Presenters

JLOVE CALDERÓN is a white woman who is an author, activist, and social entrepreneur working on issues of social justice, race, and gender. She has authored four books: We Got Issues! with Rha Goddess; That White Girl (optioned for film); Conscious Women Rock the Page! Using Hip-Hop Fiction to Incite Social Change (nominated for a NAACP Image Award) with Marcella Runell Hall, E-Fierce, and Black Artemis; and Love, Race, and Liberation: 'Til the White Day is Done with Marcella Runell Hall (the book was a finalist in the social change category of the 2010 National Indie Excellence Awards). Her articles on hip hop culture, white privilege, and social justice have appeared in The New York Times, Self Magazine, The Source Magazine, among others. For her consistent dedication as an activist, JLove has received numerous awards, including the Union Square Award for her activism, and Self Magazine's Self Starter of the Year award. She speaks regularly and has presented at Harvard, UCLA, Columbia, and many other institutions. She is currently producing progressive film, television, books, and educational materials for all communities. JLove graduated Cum Laude from San Diego State University with a B.A. in Africana Studies and received her M.A. in Education from Long Island University.

T. Tomás Alvarez III, M.S.W., A.C.S.W., BRL Founder / Executive Director

Tomás received his Masters degree in social work from Smith College School for Social Work and Bachelors degree in social work from San Francisco State University. He is the founder and executive director of Beats, Rhymes and Life (BRL), a clinically-based community organization that aims to promote mental health and wellness among youth and young adults by utilizing Hip Hop and other forms of popular culture. Tomás lives and practices social work in Oakland, California where he specializes in culturally congruent strength-based therapeutic group work with adolescents of color. In 2009, his performance-based Rap Therapy group became the focus of a feature film entitled, Beats, Rhymes and Life Film Project set to premier in 2011. Tomás has also documented his work using Rap Therapy in Oakland, California in a chapter for an upcoming book entitled, “Therapeutic uses of Rap Music“. In addition to his work with BRL, Tomás serves as a transitional age youth advocate and consultant for Alameda County. In 2010, he was selected to serve as an advisory committee member for the California Institute for Mental Health Center for Multicultural Development (CMD), an entity designed to promote the cultural competence of publicly funded behavioral health systems.

Gaston “Cenzi” Gabarro was brought up in Canada as the child of politically refuged Chilean parents. He was raised with Pablo Neruda and Salvador Allende posters in his home. Before entering his teens, Cenzi and his family made their exodus back to Chile, along with hundreds of thousands of Chileans from all over the world going back to their Pinochet-free country.

The drastic contrast between privileged Canada and under-nourished Chile sparked the revolution within young Cenzi’s mind. This helped him clearly see political injustices, economic favoritism and basically what others were missing, or being deprived of. Thus he started to fight with the ingenuity and passion of youth.

When Cenzi was introduced to technology, his spiritual marriage to music was love at first sight. A few of his earlier tracks were used as beats for budding artists in Chile, where hip hop was just starting to be commercially embraced.

“I feel that I was very fortunate that I too was to become thrown into this whirlwind of economic success,” says Cenzi, “as all of the top hip hop singles sounding on the radio were backed up by my beats! This is how I learned the tricks of the trade; the mechanism of the record industry.” With this, he set up a small record label and put out one album by three young kids from a down trodden neighborhood.

Later as an MC, Cenzi realized from the first moment he rocked the microphone and record vocals over a beat that he had a responsibility to use his music for social uplifting, and “not for the sake of riddling’” as the great Chuck D said. He has continued to do so for over ten years.

Cenzi’s music career has been blessed with the opportunity to have dealt with three record labels during many albums. That only gave him the knowledge to take his own music under his own wing and become a strong, disciplined and proud independent artist. “I push my own agenda,” says Cenzi, “which is Equality on All Fronts, but primarily through the younger children who should not deal with hunger, stress, low self esteem and other health issues.”