CLASS 12
Veronica Vasquez
Veronica, a San Jose Native, is passionate about the art of dance and connecting people socially and emotionally through movement.
She has collaborated with numerous organizations by helping open up and develop lasting dance enrichment programs that have benefited hundreds of at risk, special needs youth and adults. She has a B.A. in Mass Communications and Dance from CSUEB, and is a Certified Personal Trainer. She is the creator of Moves Made 4 Me™ and La Quinceañera Dance Program™, and is the founder of DanceMinds LLC. A true advocate of the arts and social emotional learning for special needs and Latinos.She believes that change in communities start from shifting mindsets!
Services Offered: Dance classes, choreography, programming and department consulting
E: vvasquez676@gmail.com
W: jmmdanceco.org
Jarvis Subia
Bay Area Spoken Word Poet Jarvis Subia is a Queer Latinx flower-loving Melenial devoted to writing and performing poems from his heart to yours. A 2019 Poetry Foundation Incubator fellow, The 2019 recipient of the Silicon Valley Creates & Content Magazines Emerging Artist Award and San José Poetry Slam’s 2018 Grand Slam Champion. Jarvis is currently a full-time youth teaching artist.
Services offered: performance and workshop faciliation
IG: @Words_and_facialhair
E: jarvis.subia@gmail.com
Ellina Yin
Yin is a born and raised San José resident. An autodidact since 2004, with an eclectic hybrid of old and new school methodologies, brought up by Obi-Wan Kenobi like mentors in Design Industry of the built environment. Her areas of expertise include but are not limited to, design thinking, business operations, marketing, business development, and strategic planning. Yin is also a 2019 K 8 80 Emerging City Champion and New Leaders Council Fellow, Co-Founder of Local Color, Founding Board Member of Catalyze SV, and most recently Founder of Only in San Jose a funny podcast Only in San Jose" on civic participation.
Services Offered : Grant Writing, Business Strategy
IG: @Onalilrampage
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ellinay/
Sydney Shiroyama
OTR/L began playing taiko at the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple when she was 7 years old. While studying psychology at UCLA, she joined the intercollegiate group Kyodo Taiko. Inspired by special needs taiko groups she observed in Japan, Sydney explored the therapeutic potential of taiko drumming while obtaining he Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy at San Jose State University. Sydney has designed and led taiko workshops for children, adults with disabilities, and for adolescents and adults seeking mental health services. She now works with San Jose Taiko as a consulting occupational therapist to offer inclusive classes for children and adults with disabilities.
Stephanie Barajas
Stephanie Barajas Aguilar is a Bay Area based performer and photographer. While studying Theatre, Cinematic Arts and Communication & the Entertainment from USC, she picked up the camera for the first time and fell in love with the medium. Through photography, she explored the city, connected with photographers of color and immersed herself in the East Side of LA. In 2017, Stephanie returned to the Bay Area and has been working as an Event Coordinator at the School of Arts & Culture where she has learned about the hustle of the brown artist in the Bay Area. She hopes to connect and collaborate with other artists of color to help each other further their careers and to achieve her main goal of getting the stories of POC onto the big and small screen and stages across the world.
IG:@stephroars
W:www.thepointoftears.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebarajas/
Amy Shiah
Amy is a movement practitioner of Wushu, Breakin', and Jiujitsu. She has traveled nationwide as a competitor in these arenas, but now has transitioned to using these mediums to tell stories of healing and growth. Amy first learned about the holistic art of healing in nursing school and has further focused to use the healing of the mind to impact the healing of the body. As a registered nurse she has provided health seminars to promote the longevity and mental wellbeing of the freestyle dance community. Amy would like to further explore the cross section between science and art, mental health and physical health.
IG:@amynehmonee
E: amy.shiah@gmail.com
Sofia poblanos hoshino
Farmer, florist, and aspiring herbalist, Sofia Pablo-Hoshino brings a unique flare to her work in the fields and in the community. Born and raised in San Francisco with mixed racial heritage, Sofia knows that food and flowers can bring people together and provide nourishment for our bodies and souls. The opportunity to congregate over a meal or share in something that they find beautiful are experiences that people have known for generations.
IG: @hastaelmar
E: lunavezfarm@gmail.com
Nyam
Adodoadji
Having made six domestic and international moves by the time she was nine, and now residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nyamwathi Adodoadji is a Kenyan-Ghanaian-American poet that lives in between cultures. She explores identity, race, gender and faith through words.
FB: @shespeaksoftly
IG @shespeakssoftly