María Isa is a Boricua (BO-REE-KWA) singer, songwriter, actress, rapper, activist, youth worker and international recording artist born in Minnesota and raised on St. Paul’s West Side barrio. She was raised by the influences of many different rhythms of Afro-Latino-Indigenous culture and channeled it into performing arts and activism at a very early age. Isa has been trained by the masters of the Afro-Boricua Diaspora from the island of Puerto Rico (Paracumbe, Tito Matos, Los Ayalas) New York City (LP21), Chicago's Humboldt Park (Evaristo "Tito" Rodriguez) and Master vocalists trained in concert choral (William White), jazz (Mila Llauger), Afro-Latin and Hip-hop lyricism.
Angelica Torralba-Olague is licensed in English as a Second Language (ESL). She has taught a variety of EL classes for newcomers to long term ELs. She published Immigrant Stories, an anthology of stories of her newcomer students in 2019 when she taught an EL writing class for levels 1 and 2. Angelica also teaches AVID 9. In 2021, Angelica was named a Minnesota TRIO Achiever (Turning Roadblocks Into Opportunities). At South High, Angelica is an inspiration for her advocacy on behalf of students, her work in bringing an educator pathway program to South for students who aspire to be teachers, and is a member of the coalition to increase the numbers of BIPOC educators, testifying this legislative session, before the education finance committee on behalf of the coalition. She also serves on the state social studies standards committee for Ethnic Studies, and did so while completing graduate work this year. Written work of her ELL students is set for widerspread publication, this year, giving students voice and realization of the significance of their lived experiences. On top of that, Angelica is a wife and mother to elementary school-age children.
Hawi Emeru: My name is Hawi and I was born and raised in Ethiopia. Now I live in Minnesota. I speak two languages, English and Amharic, and I can understand Oromo but I can’t speak it. I don’t exactly know what my writing is supposed to say about me, but I guess it says that I’m a writer. My hobbies are drawing, cooking, and playing video games (sometimes). My favorite foods are Chipotle, pizza, pasta, and fried chicken. My favorite desserts would be ice cream, cake, and cookies. My favorite sport is basketball. A message I want to send to other people who speak two or more languages is to never forget them, and to be proud of them as well. I have one brother and I live with my mom.
