Vince is a results-driven communications professional with more than a decade of experience in digital marketing management and a passion for helping community-oriented organizations develop their voice and communications strategy. He has proven expertise in project management, creative direction, and content development. With a finger on the pulse of trends that lead to shifts in the modern communication landscape, Vince’s work maintains social relevancy and has helped government agencies, non-profits and small businesses develop and implement communication plans. Everything he does revolves around a core motivator: helping people.

Previously, Vince helped lead and expand the Marketing and Communications department for the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, navigating the organization through the the Pandemic by providing ideation and strategy to organizational pillars in order to optimize the promotion and storytelling of all startup programs, community outreach and pilots, recruitment initiatives, events, high-profile/legislative visits, advocacy efforts and policy outreach. Vince has also worked for the California Air Resources Board and California Energy Commission, the latter of which he led efforts to develop and implement their social media strategy.

Joining Arts for LA is a pivotal moment for Vince as it merges his personal life with his professional career. A lifelong musician and performer, Vince brings his own experiences in the arts sector to inform and help lead Arts for LA’s communication efforts and overall mission. 

Vince is an emcee, songwriter and self-proclaimed “social pterodactyl.” He devotes his spare time to exploring LA’s diverse flea markets & cultural events, cookies, all things Reggaeton, playing old-school video games, and anything people-oriented. 

Yamily is a DACAmented immigrant from Yucatan, Mexico of Yucatec Maya and Chinese descent. She has been deeply impacted by her experiences, which led to her dedicating her youth to organizing in various realms of the immigrant movement. She was part of the first group of students advocating for Dream Resource Centers at Mt. San Antonio College in 2013. As a non-traditional student, she was able to benefit from those advocacy efforts years later when she returned to college in 2021 now that every college campus in California has a Dream Resource Center. While away from college, she focused her organizing efforts on stopping deportations and building mutual aid networks for immigrant transwomen. She is currently an undergraduate student at UCLA with the hopes of exploring the intersection of legal scholarship and cultural artifacts.

Gustavo was appointed as Arts for LA’s Executive Director in December 2018.  Prior to working with us, he was the Western Regional Director for Young Invincibles (YI), where he was responsible for leading YI’s California offices, including its West Coast expansion. As director, he set strategic direction and advanced YI’s policy priorities on health care, higher education, jobs, and civic engagement for the region.

Before starting at Young Invincibles, Gustavo was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of L.A. Plaza de Cultura y Artes (LAPCA), overseeing the day-to-day operation of a county museum, including the oversight of a master plan committee responsible for strategically developing three acres of additional museum campus. From 2010-2012, Gustavo led the Maestro Foundation, a classical music and performance arts foundation, as the Director of Organizational Development. Between 2007-2010, he assessed and recommended business growth strategies in the US marketplace for the global Fortune 500 Company, American Honda Motors, Co.

Gustavo holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from American Jewish University and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies with an emphasis in socio-politics and economics and Art History from the University of California Santa Barbara. Gustavo served on the Board of Directors of the Create: Fixate Arts Organization (2006-2010). He is a current Strong Workforce Implementation Advisory Board Member for the California Community Colleges, Advisory Board Member for the California Physician’s Alliance and founding Board Member of Silverlake Forward.

Originally from Chicago, Gabriel is an adult adoptee, first generation street dance artist, founder of MoFundamentals, and artivist dedicated to highlighting the resiliency of the foster and adoptee community. His work centers around disseminating his knowledge of street dance, lessons of manhood derived from his experiences in homelessness, being his own financial safety net and foster care. Gabriel brings important ancestral practices from his P’urhépecha lineage into his work.

His contributions at the intersection of hip hop, education, healing practices, and foster care advocacy have earned him invitation to train at intensives hosted by Rennie Harris, nomination for the ACTIVATE Cultural Policy Fellowship to represent Los Angeles City District 1, and recruitment to pilot reentry programming funded by the California Arts Council. Follow his work on instagram @mofundamentals.

Melissa is a Program and Operations specialist with demonstrated experience interacting with diverse community members and creating positive relationships to further various program outreach. Melissa brings strategic management, holistic program development and thoughtful user experiences to each project. Prior to Arts for LA, Melissa worked with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator where she helped curate their member experience and bring its community together virtually. Melissa has also worked at The Gabriella Foundation, spearheading various projects including the expansion of their summer camp program to low-resource communities in Los Angeles. Melissa’s experience in the arts and culture sector is diverse – she has been a dancer since the spire age of three, studied film at Santa Clara University and expanded her arts administration career through the former Leadership Council of Emerging Arts Leaders, Los Angeles.

In her downtime, Melissa can be found rooting for her favorite sports team (Go Clippers!), ambitiously working on her running pace, exploring different foods in Los Angeles or having passioned discussions about various prestige TV.

Ricky Abilez (they/them) is a Queer, Latine artist, educator, and advocate who centers restorative and racial justice, social equity, and culturally responsive engagement in their work as an arts education practitioner and community leader. They’ve worked with prestigious arts organizations including South Coast Repertory, The LA Philharmonic, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and The Ford Theatre, and have taught a self-developed curriculum in using art for social justice at various high schools across the country, including California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley.

Prior to their work with Arts for LA, Ricky worked as a performing artist and freelance producer in regional musical theatre. They also served in nonprofit administration as the Education and Community Partnerships Manager at 4C LAB, the Associate Diversity and Inclusion Consultant at McCoy Rigby Entertainment, the Executive Assistant to Dr. Eric Cervini at Deviant Content, and Policy Fellow at the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

They hold a BFA in Theatre Arts from Cal State Fullerton and an MPA in Education Policy and Public Policy Analysis from the University of Colorado Denver. They were honored with the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Award in 2022 by the CU Denver Alumni Association and Robert Earl McConnell Foundation for their commitment to equity and civic engagement in the arts and society. They are an avid singer and spend most of their downtime being the family clown.