HEIDI DUCKLER DANCE THEATRE

IN COLLABORATION WITH
KOREAN CULTURAL CENTER | LOS ANGELES &
LITTLE ETHIOPIA CULTURAL AND RESOURCE CENTER
PRESENTS

Permalink PERSONAL STORIES OF MIGRATION PANELISTS- EMNET HABEBO  Emnet Habebo was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her life has changed dramatically in the past ten years; she no longer lives in the same country or speaks the same language. Growing up her parents did everything to their ability to help her gain the best education available. However, the education Emnet’s parents envisioned was not available in Ethiopia and they decided to move to the United States. When arriving to the United States, Emnetdid not know any English. By the time she was in high school Emnet was able to speak and write in English and improve my grades. She went to community college for two years before she transferred to UCLA with International Development Major. Emnet is currently planning to go to graduate school for Public Health with a concentration in Global Health. Her longterm career plan includes to work with World Health Organization in improving treatment and prevention services for chronic illnesses in developing countries. 
Permalink PERSONAL STORIES OF MIGRATION PANELIST- RINA MAKENA MWITI Rina Makena Mwiti was born and raised in Kenya. In 2004, along with her father and two sisters, she migrated to the United States to rejoin her mother. On several occasions she will be heard stating that she is passionate about five things in her life; accelerating Africa’s progress, humanity, the rule of law, family and God. She is currently a 4th year International Development Studies and Chinese double major undergraduate student at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). After graduating from UCLA with her Bachelors in Arts, she plans to go to law school and pursue a career in international law. Ms. Mwiti’s academic career in UCLA has mainly focused on socio-economic and political development in Africa and China. She hopes to utilize the knowledge she has gained by working for International law firms based in Kenya, the United States and East Asia in the future. When Ms. Mwiti is not studying for her classes, interning at the UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center or participating in the UCLA Women’s Pre-Law Association’s activities, she enjoys spending most of her free time learning Korean, Chinese and Thai languages and cultures through watching their respective dramas.
Permalink PERSONAL STORIES OF MIGRATION PANELIST- MERON Meron was born in Addis Ababa to an Eritrean mother and
father. When she was 3 years old, her family moved to the United States. Meron grew up in Indianapolis and Atlanta with seven siblings.
After high school, Meron moved to Los Angeles to see what she could
accomplish on my own. After 2 years at Pasadena City College, she transferred
to UCLA, where she is a graduating senior studying International Development
Studies with minors in Urban Planning and African Studies. After graduating,
Meron plans to pursue an MBA and MPAff.  Meron hopes to start an
agricultural cooperative business or other type of long-term development
venture in Africa or the Caribbean.

Permalink PERSONAL STORIES OF MIGRATION PANELIST- GEORGE NJOROGE George Njoroge was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. He immigrated to the United States in 1997 as a thirteen year old to reside with his mother in Arlington, Texas, who left Kenya in 1989. He is presently an MA student in African Studies at UCLA and an ex-facebook addict. Prior to UCLA, he got his B.A in International Affairs (much to his mother’s chagrin) from Florida State University and a MA in History from the University of Florida.  Despite his Kenyan roots, he has a strong aversion for long distance running. He spends most of his free time thinking about satirizing the life of African migrants in the mold of South Park. During his tenure in Los Angeles, he has auditioned-without success-as the token African extra on a variety of T.V Shows. He is also terribly disappointed that he has yet to meet his name sake George Clooney while in Los Angeles and the only celebrities he has met were Lil Romeo and Lil Bow Bow; who, he thought, were actually shorter than their names suggested.  Like most sensible continental and disaporic Africans, he dedicates his weekends to being an Arsenal fan-who harbors a deep-seated dislike for Manchester United.
Permalink PERSONAL STORIES OF MIGRATION PANELIST- AGAZIT ABATE  Agazit Abate received her BA in International Development Studies and MA in African Studies from the University of California Los Angeles, UCLA. She studied and wrote on African cinema, cultural production, alternative and community interpretations of development, and narratives of resistance. She is currently a fellow at the Oakland Institute, researching and writing about large-scale land investment deals or “land grab” in Africa. She plans to continue writing on land grab and food sovereignty and hopes to delve into fiction, in an effort to tell politics like a story.
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PERSONAL STORIES OF MIGRATION MODERATOR- AZEB TADESSE

AZEB TADESSE, Deputy Director, University of California-Los Angeles African Studies Center

Azeb Tadesse was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Africa and Europe before coming to the US. Tadesse is a graduate of UCLA and she is currently Deputy Director of the African Studies Center at UCLA where she oversees administration and programming. Her work includes teacher training, internationalization of school curriculum and the intersection of development and higher education in Africa. She is recipient of three Fulbright-Hays GPA awards for Morocco from the US Department of Education and has served as consultant for the African Union Mission in Washington DC and The Leon Sullivan Foundation. Prior to coming to UCLA, she worked with immigrant and refugee youth developing training curriculum and organizing after school tutoring programs, support groups, and field trips to facilitate adjustment to US. She has been active in Los Angeles developing programs for various communities and has served on various committees and boards. She was founding member of Ethiopian-American Advocacy Group an all-female community advocacy group which successfully worked with the Los Angeles City Council in designating an area heavily populated with Ethiopian businesses as “Little Ethiopia” in 2004.

