WE ARE
CUBACARIBE
Ramón Ramos Alayo, Artistic Director / Co-Founder
Jamaica Itule Simmons, Executive Director / Co-Founder
Members of the Board:
Mayra Padilla
Patricia West
Isaac Kos-Read
Amy Draizen
Hilary Davidson
Marsha Silver
Ramón Ramos Alayo
Jamaica Itule Simmons
Advisory Board:
Bill Martinez
Aida Salazar
Krissy Keefer
Kristina Ramsey
Florence Chamberlin
Paul Flores
Micaya
Mena Ramos
Natalia Lawrence
Sarah Crowell
Production Team:
Daniela García-Piedra
Chi Chi Okonmah
Candi Martinez Carthen
Development Assistant:
Jamaica Itule-Simmons
Executive Director / Co-Founder
Jamaica Itule Simmons is a fine artist, graphic designer, early childhood educator, dancer and co-founder and executive director of CubaCaribe. She received her B.A. in 1999 with a double major in Art and Hispanic Studies from Lewis and Clark College and an M.F.A. in Graphic Design at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. The topic of her thesis was Dance as the Survival of Identity Within the Context of Cuban Culture, culminating in the production of a video, hand produced book and exhibition. Itule’s exhibitions include: Mis Altares, Portland 1999; Emerging Artists, Portland 2000; Sobrevivir, San Francisco 2005.
In addition to her work in visual arts she has studied Cuban dance intensively in Cuba with Ban Rarrá and members of Cojunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba, Raices Profundas, Racatá, and Lady Salsa. Her teachers include; Danis “la mora” Perez, Susana Arenas Pedroso, Royland Lobato, José Barroso, Ramon Ramos Alayo, Yismari Tellez Ramos and José Rojas. She has performed with Alayo Dance Company, Ire Ile, Oyu Oro, Raices Cubanas. She was a founding member and dancer with Las Que Son Son. She was also pre-school teacher at Monteverde School for 16 years.
Ramón Ramos Alayo
Artistic Director / Co-Founder
Ramón Ramos Alayo was selected by the Cuban government to study dance in Santiago de Cuba at age eleven. In 1990 he earned a masters degree in contemporary and folkloric dance and dance education from the Havana's National School of Art. a graduate of Havana’s National School of Art, specializing in folkloric and contemporary dance. He was a principal dancer with several prominent Cuban dance companies, including Danza del Caribe, Narcisco Medina Contemporary Dance Company, touring throughout Europe, Belize, and Canada. His success continued after relocating to the U.S. in 1997; he has performed as a dancer with numerous outstanding companies, including Robert Henry Johnson, Kim Epifano, Sara Shelton Mann, Zaccho Dance Theatre and Robert Moses’ Kin. Ramon currently teaches Cuban popular dance, Afro-Cuban modern dance and children's movement at several local dance studios and schools.
He is respected throughout the Bay Area as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and the founder and artistic director and choreographer of Alayo Dance Company (2002) and CubaCaribe (2003). As director and choreographer, his work is an innovative fusion of Afro-Cuban modern, folkloric and popular Cuban Dance. He eloquently articulates his aesthetic vision through a synthesis of these dance styles, citing from each traditions, movements, narratives and concepts indicative of Cuban culture.
Ramos has choreographed and produced twelve full-length dance performances. He was featured in the article “Dance Across America” in National Geographic Magazine in 2006, and received the prestigious Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation’s “Emerging Choreographer’s Award” (2005) to develop his piece, Blood + Sugar. Ramos was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award nominee for the ensemble performance of Los Guedes(2006). He was recognized as “Best Dance Dynamo” in the SF Bay Guardian’s “Best of the Bay” (2009), and was the recipient of a SF Bay Guardian 2010 Goldie Award, hailed by dance critic Rita Felciano as “the best Afro-Cuban dancer whose choreography stands well beyond traditional modes.” Most recently, his piece Goodbye was named one of the best premier’s in 2016 in Dance Europe Magazine.
Mayra Padilla
Board Member, President
Mayra Padilla has recently joined the Board of Cuba Caribe, a journey that began decades ago when she attended her first dance performance and experienced a sense of home and community there. A first generation Cuban-American, Mayra has a deep love for bridging cultures through travel, music, food, dance, photography, literature and that is especially true of her own Cuban heritage.
Professionally, Mayra has spent her career as a marketer and consultant helping to build some of the biggest brands in the United States - such as Charles Schwab, BlackRock, Levi's, Clorox, and General Mills to name a few. A high-level strategic and creative thinker, she has a proven track record of results in brand marketing, communications, product and program development, and event planning. During her college years, she served as Middlebury College's Dance Department's manager - to date one of her favorite jobs for its exposure to the braiding of the arts, marketing and management.
