Melissa Sanvicente (she/her) began volunteering at Tía Chucha’s in 2002 as a Sylmar High School student and became a staff member over fifteen years ago. Melissa was promoted to Associate Director in 2018 after being Program Director for 5 years. She has previously helped organize Tía Chucha’s annual Celebrating Words Festival, Winterlandia holiday events, and fundraising Gala celebrations. It was her connection to Tía Chucha’s as a youth that helped her reignite her love for the arts and her passion for music, dance, and indigenous spirituality. Melissa has practiced Mexica indigenous drumming, dance, and song for the past 14 years, as a member of Kapulli Xochiyaoyotl. She is a graduate of Ethnomusicology at UCLA, with an emphasis on Mexica indigenous song and dance. She is a member of HOODSisters, an ally womyn and womyn identified mural arts collective, and completed the 2017-2018 ACTIVATE Arts Advocacy leadership development. In 2018, Melissa became Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural's Associate Director.