**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. 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).

**Imani Jalil, Program Director + Dance Director**
Imani Jalil was born and raised in Milwaukee. She began her dance training at Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts. After graduating from RMSA, Imani became a dance major at the 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, and currently performs with Panadanza Dance Company, under the direction of Director, Karlies Kelley. Imani has been teaching with Bembé since 2016.

**Bony Benavides, Musical Director, Percussionist**
Bony Benavides is Bembé’s Musical Director and lead Percussion educator, and has been working with Bembé since 2018. 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.

**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.

Andy Miller, Percussion Instructor

Andy Miller has been a percussion instructor for Bembé’s Academia program since 2021. Andy is a Teaching Faculty for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Percussion and Dance Departments, and has served as professor of percussion at Olivet Nazarene University and at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Associate Instructor), where he recently completed his Doctorate Degree in percussion performance. He holds degrees in percussion performance from both Wright State University (B.M.) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (M.M., Swanson Family Percussion Fellow).

Miller specializes in Afro-Colombian, West African, and Afro-Brazilian folkloric music. He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship from the U.S. Government to Colombia in 2011 and the Graduate Presser Award from Indiana University in 2015.