In addition to her professional work, Mayra is equally passionate about her creative and volunteer endeavors. She recently produced her first short film, Eat Surf Love and is a volunteer at Sutter Health in the NICU as a "Cuddler", nurturing premature and neonatal opioid-exposed infants to wellness.
When she isn’t growing her professional talents, Mayra may be officiating a wedding as a minister (six so far and counting!), practicing the art of photography or wild writing, traveling, or hanging out with her nieces, nephews and now great-nieces and nephews in her favorite role ever, that of Titi Mayra.
She is thrilled to be a part of the Cuba Caribe Board and broader community to help deliver the organization's mission.
Amy Draizen
Board Member, Past President
Amy Draizen is an Educator, Event Producer, and Arts Promoter who lead the ‘Dance in Cuba’ trips with CubaCaribe for many years. Her passion for Cuban dance, music and culture began in 2002 when she first traveled there to study dance. Professionally, she is an Educational Therapist and Consultant in private practice. She has done fundraising and event production with Girls, Inc., AJWS, Living Jazz, Piedmont Piano Co, and KQED.
Patricia West
Board Member, Secretary
Patricia West (she, her) was born in the San Francisco Bay Area. Patricia aims to create and support spaces that foster self-expression, collaboration and connection to oneself. She is an Educator, Arts Administrator, and Performing Artist/Performer. Patricia earned a Bachelor in Arts in English, Education and Dance from U.C. Berkeley and a Master in Arts in Education from San Jose State University. Since 2001, Patricia has worked as a Pre-K-8 academic teacher and advisor in both public and private schools. Patricia has also founded and directed dance programs at various schools. She holds a certificate for somatic education from Moving on Center, School of Participatory Arts and Somatic Research.
Today, she continues to teach and give workshops on dance and composition to all ages and skill levels. As a Performing Artist, Patricia has had the honor of working nationally and internationally with Alayo Dance Company, Zaccho Dance Theater, Fog Beast, Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG) as well as many others. In 2017, Patricia co-founded DAP, a performing arts collective. Since 2006, Patricia, in addition to serving as a Performer and Collaborating Artist of JGPG, has served as an Education Coordinator (she shares this role with long-time collaborator Damara Vita Ganley) and co-founded JGPG’s Inspired Bodies Youth Program. Patricia is also the Artistic Director of Cal Performances Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp. Patricia is grateful to have continued to work with, play with and serve people across varied diverse communities.
Isaac Kos-Read
Board Member, Treasurer
Isaac Kos-Read is the founder a president of Kos Read Group, Inc. an Oakland-based communications and public affairs firm. When not advocating for results for civic-minded organizations, you can probably find him dancing Cuban salsa. Upon graduation, Isaac studied with various teachers of Cuban style salsa in Mexico and Los Angeles, as well as in Cuba in 2003 with PlazaCUBA with dancers from La Escuela Nacional de Arte and Ban Ra Ra. Isaac and his wife/life/dance partner Mary Massella, who met in 2002 on the dance floor of old school LA Cuban salsa dancing community haunt Zabumba, won the 2005 Miami Salsa Rueda Competition. Together they founded Salsa by the Lake in 2007, which is now one of the longest-running and largest Cuban social dance gatherings.
Hilary Davidson
Board Member
Hilary joins the board having recently worked as the development assistant at CubaCaribe from 2021-2025. During this time, she helped plan the Festival of Dance & Music, the annual galas and supported with various grant and administrative duties. She has traveled to Cuba (with CubaCaribe’s own Amy Draizen and Ramón Ramos Alayo) and Haiti and admires the culture of the Caribbean.
In her youth she studied dance in Santa Cruz and then after moving to San Francisco transitioned to Cuban Salsa. These days she finds the most enjoyment bringing the arts to life and is a firm believer that music and dance are transformative.
Professionally she has worked in marketing, apparel manufacturing and in the nonprofit sector. She has also produced and directed films and taught filmmaking classes through the Latino Film Institute’s youth program, Youth Cinema Project.
Marsha Silver
Board Member
Marsha worked in the field of speech and language pathology for over 40 years in multiple professional settings including non-profit/multi-disciplinary agencies, public and private schools, and family-based/daycare environments. She is the owner and director of the private practice, Speech and Language Pathology International. Her expertise includes: early intervention, parent coaching, multi-disciplinary diagnostic assessment, clinical supervision, autism, visual impairment, bilingual language development, multi-cultural and underserved populations. She has co-authored three books on collaborative assessment, listening and learning for children with visual impairments and multiple disabilities.