Permalink MAKING THE WORK MODERATOR- MICHELLE RAMOS-BURKAHRT, Former Director, Dance/NYC Michelle Ramos-Burkhart has a twenty-year successful history in business, consulting and work in the arts non-profit sector. She has worked as an Executive Director for multiple non-profit arts organizations. She has served as a panelist for New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, was an adjunct professor at New York University and worked with Columbia University and Cornell University in an advisory capacity on arts initiatives and studies. She recently authored an article “In a Post Graham Word; Choreographing Dance Rights in the World of Media, Technology and Social Media” for the Pace University Entertainment Law Journal. Michelle holds a B.S. in Organizational Behavior from University of San Francisco, a J.D. from Golden Gate University, and an LL.M. from California Western School of Law. Michelle consults in arts-business with non-profit organizations nationwide in addition to her legal practice. She is the proud mother of a professional dancer and since retiring from her own dance career Michelle has become a competitive Ironman triathlete and marathoner.
Permalink CROSS CULTURAL CONVERSATIONS PANELIST- NIKKI LEGESSE, Executive Director, Little Ethiopia Cultural and Resource Center   Negest (Nikki) Legesse is co-chairperson of Ethiopia Creates. Nikki was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After graduating from high school Nikki moved to Buffalo, New York, where she completed her Bachelor Degree from Canisius College. She then moved to sunny Los Angeles to complete law school and discovered her passion for helping others realize their dreams. Ever since, she has helped countless people acquire small businesses and has offered her knowledge and experience to ensure their success.   In 2003 she founded the Ethiopian American Chamber of Commerce serving over 100 businesses, helped organize the Little Ethiopia Business Association and created the International Unity Parade. Nikki was the president and is currently a board member of Ethiopian American Youth Development, an organization dedicated to the development of Ethiopian Youth in Los Angeles as well as in Ethiopia. This organization also works with several orphanages in Ethiopia where children have lost their parents to the AIDs epidemic.    Nikki continuous her work as an Ambassador of the Ethiopian community promoting its culture, history and language. She recently opened the Little Ethiopia Cultural and Resource Center which provides services for seniors, children and youth.  Nikki is excited to help bring Ethiopia Creates to the artists, writers and filmmakers of Ethiopia!  
Permalink CROSS CULTURAL CONVERSATIONS PANELIST- GEMA SANDOVAL, Artistic Director, Danza Floricanto/USA  Gema Sandoval, founder artistic director and choreographer of Danza Floricanto/USA is devoted to illuminating her Mexican-American heritage through dance. Over the past fourteen years, Sandoval has staged theme works in addition to traditional regional dances of Mexico.  Among these are:; Sandoval’s “Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead Celebration” which, since 2001, has become an annual community tradition which Floricanto performs somewhere in the Southland; her 2004 collaboration with Whittier College’s Shannon Center for the Performing Arts, “Navidad en Whittier.” now on its 8th year.   Along with her company, Sandoval is the winner of the 1994 and 1995 Horton Award for the Staging of Traditional Dance, a year 2000 fellow of the California Arts Council’s Fellowship in Dance Program, winner of the Irvine Foundation’s California Dancemaker awards for 2001.  And the proud recipients of a New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project production grant for 2003-04, which allowed them to create “Fandango Without Borders.”  This was followed up by  “Un Zapateado Chicano.”  funded by the Irvine Foundation’s From Creation to Performance Project and the National Association of Latino Arts and. Culture.  Her latest production, Alma Llanera-Spirit of the Plains, inspired by Rudlofo Anaya’s novel Bless Me Ultima premiered on March 25, 2011 and currently tours throughout California. Sandoval is currently working on her next piece to be premiered at Floricanto’s 40th anniversary celebration.  The working title is Immigrants.
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CROSS CULTURAL CONVERSATIONS PANELIST- ERIN HARKEY

ERIN HARKEY- Civic Art Project Manager, Los Angeles County Arts Commission 

Erin Harkey is a Civic Art Project Manager at the Los Angeles County Arts Commission where she manages public art, community engagement and creative placemaking projects and initiatives. Prior to joining the Arts Commission, Ms. Harkey was the Associate Director of Public Art & Design at the Arts Council for Long Beach where she developed a series of award winning, temporary programs for vacant lots called the Urban Lab and the A Lot Series. Ms. Harkey has also worked for several notable cultural institutions including: the District of Columbia Arts Center, the Japanese American National Museum, the Music Center of Los Angeles County, and the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency’s Cultural Planning department. Ms. Harkey attended Howard University Business School with a focus in Marketing and Communications, and graduate school at USC where she dual majored in Urban Planning and Public Art Studies.