgender & Queer Performance Festival, Diáspora Negra, QUEC Festival at San Francisco State University, Immigration Nation, 26^th Encuentro Del Canto Popular, Festival de los Rehiletes Musicales Colombian Soul Kids.

Rosa Los Santos came to Oakland in 2001 from her birthplace in Lima, Peru and has been singing Latin and especially Afro-Peruvian music professionally for 15 years.  She performs regularly with Peruvian groups ‘De Rompe y Raja’, and ‘Nostalgia’.  Rosa sings a wide repertoire of Latin music, plays guitar and cajon –a percussion instrument of Afro-Peruvian origin.  She is also an accomplished performer of the Afro-Peruvian competitive dance form zapateo. Rosa has performed at Bay Area venues such as La Pena Cultural Center, La Furia Chalaca, ODC Theater, Julia Morgan Theater, Stanford University and UCSF.  She also has captivated audiences in Massachusetts, Utah, and at the Michigan Women’s Music Festival.

Trilce Santana, one of the founders of borderOut, was born in Argentina and after some back and forth, finally stayed in the U.S. at age nine. She began playing music when she was 11 as part of Sukutai Marimba Ensemble in Seattle and continues to explore her main love, percussion. Trilce has worked as a fundraiser and event producer for a number of Bay Area non-profits serving the LGBT community, immigrant youth, and has organized numerous community arts events.

Tru Bloo is an Arab-Armenian hip hop MC outta Oakland, CA.  She co-founded the queer Arab hip hop duo NaR, who toured with the Mangos with Chili Borderlands Tour through the Southwestern U.S., and has performed from Vancouver to New York City.  She grabs the mic with skill, wisdom, and a West Coast flavor, bringing the hottest blend of hip hop, hyphy, and a capella to your ears.  Tru Bloo’s music often addresses what it means to be a woman, person of color, immigrant, poor person and/or queer person with a message of self-empowerment and self-realization.  Beyond her dedication to music, she is also a social justice activist, who has advocated on behalf of women in prison, immigrants, poor and disabled people, and the LGBTQ community.