Marsha spent years volunteering and consulting in Nicaragua and Mexico. While in Havana, she collaborated with her Cuban counterparts, volunteered in special education clinics, and presented at the Special Education Congress.
Marsha served on two boards, namely the Peninsula School in Menlo Park, CA and the Clinic for Speech, Language and Occupational Therapy (CSLOT) in Fremont, CA.
Cuban, Brazilian and African dance and music are long standing passions for Marsha. She played percussion with a samba band, parading in the Mission’s Carnival, dancing at both at the Congolese dance and drumming camps and at Dance Mission Theater for many years. Marsha visited Cuba multiple times with CubaCaribe and PlazaCUBA to dance, to visit Cuban friends and to experience the joys Cuba has to offer. Marsha is delighted to become a member of the CubaCaribe board.
Development Assitant
Zoe Klein
Zoë Klein is a multi-disciplinary choreographer, acrobatic dancer, production manager, arts administrator and consultant in the Bay Area, born in Colombia and raised in NYC. Zoë has been Producing Director/Facility Manager at CounterPulse, Communications Manager at Adoption Museum Project, Development Associate at Luna Dance Institute, Managing Director of FLACC/Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers, and Managing Director/Executive Team with Epiphany Dance Theater. She co-founded Paradizo Dance 2005 and became an international leader performing and teaching for Salsa Congresses worldwide in 26 countries over 6 continents and was top 20 finalist on "America's Got Talent 2019." Zoë Klein Productions was nominated for best ensemble Izzie Dance Award 2018 for her acrobatic dance production "Born, Never Asked." She continues to make work around themes of adoption, indigeneity and citizenship.
Grant Editor & Writer
Julie Kanter
Julie Kanter has 25+ years of experience helping small and mid-sized arts non-profit organizations manage their fundraising. She works closely with her clients to develop grant proposals for a wide range of regional and national funders and create long-term strategies for building and sustaining a diverse institutional fundraising base. Over the years, Julie’s list of long-term clients has included AfroSolo Theatre Company, Epiphany Dance Theater, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, Living Jazz, Dancers’ Group, CubaCaribe and more. She will work with the executive director to identify prospects, craft narratives, make budget projections and advise on other aspects of institutional fundraising.
Social Media Manager
Candi Martinez Carthen
Production Manager/Stage Manager
Chi Chi Okonmah
“Chi Chi” Okonmah is an established Strategic Entrepreneur & multi-hyphenate Artist
boasting a multi-decades long reputation of consistently delivering exceptional results. Her
work supports a multi-faceted community of Artists, Arts organizations & Entrepreneurs in
the Bay Area & beyond.
Doing business as C2O Rhythm and Arts, Chi Chi provides technical direction, production
management, stage management and strategic consulting services for live theater, dance,
music, fairs, festivals and more.
Chi Chi has also directed multiple Bay Area stage premieres, and celebrates more than a
decade of Rhythm Tap instruction & choreography. Chi Chi’s professional career in the
Performing Arts is a testament to her lifelong love of dance, music and everything artistic.
Production Assistant
Lauren Dunford
Lauren Dunford fell in love with dance as a child, studying at the training school for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company for 13 years. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a minor in Dance, and moved to the Bay Area in 2009 where she has performed with creative projects in contemporary, Congolese, Ghanian and Cuban dance. Off stage, she is an educator and community program manager in schools, nonprofits, and companies, with a specialty in literacy and workforce development. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at SF State and works as an Adult Literacy Program Specialist for San Mateo County Libraries. As a freelance arts administrator, she specializes in front-of-house support, volunteer management, and fundraising, supporting organizations such as Cuba Caribe, World Arts West, and Dance Mission Theater.
Production Assistant
Daniela García-Piedra
Daniela García-Piedra is a first generation Mexicana-Hondureña woman born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Daniela in 2023 worked with company “La Mezcla” as Executive
Assistant to support Executive Artistic Director Vanessa Sanchez in coordinating schedules,
managing projects, and premiering their latest show “Ghostly Labor” at Brava Theater. Garcia is
a vocalist, dancer, artivist educator, and arts administrator who has taught and performed
throughout California. Graduated with Bachelors degree from the University of San Francisco,
she studied Communications and Dance. Garcia’s hope is to continue uplifting and empowering
Latinx based dance companies to continue the amazing work in which brings comunidades
(communities) together.