ARTIST STATEMENT

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Interdisciplinary performance artist and cultural strategist creating ritual-based, experimental works rooted in Afro-Caribbean spiritual traditions, storytelling, and embodied practice. My work bridges theater, community, and emerging digital forms to explore identity, healing, and collective transformation. Through performance, education, and interactive experiences, I investigate how art functions as both cultural memory and future-making technology.

 

CORE PRACTICE AREAS

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• Experimental Theater & Performance Art

• Ritual Design & Afro-Indigenous Spiritual Practices

• Youth Arts Education & Curriculum Design

• Digital & Interactive Storytelling

• Community-Based & Social Practice Art

• Cultural Strategy & Creative Leadership​

 

SELECTED EXPERIENCE - ARTISTIC WORKS & PROJECTS

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Contraband - The Adventures of Doña Fefa 

Hemispheric Institute - Encuentros Mexico City International Performance Art Festival 

Creator, Writer, Director, Performer

• Created an original interdisciplinary performance work integrating theater, ritual, and psychospiritual storytelling rooted in Afro-Caribbean and Latinx traditions

• Developed a narrative framework exploring identity, migration, and intergenerational memory through a constellation of characters and archetypes

• Conceived and performed Doña Fefa, a comedic and prophetic spirit guide navigating themes of cultural survival, spirituality, and resistance

• Designed immersive and site-responsive performance experiences incorporating audience engagement, improvisation, and embodied practice

• Integrated Afro-Indigenous Caribbean cosmologies and Spiritism into performance methodology and creative development

• Directed full creative process from concept through performance, including writing, rehearsal, and execution

 

Untold Stories (Conceptual and Site Specific Work) 

Creator, Director & Lead Facilitator

• Designed and led a storytelling and performance initiative centering underrepresented voices through oral history, writing, and ensemble-based theater practices

• Facilitated workshops guiding participants in transforming lived experiences into original performance works

• Applied culturally responsive and trauma-informed methodologies to support storytelling as a tool for healing and identity reclamation

• Developed interdisciplinary curriculum integrating movement, narrative development, and collaborative creation

• Positioned storytelling as a living archive and civic practice within communities impacted by migration and systemic inequity

 

Project Cimarrona

Artistic Director & Executive Producer

• Conceptualized an interdisciplinary performance and research project exploring Afro-Caribbean histories of resistance and liberation

• Investigated the legacy of cimarronaje as a framework for contemporary conversations on migration, sovereignty, and identity

• Integrated ritual, movement, and site-responsive storytelling into a multi-dimensional artistic process

• Bridged historical research with embodied performance practices rooted in diasporic spiritual traditions

• Developed work connecting ancestral memory to present-day socio-political and environmental contexts

 

Girl Be Heard Performance Company at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Executive Producer / Artistic Advisor 

• Executive produced a youth-led performance within a major cultural institution, integrating theater, spoken word, and movement

• Led development of original works addressing identity, migration, gender, and social justice

• Positioned youth performers as cultural producers within an institutional arts context, amplifying marginalized voices

• Managed artistic vision, production coordination, from rehearsal through public presentation

 

What About the Children? Mural Arts Project

Lead Teaching Artist & Project Director

• Directed a community-based mural project engaging youth in the design and execution of a large-scale public artwork with community participatory engagement

• Facilitated participatory workshops exploring identity, community, and social justice through visual storytelling

• Guided students in translating personal and collective narratives into visual design and public art

• Managed project implementation from concept development through installation within a public school setting

• Fostered collaborative art-making processes emphasizing shared authorship and civic engagement
   

Executive Director & Lead Artistic Director & Producer

Girl Be Heard, New York, NY | 12/23 - present

• Directed and produced original, socially engaged theater works centering youth voices, identity, and justice with a focus on climate justice and ecowomanist themes 

• Developed interdisciplinary performance curricula integrating embodiment, storytelling, and ritual practice focused on liberatory leadership and embodiment as a core pillar

• Led productions blending live performance, film, and community engagement

• Facilitated youth ensembles in devising original work rooted in lived experience and cultural narrative

• Built creative partnerships across NYC and international programming (including Trinidad & Tobago)

• Designed frameworks for healing-centered, decolonial arts education

 

Teaching Artist & Curriculum Designer

New York / New Jersey 

• Designed and led multi-week arts curricula (including Courageous Presence) integrating movement, storytelling, and emotional processing

• Trained teaching artists in embodied, trauma-informed, and performance-based pedagogy

• Facilitated workshops for youth and community members exploring identity, voice, and creative expression

 

CREATIVE SKILLS & TOOLS

• Artistic Direction & Devised Theater

• Curriculum & Experience Design

• Ritual Facilitation & Embodied Practice

• Community Engagement & Participatory Art

• Digital Content Creation (video, performance documentation, social media storytelling)

• Creative Concept Development for Interactive Media
   

 

EDUCATION

2006 MPA, Public Administration, School of Public Affairs, Bernard M. Baruch College

2000 BA, Growth and Structure of Cities, Bryn Mawr College

 

AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS:

• NextStar Remarkable Woman Award NYC PIX11 (2025) 

• Bringing the Change Chadwick Boseman Changemaker Award (2025)

• Black Water/Conjure Fellowship 2025 

• The Belafonte Fellowship (Action Lab) 2023

• Guillermo Gomez-Pena Performance Art Fellowship 2022 

• Caribbean Cultural Center DEAR Fellowship (2019) 

• National Urban Scholars Fellowship Award for Urban Leaders (2016)

• Hemispheric Institute Encuentros World Festival awardee

• Zellerbach Family Foundation Award (2012)