Verónica Castillo-Pérez – Executive Director
Verónica Castillo-Pérez has made a career promoting Latin American culture through the arts. From 2006-2009 she served on the Board of Directors of the Mexican Cultural Center in Philadelphia, which promotes a multitude of events promoting the arts and culture of Mexico and raises awareness of Mexican culture throughout the Delaware Valley. In September 2009 encouraged by the late Peggy Amsterdam she joined the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance board where she currently serves as an active member. In April 2010 Mayor Michael Nutter appointed her as a Commissioner to the Police Advisory Commission.
Ms. Castillo-Pérez is a native of Texas born in Lampasas, a small rural town 68 miles north of the state capital of Austin. She has always been very active in the Latino community having boycotted grapes in the late 1980s where she marched alongside Cesar Chavez, the founder of the United Farm Workers Union. She graduated from the University of Texas in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree after becoming a widow and having raised three daughters.
While single handedly raising her daughters and working for years as an activist, Verónica Castillo-Pérez saw the declining state of arts education in American communities—and decided to do something about it. She formed a nonprofit organization, LUPE Arte (Latinas Unidas Por El Arte/Latinas United Through Art), which brings local artists and schoolchildren together for after-school and summer instruction in Austin, Texas’ underprivileged neighborhoods.
Her move to the East Coast did not diminish her quest to spread Latin American cultural awareness and appreciation. Actively involved in several local organizations, she is continuing her life’s work of promoting the arts and cultures of Latin America. As a recipient of the 2008 Most Influential Latinos in the Delaware Valley and the recipient of a Senate Proclamation sponsored by Senator Christine M. Tartaglione on April 27, 2009, she is, without a doubt, a central figure in Philadelphia’s Latino community.
Jasmine Dottin – Program and Marketing Manager
Jasmine Dottin is a New Englander turned Philadelphian. Originally from a small town in Massachusetts southeast of Boston, Jasmine moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple University. She recently graduated from Temple with highest honors, receiving a degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management and a degree in Spanish.
Jasmine is no stranger to Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas. She worked with the organization as an intern and a volunteer for two years. Before interning with Raices Culturales, Jasmine spent the summer in Venezuela, completing her Spanish degree. She has also interned for the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Multicultural Affairs Congress of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. Jasmine intends on building a career focused on cultural diversity.
Aida Cruz – Office Manager
Aida has been a part of Raices for all twenty years of its history. The daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, she has spent almost her entire life preserving and supporting Puerto Rican culture. In addition to her work with Raices, she has been a Bilingual Special Education classroom assistant for many years, and sings and plays guitar with her husband, Johnny Cruz, as a member of Raices Boricuas, a traditional Puerto Rican band. Johnny and Aida hold a descarga (jamming session) in the Talentos Studio of Raices every Sunday afternoon from 2-5pm.
