2020 Cohort

2020 Cohort Headshots & Bios

Alan Gonzalez is a rising senior at Boston Latin Academy and an aspiring graphic designer. He has high interest in fashion and creating visuals that can benefit the community. Since a young age he knew he had love for art and being creative. Alan knew he had to incorporate that into his future and career. During his freshman year, he and his friend brainstormed an idea of creating a clothing brand that would later turn into them selling 50 t-shirts. That made him realize what he had love for: seeing the people around him interact with what he helped create. After he graduates high school, Alan plans on attending a four-year college where he will major in graphic design and build upon a clothing brand on the side.

Ashley Alexandre was born and raised in Hyde Park, Boston. She’s a rising senior at Boston Arts Academy and is currently 17 years old. She is a developing artist with a primary focus on acting, technical and production theatre. Ashley studies acting because she finds it to be an interesting way to study the different mindsets of people from different backgrounds. She also thinks it is a really fun and freeing way to tell stories and connect with different types of people. Her personal mission is to become a professional actor, not only for herself but to take care of her loved ones and to inspire others to follow their dreams no matter how difficult their lives may be.

Ashley Rosario is a rising senior at the John D. O’Bryant School of math and science and a Bloomberg Arts intern at Boston Lyric Opera. Her passion for art started in third grade when she took her first art class, and ever since then, she is always drawing something. She especially likes to draw landscapes and nature. She aspires to become a computer scientist and to someday be able to contribute to her community.

Chris Vizcaino is a 19 year-old music producer and engineer. He has been working with music for 5 years now and will be for many more years to come. Chris has worked with local artists from Boston and some music companies such as Surefire Creative Studios, MTV and many more.

Danny Nguyen is a senior at Boston Latin School. Along with being a visual artist, he is an aspiring architect and a proud activist. Because art has always been a big presence in his life, it is one of the methods Danny uses to express his values. When he becomes an architect, he will design eco-friendly & sustainable buildings in order to help the environment and continue his efforts in spreading civic awareness.

David Estes comes in with a fresh cut, an unshaven smirk, and an impatience for the arrival of the new earrings he just ordered from Etsy. Despite having to squint in the presence of the slightest bit of sunlight, this rising senior at Boston Latin School is well-adjusted to the dark and has a clear vision of his future. Who says you need 2020 vision? He's living in it right now! If it isn't clear by him taking three art classes in the upcoming school year, David has a passion for illustration and graphic design, and he hopes that future clients aren't looking for realism. After all, there's no room for that in his fever dream imagination that is full of colors that go beyond the RGB values of a mere 255. His sleep schedule has some odd hours, and his diet consists of a gourmet and sufficiently gooey grilled cheese by his own make every other day, but this tech-wiz can frequently be found having a laugh and playing games with friends, singing songs that are way beyond his vocal range, or smashing some things together in Adobe Illustrator until making a logo that actually looks pretty sick. All that combined with his love for coding and frequent advocacy for video games being the art medium of the future, he hopes that one day he can be a UX designer or technical artist at a video game or animation studio, so that one day he can hear that something he worked on was an important inspiration to some random stranger online.

Ellie Gaquin is a student at Boston Day And Evening Academy and worked at Actors’ Shakespeare Project this summer. She has a few passions, but the one thing she is most passionate about is social justice and politics. Her goal is to finish high school and college, and apply what she has learned about history, sociology, politics, etc. to the real world through activism.

Isabella Isako Massarelli has been playing piano for 11 years, and has developed a very strong love and admiration towards film all her life. She hopes to create films of her own in the future. Looking at all of the movies coming out today, Isabella sees several directors whom she respects greatly because they tackle difficult issues which must be addressed, and she admires their confidence in their work. However, Isabella also noticed that the number of feel-good movies coming out are dwindling. Additionally, when light-hearted movies do come out, it is almost always the same demographic represented. When she makes films, she aims to represent marginalized communities in a happier, healthier, more human light.

Jeremy Cepeda Moreno is an actor who attends Boston Arts Academy and a future computer scientist. The feeling of adrenaline after a live performance and knowing that you worked hard to do your best on stage is what inspired Jeremy to pursue theatre. His goal is to make the world a happier place, one step at a time and he believes theatre is the perfect way to cheer someone up!

Kenese Cohen is a lover of storytelling, whether through music, books, films, television, or even games. After BAI, Kenese will be attending Simmons University to strengthen her skills, explore her potential, and unlock future doors. The force is strong with this aspiring artist.

Leyneiscia Machore is a rising senior at Excel High School. As a BAI intern, she works for the Community Music Center Of Boston (CMCB). Outside of her internship, Leyneiscia likes to draw and play two instruments, guitar and tuba. Leyneiscia mainly likes to sketch on paper and has been drawing since she was little. Over the years, she has improved her art skills, but still has a lot to work on. To this day, that is Leyneiscia’s goal, to continue to improve on her artistic skills.

During her internship, Leyneiscia built a website for CMCB as a resource page for teachers and all learners coming to the Music Center for the fall. She also did a lot of research to help the new website be more accessible for people that have disabilities. Leyneiscia’s biggest accomplishment was having fun, getting to know people, and overall working really hard for the summer during this pandemic.

