Nazareth Saavedra, Administrative + Grants Manager
Nazareth joined Bembé’s team in 2021 serving as the Administrative and Grants Manager. Nazareth has deep-rooted connections to her native South Side. As a former Community Organizer and long tenure in the healthcare industry, her ability to bring people together and mobilize resources has been instrumental in driving projects forward, and she is the parent of two Bembé youth. Beyond her role at Bembé, Nazareth is a Maker and enjoys artisan projects.
Johanna De Los Santos, Founder + Director
Johanna De Los Santos serves as Bembé’s Founding Director. She has dedicated over 30 years toward the integration of Caribbean Studies and the creative arts to advance community and personal development throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean. Johanna has served as Executive Director and Executive Board Member for various community-based non-profits, including Bembé, Art Start, and FAHM since 2007, and spent years prior as a documentary film producer in New York, including her role as Director of Community + Corporate Partnerships for the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYC). Johanna’s work has always centered on the cultural arts within theories and praxis of social movements. A Milwaukee native who has been living and working between Milwaukee, Puerto Rico and New York since 1998, she holds a Master of Arts in Latin American & Caribbean Studios from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations /Latin American Studios from UW-Milwaukee, with resident studies at La Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico - San German, Universidad de la Habana (Cuba) and Florida International University’s Haitian Studies Institute (Miami). Johanna is the parent of two Bembé youth.
Imani Jalil, Program Director + Dance Director
Imani Jalil was born and raised in Milwaukee. She began her dance training at the age of 11 at Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts. After graduating from RMSA, Imani became a dance major at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, before continuing on to UW-Milwaukee, where she went on to earn her B.F.A in African Dance and the Diaspora, including resident dance studies in Brazil, where she studied different forms of Afro-Brazilian dance and movement. She has performed with African dance company, Ko-thi Dance Company, in Milwaukee under the direction of Founder Ferne Caulker-Bronson, among others, and currently performs with Panadanza Dance Company, under the direction of Artistic Director, Karlies Kelley. Imani has been teaching with Bembé since 2016 and has been Program Director and Dance Director for the organization since 2019.
Bony Benavides, Musical Director, Percussionist
Bony Benavides is Bembé’s Musical Director and lead Percussion educator, and has been teaching with Bembé since 2016. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia where she studied with Cuban percussionist Fran Calzadilla, Bony came to Wisconsin in 2001 to complete her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Music (Percussion Performance) from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, where she studied with David Bayles. She then earned her Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology at Arizona State University, where her research focused on the popularization of Gaita Music, a musical tradition of Northern Colombia. In addition to her work at Bembé, Bony teaches music for Milwaukee Public Schools, and performs extensively throughout Milwaukee with groups Caña Brava, De La Buena, and Batey del Lago.
Alana Rivera, Cocina Queen
Alana Rivera plans and prepares all of Casa Bembé’s delicious community meals for students and families attending Academia Bembé throughout the week and year. She brings a decade of kitchen management experience to Bembé from her role as Supervisor for La Causa Charter School’s food program, and a lifetime of cooking comida criolla, mexicana and americana. Born and raised in Loiza, Puerto Rico, Alana has been part of the Bembé community since 2018 as a parent of three Bembé youth.
Linda Serna, Son Jarocho Instructor
Linda Araceli Serna (she/her/ella) is a Milwaukee-bred educator, teaching artist and cultural worker with roots in Guanajuato/Chiapas, México.
She has been fandangueando for 16+ years, when she began studying the Afro-indigenous musical tradition of Música de Jarana from Veracruz, México, popularly known as Son Jarocho.
When she crossed paths with this tradition, her spirit was captivated by the vibrancy of the music and the way in which the community works together to assemble a fandango (the ritual celebration where Son Jarocho music is played).
In 2009, she attended El Seminario de Son Jarocho in Veracruz, México put on by the Centro de Documentación del Son Jarocho and the Grammy winning group Los Cojolites. Since then, Linda has continued to study and practice the jarana, voice and zapateado (a traditional percussive dance form) with youth and elder teachers native to the Son Jarocho tradition.
Her work is deeply rooted in the understanding that cultural preservation is more sustainable and joyous when done in community. As the daughter of immigrant parents, she understands the nuanced complexities of cultural preservation on this side of the border. As a response, she began to teach Música de jarana as a cultural and healing practice. In 2011, she co-founded Milwaz Talleres, a community Son Jarocho project that offers intergenerational music workshops with the vision of building a sustainable fandango community in Milwaukee, WI. Linda is also a certified K-12 school teacher and a Milwaukee Public Library Story Time Presenter. For the past 15 years, she has educated hundreds of children in literacy or Son Jarocho in classrooms across Milwaukee. As a story time presenter, Linda shares songs and culturally relevant stories with young children. Whether she is teaching general music, literacy, sharing a story with young children or facilitating a Son Jarocho workshop, she always carries with her a jarana and the commitment to keep cultura alive. Linda is the parent of two Bembé youth.
A very special mention to her following teachers: the Utrera family (Carmen, Camerino, Chucho, Don Esteban, Jose Luis, Reina); Colectivo Altepee (Gemaly Padua Uscanga, Sael Blanco, Alberto Aleman, Tio Bad); and the entire community in El Hato.
Beto Torrens, Bembé Artist in Residence
Alberto "Beto" Torrens, of Santurce, Puerto Rico, is a widely renowned musician and cultural educator throughout Latin America and the United States. Beto has been an artist in residence with Bembé since 2020 as part of our Learning From the Masters program. As an educator, Beto has given Master Classes at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, Liceo de Arte y Tecnología, Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (Chicago, IL), various schools and colleges throughout Arizons, including Arizona State University, and internationally, including Paris, Barcelona, Canada. Beto is a founding member of Bayanga (later Calle 13), and has worked with bands and artists: Puya, Calle 13, Cultura Profética, Gomba Jahbari, Jerry Medina, Batacumbele, Brazuca Matraca (Barcelona), Macaco (Barcelona), Ricky Martin, De La Roots, Tráfico Pesado, Ricky Rodríguez, and La Descarga Urbana de Medina Carrión, among others. Beto recorded in the Grammy nominated album “Urbano” by Elvis Crespo, and has contributed in recordings with De La Ghetto, Cultura Profética [Latin Grammy Winner], Plenéalo, Fusión Jonda, Monsieur Periné (Colombia) [Latin Grammy winner], La Tortuga China, Alegría Rampante, Hermes Ayala, OFERENDA, El Colectivo, amongst others. Beto is a founding member of the groundbreaking group ÌFÉ, Bloco Afro Oxalá and La Liga Rumbera. Beto plays for Meinl percussion.