Lori Robinson
Founder & Executive Director
Lori Robinson (she/her/hers) is the founder and executive director of VidaAfrolatina. A bilingual African American, she worked as a journalist for 25 years and is the author of “I Will Survive: The African-American Guide to Healing from Sexual Assault and Abuse.” In addition to covering sexual violence extensively, she reported on Black communities in Latin American countries for two decades. Her work has been published in the Washington Post, The Root, Ebony.com, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune and several national magazines. Lori served on the Board of Directors of When and Where I Enter, Inc., a Houston-based fund that awarded grants to 17 Black women’s organizations in nine Latin American countries and Puerto Rico over a period of nine years. She is one of 35 fellows selected from a pool of more than 2,800 applicants from 155 countries to win a coveted 2018 Echoing Green Fellowship to develop and launch VidaAfrolatina. A proud HBCU graduate, Lori holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish from Spelman College and a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.
Vesta Cordero
Executive Administrator
Vesta Cordero (she/her/hers) is the New York City-raised Afro-Dominicana. ¿Y que lo que? She has worked in magazine publishing for over 20 years and was also part of the start-up team for the non-profit initiative, the New York City Technology Development Corporation, formed by then NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to maximize efficient and effective implementation of New York City IT projects. She is an alumna of Brooklyn College.
Liena Isaula
Grantmaking Manager
Liena Isaula (she/her/hers) is an Afro-Honduran anthropologist, feminist, and cultural manager. She has more than 20 years of experience working for Women’s and Girls’ rights in her country. She has worked on Youth promotion aimed at the prevention of violence and the development of the workforce. She has also accompanied processes of linking culture with socioeconomic development. She is currently a Ph.D. student in sociocultural anthropology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Janet Arelis Quezada
Advisor
Janet Arelis Quezada (she/her) writes about healing in her poems, nonfiction, and screenplays. She is the queer daughter of Black immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic and a priest of Oya. She has worked alongside communities in New York, California, and now Florida for well-being and justice as a non profit worker and now as a consultant in lands that are exploited, under-resourced, gentrified, polluted, policed, and unjustly distributed. Her writing is in Divagantes II, edited by Jacqueline Polanco, Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing edited by Lázaro Lima and Felice Picano, La Galeria Magazine, The Florida Review as well as in the Huffington Post and The Advocate. She has a BA in English Literature from Wellesley College.
Elsy Cipriani
Advisor
Elsy Cipriani (she/her/hers) is an Afrolatina from Bogotá, Colombia, with family roots from the Colombian Caribbean. She is the Executive Director of New Generation, an emergency and transitional housing provider for mothers and children experiencing homelessness in New Hampshire. She started her career with the Jesuit Refugee Service working with refugees and immigrants in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Elsy earned a bachelor’s degree from Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador and a master’s degree from Strayer University in the United States. Since coming to the United States, Elsy has continued working for and with vulnerable populations. She has worked in California, New Jersey and Massachusetts supporting families in their access to housing, employment, education, health, and legal services. Prior to settling in New Hampshire, Elsy was the Senior Director of Program Operations for one of the biggest shelter providers in the Boston area, serving mostly women of color and their children.
Doreen Dankerlui
Advisor
Doreen Dankerlui (she/her/hers) is an Afrocaribeña from Suriname, who has lived in the USA for approximately 25 years. She works at the Henry Ford Global Health Initiative in Detroit, Michigan on education and training programs and community engagement. Before earning her master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Washington (Leadership, Policy and Management) she received a bachelor’s degree in International Studies (focus on management of international NGOs) and studied Brazilian Language and Culture.
Eshe Lewis
Advisor
Dr. Eshe Lewis (she/her/hers) is an Afro-Caribbean Canadian woman born, raised, and based in Toronto, Canada. She received a Ph.D in cultural anthropology from the University of Florida. Eshe has worked extensively as an activist and researcher on gender violence among Afro-Peruvian women, and on Black feminist organizing and Afro-descendant activism in Latin America and the Caribbean for over 10 years. Eshe is the first public anthropology fellow for SAPIENS Magazine.
Erica Williams
Advisor
Dr. Erica Lorraine Williams (she/her/hers) is a Spelman College Associate Professor and Department Chair. She hails from North Carolina and identifies as African American and Mexican. Erica earned her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Africana Studies from New York University and her master’s degree and Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University. Author of “Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements,” Erica is working on a second book about Afro-Brazilian feminist activism in Bahia, Brazil.
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