This summer, Lucas Lai worked at the Handel and Haydn Society. He is a visual artist, focusing mainly on vector graphics, photo editing, and video design, all through the wonderful programs created by Adobe. Lucas was inspired to begin designing by appreciating the artwork that he saw in his daily life. In album jackets, book covers, posters, and even in architecture, he realized that an artist played a great role in the design of these things. That prompted him to study graphic design in his junior year of high school, where he learned many methods of design throughout the year. While Lucas did learn multiple skills, he found that he enjoyed vector graphics and editing the most, since he always appreciated the sleek and modern look of vector designing. Photo and video editing allows Lucas to transform any photo or video into anything he wants, and he was drawn to editing because he enjoyed having the power to control what is seen by a viewer.
While graphic design can be fun, Lucas believes it can also be used in an important manner. He follows up on global and current news very often through reading and listening to the radio, and his art teacher told him that “as artists, we can use our work to share what is happening and express how we feel about the world and how we can use our designs to inspire change or maintain peace.” Therefore, his goal is to create moving artwork that will inspire viewers to learn more about what the design is highlighting and find out what actions they can take to change or maintain what is going on. He also plans to use artwork to spread news about relatively new or unknown events, because he believes that art can be better than written words when it comes to the spread of information.

Melissa Gomes Barros is a Cape Verdean High school graduate who lives in Dorchester. She will be attending curry college this fall. Some of her talents and skills that she is involved in are that she has been doing martial arts for about 3 years and is currently a green belt. She has an interest in fashion as well as she also speaks Cape Verdean Creole as well as Portuguese. Melissa's goals and aspirations are to graduate college with high honors and be able to find a career related to her major as well as be able to pursue her side interest in fashion and making clothing.

Sara Rhoute is a rising junior at Boston Latin Academy, the former Massachusetts Junior Classical League Historian, and current Publications Editor. As a participant in the 2020 Bloomberg Arts Internship program, she interns at the Urbano Project in Jamaica Plain, where she works on the external communications team, and as a participant in their 2020 Summer Youth Artists Project with Artist-in-Resident Sheila Novak. Engaging in multiple mediums from painting and jewelry making to digital art and photography, she enjoys using her skills to bring some simple, unchanging, beauty into an ever-changing world, and is inspired by what she sees, music, and the classics.

Sharon Castang is a New Mission High School graduate (Class of 2020) and a Bloomberg Arts intern at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. Born and raised in Michigan, Sharon’s love for literary arts and language began in middle school. When she moved to Boston during high school, she grew to love poetry performance, which manifested in her commitment to the Huntington Theatre Company. She is co-founder of New Mission's first school-wide literary magazine called LENS (Life Experiences Now Speak) and participated in the Spoken Word Poetry club at New Mission. In March 2020, she was selected to be a Student Speaker at the Evening of Inspired Leaders, an event sponsored by Mass Poetry. She also performed her original poem I Am Minority in front of more than 500 students at her high school pep rally and at two Black History Month events at the Berea SDA Church and the Bethel Pentecostal Church, both in Dorchester, MA. She aspires to work in arts management and continue being involved in spoken word poetry in college. A few of her hobbies are singing, swimming, and playing the piano & saxophone.

Sophia Thomas is a rising senior at Snowden International School. They go by they/them pronouns, and writing is their second oxygen. Sophia loves to write poetry and short stories, but is also a karate student and involved in their community food bank. Sophia’s goals include becoming a first responder and/or social worker, helping to provide medical and disaster relief around the world. In the meantime, they are learning Spanish and making jewelry from home, and having a ton of fun as a BAI intern.

Violet Mee is a rising senior at Boston Latin School. As she is heading toward her future and considering career and education options, she’s found that she has a multitude of interests across various topics. Fashion and design as well as environmental science and sustainability have been Violet’s passions throughout high school. For far too long, she has felt the need to choose between one or the other. As much as she loves to create art and learn the ways it impacts society, Violet feels an obligation to pursue environmentalism and advocate for sustainability. Nevertheless, she has learned, especially from her time working at the Bloomberg Arts Initiative that she doesn’t need to choose; she is in control of her life and knows it is possible to include all of her interests in her future career. Violet doesn't have to sacrifice any of her passions in order to create change in the world and achieve her purpose in life.

Zhané Crosby is a Snowden International High School graduate (Class of 2020) and a Bloomberg Arts intern at Urbanity Dance Company in Boston. She is originally from Boston and tends to focus on the visual arts such as drawing and painting, but also loves theatre and performance. Her love for art translates to her dream of being a cosmetologist since she sees a person’s hair as their form of expression. One day she wants to own a hair salon or beauty bar, maybe both if possible. Zhané’s favorite hobbies include independent reading and watching documentaries. She loves to use her free time to gather as much information as possible. To her knowledge is one of life’s most important tools.

Ziane Roberts-Clarke is an education intern at Urbanity Dance. She primarily communicates with clients via phone and email to make sure that they have full access to all that Urbanity has to offer. She also helps to create learning opportunities that allow people to strengthen and improve their communities. Ziane feels passionate about equity and inclusion, which is why she decided to become a part of the fabric of the BAI program. She treats her clients with dignity because everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

Zorely de la Rosa is a 17 year old musical artist who has a background in music since she was 7 years old. Currently, she studies at Boston Arts Academy for vocal music and has had a passion for researching science. Ever since she was first introduced to piano back when she was 7, she has completely surrounded herself in the music world, and has loved everything she has learned so far about it. She believes that music has shaped her into who she is today, teaching her confidence in her step, and a voice that fills the room.

2020 ALUMNI ADVISORY COUNCIL

BAI Boston Alumni Advisory Council Members provide peer mentoring to current BAI interns; plan and facilitate community-building activities; and play a role in future BAI program planning and alumni activities.